Assassin's Creed

Development history

While the games in the series have had several narrative arcs, Ubisoft views the series as currently having three periods of development and design philosophy. Until 2015's Assassin's Creed Syndicate, the franchise was structured around single-player content, and while centering on open world spaces and incorporating several role-playing elements, the games were more action-adventure and stealth-oriented. Period two, covering from Assassin's Creed Origins to Assassin's Creed Mirage, brought in more role-playing elements and live-service features to increase player engagement. Period three launched with Assassin's Creed Shadows, using lessons from the second period of development to make engrossing single-player games similar to the original titles, but with features to allow players to share achievements and content with others through a new Animus Hub system.

Period one

The first Assassin's Creed game originated out of ideas for a sequel for Ubisoft's video game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, aiming for the seventh generation of video game consoles. The Ubisoft Montreal team decided to take 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 and instead have him work for it. Combined with research into secret societies, they ultimately chose to focus on the Order of Assassins, based upon the historical Hashashin sect of Ismaili, who were followers of Shia Islam. In developing the narrative, the team took heavy inspiration from the 1938 novel Alamut, which focuses on the Assassins under Hassan-i Sabbah during the Crusades. They initially developed a story where the player would control an Assassin escorting a non-playable Prince, leading them to call this game Prince of Persia: Assassin, or Prince of Persia: Assassins. Ubisoft was apprehensive to a Prince of Persia game without the Prince as the playable character, but this led the marketing division to suggest the name Assassin's Creed, playing off the creed of the Assassins in Alamut: "nothing is true; everything is permitted". Ubisoft Montreal ran with this in creating a new intellectual property, eliminating the Prince, and basing it around the Assassins and the Knights Templar in the Holy Land during the 12th century. Additionally, in postulating what other assassinations they could account for throughout history, they came onto the idea of genetic memory and created the Animus device and modern storyline elements. This further allowed them to explain certain facets of gameplay, such as accounting for when the player character is killed, similar to The Sands of Time.

After Assassin's Creed was released in 2007, the Ubisoft Montreal team felt that they needed to "rework the global structure" in developing the sequel, Assassin's Creed II. They believed 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; for example, using rooftops to escape pursuits. The change in setting meant that the game would feature a new cast of characters, including a new protagonist, Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Assassin's Creed II also brought in more use of crowds to hide in plain sight that the developers had seen used in Hitman: Blood Money, adding to the concept of social stealth as a gameplay option. Finally, Ubisoft Montreal completely reworked the repetitive mission structure from the first game through numerous side activities, collectibles, and secrets. These additions became a central part of the series going forward, as well as of other Ubisoft games like Watch Dogs, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon. Assassin's Creed II was followed by two direct sequels, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Revelations, which also featured Ezio as the main protagonist and introduced the ability for players to recruit NPCs as Assassins and manage them in missions.

Period two

Following Syndicate's release, Ubisoft decided that the series needed a major reinvention across both gameplay and narrative. 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. Some long-standing features of the series were eliminated for this purpose, such as the social stealth mechanic. This changed how missions were presented—rather than being linearly directed through the Animus, the player character could meet various quest givers in the game's world to receive missions. From the narrative side, Ubisoft placed the game before the formation of the Assassin Brotherhood in Ancient Egypt and made the player character, Bayek of Siwa, a medjay that people would respect and seek the help of. The modern-day storyline also shifted back to a single character, Layla Hassan. The developers limited the number of playable sequences for her character compared to previous games but gave them more meaning, such as allowing the player to explore Layla's laptop with background information on the games' universe.

Origins was followed in 2018 by Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which shifted the setting to Classical Greece and followed a similar approach to its predecessor but with more emphasis on the role-playing elements. 2020's Assassin's Creed Valhalla, set in medieval England and Norway during the Viking Age, continued the same style as Origins and Odyssey. The developers recognized feedback from the previous two games and brought back the social stealth elements, as well as the concept of a customizable home base that was first introduced in Assassin's Creed II. In 2023, Ubisoft released Assassin's Creed Mirage, a smaller title which sought to pay tribute to the franchise's earlier installments by focusing on stealth and assassinations over its predecessors' role-playing elements. The game started development as an expansion for Valhalla before being turned into a standalone release, and was set in 9th-century Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age, a decade before the events of Valhalla, to which it served as a prequel.

