Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed is an action-adventure stealth video game franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil and its more advanced derivatives. Created by Patrice Désilets, Jade Raymond, and Corey May, the Assassin's Creed series depicts a fictional millennia-old struggle between the Assassins, who fight for peace with free will, and the Templars, who desire peace through order and control. The series features historical fiction, science fiction and characters, intertwined with real-world historical events and figures. For the majority of time players control an Assassin in the past history, while they also play as Desmond Miles or an Assassin Initiate in the present day, who hunt down their Templar targets.
The video game series took inspiration from the novel Alamut by the Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol, while building upon concepts from the Prince of Persia series. The series's eponymous first title was released in 2007, and it has featured eleven main games in total, the most recent being 2018's Assassin's Creed Odyssey, while a new game Assassin's Creed Valhalla has been announced.
A new story and occasional new time period are introduced in each entry, and gameplay elements evolve from the previous one. There are three story arcs in the series. For the first five main games, the framing story is set in 2012 and features series protagonist Desmond Miles who uses a machine called the Animus and relives the memories of his ancestors. In games up until and including Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Abstergo employees and Assassin initiates recorded genetic memories using the Helix software, helping the Templars and Assassins find new Pieces of Eden in the modern world. The latest two games, Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed Odyssey follow ex-Abstergo employee Layla Hassan as she is recruited into the Assassin Order.
Main games of Assassin's Creed are set in an open world and presented from the third-person perspective where the protagonists take down targets using their combat and stealth skills with the exploitation of the environment. Players have freedom to explore the historical settings as they finish main and side quests. Apart from single-player missions, some games also provide competitive and cooperative multiplayer gameplay. While main games are produced for major consoles and desktop platforms, multiple spin-off games are released for consoles, mobiles, and handhelds platforms.
The main games in the Assassin's Creed video game series have received generally positive reviews for their ambition in visuals, game design, and narratives, with criticism towards the yearly release cycle and frequent bugs. The spin-off games received mixed to positive reviews. The video game series has received multiple awards and nominations, including Game of the Year awards. It is commercially successful, selling over 140 million copies as of 2019, becoming Ubisoft's best-selling franchise and one of the highest selling video game franchises of all time. Assassin's Creed was adapted into a film, which received negative reviews. A series of art books, encyclopedias, comics, novelizations, and [|novels] have been published.
History
The Assassin's Creed series originated out of ideas for a sequel for ', a 3D adaption of the original Prince of Persia games, which was made for PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox and other platforms. It included a number of parkour moves and combat. The Sands of Time was a critical and financial success, leading publisher Ubisoft to request Ubisoft Montreal to develop a sequel, aiming for the seventh generation of video game consoles. The Ubisoft Montreal team decided on taking the gameplay from The Sands of Time into an open world approach, taking advantage of the improved processing power to render larger spaces and crowds. Narratively, the team wanted to move away from the Prince being someone next in line for the throne but to have to work for it; combined with research into secret societies led them to focus on the Assassins, heavily borrowing from the novel Alamut.They developed a narrative where the player would control an Assassin that served as a bodyguard for a non-playable Prince, leading them to call this game Prince of Persia: Assassin. Ubisoft was not happy with a Prince of Persia game without the Prince as the playable character, but this led to the marketing division to suggest the name Assassin's Creed, playing off the creed of the Assassins, "nothing is true; everything is permitted". Ubisoft Montreal ran with this in creating a new intellectual property, eliminating the Prince and creating the conflict between the Assassins and Templar Knights. Further, in postulating what other assassinations they could account for throughout human history, they came onto the idea of genetic memory and created the "Animus" device and modern storyline elements, which further allowed them to explain certain facets of gameplay, such as accounting when the player fails a mission, in the same way they had done in The Sands of Time.
Following release of the first Assassin's Creed in 2007, Ubisoft Montreal and other Ubisoft studios use the series to present games from various historical periods, striving for historical accuracy while conceding some elements for gameplay. Moving into Assassin's Creed 2 the Ubisoft Montreal team recognized that parkour was underutilized in the first game, and designed the world in the sequel to feature "freerun highways" to make it easier to enter into parkour moves, using rooftops to escape pursuits or as part of an assassin ploy. The new parkour features helped to informed the game's Renaissance Italy setting and its playable character Ezio Auditore da Firenze as a rogue-ish figure. Assassin's Creed 2 also brought in more use of crowds as part of a means to hide in plain site that the developers had seen used in ', adding more to the concept of social stealth as a gameplay option. Finally, Assassin's Creed 2 completely reworked the repetitive mission structure from the first game through numerous side activities, collectibles and other secrets. These additions became a central part of the series going forward as well as into other Ubisoft games like Watch Dogs, Far Cry and Ghost Recon. The game was followed by two direct sequels based on Ezio's character.
The origins for Assassin's Creed III had come both out of Ubisoft Montreal, which had planned to continue to progress the main narrative forward in time, and from an unattached project that had been developed out of Ubisoft Singapore that features naval ship combat. As the main team had settled into the American Revolution period for the game, they found this ship-to-ship combat system fit perfectly into the system, and worked setting to incorporate it further. Another major change in Assassin's Creed III was transitioning the parkour and freerun systems to work in the natural woodlands of 18th century New England, which further allowed for adding trees and other vegetation within the city areas themselves not only as part of the parkour systems but also to add to more realistic appearances, which would also continue as part of the series' ongoing design.
After its release, the marketing team from Ubisoft commented that the ship combat of Assassin's Creed III was segmented off from the land-based game and felt that there could be more integration, which led to the idea of the next game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag based on the Golden Age of Piracy, reusing all of their past lessons on the series to date. The team also used the game as a chance to address the narrative aspects of the story which had started to become stale in their eyes. They introduced Edward Kenway, initially an outsider to the Assassins/Templars conflict that becomes involved only with the prospect of wealth at the end, giving the narrative team a means to present the conflict from an outside view. Further, the present day story had moved away from a single person to allow any observer to use the Animus to experience the generic memories from another. The narrative team set this up to have the player feel more immersed and central to the events, eventually setting up for the concept of the Initiate that would come in Assassin's Creed Unity and Assassin's Creed Syndicate.
After Syndicate Ubisoft recognized that the series needed a major re-invention across both gameplay and narrative. By this point in time, available computers and consoles had enough processing power that they were able to create much larger maps, which required different mechanics from the original games. It was decided to make the next game, Assassin's Creed Origins, closer to a role-playing video game than a stealth-action game, which would also bring a game with many more hours of play than previous titles, and some long-standing features of the series were eliminated for this purpose, such as the social stealth mechanic. This changes how missions were presented - rather than directed through the Animus, the player would need to take their character in the game's world to various quest givers to get these missions, which gave a reason for the player to explore the map. From the narrative side, they placed the game prior to the formation of the Assassin's Order in Egypt as to avoid the need to have assassins drive the storyline, and made the playable character Bayek a medjay would people would normally respect and seek his help. The contemporary storyline also shifted back to a single character, Layla Hassan, a Abstergo researcher, which they limited the number of times they shifted to her character compared to previous games, but gave these segments more meaning, such as allowing the player to explore Layla's laptop with background information on the state of Assassins to that point. Assassin's Creed Odyssey followed in a similar approach.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla continues the same style as Origins and Odyssey but recognizes feedback from the prior games, adding back in the social stealth elements, as well as the concept of a customizable home base that was first introduced in Syndicate.
