Assassin's Creed is one of gaming's biggest franchises, and the series has seen its fair share of ups and downs since its inception. The original Assassin's Creed provided an immersive and detailed recreation of a historical period, which did a lot to support the fairly standard gameplay and story.

The series has kept the same gimmick of setting players loose in a historical era over the years, but franchise fatigue and the repetition of annual releases left some Assassin's Creed fans feeling burned out, leading to vastly different entries in more recent years. The series has continually attempted to innovate its main formula, to varying degrees of success, and because of that, the reputations of each game are all over the place. These are the highest-rated games in the Assassin's Creed series.

Updated January 16, 2024 by Mark Sammut: Garnering a positive but not glowing reception, Assassin's Creed Mirage is a solid but somewhat forgettable entry in Ubisoft's series, although long-time fans craving a return to basics should check the game out. Where does it rank among the best Assassin's Creed games according to Metacritic?

13 Assassin's Creed Unity

Metascore: 72

Set during the French Revolution and featuring the stunning Notre Dame Cathedral, Assassin's Creed Unity was a game with lots of potential. Sadly, however, the game was plagued with bugs and technical issues on release, causing it to garner an underwhelming critical reception. Even though most issues were eventually fixed, the game has never really recovered its reputation in the eyes of the community.

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Unity actually boasts many features that rank among the best in Assassin's Creed games. First and foremost, the stealth-focused gameplay was refreshing for fans of the original games and improved upon their mechanics. The parkour in Assassin's Creed Unity is also fantastic, leaving players, who aren't experiencing bugs, extremely satisfied with how they traverse across the rooftops of 18th-century Paris.

Out of all the Assassin's Creed games, Unity is the most worthy of reassessment since its current version is so much better than its launch iteration. Out of all the post-PS3 releases, this one comes the closest to replicating the magic of Assassin's Creed 2; in terms of pure gameplay, Unity even exceeds its decorated predecessor in most areas.

12 Assassin's Creed Rogue

Metascore: 74

When Assassin's Creed was transitioning to the latest generation of consoles in 2014, Ubisoft decided that it wouldn't leave PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 players in the dust. While PlayStation 4 and Xbox One owners got the shiny new Assassin's Creed Unity, last-generation holdouts received Assassin's Creed Rogue, the first mainline game to star a Templar rather than an Assassin.

Unity was a technical disaster at launch, while Rogue was met with a lukewarm reception outside of the spotlight. Both games were released when Assassin's Creed fatigue was at an all-time high, and their reception suffered as a result. Rogue is most similar to Black Flag and still features a great story for those who aren't bothered about the lack of multiplayer.

11 Assassin's Creed Mirage

Metascore: 77

Assassin's Creed Mirage came after three games that stripped away the franchise's stealth foundation and replaced it with RPG mechanics. While these titles are generally good, they are far removed from Assassin's Creed's roots, which led to fans craving a return to basics. Mirage arose from that desire, delivering an experience that is reminiscent of the PS3 era releases. Naturally, stealth takes center stage, and players are largely left to map out assassinations tactically rather than relying on stats to get the job done.

Gameplay-wise, Mirage is an enjoyable throwback that includes enough quality-of-life adjustments to not feel uninspired. Unfortunately, the game's story falls quite flat and struggles to justify why the spotlight is on a supporting character from Valhalla. The campaign's structure also leaves something to be desired since it is quite repetitive.

10 Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Metascore: 78

Following the release of Assassin's Creed Unity, many fans were skeptical of the franchise, so tons of people elected to skip out on Syndicate. This release feels similar to Unity in many ways, boasting the same impressive graphics and a reworked combat system, but it sadly flew under the radar due to its predecessor's disastrous launch.

Syndicate is unique in that it has the most recent setting of any mainline Assassin's Creed title, being set in the Industrial Revolution during the late 1860s. As such, the game is filled with things that previous entries in the series could never include, like trains and factories. This setting wasn't enough to save Syndicate from mediocre critical reception, and Assassin's Creed took a gap year for the first time since the original game following Syndicate's release. Nevertheless, it is one of the best games set in the Victorian Era, bringing its UK aesthetic to life in great detail. The dual-protagonist setup also works well, with the siblings bouncing well off each other while still having well-defined personalities that set them apart from each other.

9 Assassin's Creed: Revelations

Metascore: 80

Much like Assassin's Creed 3, Assassin's Creed: Revelations was hyped up prior to launch as the culmination of Ezio's story. Not only would fans get to see the conclusion to a story they'd been following for two games, but they'd also get to see their favorite Assassin's Creed protagonist work alongside Altair, the protagonist from the first Assassin's Creed game.

It attempted to do a lot of things, but it ultimately failed to resonate with fans as much as Ezio's earlier outings, netting it a lower Metacritic score than some previous releases. Nevertheless, the game looked good for its time and while it can no longer compete with the best graphical games, players also relished the opportunity to explore and soak in the beauty of Constantinople.

8 Assassin's Creed

Metascore: 81

While it may be dated by today's standards, the original Assassin's Creed broke new ground by providing a well-researched and historically accurate playground for players to run around in. Being able to climb any building or structure opened up tons of gameplay possibilities, and the social stealth mechanics of hiding in plain sight echoed the best parts of Hitman.