Period three

In 2022, Ubisoft announced several additional games for the series, including Assassin's Creed Shadows, set in Japan during the Sengoku period, and Assassin's Creed: Codename Hexe, rumoured to be set in Central Europe during the 16th century.

Alongside the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows, Ubisoft introduced the Animus Hub, intended to serve as a centralized hub for the Assassin's Creed games from Shadows onward. Originally teased as Assassin's Creed Infinity, the Animus Hub was described by its executive producer, Marc-Alexis Côté, as a "new design philosophy" for the series, as well as a hub that would provide the releases of future games. According to Côté in 2024, the modern-day narrative of the series had become haphazard after the death of Desmond Miles in Assassin's Creed III through the introduction of Layla Hassan in Assassin's Creed Origins due to the lack of a main character and the number of studios involved, and Infinity aimed to re-establish the modern-day side of the series. The Animus Hub is not a launcher, but instead a feature integrated into Shadows, future games, and select games from period two, which incorporates the modern-day storyline of the series.

As part of Ubisoft's financial troubles in the early 2020s, Ubisoft and Tencent created a separate subsidiary, Vantage Studios, in 2025 for handling Assassin's Creed and the other major Ubisoft franchises, Far Cry and Rainbow Six. As part of this, Côté left Ubisoft in October 2025, which he claimed was due to the series lead being transferred from him to a new position within Vantage Studios.

Gameplay

The Assassin's Creed games are centered around one or more fictional members of the Order of the Assassins. Their memories are experienced by an in-game character in the modern-day period through a device called the Animus and its derivations. The Animus allows the user to explore these memories passed down via genetics. Within the context of the game, this provides a diegetic interface to the real-world player of the game, showing them elements like health bars, a mini-map, and target objectives as if presented by the Animus. Additionally, should the player cause the historical character to die or fail a mission, this is rectified as desynchronization of the genetic memory, allowing the player to try the mission again. Through the Animus interface, the player can 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 Animus also imparts special abilities to the modern-day character that helps them see their target in a crowd or other unique points of interest.

While playing as the Assassin characters, the games are generally presented from a third-person view in an open world environment, focusing on stealth and parkour. The games use a mission structure to follow the main story, 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 the purchasing and upgrading of shops and other features. At times, the player is in direct control of the modern-day character 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.

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 attached at the Assassin's wrist with a blade ejected via-spring mechanism, which can be used to perform surreptitious assassinations.

Storyline

Premise

The Assassin's Creed games primarily revolve around the rivalry and conflict between two ancient secret societies: the Order of 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 the Pieces of Eden, artifacts that can override free will to control people's minds.

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 ensured 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 surviving Isu subsequently died out while humanity thrived. All that remained of the Isu were traces of their memories in the world's mythologies and religions, while the Pieces of Eden became lost to time, many of them hidden within underground vaults known as Temples.

Before their demise, three Isu—Minerva, Juno, and Jupiter—attempted to prepare humanity for another solar flare they knew would come millennia later. Using a device called the Eye, which allowed them to see into possible futures, Minerva and Jupiter left behind messages to guide humanity to the Grand Temple, which housed the global aurora borealis device that could activate a protective shield around the Earth. However, Juno saw humanity as a threat and attempted to sabotage Minerva and Jupiter's plan. Minerva and Jupiter were forced to destroy Juno and trapped her consciousness within the Grand Temple, unaware that Juno had modified the global aurora borealis device to release her consciousness upon activation.