Synopsis
The Assassin's Creed games primarily revolve around the rivalry and conflict between two ancient secret societies — the Assassins, who represent freedom, and the Knights Templar, who represent order. Versions of these societies have existed for centuries, with the Assassins seeking to stop the Templars from gaining control of "Pieces of Eden", artifacts that are capable of controlling free will.These artifacts are remnants of an ancient species pre-dating humanity called the Isu, or Precursors, which created humanity to live in peace alongside them. The Isu assured humans could not rise against them by creating the Pieces of Eden to control them. When the first hybrid Isu-human beings emerged, named Adam and Eve, they were immune to the effects of the Pieces of Eden. They stole the Pieces of Eden, which led to a great war that ended when a massive solar flare devastated the surface of the Earth. The Isu began to die out while humanity thrived. Three Isu attempted to prepare humanity for a future solar flare they knew would come centuries in the future: Minerva, Juno, and Jupiter. Minerva and Jupiter prepared vaults, from which humanity could activate a protective shield around Earth with the Pieces of Eden, and the Eye, a means to communicate how to find and use these vaults to the future. Juno, however, saw humanity as a threat and attempted to sabotage Minerva and Jupiter's plan. Minerva and Jupiter were forced to destroy Juno, unaware she had hidden her consciousness to wake upon activation of the Eye. All that remained of the Isu were the traces of their memories in the world's mythologies and religions, the Pieces of Eden lost to time.
The series itself takes place in the modern area, in which the Templars have established the mega-corporation Abstergo Industries. Abstergo has developed a device called the Animus that allows its user to relive the memories of their ancestors through their genetic material. Abstergo has kidnapped people who are descendants of past Assassins to locate the missing Pieces of Eden via the Animus. A user of the Animus is able to move about in simulated memories as their ancestor, but performing actions outside the bounds of what their ancestor did can lead to "desynchronization" of the memory. Further, extended use of the Animus creates a "bleeding effect" that gives the user some of the skills and capabilities they experienced with their ancestor.
| Game | Historical character Period/Era | Present-day character |
| Assassin's Creed | Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad Third Crusade | Desmond Miles |
| Assassin's Creed II | Ezio Auditore da Firenze Italian Renaissance | Desmond Miles |
| ' | Ezio Auditore da Firenze Italian Renaissance | Desmond Miles |
| ' | Ezio Auditore da Firenze Italian Renaissance | Desmond Miles |
| Assassin's Creed III | Connor American Revolution | Desmond Miles |
| ' | Aveline de Grandpré French and Indian War | "Subject 1" |
| ' | Edward Kenway Golden Age of Piracy | "Noob" |
| Assassin's Creed Rogue | Shay Patrick Cormac Seven Years' War | "Numbskull" |
| Assassin's Creed Unity | Arno Dorian French Revolution | The Initiate |
| Assassin's Creed Syndicate | Jacob and Evie Frye Industrial Revolution | The Initiate |
| Assassin's Creed Origins | Bayek and Aya Ptolemaic period | Layla Hassan |
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | Kassandra and Alexios Peloponnesian War | Layla Hassan |
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | Eivor Viking invasion of England | Layla Hassan |
Across the first three games of the series and their spin-offs, the series focuses on player-character Desmond Miles, a bartender who learns he is a descendant of several Assassins including Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad from the Middle East during the Third Crusade; Ezio Auditore da Firenze from the Italian Renaissance during the late 15th and early 16th centuries; and, otherwise known as Connor, a half-Mohawk, half-British Assassin during the American Revolution. Desmond is used by Abstergo to find Pieces of Eden but is freed by Lucy Stillman, an undercover agent for the Assassins. Lucy takes Desmond to meet Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, two other members of the modern-day Assassins. The group is joined later by William Miles, Desmond's father. They continue to explore Desmond's memories and eventually discover the Eye and Minerva's warning of another possible solar flare. They also inadvertently free Juno, who then kills Lucy. The group continues to find the vaults across the globe via Desmond's memories, and Desmond is able to activate them in time to block the solar flare but at the cost of his own life.
Starting with , William goes into exile, while Shaun and Rebecca continue to monitor Abstergo by posing as employees of one of their spin-off companies, Abstergo Entertainment. Abstergo Entertainment has refined the Animus technology to allow anyone to experience genetic memories from DNA material of another person, allowing Abstergo to continue their search for the Pieces of Eden under the guise of creating a film. The unnamed player-character, a new employee of Abstergo Entertainment, is tasked with scanning the memories of Edward Kenway, a privateer-turned-pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy and the grandfather of Ratonhnhaké:ton, from Desmond's DNA. During this, the employee is instructed by an informant, John Standish, to hack into various Abstergo terminals and provide the information to Shaun and Rebecca. This is revealed to actually be in service to a plan by John to prepare the employee's body for possession by Juno, and that John is one of her Sages; human beings with part of Aita's unique genetic code.
Abstergo distributes its Animus product via a video game console named "Helix" by the time of Assassin's Creed Unity, tapping into an extensive, unaware player base to help them locate more Pieces of Eden and determine the fates of other Sages as part of the Phoenix Project, an attempt to recreate the genetic structure of the Isu. The Assassins begin locating select players and bringing them in as Initiates to help their cause. In Unity, the player-character is contacted through Helix by an Assassin named Bishop and asked to experience the memories of the Assassin Arno Victor Dorian who lived during the French Revolution, so the Assassins can locate the body of a Sage in the past to prevent Abstergo from obtaining it in the present. Despite the Assassins' efforts, Abstergo collects enough samples of other Sages by the start of Assassin's Creed Syndicate to move forward with the Phoenix Project. Again, the Assassin Bishop contacts the Initiate and asks them to use the memories of twin Assassins Jacob and Evie Frye from Victorian England during the Industrial Revolution to help locate a Piece of Eden known as the Shroud, which Abstergo needs to complete the process of recreating the Isu genetic structure. When the Initiate does locate the Shroud, Shaun and Rebecca race to recover it but are stopped by Abstergo and Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg, who escape with the Shroud.
A new storyline is introduced in Assassin's Creed Origins focusing on Abstergo researcher Layla Hassan. Initially, Layla is tasked with locating historical objects in Egypt. Upon discovering the mummified corpses of the Medjay Bayek and his wife Aya from the Ptolemaic Kingdom, and against Abstergo's orders, Layla opts to use a portable Animus device to explore Bayek's and Aya's memories and discovers the origins of the Assassin Order. Layla's disobedience leads her to become a fugitive from Abstergo's forces, and she is met by William Miles who extends an offer for her to join the Assassins. In Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Layla recovers the Spear of Leonidas and extracts the DNA of the Misthios siblings, Kassandra and Alexios, Assassins from the Peloponnesian War. Through their memories, Layla locates the Staff of Hermes, another Piece of Eden. Layla is surprised to find one of the Misthios siblings is still alive, sustained by the Staff. The Misthios informs Layla that there must always be a balance between the Assassins and Templars, lest the prevailing of one side lead to the destruction of the world, and that she is prophesied to be the one to keep that balance. Layla proves herself worthy to take the Staff, and wards off Abstergo forces that had come to take the staff for themselves.