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Still, it was an awkward first outing even by the standards of the time, and the formula wouldn't be perfected until the sequel. For all of its flaws that make it hard to revisit in this day and age, the 2007 release laid the groundwork for everything that came after it, delivering essentially a proof of concept.

7 Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Metascore: 84

Assassin's Creed Valhalla throws players headfirst into the 9th-century Viking invasion of the British Isles. The game is huge and even those who fall in love with the game will struggle to run out of content. However, the size of the game and in particular the length of the story is also a downside that can lead to burnout since the campaign follows a fairly strict structure that forces players to engage in uneven side quests to continue the main story. There is such a thing as "too much of a good thing," and Valhalla fits into the descriptor.

Out of all the games in Ubisoft's franchise, Valhalla's reputation has arguably declined the most over the years, even if it is still ultimately a good action-adventure game with RPG elements. Furthermore, Valhalla did bring back some of the stealth that was noticeably missing from Origins and Odyssey, and it is by far the best-looking Assassin's Creed game.

6 Assassin's Creed 3

Metascore: 85

Assassin's Creed 3 had an incredibly high bar to reach, and it ultimately failed to reach the heights of its predecessors. That's not to say it's a bad game, but it was a lackluster follow-up to the Ezio trilogy.

Assassin's Creed 3 had a lot on its plate. It was the conclusion to the modern-day storyline featuring Desmond Miles that the series had been building up since the first game, and it jumped way further into recent history than the franchise had ever gone before. The hype leading up to launch also hurt the game, as fans had incredibly high expectations for the first numbered Assassin's Creed game in a few years.

5 Assassin's Creed Origins

Metascore: 85

Following the gap year after Assassin's Creed Syndicate, the series turned in a drastically new direction with Assassin's Creed Origins. It ditched the crowded urban environments of the games that came before it in favor of the wide-open deserts and elegant cities of Ancient Egypt, making it easily one of the best games set in Africa.

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The different setting was matched with equally different gameplay, as Origins doubled down on the RPG aspects of the series, allowing players to level up, build their character, and accept tons of quests in a non-linear fashion. The result was an Assassin's Creed game that felt incredibly fresh, and the protagonist, Bayek, has gone on to become one of the franchise's more memorable leads.

4 Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Metascore: 87

Much like Assassin's Creed 2, Assassin's Creed Odyssey took the foundation laid by its predecessor and expanded upon it in new ways. Origins introduced heavy RPG elements to the series, but Odyssey took those elements and ran with them, resulting in a game that feels more like The Witcher than Assassin's Creed.

Being the earliest game in the timeline, Odyssey is lacking series staples like the hidden blade or even the Assassin Order, but everything eventually ties into the main series once the finer plot points are revealed. Odyssey is a departure from the other games in the series, but the changes paid off in the end. With beautifully recreated historical structures such as the Parthenon, it is also a great game for history lovers to check out and explore.

Ultimately, little separates Origins from Odyssey in terms of quality.

3 Assassin's Creed 4

Metascore: 88

Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag might not have been the most original Assassin's Creed game, but its namesake allowed for incredibly varied gameplay that the series had never seen before. Earlier games dabbled with naval combat, but Black Flag took things to the next level, letting players take command of their own pirate crew and sail the high seas at their leisure, exploring uncharted islands and pillaging enemy vessels.

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Black Flag is just as much a pirate game as it is an Assassin's Creed game, and that's why so many people remember it so fondly. The flashiness of Assassin's Creed's combat combined with epic naval battles and boarding made for one of the best pirate adventures in all of gaming.

2 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Metascore: 90

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is the follow-up to the acclaimed Assassin's Creed 2, which marked the beginning of the series' meteoric rise to success. As such, there were incredibly high expectations for the game, and it actually managed to deliver. Brotherhoodsent Ezio to Rome, and it naturally proved to be a wonderful setting full of intrigue and iconic buildings to scale.

While some people would argue that Brotherhood never quite reaches the highs of Assassin's Creed 2, it's a worthy successor to the game in every way and happens to have a higher Metacritic score on PC, making it arguably the best Assassin's Creed game of all time. It also introduced competitive multiplayer to the series, which was truly unique from anything available at the time.

1 Assassin's Creed 2

Metascore: 91

Assassin's Creed 2 is the reason why the series exploded in popularity over the past decade or more. It took the formula established in the first Assassin's Creed and provided the necessary fixes and tweaks to create a fantastic game. Ezio is one of the greatest protagonists in all of gaming, and he's a large reason why so many people fell in love with Assassin's Creed 2 and the successive titles.

It also traded the dull and dreary Holy Land setting for a vibrant and much more interesting Renaissance-era Italy. Throughout Ezio's journey, players would meet several famous faces such as Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli, making even the cast of supporting characters incredibly interesting and memorable. As opposed to much later titles, the game isn't too big and allows players to concentrate on the main story without getting burnt out.

Brotherhood and Revelations complete Ezio's story, while also setting the stage for Assassin's Creed 3. While not as highly decorated as their numbered predecessor, they are both good-to-great titles that must be experienced to get the full experience. Brotherhood is particularly great and comes with quite a lot of content.

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