The series itself takes place in the modern era, in which the Templars have established the mega-corporation Abstergo Industries. Abstergo has developed a device, the Animus, whose users can relive the memories of their ancestors through their genetic material. Abstergo has kidnapped people who are descendants of past Assassins to locate hidden Pieces of Eden via the Animus. A user of the Animus can 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. Extended use of the Animus creates a "Bleeding Effect" that gives users some of the skills and capabilities they experienced with their ancestors, but also affects their mental well-being, as the users begin to confuse their ancestors' memories with their own.

Story arcs

The first five main games in the series focus on Desmond Miles, a bartender and former Assassin who learns he is a descendant of several important Assassins throughout history, including Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad from the Middle East during the Third Crusade; Ezio Auditore da Firenze from the Italian Renaissance; and Ratonhnhaké:ton (commonly 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 rescued by Lucy Stillman, an undercover agent for the Assassins. With the help of two other Assassins, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, and later William Miles, Desmond's father and the leader of the modern-day Assassins, the group continue to explore Desmond's genetic memories in the hopes of locating the Pieces of Eden before Abstergo. In the process, they learn about the Isu and come into contact with Juno, who forces Desmond to kill Lucy, revealed to be a double agent for the Templars. The group ultimately finds the Grand Temple, and Desmond activates the global aurora borealis device in time to block the solar flare, at the cost of his own life.

Starting with Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Abstergo has refined the Animus technology to allow anyone to experience memories from the genetic material of another person, allowing the Templars to continue their search for Pieces of Eden under the guise of creating entertainment products. In Black Flag, players assume the role of an unnamed Abstergo employee tasked with researching the memories of Edward Kenway, a pirate-turned-Assassin and Connor's grandfather. During their work, the player is blackmailed by a fellow employee, John Standish, into acquiring and delivering sensitive information on Abstergo's activities to the Assassins. John is later revealed to be a Sage, a human reincarnation of Juno's husband Aita, who is trying to resurrect her, though he is killed by Abstergo before he can succeed.

By the time of Assassin's Creed Unity, Abstergo has begun distributing the Animus technology via a video game console called the Helix, tapping into an extensive, unaware player base to help them locate the remains of various Sages as part of the Phoenix Project, an attempt to recreate the genetic structure of the Isu. The player character is recruited by the Assassins and tasked with exploring the memories of Arno Dorian, an Assassin during the French Revolution, so that the modern-day Assassins can retrieve the body of a Sage and hide it from Abstergo. Despite the Assassins' efforts, by the start of Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Abstergo has collected enough DNA samples from other Sages to move forward with the Phoenix Project. The player character is again contacted by the Assassins and relives the memories of Jacob and Evie Frye, twin Assassins from Victorian England, to find a Piece of Eden that Abstergo requires for the next phase of the Phoenix Project. Although the Assassins beat the Templars to it, the latter manage to steal the Piece of Eden and escape with it, whereupon it is revealed that Juno is manipulating various Abstergo employees to further her plans of being resurrected.

Release history

The following table lists the main and spin-off games of the franchise, along with their release years and the respective platform(s) they released on:

^aReleased under the title Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2014.

^bOriginally released as DLC for all versions of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag in 2013.

^cOriginally announced as part of the season pass for Assassin's Creed Unity.

^dReleased as a compilation titled Assassin's Creed Chronicles Trilogy Pack.

^eReleased exclusively for the Honor 9 smartphone.

Main series

The first game in the series was released in November 2007 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and in April 2008 for Microsoft Windows. It features a historical recreation of the Holy Land (primarily the cities of Masyaf, Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus) in the late 12th century, and its narrative includes real historical figures and events from the time period. The storyline consists of two portions: one set during the modern-day, which follows Desmond Miles; and one set in 1191, which follows Desmond's ancestor, Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad, a member of the Assassin Order during the time of the Third Crusade. Desmond's story begins with his abduction by Abstergo Industries, whose lead scientist, Dr. Warren Vidic, forces him to explore Altaïr's memories through a machine called the Animus that allows him to connect with his ancestors' DNA. In doing so, Abstergo hopes to find powerful artifacts called Pieces of Eden, which the Assassins and their rivals, the Knights Templar, have fought over for centuries. Altaïr's story begins with his demotion after he botches an attempt by the Assassins to recover a Piece of Eden, the Apple of Eden, from the Templars. To redeem himself, Altaïr is tasked with assassinating nine Templar targets across the Holy Land.