Gameplay
While the games are often presented through protagonist Desmond Miles, the bulk of the game is played as Desmond experiences the memories of his ancestors through an advanced device called the Animus. This provides a means of a diegetic interface, showing Desmond's ancestor's health, equipment, goals, and other features as part of the Animus interface. The Animus is based on the player controlling the assassin to maintain the synchronization between Desmond and his ancestor's memories. Performing actions that go against the Assassin's way or dying breaks the synchronization, effectively requiring the player to restart at a previous checkpoint. Furthermore, the player cannot explore outside areas that the assassin has not experienced yet. There are also abnormalities within the Animus from previous users of the device.While playing as the Assassin characters, the games are generally presented from a third-person perspective in an open world environment, focusing on stealth and parkour. The games use a mission structure to follow the main story, generally assigning the player to complete an assassination of public figureheads or a covert mission. Alternatively, several side missions are available, such as mapping out the expansive cities from a high perch followed by performing a "leap of faith" into a haystack below, collecting treasures hidden across the cities, exploring ruins for relics, building a brotherhood of assassins to perform other tasks, or funding the rebuilding of a city through purchasing and upgrading of shops and other features. At times, the player is in direct control of Desmond, who by nature of the Animus use has learned Assassin techniques through the bleeding effect, as well as their genetic ability of Eagle Vision, which separates friend, foe and assassination targets by illuminating people in different colors. Through the Animus interface, the player can go back to retry any past mission already completed; for example, in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the player achieves better synchronization results by performing the mission in a specific manner such as by only killing the mission's target.
The games use the concept of "active" versus "passive" moves, with "active" moves, such as running, climbing the sides of buildings, or jumping between rooftops, more likely to alert the attention of nearby guards. When the guards become alerted, the player must either fight them or break their line of sight and locate a hiding place, such as a haystack or a well, and wait until the guards' alert is reduced. The combat system allows for a number of unique weapons, armor, and moves, including the use of a hidden blade set in a bracer on the Assassin's arm, and which also can be used to quietly assassinate targets.
Release history
The following table lists the games created for the franchise and the respective platform they released upon; Titles in Bold indicate those that are main releases:| Title | Released | Platform |
| Assassin's Creed | 2007 | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows |
| ' | 2008 | Nintendo DS, Android, iOS, Symbian, webOS, Windows Phone |
| ' | 2009 | PlayStation Portable |
| Assassin's Creed II | 2009 | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, OS X, Windows, Mac OS X, Symbian |
| ' | 2009 | Nintendo DS, iOS |
| 2010 | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, OS X, Windows | |
| 2011 | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, Android, Symbian | |
| Assassin's Creed III | 2012 | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, Nintendo Switch, Symbian |
| ' | 2012 | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation Vita, Windows |
| 2013 | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, Nintendo Switch | |
| ' | 2013 | Windows, Android, iOS |
| ' | 2014 | PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows |
| Assassin's Creed Rogue | 2014 | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows |
| Assassin's Creed Unity | 2014 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows |
| Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China | 2015 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, PlayStation Vita |
| Assassin's Creed Syndicate | 2015 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows |
| Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India | 2016 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, PlayStation Vita |
| Assassin's Creed Identity | 2016 | Android, iOS |
| Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia | 2016 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, PlayStation Vita |
| Assassin's Creed Origins | 2017 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows |
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 2018 | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, Stadia |
| Assassin's Creed Rebellion | 2018 | Android, iOS |
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 2020 | PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Windows, Stadia |
; Notes
Main series
''Assassin's Creed''
Desmond Miles is captured by Abstergo and forced to use a machine called the Animus to explore Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad's memories during the time of the Third Crusade. Altaïr is demoted to a Novice of the Assassin Brotherhood by Al Mualim, the Brotherhood's leader, and tasked with assassinating the nine Knights Templar, including Robert IV of Sablé, to regain his former status. Altaïr discovers that Al Mualim is also a Templar and holds a Piece of Eden. When Altaïr defeats Al Mualim and recovers the piece, he and those watching the Animus view a holographic map showing where other artifacts are located across the globe.Assassin's Creed introduced core elements that remained in the rest of the game series. The game creates fictionalized, historical versions of Masyaf, Jerusalem, Acre and Damascus, and incorporates a number of documented historical figures into the story. Other core elements include the virtualized Animus system, free running, climbing, stealth, parkour, and the initial formulation of the combat system. The game requires the player to complete a number of side quests before they are able to obtain an assassin quest from a local Brotherhood guidemaster in each city, but this side quest prerequisite was abandoned in future games.
''Assassin's Creed II''
Having escaped Abstergo with the aid of Assassin mole Lucy Stillman, Desmond explores the memories of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a young nobleman from the late 15th century in Florence. Ezio trains as an Assassin to avenge his father and brothers, who were killed by order of a corrupt Templar official. He is aided by allies such as Leonardo da Vinci and Caterina Sforza, and combats enemies such as Rodrigo Borgia. When Ezio uses Borgia's Pieces of Eden, he discovers a hologram of a figure calling herself Minerva, who warns Desmond, through Ezio, of a disaster that destroyed her society and may soon destroy humanity.Similar to the first game, Assassin's Creed II takes place in historical recreations of Venice, Florence, Forlì, San Gimignano, and the Tuscan countryside, and incorporates events during that period as part of the story. Missions are divided into main story missions, themselves divided into memory sequences reflecting points in Ezio's life, and side missions which can be accomplished at any time; this approach to mission structure remains consistent in the other games in the series. The Monteriggioni villa provides several functions which can be expanded on by paying for upgrades of surrounding buildings, or by purchasing artwork, weapons, and armor for the villa; in turn, the villa will generate wealth for the player at a rate influenced by the upgrades and acquisition of these items.
''Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood''
Desmond continues reliving Ezio's memories to try to identify the location of the Apple of Eden. After Monteriggioni is invaded and the Apple is stolen by Cesare Borgia, Rodrigo's son, Ezio works, alongside figures such as Niccolo Machiavelli, to liberate Rome from Borgia influence and train other Assassins. Ezio eventually kills Cesare and recovers the Apple, taking it to hide under the Colosseum. In the present, Desmond locates the Apple. As he picks it up, another hologram figure, calling herself Juno, appears, and forces Desmond to stab Lucy before he falls into a coma.Brotherhood shares many of the same features as the previous game though it takes place primarily in Rome. Similar to the villa, the player is able to spend money to buy and upgrade shops and other facilities throughout the city as to increase revenue they can collect from it; however, the player will be required to destroy Borgia towers that control various sections of the city before they can do so. The Brotherhood of Assassins is introduced, by which, after saving citizens from certain events, the player can invite these citizens as Assassins; they can then be dispatched to remote locations across Europe to gain experience and money, or can be called in to help the player directly in a mission. For the first time in the series, the game features online multiplayer. Players play as Abstergo employees, who, through the use of the Animus, take on the genetic memories of Renaissance Templars in various game modes. It was the last game to feature Assassin's Creed creator Patrice Désilets, as the creative director of the series.
