What's Your Favorite Assassin's Creed Game?
COMMUNITY QUESTION | Assassin's Creed Valhalla is coming later this year, so let's look back on our favorites of the series.
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Earlier this week, Ubisoft revealed its tentpole release for this coming holiday season: a new Assassin's Creed. After last year skipped a new release, it comes as a highly anticipated addition to the action-RPG series.
This installment is set during Viking times, and thanks to recent interviews with other publications, we know quite a bit about it already—even if all we've seen of it really is a cinematic trailer. For this week's Community Question, we thought it'd be fun to look back on Ubisoft's historical playgrounds. So tell us in the comments: What's your favorite Assassin's Creed game?
Mike Williams, Reviews Editor
As soon as this question was brought up in the USgamer Slack, my soul retreated into my body. Surely, I wouldn't have to choose my favorite. I love nearly every Assassin's Creed in its own way. Sure, some may falter like Assassin's Creed Unity or Assassin's Creed 3, but I still have enjoyed each and every journey. Even the Chronicles games. (Okay, maybe not Altiar's Chronicles and Discovery.)
The truth is, I consider Assassin's Creed to fit within three eras. There's the first entry, which is a much slower, more methodical style of play. There's the games from Assassin's Creed 2 and onward, which are generally more action-heavy than the first game. And then there's the current RPG-style entries, which began with Assassin's Creed Origins.
Probably somewhere in the center of the latter eras is Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, which is probably the easier answer to this question. It's got the extensive seabound exploration that is currently key to the series, but it's also firmly in the style of previous entries. But that discounts the fact that both Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed Origins are excellent titles as well. Ezio, Edward, and Bayek are all great characters too! AGHHH. Put me down for Black Flag, under protest.
Eric Van Allen, News Editor
This question won't be harder for anyone than it is for Reviews and Assassin's Creed Editor Mike Williams, but my relationship with the stealth-turned-action series has been a winding one. I adored Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood, while Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag's addition of (good) ship combat and even more action was a welcome revelation. Unlike, you know, Revelations.
I'm honestly a little torn between Origins and Odyssey for my favorite, though. I really like the new style of Assassin's Creed—stealth is still totally possible, but the fighting feels fluid and the worlds are huge and fun to explore. Origins had my favorite story of any Assassin's Creed, whereas Odyssey is my favorite world to just live in and be an assassin in. I think Bayek and Aya get the win over Kassandra, but only by a hair.
Mathew Olson, Reporter
Of the ones I've played (it's been a while, sorry Ubisoft), Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is probably the one I enjoyed the most, start-to-finish. It took the good parts of Assassin's Creed 2 and hacked away at some of the holdovers from the original that made the first two entries a slog. Thank goodness it made the combat into something more than a counter-attack waiting game.
Now granted, in the long run, I don't know how smart making Brotherhood was for the series. Keeping Ezio for a second game allowed for some more investment in the character, but I think he definitely overstayed his welcome by the end of Revelations. Still, when I think "fun Assassin's Creed," my mind goes right to Brotherhood even a decade later. Third try's the charm.
Nadia Oxford, Staff Writer
Caty McCarthy, Senior Editor
This is an easy answer for me. It's the first and only Assassin's Creed to really hook me: Assassin's Creed Origins. I dabbled in the series before Origins, but I mostly found them to be pretty boring, despite all having really fascinating settings. Origins turned out to be the exception though, with how it revitalized the series in making it a compelling RPG and had a legit excellent story. I loved exploring Egypt with Bayek and Aya. The new Assassin's Creed Valhalla coming from the same core team has me hopeful, considering how messy and overstuffed Assassin's Creed Odyssey was.