Assassin's Creed introduced core elements that remained in the rest of the series. Players can freely explore the game's open world, making use of Altaïr's parkour and climbing skills to navigate the environment. The game also features refined hack-and-slash combat, with players able to block and counter attacks, and stealth mechanics, such as hiding in crowds of people, which allow players to avoid detection by enemies or lose pursuing foes. Although players can choose the order in which they kill their main targets, the mission design was seen as linear and repetitive because players had to complete several side quests before each assassination. The side mission prerequisite was one of the most criticized aspects of the game, so it was abandoned in future installments.

Assassin's Creed II is a direct sequel to the first game and was released in November 2009 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in March 2010 for Windows, and in October 2010 for OS X. The modern-day narrative again follows Desmond, who escapes from Abstergo (revealed at the end of the previous game as a front for the modern-day Templars) with the aid of the Assassin mole Lucy Stillman and is taken to her team's hideout. Hoping to train Desmond as an Assassin, they put him in the Animus 2.0, where he begins to experience the Bleeding Effect; this allows Desmond to gain his ancestors' skills, at the cost of his declining mental health, as his ancestors' memories slowly overwrite his own. The main narrative takes place at the height of the Italian Renaissance in the late 15th century and follows Desmond's ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a young nobleman from Florence who is forced to become an Assassin after his father and brothers are killed by the Templars. During his journey to avenge their deaths, Ezio makes allies such as Leonardo da Vinci and Caterina Sforza and combats enemies such as the Pazzi family and Rodrigo Borgia. Ezio also comes into contact with technology left behind by the First Civilization, a race that created humanity and the Pieces of Eden and was wiped out by a catastrophic event.

Spin-offs

Assassin's Creed III: Liberation is a spin-off to Assassin's Creed III, originally released for the PlayStation Vita in October 2012. The story takes place alongside the events of Assassin's Creed III and follows Aveline de Grandpré, a Louisiana Creole woman from New Orleans, the daughter of a French merchant father and an African mother. Aveline is recruited into the Assassin Brotherhood by a former slave and fights against slavery as well as the Templars, who plot to take over Louisiana after the end of the Seven Years' War. Aveline uses a variety of new weapons in combat, including a machete and a blowpipe for ranged attacks, and can disguise herself to deceive enemies, although certain disguises limit her movement and abilities. The entire game is presented as a product developed by the in-universe company Abstergo Entertainment, who have done a heavy amount of censoring in regard to the Assassin–Templar conflict. At various points during their playthrough, the player is contacted by the hacking collective Erudito, who helps them uncensor the game to learn the true nature of the events depicted.

An original Assassin's Creed title for the PlayStation Vita was announced to be in development during Gamescom 2011, and it was said that it would feature a new story with new characters. On June 4, 2012, at E3, Liberation was officially announced. 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 March 2019, it was announced that a remastered version of Liberation would be bundled with Assassin's Creed III Remastered for Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and, later, for the Nintendo Switch. Ubisoft officially decommissioned Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD on October 1, 2022, with no additional copies being sold outside of the bundled Assassin's Creed III Remastered version.

Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry was originally released as downloadable content (DLC) for most versions of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag in December 2013. A standalone version was released in February 2014 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4. Set thirteen years after the ending of Black Flag, the game follows Adéwalé, a major supporting character from Black Flag, who served as the quartermaster to protagonist Edward Kenway before joining the Assassin Brotherhood towards the end of the main story. During the events of Freedom Cry, Adéwalé finds himself shipwrecked in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), where he encounters some of the most brutal slavery practices in the West Indies. Being a former slave, Adéwalé temporarily abandons his fight against the Templars and joins a Maroon rebellion to help them rescue oppressed slaves.