''Assassin's Creed: Revelations''
Within the computerized "core" of the Animus, Subject 16 explains to a comatose Desmond that his mind must achieve full synchronization with Altaïr and Ezio, or he will fall into dementia. In Ezio's memories, years after Brotherhood, Ezio seeks in Ottoman-held Constantinople the five keys needed to open Altaïr's library. Ezio finds the city in a feud between brothers Selim I and the Templar-allied Şehzade Ahmet vying for the Sultanate. As Ezio finds the keys, he is able to use them to witness Altaïr's memories. When Ezio and his love interest Sofia go to the library in Masyaf, they find Altaïr's corpse and a Piece of Eden, and Ezio, understanding that he is a messenger to Desmond, speaks to him directly. A holographic being calling himself Jupiter explains to Desmond through Ezio that the key to stopping the 2012 solar flare, similar to the one that wiped out his society, lies in the first civilization's technology commanded by vaults linked to a central vault in New York. Desmond wakes up, and heads to New York to save humanity.Originally Revelations was announced as Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy, and conceptualized as a Nintendo 3DS title focusing on Ezio traveling to Masyaf. However, on July 15, 2011, it was announced as cancelled. The reason behind the cancellation was that Ubisoft had decided to expand the idea further, cancel the 3DS development and shift all development duties towards PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC to release the game as a full-fledged main installment of the franchise. The original plot remained, and evolved into the plot seen in the final game, which became Assassin's Creed: Revelations. Included were many new systems and additional weapons such as bomb-crafting. The multiplayer mode returned in Revelations, with more characters, modes, and maps, and by advancing up through levels of experience, the player learns more about Abstergo's history.
''Assassin's Creed III''
Desmond and his allies arrive at the Temple in a New York cave on October 31, 2012, where they discover a larger chamber of Precursor technology behind it, including another door. Desmond falls into a fugue state, and is put into the Animus.In the Animus, he experiences the memories of Haytham Kenway, a British Templar agent with allies such as Charles Lee, and of Haytham's son,, whose heritage is half Mohawk. Ratonhnhaké:ton witnesses Lee and his troops destroy his village; years later, Juno speaks to him through a Piece of Eden and instructs him to receive training from Achilles Davenport, a retired Assassin. Through him, Connor meets Patriots in the Revolution, helping them to stop several Templar plans, including an assassination attempt against George Washington. Between memories, Desmond helps his allies recover power sources to power the Temple scattered around the globe, including one held by Abstergo. Connor faces his father and kills Lee, ending the Templar threat and hides Haytham's stolen medallion which leads to the Temple. Desmond and his allies find the medallion in the present; in the Temple they find a control sphere capable of stopping the solar flare. Juno and Minerva both appear, the latter warning Desmond not to use the sphere, since it will release Juno, who could threaten mankind's future. Desmond opts to release Juno, believing humanity will have a better chance fighting Juno. The energy from the control sphere protects Earth from the solar flare, but kills Desmond.
Assassin's Creed III is structured similarly to the previous games, with missions taking place on an open-world map based on Colonial Boston and New York, and offers a large wilderness area, the Frontier and in the Davenport Homestead, where the player can hunt animals for materials, which subsequently can be used to construct goods to be traded and sold throughout the colonies. Naval battles were introduced, wherein the player must steer a warship named Aquila in dangerous waters and perform ship-to-ship combat with cannons and mounted guns. The modern-day aspects of the story were significantly expanded, and featured missions taking place in, among other locations, Manhattan, Rome and Brazil.
''Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag''
Samples taken from Desmond Miles' body in the moments after his death have enabled Abstergo Industries to continue to explore his genetic memories using the Animus' newfound cloud computing abilities. The unnamed player character is hired by Abstergo's entertainment division to sift through the memories of Edward Kenway, an eighteenth-century pirate and the grandfather of Connor. Ostensibly, this is to gather material for an Animus-powered interactive video game, but in reality, Abstergo and the Templars are searching for the Observatory, a Precursor structure that allows the user to see through the eyes of a subject. As Kenway, the player must unravel a conspiracy between high-ranking Templars to manipulate the British, Spanish and French empires into locating the Sage – later identified as Bartholomew Roberts – who is the only man who can lead them to the Observatory.In the present day, the player is contacted by John, Abstergo Entertainment's information technology manager. John convinces the player that his employer knows more than they are telling, and encourages them to investigate in more detail. He arranges for the player to access the Animus' core, at which point Juno materialises into an incorporeal form. She reveals that although it was necessary to open her temple to avert disaster, the world was not ready for her, and she is unable to affect it or possess the player character as her agents intended. John is unmasked as the reincarnated form of the Sage and attempts to murder the player to cover up the failed attempt at resurrecting Juno, but is killed by Abstergo's security before he can do so. As Roberts, the Sage admits to Kenway that he owes no allegiance to the Assassins or the Templars and instead uses whoever he thinks represents his best chance of achieving his ends.
''Assassin's Creed Rogue''
The plot follows Assassin-turned-Templar, Shay Patrick Cormac, and is set during the Seven Years' War across various locations in northeastern North America and the North Atlantic. It is meant to "fill the gaps" of the story between III and Black Flag and has "a crucial link to the Kenway saga", as well as connecting to Unity. Haytham Kenway from III and Adéwalé from Black Flag make appearances.By March 2014, a game titled or code-named Comet was revealed to be in development, for release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. By the end of the month, additional reports indicated that Comet would be set around 1758 in New York, as well as feature sailing on the Atlantic Ocean. The game would be a direct sequel to Black Flag, and would be the first to feature a Templar as the main protagonist, named Shay. In May 2014, Guillemot stated that Assassin's Creed games would continue releasing on the last generation PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 "for the foreseeable future", despite the franchise moving to the current generation PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with Assassin's Creed Unity. On August 5, Ubisoft announced the game as Assassin's Creed Rogue. It was released in North America on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2014 and in Europe and Australasia on November 13, 2014. It was released on Windows in March 2015. In January 2018, a remastered version was announced for release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2018.
''Assassin's Creed Unity''
The story is set in Paris on the eve of the French Revolution and follows Arno Dorian and his fellow assassins as Dorian attempts to avenge his foster father's death, as well as discover Templar infighting as a result of the Revolution.On March 19, 2014, images leaked for the next game, titled or code-named Unity, showing a new assassin in Paris. On March 21, Ubisoft confirmed the game's existence, having been in development for more than three years, by releasing pre-alpha game footage. The game features up to four player co-op, a first for the series. It was released in North America for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows on November 11, 2014 and in Europe and Australasia on November 13, 2014.
''Assassin's Creed Syndicate''
The plot is set in Victorian era London and follows twin assassins Jacob and Evie Frye as they navigate the corridors of organized crime, and take back the city from Templar control.In December 2014, images and information leaked for a new Assassin's Creed game, titled or code-named Victory, which was later confirmed by Ubisoft. In May 2015, Kotaku leaked that Victory had been renamed Syndicate. On May 12, 2015, the game was officially announced by Ubisoft. The PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One version of the game was released on October 23, 2015, while the Microsoft Windows version was released on November 19, 2015.
''Assassin's Creed Origins''
The story is set in Ptolemaic Egypt and follows a Medjay named Bayek, whose fight to protect his people, leads him to create the Secret Order the Assassins, with the game exploring the origin of their conflict with the Knights of Templar, serving as a prequel to the entire series.In February 2016, Ubisoft announced they would not be releasing a new game in 2016 in order to step "back and the Assassin's Creed franchise... year to evolve the game mechanics and to make sure we're delivering on the promise of Assassin's Creed offering unique and memorable gameplay experiences". On the decision, Guillemot said that "Ubisoft started to question the annualized franchise with the release of Assassin's Creed Unity, and the fact that Assassin's Creed Syndicate had "a slower launch than expected". Guillemot added that "by moving away from the annual iterations of the franchise, it will give the Assassin's Creed teams more time to take advantage of new engines and technology". Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flags director Ashraf Ismail, commented on an interview that he and the team would be interested in doing an Assassin's Creed game in an Ancient Egyptian setting, along with reiterating an earlier statement that a female leading character was not an impossibility for the series. In May 2017, Ubisoft confirmed the development of Assassin's Creed Origins. It was announced to be set in the Ptolemaic Egypt in June 2017. The game was released worldwide on October 27, 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows.
