Assassin’s Creed is the story behind one of Ubisoft’s most profitable brands.
The Assassin’s Creed series, developed by the French studio Ubisoft, is one of the most popular PC and console game series in history. The beginning of the collection dates back to 2007, when the first part came out. Patrice Desile, Jade Raymond and Corey May, the main authors of Assassin’s Creed, were inspired, in particular, by the novel “Alamut” by Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol. The book tells about the sect of murderers, to which the title of the work refers.
The creators of Assassin’s Creed also drew inspiration from the concept of Prince of Persia. This is a cult collection of games depicting events related to the legends of the Middle East. In the past, these games have been appreciated by gamers for more than 3 decades, also due to their innovative approach to animation during character movement. Interesting storylines combined with realistic battle scenes aroused the curiosity of users, thanks to which Prince of Persia has achieved incredible success.
It was supposed to be the new Prince of Persia
The authors of Assassin’s Creed were well aware of what elements influenced the popularity of Prince of Persia. Ubisoft began working on 3D open world titles in 2003. The French company’s specialists wanted games based on the history of the Assassin sect to refer to the good sales results of the old series. That’s why it was planned to use the same strengths, but enrich them with completely new themes and stories.
First, Patrice Desile, the main creator, intended to release Assassin’s Creed as the next part of Prince of Persia. Differing opinions from the owners of Ubisoft led to the fact that in the end it was decided to create a separate brand for the game, dedicated to skilled assassins. The manufacturer launched an advertising campaign that quickly aroused interest. The company, however, failed to meet the considerable demands of the people associated with the game.
This has led to mixed opinions from respected observers. Many critics praised the first part of Assassin’s Creed for an interesting story, punctuated by dynamic fights or silent ambushes. At the same time, according to some experts, there were no elements of surprise in it, since the missions were too repetitive and began to bother after a few hours. Despite the aforementioned shortcoming, the whole story, along with the then impressive graphics, caught the attention of the fans.
Assassin’s Creed Games
The main Assassin’s Creed series consists of 12 titles. All games take place in an open world, and the character is controlled from a third person perspective. In each part of the series, you play the role of a hero whose task is to destroy certain targets. You use the skills of your assassin, who can use weapons, sneak and climb tall buildings. In the course of the story, you explore real and fictional locations, thereby completing various tasks.
Assassin’s Creed
Desmond Miles stars as a member of the first part of Assassin’s Creed. A young bartender from New York is a descendant of famous assassins, so he hides his true identity. He is eventually kidnapped by the Templars of Abstergo Industries and forced to relive his ancestors’ DNA coded memories. A technologically advanced device called the Animus allows Desmond to step into the shoes of Altair ibn La’Ahad.
Altair is the character you move with in the game. The Brotherhood of Assassins demotes you to rookie rank and tasks you with killing 9 enemies. Only by completing the task you have a chance to regain your former status. The situation becomes more complicated when you discover that the director is not on your side. Assassin’s Creed introduces you to the world of the series, where you roam freely through the streets of real cities, including Jerusalem and Damascus. You also meet many historical characters in the story.
Assassin’s Creed 2
In 2009, Assassin’s Creed 2 appears on the market. The second part tells what happens after the end of the first part of Assassin’s Creed. Chronology begins to play an important role for authors. After escaping from Abstergo Industries as Desmond Miles, you play as Ezio Auditore da Firenze. As a young noble from the late 15th century, you train as an assassin to avenge your father and brothers who died at the hands of a corrupt Templar.
For example, the famous humanist Leonardo da Vinci or the aristocrat Caterina Sforza will help you achieve your goal. As you complete each mission, you visit real-life locations such as Venice and Florence. The historical events documented in the archives are the background to the entire story, and the passage of the main and side missions is identical to the previous version of Assassin’s Creed.
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
The next installment in the series is Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, released just a year after Assassin’s Creed 2. In it, you’re still reliving Ezio’s memories while trying to find the Apple of Eden.