Handheld and mobile games

Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles is a spin-off for the Nintendo DS, Windows Phone, Android, iOS, webOS, Symbian, and Java ME, originally released in February 2008. The game is a prequel to the first Assassin's Creed, taking place in the year 1190, and follows Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad as he attempts to retrieve an artifact called the Chalice from the Templars.

Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines is the second spin-off title following Altaïr. It was released as a PlayStation Portable exclusive in November 2009 (concurrently with Assassin's Creed II) and acts as a direct sequel to the original game. Following the events of Assassin's Creed, Altaïr travels to the island nation of Cyprus to eliminate the last remnants of the Templar Order. Here, he again runs into Maria Thorpe, a Templar agent whose life he spared in the first game, and they team up to eliminate the Templar presence on the island and learn more about the Apple of Eden and the mysterious Templar Archive, where more Pieces of Eden are believed to be hidden. Despite the technical limitations of the PlayStation Portable, the game features most gameplay mechanics of the console and PC titles, and even a few exclusive elements.

Assassin's Creed II: Discovery is a spin-off to Assassin's Creed II and was released alongside it in November 2009 for the Nintendo DS; it was later re-released for iOS in January 2010. The game is a 2.5D side-scroller, and takes place during the events of Assassin's Creed II, between Sequences 12 and 13, when Ezio is searching for the Apple of Eden after losing it to Girolamo Savonarola. During his search, Ezio travels to Spain to rescue members of the Spanish Assassin Brotherhood who have been arrested on the orders of Tomás de Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition, and allies with several historical figures, such as Luis de Santángel and Christopher Columbus.

Assassin's Creed Unity: Arno's Chronicles is a side-scrolling mobile game released for the Huawei Honor smartphone series in June 2017. It features a similar gameplay style to the Assassin's Creed Chronicles games, and roughly adapts the events of Assassin's Creed Unity's main storyline.

Assassin's Creed Rebellion is a free-to-play, strategy role-playing game for iOS and Android devices that was released worldwide on November 21, 2018. Set during the Spanish Inquisition in the late 15th century, it follows the Spanish Assassins under Aguilar de Nerha as they attempt to build their own Brotherhood to overthrow the Spanish Templars. The game features a large cast of characters from the entire Assassin's Creed franchise, as well as thirty new characters created exclusively for Rebellion.

Cancelled and defunct games

Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy was a single-player browser-based, role-playing video game and 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 put on indefinite hold in 2011 and was later removed by Facebook on 15 May 2013.

Assassin's Creed: Multiplayer Rearmed was a multiplayer video game designed for iOS, and released for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch in October 2011. It was the only Assassin's Creed multiplayer game driven by an in-game economy. The aim of the game is to assassinate the assigned targets while avoiding being killed by a hunter. Players could 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 could connect via Game Center. It was also 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 was a real-time board game designed for iOS. It was initially released for the iPad in December 2011, and later for the iPhone and iPod Touch in March 2012. In the game, players go head-to-head in real-time political battles with different characters from the main games of the series across over 280 memories. The single-player campaign was estimated to provide over ten hours of gameplay, with 20 missions from Barcelona to Constantinople and 10 bonus challenge missions. The game also featured a Versus Mode, in which players could challenge their friends and other people worldwide, as well as a collection of various artwork from the franchise.

Assassin's Creed: Utopia is a cancelled mobile game that 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, in the words of Tom Phillips from Eurogamer, "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.

Re-release compilations and collections

Assassin's Creed: Ezio Trilogy: Compilation of Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and Assassin's Creed: Revelations. It was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 13, 2012.

Assassin's Creed: Heritage Collection: Compilation of the first five games of the main series, featuring Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, and Assassin's Creed III. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on November 8, 2013.

Assassin's Creed: The Americas Collection (American title) / Assassin's Creed: Birth of a New World – The American Saga (European title): Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, features Assassin's Creed III, Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. It was released for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on October 3, 2014, in Europe and October 28, 2014, in North America. The Windows version is exclusive to Europe.