''Assassin's Creed Odyssey''
The game takes place during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, at the height of Classical Greece. Players choose between two playable protagonists; Alexios and Kassandra, and embark on a quest to discover mysteries surrounding their family, as well as to undermine a proto-Templar organization; the Cult of Kosmos.Assassin's Creed Odyssey was leaked in May 2018 by a picture posted by the French website Jeuxvideo, and it announced at E3 2018. The game was released on October 5, 2018 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
''Assassin's Creed Valhalla''
Assassin's Creed Valhalla will be the next title of the series, announced in April 2020. The game will be based on a Norse setting and involve Vikings. Ubisoft Montreal is leading its development along with fourteen other Ubisoft studios. The title had been leaked earlier in April 2019 under the name Assassin's Creed Kingdom.Other games
''Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles''
is sent on a mission from the Order of Assassins to retrieve a Chalice from the grasps of both the Crusaders and the Saracens. Altaïr quests to find three different magic keys and travels to Jerusalem to face the head of the Knights Templar, Basilisk. Upon arriving, he learns that the Chalice is not an object, but a woman named Adha who reveals that Altaïr has been deceived by an assassin named Harash, who is a double-agent for the Templars. After killing both Harash and Basilisk, Altaïr attempts to save a kidnapped Adha from captivity but is too late. The game ends with a captured Adha sailing away and Altaïr left in the holy land.''Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines''
Altaïr has traveled to Cyprus from the Holy Land in order to assassinate the last remnants of the Templars. Here Altaïr again meets Maria and they travel together to kill the remaining Templars and learn more about the "Apple of Eden" and the mysterious Templar Archive where more of the artifacts are believed to be hidden. Altaïr manages to kill the new Templar Grand Master, Armand Bouchart, and his followers, but the Archive's contents are discovered to have already been taken from Cyprus.''Assassin's Creed II: Discovery''
After losing the Apple of Eden to Girolamo Savonarola, Ezio is told to meet Antonio, his fellow Assassin. When doing so, Ezio finds Antonio with Luis de Santángel, who asks Ezio to rescue his friend Christoffa Corombo from a presumed Templar trap set up by Rodrigo Borgia. Ezio rescues Christoffa from this trap, and is informed that Assassins in Spain are captured and executed by Tomás de Torquemada. Ezio, who feels that it is his duty to rescue the Assassins, sets out for Spain to fight back against the Spanish Inquisition. Along the way, Ezio finds out that Torquemada was ordered to commit these actions by Borgia, who leads Torquemada to believe that God desired it so. Ezio finds out that his close allies, Luis Santangel and Raphael Sanchez, are in fact Assassins themselves. When finally confronting Torquemada, Ezio chooses not to kill him thinking that Torquemada is merely misled by Borgia and not a Templar himself. Ezio returns to Italy to continue his search for the Apple of Eden.''Assassin's Creed Rearmed''
Assassin's Creed Rearmed is a multiplayer video game designed for iOS, and available for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. It is the only Assassin's Creed multiplayer driven by an in-game economy. The aim is to assassinate the assigned target and avoid being killed by a hunter. The player can purchase additional items, characters and abilities as well as compete with friends and foes from around the globe in a four player real-time online multiplayer mode. Players can connect via Game Center. It is possible to play against someone in the immediate area via Bluetooth. Available map locations include Jerusalem, San Donato, Venice and Alhambra.''Assassin's Creed Recollection''
Assassin's Creed Recollection is a real-time board game developed for iOS. Players go head-to-head in real-time political battles with characters from the franchise. Players can unlock a collection of artwork from the series. The game features over 280 Memories, reconnecting with characters from Assassin's Creed II and . The single-player Story Mode has 10+ hours of gameplay, with 20 missions taking place from Barcelona to Constantinople and 10 challenge missions. In Versus Mode, players can challenge their friends and people from around the world, pitting their strategies and abilities against one another. The game supports Game Center, allowing players to track achievements, challenge friends, and play against the world over. Go behinds the scenes with the Art Gallery, a collection of artwork from the franchise.''Assassin's Creed III: Liberation''
The story follows a Louisiana Creole woman named Aveline. Aveline is the daughter of a French merchant father and an African mother. She is recruited into the Assassin Order by a former slave and fights against slavery as well as the Templars.An original Assassin's Creed title for the PlayStation Vita was announced to be in development during Gamescom 2011, and would feature a new story with new characters. On June 4, 2012 at E3, Liberation was announced. Aveline uses a variety of new weapons in combat, including a machete and a blowpipe for ranged attacks. On September 10, 2013, it was announced that the game would be re-released as Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows via the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade and Steam, respectively, in January 2014.
''Assassin's Creed: Pirates''
Assassin's Creed: Pirates is a mobile game, that was released on iOS and Android devices on December 5, 2013. Developed by Ubisoft Paris, the game follows Captain Alonzo Batilla, who is neither Assassin nor Templar, as he commands a ship and crew, while crossing paths with the Assassins and Templars. Gameplay focuses on real-time battles between ships. The title is in 3D and features both wind and weather that will affect how players proceed.''Assassin's Creed Memories''
Assassin's Creed Memories is a mobile game that was released on iOS devices on August 20, 2014. Developed along with PlayNext and Gree, the game combines card collection and battling, target chasing, and strategy elements, along with the option of competitive multiplayer. Additional multiplayer options include allowing players to join a guild and engage in 20 vs 20 guild combat scenarios. Memories features different historical eras, including the Third Crusade, the Golden Age of Piracy, feudal Japan and the Mongolian Empire.''Assassin's Creed Chronicles''
Assassin's Creed Chronicles is an episodic 2.5D action game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Xbox One. The first episode is available with the purchase of Assassin's Creed Unitys DLC season pass and features Shao Jun in 16th century China. The second entry, India, was released on January 12, 2016 on the same platforms, and the last entry, Russia, was released on February 9, 2016.''Assassin's Creed Identity''
Assassin's Creed Identity is a game for iOS and Android devices that was released worldwide on February 25, 2016. It is a 3D third-person role-playing video game. It had a soft-launch in Australia and New Zealand in 2014.''Assassin's Creed Rebellion''
Assassin's Creed Rebellion is a game for iOS and Android devices that was released worldwide on November 21, 2018. It is a free-to-play strategy role-playing video game. It follows the Spanish Assassins under Aguilar de Nerha during the Spanish Inquisition.The game features Assassins such as Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Shao Jun, Claudia Auditore, and Niccolò Machiavelli, along with more than 30 new characters to unlock created for Rebellion.