As part of a prepared scenario, you work with your allies to free Rome from the influence of the Borgia family. The action takes place mainly in the Italian capital. The game features several new features compared to previous versions. Since 2010, the attention of the gaming community has been focused on the most important of them – the multiplayer mode.
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
At the end of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, your main character Desmond falls into a coma. Clay Kaczmarek inside the Animus machine explains to you that if you don’t fully synchronize your mind with Altair and Ezio, you will fall into dementia.
This part of the cycle has many plot fragments that take place in the 21st century. As Desmond, you set out to save humanity from disaster. In addition, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is a continuation of the successful Brotherhood and is not too different from it.
Assassin’s Creed 3
Ubisoft continues to release new games at a rapid pace, hitting stores year after year.
In 2012, Assassin’s Creed 3 appears with a novelty in the form of naval battles. As Desmond, you and your allies find a New York cave, where you find yourself back in the Animus. In your memoirs from the time of George Washington, you help your friends to prevent the plans of the Templars from realizing. In the breaks from memories, you wake up in the present and look for sources of energy that can prevent a powerful solar flare.
Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag
At the end of Assassin’s Creed 3, Desmond Miles dies trying to save the Earth from disaster.
In the next installment of the series, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, Abstergo Industries takes samples from his body and uses Animus to study his experiences. In Black Flag, you take on the role of Kenway, who is tasked with checking the past of an 18th century pirate. As part of the game, you are trying to complete a mission and unravel a mysterious conspiracy along the way.
Assassin’s Creed: Rogue
After the release of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, many people pointed out inaccuracies in the plot, also related to Assassin’s Creed 3. In 2014, Ubisoft released Assassin’s Creed: Rogue, a part that complements the story presented in previous releases. Rogue is set during the Seven Years’ War in North America and the Atlantic. In terms of animation and other elements, the seventh version of Assassin’s Creed does not contain any major innovations.
Assassin’s Creed: Unity
It’s only been a few months since Rogue launched, and Assassin’s Creed: Unity is already on the market. In this part of the iconic game series, you will travel to Paris, where the French Revolution is taking place. As an assassin named Arno Dorian, you take on all sorts of missions to avenge your father’s death. At the same time, you are trying to find out about the plans of the Templars as a result of the coup. As in previous games, you can freely roam the streets of the city.
Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate
The speed of release of the following games has not decreased. Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate was released in 2015. The plot of the game takes place in London of the Victorian era. Your characters – Jacob and Evie Fry – are twins, trained assassins. As part of the scenario, you move through the world of organized crime in order to gradually weaken the influence of enemies in the capital of England.
Assassin’s Creed Origins
In 2017, the time has come for a prequel to the entire series about what was before all the previous parts. The action takes place in Egypt, and the main character is Bayek, who founded the Secret Order of the Assassins. Assassin’s Creed Origins explores the root causes of the conflict with the Templars. Completing individual missions allows you to better understand the events described in earlier installments of Assassin’s Creed.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Another part of the legendary series of games called Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. In it you can choose between two characters – Alexios and Kassandra. The action takes place during the Peloponnesian War involving Athens and Sparta. Fighting continues on the front lines, and you go on an expedition to uncover family secrets and thwart the plans of organizing a space cult. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey impresses with its realistic graphics and ancient locations.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey received a sequel in November 2020. The plot of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is based on the setting of the Viking environment. The action takes place in the Scandinavian territories within the borders of Norway in the 9th century. In this part, you take on the role of Eivor, the leader of the Vikings from the Raven clan. Your mission is to defeat the enemies of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has an extensive hero clothing and equipment mechanism. In addition, the game requires the ability to imperceptibly approach the target.
Assassin’s Creed spin-offs
The main Assassin’s Creed series isn’t everything, as several spin-offs have been created based on it over the past ten years. They are not as popular as the previously described releases, but are a real treat for fans of the entire series. The stories told in the spin-offs are mostly based on scenarios from the base versions of Assassin’s Creed. The style of the campaign itself and the methods of completing individual missions look very similar.
Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles
One of the first spin-offs to hit the market is Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles for smartphones. Ubisoft created it, riding the wave of success of the first part of the Assassin’s Creed collection. In the game, you again play as Altair and try to kill the head of the Templars on behalf of the Assassin Order. The action takes place in Jerusalem, where you complete the main and side quests using the open virtual space of the Holy Land.
Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines
The next spin-off is a continuation of the first, developed exclusively for the PlayStation Portable. In Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines you move Altair again, but this time you are heading to Cyprus. There you want to kill the rest of the enemies, and Maria will help you. Over time, the story reveals the secrets of the Apple of Eden and the Templar Archives hiding important artifacts. In addition, you are participating in the fight against the Grand Master.
Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation
Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation was released in 2012 and is compatible with the PlayStation Vita portable console. In it you control a character named Aveline de Grandpre. As a young woman, you join the Order of the Assassins and begin the fight against slavery. Liberation has introduced several new items for players, as well as new types of weapons. The piece is not very popular with the average consumer due to its slightly less extensive history.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, India and Russia
In addition to the typical spin-offs, not much different from the production of the main Assassin’s Creed series, there are also very interesting versions that take place in sequence in China, India and Russia. Three games make up one trilogy.
Assassin’s Creed Rebellion
Assassin’s Creed Rebellion is of great interest to fans of entertainment on smartphones. This part of the cycle is prepared for owners of mobile phones with Android or iOS. This is a free strategy game set during the Spanish Inquisition. The storyline of Rebellion is similar to the PC and console versions of Assassin’s Creed.
Movies
Games are the main element associated with the Assassin’s Creed series. Based on the story of the game, the 2016 film tries to build on the long tradition of Assassin’s Creed in the movies as well. The American-French production is based on events from the entire Ubisoft studio collection, but makes a few changes. The vast majority of the scenes take place in the present, which is the most noticeable difference.
Michael Fassbender plays the protagonist of the film adaptation of Assassin’s Creed named Callum Lynch. The Knights Templar kidnap Lynch to Madrid where Abstergo Industries is headquartered. There, they place him in the Animus to extract from the DNA code the memories of his ancestor Aguilar, who lived in 15th century Spain. Members of the Order suspect that Aguilar may have known the location of a powerful artifact that controlled humanity as a result of the destruction of the principle of freedom and will.
The film caused mixed feelings from critics, who after the premiere rated it as a work of average quality. Reviewers point out that placing most of the action in a futuristic laboratory instead of the Spanish Inquisition proved to be a serious mistake. According to a large group of commentators, the work of director Justin Kurzel, due to the aforementioned step, does not fully reflect the atmosphere of the Assassin’s Creed series, but only treats it rather reservedly.
Books
The popularity of Ubisoft’s iconic series has led to the writing of literary works based on the Assassin’s Creed universe. The books by Oliver Bowden, Christy Golden, Matthew Kirby and Gordon Doherty are a collection of novels depicting various stories based on the conflict between the Assassin Order and the Templars.
In total, about a dozen materials were released, containing elements in their texts that are well known to fans of the Assassin’s Creed collection. The readings mention many situations known from Ubisoft’s computer products, although the writers have enriched each part with additional threads.
Why should you play Assassin’s Creed?
Many people doubt whether it is worth spending money on games from the Assassin’s Creed collection. Perhaps you, too, are worried that spending time in front of a computer or console and playing the role of an assassin is a waste of time. However, Assassin’s Creed games have a big advantage that benefits you by completing pre-made missions. We are talking about real places and historical figures present in different parts of Assassin’s Creed.
Virtual locations modeled after real locations are extremely valuable in the case of Assassin’s Creed. The Italian cities of the Borgias, Athens and Sparta of the Peloponnesian War, London of the Victorian era and Paris of the French Revolution look amazing, faithfully reproducing the appearance of famous streets and buildings. If you are looking for interesting games, then Assassin’s Creed should meet your expectations. Interesting stories based on documented facts serve as an excellent introduction to the study of the causes and consequences of various armed conflicts.