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 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 Assassin's Creed: Embers and Assassin's Creed: Lineage. 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. A Nintendo Switch version was released in February 2022.

Assassin's Creed: The Rebel Collection: Contains Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and the remastered version of Assassin's Creed Rogue, along with all previously released downloadable content for both games. It was released on December 6, 2019, for the Nintendo Switch.

Future games

Asked about the future of the series in 2009, Sébastien Puel from Ubisoft said that "we could do 35 of these [Assassin's Creed games]", while Laurent Detoc 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 Spanish colonizations 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". Hutchinson also 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 Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, and India. Victorian England, the American Revolution, Medieval China, parts of the British Raj, the Russian Revolution, Ancient Egypt, and Feudal Japan were eventually used for Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Assassin's Creed III, Assassin's Creed Chronicles, Assassin's Creed Origins, and Assassin's Creed Shadows, respectively. World War I appeared briefly as a section of Syndicate, while World War II was used for a single mission in Assassin's Creed Unity.

On June 28, 2024, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed the future development of remakes of some of the older Assassin's Creed titles, which would reportedly "allow [Ubisoft] to revisit some of the games we've created in the past and modernize them". Guillemot stated that this decision stemmed from the fact that "There are worlds in some of our older Assassin's Creed games that are still extremely rich".

Assassin's Creed Jade is an upcoming title for Android and iOS devices. Set in Ancient China during the Qin dynasty in the 3rd century BC, the game will allow players to create their own custom character and will feature the same style of gameplay as the main console and PC releases.

The game was first leaked as Project Jade on September 6, 2022, and reported by Try Hard Guides. A teaser trailer was showcased at Ubisoft Forward on September 10, which revealed the game's working title of Assassin's Creed: Codename Jade. In July 2023, a closed beta test for the game was announced, which required players to sign up between August 3 and 11 to participate. At Gamescom 2023, a gameplay trailer was shown and the game's official title was revealed to be Assassin's Creed Jade.

Animus Hub

The Animus Hub is a feature which made its debut in Assassin's Creed Shadows, intended to connect multiple installments of the Assassin's Creed franchise. Initially announced as a standalone launcher under the name Assassin's Creed Infinity, Ubisoft revealed more details about the Animus Hub in January 2025, ahead of Shadows' release, including the fact that it would be a component present in all upcoming Assassin's Creed titles, meant to help immerse players in the games' fictional universe. From the Animus Hub, players can launch all Assassin's Creed games installed on their system, complete "Projects" to earn in-game rewards, and access an extensive database called "the Vault", which also contains elements related to the overarching modern-day narrative. At launch, the only games to be included in the Animus Hub were Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla, Mirage, and Shadows, with more titles set to be added over time.

The Animus Hub was first announced as a new live-service title codenamed Assassin's Creed Infinity in April 2021. Following another round of sexual misconduct allegations and internal investigations across Ubisoft in 2020 and 2021, which saw the departure of many top-level executives as well as attrition from its studios, Ubisoft opted to merge operations of the Montreal and Quebec studios under one administrative body, with Quebec taking the lead on the Assassin's Creed series. This led to a collaboration to develop the "most ambitious game" in the series to date: Assassin's Creed Infinity. Infinity was initially envisioned to be similar to Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto Online, in that it would be more of a service, rather than a game, intended to be an entry point for future Assassin's Creed titles for players as well as to simplify the development of these games across Ubisoft's studios.

Marc-Alexis Côté, from Ubisoft Quebec, was announced to serve as Infinity's executive producer. According to Côté, Infinity would be used to present the modern-day setting of the Assassin's Creed games involving the Animus, while each game would be focused on the historical setting. Clint Hocking and Jonathan Dumont serve as the creative directors, leading the Montreal and Quebec divisions, respectively. Étienne Allonier and Julien Laferrière, both from Montreal, serve as brand director and senior producer, respectively. In September 2022, more details about Assassin's Creed Infinity were revealed, including the fact that the first two games to be included in Infinity would be the then-upcoming Assassin's Creed: Codename Red (later renamed to Assassin's Creed Shadows) and Assassin's Creed: Codename Hexe. In January 2025, Ubisoft officially announced Infinity's rebranding to the Animus Hub and that it would no longer be a standalone title, but rather a feature present in all upcoming Assassin's Creed games.