Collections
''Assassin's Creed: Heritage Collection''
Assassin's Creed: Heritage Collection collects the first five games of the main series into one collection, featuring Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Assassin's Creed III. Released on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 8, 2013.''Assassin's Creed: The Americas Collection / The American Saga''
Assassin's Creed: The Americas Collection, developed by Ubisoft Montreal, features Assassin's Creed III, Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The collection was released on October 3, 2014 in Europe and October 28, 2014 in North America. The PC version was only released in Europe.''Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection''
Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection, developed by Virtuos and Ubisoft Montreal, features remastered versions of Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Revelations single-player modes, using the Anvil engine, for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The games feature improved graphics, lighting, effects and textures, and also include all previously released downloadable content for the single-player. In addition, the bundle features the short [|films] ' and '. The collection was released on November 15, 2016 to mixed reviews, being generally criticized for its minimal graphical enhancements, the dated gameplay, and the capped 30 frames per second.''Assassin's Creed: Rebel Collection''
Assassin's Creed: Rebel Collection, which contains remastered versions of the Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Assassin's Creed Rogue, released on December 6, 2019 for the Nintendo Switch.Cancelled and defunct games
''Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy''
Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy was a single-player browser-based role-playing video game Facebook application, designed as a promotion, and tie-in for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. The game is mostly text-based, but includes graphics and sound as well as some video. The game was shut down and put on an indefinite hold.''Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy''
Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy is a cancelled game, formerly in development by Ubisoft, for the Nintendo 3DS. Sections of the game's plot and premise later became the foundation for Assassin's Creed: Revelations. The story would find Ezio Auditore da Firenze traveling east to the Assassins' former stronghold in Masyaf, where he would have discovered the origins of the Assassin Order; with possible connections to Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's story from the first Assassin's Creed. At some point, Ezio would have traveled to Constantinople, although earlier than he ultimately does in Assassin's Creed: Revelations.''Assassin's Creed: Utopia''
Assassin's Creed: Utopia is a cancelled mobile game which was planned to be available on Android and iOS devices. The game's story would have led into Assassin's Creed III, though there would have been no links in terms of gameplay.Utopia would have taken place in the 17th century, at the beginning of the colonization of North America. Gameplay would have spanned 150 years of history, to help players "discover how the Assassins influenced history and helped shape the nation's original thirteen colonies". The gameplay involved building a colonial city, and was planned to have more of a "social slant" than any of the earlier games. The Assassins of each colony would have taken on their enemies in "limited time epic battles", and players would have been able to pit their strength against friends in asynchronous 3D brawls.
Future
Asked about the future of the series in 2009, Sébastien Puel from Ubisoft said that "we could do 35 of these ", while Laurent Detoc from Ubisoft later said "we hope to reach Assassin's Creed 10".In November 2011, a Ubisoft survey was sent out, asking participants which locations and time periods they would like to see in the "next Assassin's Creed games". These settings were Medieval China, Victorian England, Ancient Egypt, the Portuguese and/or Spanish Invasion of the Americas, the American Revolution, the Russian Revolution, Feudal Japan, and Ancient Rome. Alex Hutchinson, creative director of Assassin's Creed III, suggested the most requested Assassin's Creed settings, World War II, Feudal Japan and Ancient Egypt, are "the three worst settings for an Assassin's Creed game". However, Hutchinson stated both he and Corey May were open to the idea of a future entry set during the time of the British Raj, which now consists of the modern states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Victorian England, the American Revolution, Medieval China, parts of the British Raj, the Russian Revolution, and Ancient Egypt were subsequently used for Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Assassin's Creed III, Assassin's Creed Chronicles, and Assassin's Creed Origins, respectively, with World War I appearing as a section of Syndicate, and World War II as an easter egg in Unity.
In June 2013, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated on the development cycle of the games, saying, "We are making sure the teams who are creating the different iterations have enough time—two years, three years, so that they can take risk and they can change the concept enough so that it can be appealing and fresh." The following August, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flags director Ashraf Ismail said that the ending of the franchise had been written, saying "We have an idea of where the end is, what the end is. But of course Yves announced we are a yearly title, we ship one game a year. So depending on the setting, depending on what fans want, we've given ourselves room to fit more in this arc. But there is an end."
In other media
Ubisoft expanded the Assassin's Creed franchise to other media, including films, [|comic books] and novels.Other video games
Elements of Assassin's Creed have been introduced as content into other Ubisoft games and those from third parties.Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag introduces the character of Olivier Garneau, as the CEO of video game company Abstergo Entertainment. During the game's plot, Garneau goes to Chicago, the setting of Ubisoft's game Watch Dogs. In the latter video game, Garneau is the subject of a side mission that sees playable protagonist Aiden Pearce saving him from being kidnapped, it is implied that by the Assassin's Brotherhood. Additionally, two characters in the game are seen playing Assassin's Creed II. Ubisoft has described those appearances as small Easter eggs, and has neither confirmed nor denied a shared continuity between both franchises. Assassin's Creed Origins mentions the news about Garneau's incident in Chicago, along with a picture of Aiden Pearce killing Garneau.
In the 2009 Wii game ', Altaïr appears as a playable character along with other Ubisoft characters. In the 2012 game Soulcalibur V, Ezio appears as a playable fighter and is featured on the box art.
Sackboy, the player character from LittleBigPlanet and its sequel, can be costumed as Ezio. In ' there is an unlockable outfit through Uplay. In Prince of Persia, Altaïr's costume can be unlocked with a code obtained by pre-ordering the game. Final Fantasy XIII-2 has a costume of Ezio from Assassin's Creed: Revelations as an optional costume option as downloadable content. In PC/Mac versions of Team Fortress 2, two promotional items were introduced in 2011 months before Assassin's Creed: Revelations release. These were both for the class Spy, the first item being the iconic hidden blade, the second a hood based on the one Ezio wore in Revelations.
In ', the outfit of Altaïr is available as an unlockable, though, originally, it was only an April Fools joke by Hideo Kojima. Kojima later repaid the favor, by letting Ubisoft borrow the outfit of the Metal Gear Solid character Raiden as an unlockable in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. In , the player can jump into a bale of hay from a rooftop and use it to attract and subdue enemies. The Assassin order is referenced by a character.
In downloadable contents, Ubisoft collaborated with Square Enix to hold a limited-time Assassin's Creed-themed festival event crossover into the Final Fantasy XV on consoles under the title Assassin's Festival, starting August 31, 2017 until January 31, 2018. The DLC featuring gameplay elements from the Assassin's Creed game series, new additional quests, mini-games, and exclusive items from Assassin's Creed series. In January 2020, Nintendo announced and released a Mii Fighter costume based on the first game's protagonist, Altaïr, as downloadable content in the crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate''.
