Ranking the 10 Assassin’s Creed games in order

With Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate being released Q4 of this year we decided to take a look back at the previous games in the series and rank them according to awesomeness. I think we all know what the bottom of the list is going to be, but the top was more difficult than we expected.

Criteria: Must be in the main series so mobile games are out. One portable gaming system title, Liberation, was included because it came to consoles later and was significant. Freedom Cry was also included despite being considered downloadable content for Black Flag due to its ability to pass as a standalone.

10. Unity

This is the game that mucked things up in the worst way. Bugs at release, lame story, sub-par graphics, and a slew of other things killed this one out of the gate. There was virtually no sub-plot dealing with modern day assassins. Let’s hope Syndicate makes up for this abomination.

9. Liberation

The assassin Aveline was a welcome addition to the series. She allowed for a different side of the assassins to be shown. She was classy, beautiful, and deadly. Much like Adewale in Black Flag she was born in to a world of racism, but she made the most of it.

8. Freedom Cry

This was a pretty cool addition to the Black Flag world of Edward Kenway. His quartermaster turned assassin Adewale proved to be a key player in the quest to rid the world of bad men.

7. Rogue

This isn’t higher on the list because the ones coming after this on the list were outstanding. Rogue’s plot began one year after Black Flag and leads in to Unity seamlessly. It continued our role as an Abstergo employee being used to explore memories for the Templars outside of exploring the world of assassins.

6. Assassin’s Creed

This game was outstanding and groundbreaking. It painstakingly recreated cities so it felt like we were really running through places like Acre and Jerusalem. The plot was based on real people, real events, and was just believable enough that it truly felt that something like this was possible. It introduced us to Desmond Miles and Lucy and made us care about the assassins and their creed.

5. Revelations

I love this game. I related more to this Ezio than any other. We were taken inside a mid forties Ezio’s mind and experienced his regrets, pain, and weariness from traveling the world. We were treated to flashbacks of Altair’s life and the tragic events that unfolded after the original game. The emotional ending of this game caused me to tear up.

4. Assassin’s Creed 3

This was also a great game, but it was not without its share of faults. A whiny protagonist, sometimes confusing plot, and only one real assassin to speak of in Achilles. What it did right was introduce sailing, an advanced free running system, and blew our minds with an opening chapter that left us all with our jaws on the ground.

3. Brotherhood

Some will disagree with me about this game, but I felt it was more like Freedom Cry was for Black Flag. It was a continuation of Assassin’s Creed 2 and took place in the city of Rome within the same country as the previous game. It brought us the role of mentor as a playable character and we had assassins to send on missions, upgrade, and bring along in to the fray during skirmishes in the city.

2. Black Flag

This game allowed us to walk off of a beach, get on a ship, and pilot it across the seas with no loading screens. It allowed us to be treasure hunters, a pirate, a captain of a ship, an assassin, and one bad ass melee fighter. Edward was a ladies man who could explore a vast, diverse open world that had many hidden secrets and people to interact with. It broke the chains of previous games and you sometimes felt the heat of the Nassau sunlight. A benchmark game.

1. Assassin’s Creed 2

The best story line. The best main character. The best continuity, and the most we have cared about someone in a video game in a long time. We felt Ezio Auditore’s rage, youthful recklessness, and later his understanding of the Assassin’s Creed. Desmond found out who he really was thanks to this game and we all were introduced to double kills, Carnival in Venice, a deeply immersive atmosphere, and Leonardo da Vinci. This was the game that solidified the series as the juggernaut it is today.

Do you agree with our list?