Other media

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. In October 2020, Netflix and Ubisoft announced that they entered an agreement to develop live-action series, animated series and anime series.

The first live-action series would be produced by Ubisoft Film & Television for the streaming service, with Jason Altman and Danielle Kreinik as executive producers and Jeb Stuart as the writer. In January 2023, Collider reported that Stuart was no longer involved with the series. By July 2025, Netflix and Ubisoft announced that Roberto Patino and David Wiener will produce the series. In November and December 2025, Toby Wallace, Lola Petticrew, Zachary Hart, and Laura Marcus were cast as series regulars. Johan Renck had been hired to direct episodes of the series. In January 2026, Tanzyn Crawford joined the cast as a series regular. The series is expected to start production in 2026 in Italy, which Deadline reported will serve as a setting for the series.

Elements from Assassin's Creed appear as part of the 2023 animated series Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix produced by Ubisoft Film & Television for Netflix. One of the primary protagonists, the anthropomorphic frog Bullfrog, is depicted as a member of the Order of Assassins, while the antagonistic megacorporation Eden is said to be descended from the Templar Order.

Film

A live-action film, titled Assassin's Creed, set in the same universe as the video games and other media, was released on December 21, 2016. 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. 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.

Assassin's Creed: Lineage is a 36-minute film made to promote Assassin's Creed II. The film, released in three parts on YouTube across 2009, was the first step by Ubisoft into the film industry. Lineage serves as a prequel to Assassin's Creed II, exploring the life of Ezio's father Giovanni Auditore and his career as an Assassin in 15th-century Italy. Following the mysterious assassination of the Duke of Milan, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, in 1476, Giovanni sets out to find those responsible, leading him to uncover a larger conspiracy masterminded by the Templars and their Grand Master, Rodrigo Borgia.

Originally named Secret Project Number Three, Assassin's Creed: Ascendance is an animated short by UbiWorkshop and Ubisoft Montreal, which bridges the gap between Assassin's Creed II and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. It revolves around Cesare Borgia's backstory and rise to power in Italy.

Assassin's Creed: Embers is a 21-minute animated film included in the Signature and Collector's Editions of Assassin's Creed Revelations; it was later re-released on the PlayStation Store in April 2015. The film serves as an epilogue to Ezio's story, depicting the final days of his life after he retired from the Assassin Brotherhood and started a family. When a mysterious Chinese Assassin named Shao Jun arrives to seek his help and guidance, Ezio must fight to protect his loved ones one last time.

Print publications

The Assassin's Creed series has a collection of print publications by various authors, including Christie Golden, Oliver Bowden, Gordon Doherty and Matthew J. Kirby. Set within the fictional universe of the video game franchise, it includes collections such as novels, comic books, and encyclopedias. British publishing house Penguin Books was responsible for most of the publications until 2020.

Audio drama

Assassin's Creed Gold is an Audible audio drama by Anthony del Col, released on February 27, 2020. The four-hour drama follows a card shark and hustler called Ailyah Khan (Tamara Lawrence), who is enlisted by Gavin Banks (John Chancer) to relive the memories of her ancestor Omar Khaled (Riz Ahmed), an Assassin in 17th-century England. The production also features the voices of Anthony Head, as Isaac Newton, and Danny Wallace, who reprises his series role as Shaun Hastings.

Board games

A board game, Assassin's Creed: Arena, was launched on February 26, 2014. Inspired by Assassin's Creed: Revelations, it features many characters from the game, including Shahkulu, Anacletos, Odai Dunqas and Oksana Razin, as well as original characters.