Television
In November 2016, it was announced that Ubisoft and Netflix started talks regarding how to develop an Assassin's Creed series. In July 2017, Adi Shankar revealed he would be creating the series, which would be in the anime format. The series, which will feature an original story from Shankar, will share the same universe as the other media of the franchise.Films
Theatrical
A live-action film, Assassin's Creed, set in the same universe as the video games and other media, was released on December 21, 2016 to negative reviews. Development for the film began in October 2011, when Sony Pictures entered final negotiations with Ubisoft Motion Pictures to make the film. In July 2012, Michael Fassbender was announced to star in the film, as well as co-produce the film. His role was revealed in August 2015 as Callum Lynch, whose ancestor Aguilar, is an assassin from 15th-century Spain. In October 2012, Ubisoft revealed the film would no longer be produced by Sony Pictures, instead co-produced with New Regency and distributed by 20th Century Fox. In January 2013, Michael Lesslie was hired to write the film, with Scott Frank, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage performing rewrites to the script. By the end of April 2014, Justin Kurzel was in talks to direct. Principal photography began on August 31, 2015, and ended on January 15, 2016. Released on December 21, 2016, the film was poorly received by critics and performed poorly at the box office, losing an estimated $75 to $100 million and becoming one of the biggest box office bombs of 2016.Short films
''Assassin's Creed: Lineage''
Assassin's Creed: Lineage is a 36-minute film serving as a prequel to Assassin's Creed II. The film, released in three parts on YouTube, promoted the game and is the first attempt for Ubisoft to make its first step in the film industry. It is about the story of Giovanni Auditore, Ezio's father, who investigates the mysterious assassination of Duke of Milan Galeazzo Maria Sforza and first learns about Rodrigo Borgia's conspiracy.''Assassin's Creed: Ascendance''
Originally named Secret Project Number Three, Ascendance is an animated short by UbiWorkshop and Ubisoft Montreal, which bridges the gap between Assassin's Creed II and . It tells the backstory of Cesare Borgia's rise to power. The animated short was revealed by UbiWorkshop on November 10, 2010. It was released on November 16, 2010 for Xbox Live, PlayStation Store and iTunes Store. The short story takes place in the middle of the events of Brotherhood as Ezio Auditore sits and gathers information about Cesare Borgia, from a hooded man who is later revealed to be Leonardo da Vinci.''Assassin's Creed: Embers''
The short film follows an elderly Ezio, living a peaceful life in the Tuscan countryside with his wife Sofia and his children Flavia and Marcello and writing his memoirs. One day a stranger appears, a Chinese female Assassin called Shao Jun, who came to Ezio in order to seek knowledge of his life as an Assassin. Although Ezio prefers that Jun not stay, due to his desire to leave his days as an Assassin behind, Sofia allows her to stay for the night. The next day, Ezio catches Jun reading his memoirs and bids her to leave, but relents after she asks him about what it means to be an Assassin. While on a trip to Firenze, Ezio recounts his story of how his father and brothers were executed in the town square, forcing him to become an Assassin, and how such a life is defined by the pain it brings and causes. As they leave, the two are attacked by a stranger, who appears to be of Asian origin as well. After killing him, Jun reveals that she was a former concubine, now on the run from servants of the Chinese Zhengde Emperor, and explains how her former master rescued her from his influence. After returning to his home, Ezio tells Sofia and his children to leave, knowing that others would come. He then teaches Jun the key to liberating her people from the Emperor's influence. Later that night, Ezio's villa is attacked by more of Shao Jun's enemies, and after a fight, he successfully eliminates them all. The next morning, Ezio hands Shao Jun a small box and tells her it may come to use one day, but only if "you lose your way". He then sends her away as two riders appear at the villa. Sometime afterward Ezio journeys to Firenze with his wife Sofia and their daughter Flavia, despite suffering from heart problems. While resting on a bench and after having a short conversation with a young man with a scar on his face, similar to the sort of man he used to be, he exhales and dies in view of his family. The film then ends as a final letter from Ezio to Sofia is read, saying that of all the things that kept him going throughout life, love for the world around him was the strongest of them all.Comics
''Assassin's Creed: Graphic Novel''
In the limited edition of Assassin's Creed, an 8-page graphic novel was included, that showed two side-stories of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Desmond Miles. The story serves as a prelude to the first Assassin's Creed game and is narrated simultaneously by both characters. In it, the novel covers Desmond's escape from Abstergo in the year 2012 and also one of Altaïr's assassination missions in the year 1191. The start of the novel involves the introduction of the two characters with Altaïr calling himself a hunter, while Desmond is a prisoner. Although initially they describe themselves otherwise, by the end of the novel they both re-introduce themselves as assassins.''Assassin's Creed Volume 1: Desmond''
Assassin's Creed Volume 1: Desmond is a French-language graphic novel written by Eric Corbeyran and drawn by Djilalli Defaux. It has been released in France, Canada, Belgium, Poland and Italy. The comic book was published on November 13, 2009, a few days before Assassin's Creed II was released. The story is a retelling of events from Assassin's Creed and the beginning of Assassin's Creed II, mostly from Desmond's modern perspective; for example it is revealed that Lucy helped the Templars to kidnap Desmond. It also features Subject 16 and a Roman assassin named Aquilus. However, events in the comic book are different from what happens in the game. It is said that Subject 16 is alive but trapped in the animus, a virtual reality simulator used to relive memories of ancient relatives, but there's no mention of Shaun or Rebecca.''Assassin's Creed, Volume 2: Aquilus''
Assassin's Creed Volume 2: Aquilus is a French-language graphic novel written by Eric Corbeyran and drawn by Djilalli Defaux. The story opens with a young Desmond recalling his conversation with his father. He wakes up and has a conversation with Lucy. After meeting Rebecca, Shaun and other assassins, they get into a truck and drive to Monteriggioni. In the meantime, Desmond relives memories of Aquilus through the animus after his apparent death in the first volume. The Roman assassin is rescued by his cousin, Accipiter, and is tasked with a quest to save Lugdunum. He meets with his father and discovers an artifact of the first civilization: an ankh which can temporarily revive the dead. The mysterious object is then stolen by a Templar senator, Vultur, who kills Aquilus' father. The modern day story continues as Assassins fight Abstergo agents when they're ambushed on the road. Later, it is revealed that there's a traitor among in the Assassins' truck, and Desmond deals with the situation. The group finally arrives in Monteriggioni and at the end, it is hinted that the ankh artifact might be hidden within the town's walls.''Assassin's Creed, Volume 3: Accipiter''
Jonathan Hawk was sent by a suited executive and a lab technician to relive Accipiter's memories. He was sent to 259 CE, when Accipiter's Alamans were crossing the Rodanus into Genava and Aube to face the Roman forces at Oppidum. The battle raged bloodily and long, but Accipiter's forces were eventually victorious. Accipiter was met by the Iberian Assassin Cuervo after the battle, the latter coming to congratulate the Alamans on their victory and to discuss the future.''Assassin's Creed, Volume 4: Hawk''
Assassin's Creed, Volume 4: Hawk is the fourth volume of the French graphic novels. It is centered on the story of Jonathan Hawk and his Egyptian ancestor Numa Al'Khamsin, a member of the Assassins in the 14th century. It was released on November 16, 2012.''Assassin's Creed, Volume 5: El Cakr''
Assassin's Creed, Volume 5: El Cakr is the fifth volume of the French graphic novels. It is centered on the story of Jonathan Hawk and his Egyptian ancestor Numa Al'Khamsin, also known as "El Cakr". It was released on October 31, 2013.''Assassin's Creed, Volume 6: Leila''
Assassin's Creed, Volume 6: Leila is the sixth volume of the French graphic novels. It is centered on the story of Jonathan Hawk and his Egyptian ancestor Numa Al'Khamsin, also known as "El Cakr". It is the last of the Egyptian storyline. It was released on October 31, 2014.''Assassin's Creed: Conspiracies''
Assassin's Creed: Conspiracies is a two-part story published in French by Les Deux Royaumes. Following the end of the first cycle by Corbeyran and Defali, this new story is written by Guillaume Dorison and illustrated by Jean-Baptiste Hostache. The first of the two volumes saw a release in October 2016. Conspiracies is set during World War II, featuring the race for the Atomic Bomb, follows a new Assassin hero who influences the course of history in 1943.''Assassin's Creed: Bloodstone''
Assassin's Creed: Bloodstone is a two-part graphic novel series published in French by Les Deux Royaumes, written by Guillaume Dorison and illustrated by Ennio Bufi. The first volume was released on 29 March 2019. The modern day story follows on from Assassin's Creed: Conspiracies.''Assassin's Creed: The Fall''
In July 2010, Ubisoft announced a three-part comic book mini-series set in the world of Assassin's Creed as a part of their UbiWorkshop initiative. Ubisoft has hired illustrators Cameron Stewart and Karl Kerschl, both winners of multiple comic book awards. The first issue of the series was released on November 10, 2010, the second part on December 1, 2010. It was published by WildStorm. The comic takes place between 1888 and 1908 in Russia and 1998 set in the United States. It follows Nikolai Orelov and his descendant Daniel Cross, a recovering alcoholic experiencing the bleeding effect in a therapist's office.''Assassin's Creed: The Chain''
The Chain is a sequel comic to The Fall that completes Nikolai Orelov's story as well as focusing on his descendant, Daniel Cross. The comic will also provide some light on the events of Assassin's Creed III. It was released in mid-2012.''Assassin's Creed: Brahman''
Brahman is set in 19th century India, and introduced the Assassin Arbaaz Mir. It was written by Brendan Fletcher with art by Cameron Stewart and Karl Kerschl. It was released in late-2013 in North America.''Assassin's Creed: Assassins''
Assassin's Creed: Assassins is a comic series published by Titan Comics. While it was an ongoing series it had a planned duration of at least three years, the first issue was released in October 2015. However, in 2016, Titan announced that after its fourteenth issue, Assassins along with its companion series, Templars, would be relaunched with a different creative team as a new title: Assassin's Creed: Uprising. The first story arc takes place in the late 17th century, during the Salem witch trials, with the parallel modern-day part featuring an espionage tale. The five issues were later collected and published as trade paperback, Assassin's Creed Volume 1: Trial by Fire. The second story arc takes place during the Inca Empire in the past, running parallel with the modern day story featuring Erudito. It was later published as Assassin's Creed Volume 2: Setting Sun. The third story arc takes place in Florence during the early 16th century, running parallel with a modern day story again featuring Erudito. It was later published as Assassin's Creed Volume 3: Homecoming.''Assassin's Creed: Templars''
Assassin's Creed: Templars was a comic book series from Titan Comics. Written by Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Dennis Calero, the series debuted its first issue in March 2016. The first arc of the series focuses on the Templar Order, with its modern day story set in November 2013 while the historical story takes place in Shanghai in the year 1927 featuring a Templar known as Black Cross. The second and final arc has its modern day story set in 2016, following Juhani Otso Berg and Albert Bolden living through his descendants memories in 1805 using the Animus. In October 2016, Titan announced that after its ninth issue, Templars, alongside its sister-series, Assassins, would be relaunched with a new creative team as Assassin's Creed: Uprising.''Assassin's Creed: Uprising''
Assassin's Creed: Uprising is a comic book series published by Titan Comics. The comic is written by Dan Watters and Alex Paknadel and illustrated by José Holder with the first issue released in February 2017. It concludes the story arc started in Assassin's Creed Unity.''Assassin's Creed: Awakening''
Assassin's Creed: Awakening was a manga adaptation of in 2013.Novels
''Assassin's Creed: Renaissance''
Assassin's Creed: Renaissance is a novel based on the Assassin's Creed series written by Oliver Bowden and published by Penguin Books. It is a novelised version of the game Assassin's Creed II; however, rather than spanning a vast period of time, it is set only in the 15th century with no mention of the series' present-day events.''Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood''
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a continuation of the Assassin's Creed series written by Oliver Bowden and published by Penguin Books. It is a novelized version of the game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood just like its previous book. It does not contain any of the game's present-day events including Desmond, only a reference to a "phantom" by Ezio. Unlike the events of the game which start in 1499, this version of the story starts in 1503.''Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade''
Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade is the third Assassin's Creed book by Oliver Bowden and published by Penguin Books. The story is told by Niccolò Polo, father of Marco Polo, and is about the life of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. It was released on June 20, 2011.''Assassin's Creed: Revelations''
Assassin's Creed: Revelations is the fourth novel in the continuation of the Assassin's Creed series written by Oliver Bowden and published by Penguin Books. The novel release date is November 24, 2011 for the United Kingdom and November 29, 2011 for the North America. Like the previous novels of Renaissance and Brotherhood, it is a novelised version of the game Assassin's Creed: Revelations. Additionally like the prior novels, it does not contain any of the game's present-day events including Desmond. Like the game, Ezio Auditore must leave his life behind in search of answers, in search of the truth. In Assassin's Creed: Revelations, master assassin Ezio Auditore walks in the footsteps of the legendary mentor Altair, on a journey of discovery and revelation. It is a perilous path—one that will take Ezio to Constantinople, the heart of the Ottoman Empire, where a growing army of Templars threatens to destabilise the region.''Assassin's Creed: Forsaken''
Assassin's Creed: Forsaken is a continuation of the Assassin's Creed series written by Oliver Bowden. It covers the life of Haytham Kenway during his years before and during the events of Assassin's Creed III.''Assassin's Creed: Black Flag''
Assassin's Creed: Black Flag is a continuation of the Assassin's Creed series written by Oliver Bowden. The novel chronicles the events of the game with the same name. It was released on November 7, 2013.''Assassin's Creed: Unity''
Assassin's Creed: Unity is a continuation of the Assassin's Creed series written by Oliver Bowden. The novel focuses on the events of the game from Elise's and Arno's perspectives. It was released on November 20, 2014.''Assassin's Creed: Underworld''
Assassin's Creed Underworld unveils the story of Master Assassin Henry Green/Jayadeep Mir, the son of Indian Master Assassin Arbaaz Mir and his wife Pyara Kaur, six years before the events depicted in .''Assassin's Creed: Desert Oath''
Assassin's Creed: Desert Oath is an account of Bayek's early years. The book is a prequel to Assassin's Creed: Origins game and revolves around how a young Bayek follows in his father, Sabu's footsteps to become a Medjay and more. The book further explains why the Order wants Medjay bloodline erased.Board games
A board game, Assassin's Creed: Arena, was launched on February 26, 2014. On it appeared typical characters of , like Shahkulu, Anacletos, Odai Dunqas and Oksana Razin.On September 17, 2018 it was announced by Triton Noir the launch of a new board game called Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice. It will take place in 1509 with Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Leonardo da Vinci, and Lucrezia Borgia; but it also include new characters like Alessandra. It was developed by Thibaud de la Touanne, it will have more than 20 hours of play, and it will be released in November.
''Assassin's Creed: Encyclopedia''
released an encyclopedia of the Assassin's Creed series in 2011. Initially intended as an art book, the project gathered so much material that the company decided to expand it into an encyclopedia. It features works of artists, such as Craig Mullins, Tavis Coburn, 123Klan, Gabz and James NG. Artists were given creative freedom, as they were able to create a unique Assassin from the period of their choosing. The art book contains a "carte blanche" section, which is going to contain fan-submitted artwork.In November 2012, to coincide with the release of Assassin's Creed III, UbiWorkshop released a second edition of the encyclopedia. This Edition contained an additional 120 pages of content, covering both Assassin's Creed III and Assassin's Creed: The Chain, as well as revised content based on feedback.
The Third Edition of the Assassin's Creed: Encyclopedia is an updated hardcover edition incorporating information of characters and events from Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Assassin's Creed: Brahman along with new artwork and concept art. It was released worldwide on November 11, 2013 and includes 390 pages of new content and a revised version of the second edition, which is also available to purchase from UbiWorkshop.