On September 17, 2018, Triton Noir announced a new board game called Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice. Set in 1509, between the events of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Revelations, it includes characters from the video games like Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Leonardo da Vinci, and Lucrezia Borgia, as well as new characters like Alessandra d'Avanzago. It was developed by Thibaud de la Touanne, and is estimated to provide more than 20 hours of play. The game was set to release in November 2018, but was delayed and eventually released in August 2021. In March 2023, an expansion, titled Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice – Apocalypse and set in the jungles of the Khmer Empire (modern-day Cambodia) during the 16th century, was announced.

Concert

Assassin's Creed Symphony is a tour across North America and Europe featuring composers who worked on the soundtracks of each game in the series, including Jesper Kyd, Lorne Balfe, Brian Tyler, Austin Wintory, Sarah Schachner, Winifred Phillips, Elitsa Alexandrova, Chris Tilton, Ryan Amon, and The Flight. It was scheduled to begin in the summer of 2019, and expected to feature holographic characters from the series. The 2019–2020 tour was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The concert Assassin's Creed Symphonic Adventure, developed by Overlook Events, was presented in a world premiere in Paris on October 29, 2022, at the Le Grand Rex. The world premiere celebrated the 15th anniversary of the video game series. An international world tour began in 2023. The concert is a two-hour performance with a full symphonic orchestra, also featuring a choir and soloists.

Apps

In June 2026 Ubisoft released Echoes of Revolution, a free mobile AR tour in Boston and New York City for America's 250th anniversary, experiencing the history of America and Revolutionary era.

Reception

The Assassin's Creed series has received mainly positive reviews from critics, with Blast Magazine calling it "the standout series on [the seventh generation] of consoles". It has been praised for its ambitious game design, visuals, and narratives but criticized for its technical issues and annual releases of almost every installment; the series' shift, which started in Origins, towards prioritising role-playing mechanics over stealth in several games has been considered polarizing.

As of September 2019, the series had sold over 140 million copies with over 95 million players, becoming Ubisoft's best selling franchise and one of the highest selling video game franchises of all time. By September 2022, total sales of the series had reached 200 million. The franchise reportedly generated around €4 billion in the decade leading up to 2024.

Cultural impact

Elements of Assassin's Creed have been introduced as content into other Ubisoft games and those from third parties. The macOS and Microsoft Windows versions of Team Fortress 2 (2007) feature two cosmetic items for the Spy class that were added to promote Assassin's Creed: Revelations; the first is the series' signature Hidden Blade, while the second is a hood based on the one Ezio wears in the game. Sackboy, the player character from LittleBigPlanet and LittleBigPlanet 2, can be equipped with a skin resembling Ezio's outfit. In Prince of Persia (2008), Altaïr's costume can be unlocked with a code obtained by pre-ordering the game. In 2010's Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, there is an outfit resembling Ezio's robes in Assassin's Creed II, which is unlockable through Uplay. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (2011) includes a costume based on Ezio's outfit from Assassin's Creed: Revelations, added as an optional costume via downloadable content.

In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008), Altaïr's outfit is an unlockable cosmetic option for Solid Snake; it was originally announced as an April Fools joke by game director Hideo Kojima. Kojima later returned the favor by allowing Ubisoft to include a Raiden outfit in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010), the player can jump into a bale of hay from a rooftop, which includes the eagle sound effect used in the Assassin's Creed games, and use it to attract and subdue enemies. The Assassin Order is referenced by a character. In the 2009 Wii game Academy of Champions: Soccer, 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. In July 2022, both Ezio and Eivor were added as playable fighters in Brawlhalla (2017).

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013) introduces the character of Olivier Garneau, the CEO of video game company Abstergo Entertainment, who helps Ubisoft to develop the Assassin's Creed video games within the franchise's fictional universe. During the events of the game, Garneau goes to Chicago, the setting of Ubisoft's 2014 video game Watch Dogs. In the latter game, Garneau is the subject of a side mission that sees the playable protagonist Aiden Pearce saving him from being kidnapped; it is implied this was done by the Assassin 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 (2017) mentions the news about Garneau's incident in Chicago, along with a picture of Aiden Pearce killing Garneau.