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Assassins' Creedhas quickly become Ubisoft’s Resident Evil with sci-fi and action-adventure elements instead of horror. It’s a series spanning over a dozen games and constantly introduces new ideas, characters, plot points, andworlds set in historical timelines. With so many Assassin’s Creed games out there and the series frequently jumping between eras, it can be hard to keep up with the narrative.
The games began innocently enough in 2007 with a simple concept of stealth and historical fiction, which soon expanded into a more complex tale with lore that’s sometimes hard to wrap your head around. If you’re wondering how they can all possibly be connected and unsure where to start, here are some answers.
Are The Assassin’s Creed Games Connected?
In short, yes. You have key factors that bind each Assassin’s Creed game together, whether it be the main recurring characters, the Isu beings, the Templar Order, Abstergo, or the modern-day storyline. Desmond Miles is a character who’s had many adventures across multiple games, while new protagonists like Layla Hassan, and a deeper look into Abstergo, are introduced in succeeding titles.
Then you also have the spin-off games, like Liberation, Freedom Cry, and the Assassin’s Creed Chronicles trilogy, which are canon but not necessarily considered mainline entries. There’s a lot to consider as to which ones are more loosely or directly connected.
Which Assassin’s Creed Games Are Directly Connected?
Assassin’s Creed 1 - 4 (The Ezio Trilogy, Kenway Ancestry, And Desmond Miles Saga)
The series began with protagonist Desmond Miles, who was featured inAssassin’s Creed, the Ezio Auditore games (Assassin’s Creed 2, Brotherhood, and Revelations), andAssassin’s Creed 3, and plays a more minor role inAssassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag.These games are direct sequelsthat build the complete arc of Desmond while exploringhis ancestral assassins' origins throughout various periods.
The first game followsAltaïr Ibn La’Ahad during the Third Crusade, while the next three games followItalian assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze through the Italian Renaissance, Borgias, and Ottoman Empire.
Assassin’s Creed 3 switches things up by having you play both assassinConnor Kenway during the American Revolutionand hisTemplar father, Haytham Kenway. Black Flag takes you back earlier to the memories of Haytham’s dad, pirate assassin Edward Kenway, while progressing the modern-day storyline.
Desmond’s modern-day story follows him, his father William, Shaun, Rebecca, and Lucy going up against the evil Templar organization Abstergo, and attempting to prevent a cataclysmic event called the Second Disaster.
There are many twists and turns, with Assassin’s Creed 3 delivering the most shocking byhaving Desmond sacrifice his life to the Grey, and his body revealed as a test subject of Abstergo’s in Black Flag.
Assassin’s Creed Rogue, Unity, And Syndicate
Black Flag and the games following itare even more centered on Abstergo.
WhileRogue ties into both Assassin’s Creed 3 and Unityin terms of historical setting and characters, Syndicate is mainly connected through the modern-day setting, with recurring Abstergo Templar characters Juhani Otso Berg, Laetitia England, Isabelle Ardant, and Dr. Alvaro Gramatica, as well asDesmond’s partners Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, and the unnamed Helix Player protagonist from Unity.
Assassin’s Creed Rogue starts you off as an assassin named Shay Patrick Cormac, whobetrays the Colonial Brotherhood and starts being mentored by Templar Haytham Kenway.
His targets include Edward Kenway’s quartermaster, Adéwalé, from Assassin’s Creed 4, Connor Kenway’s future mentor, Achilles Davenport, and Arno Dorian’s father, Charles, which seamlessly sets up the opening of Assassin’s Creed Unity.
Assassin’s Creed Unity begins with a young Arno Dorian discovering the body of his father (assassinated by Shay Cormac) and explores Arno’s future as an assassin fighting Templars during the French Revolution. Your modern protagonist isa player accessing the memory through Abstergo’s Helix Softwareand is recruited as a new assassin by Bishop, who works with Shaun, Rebecca, and William Miles.
TheHelix Player’s story with Shaun, Bishop, and Rebecca continues in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, examining the memory of assassin twins Jacob and Evie Frye in 19th-century London during the Industrial Revolution to discover the location of the Shroud of Eden.
Assassin’s Creed Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla, And Mirage (The Layla Hassan Saga)
After Assassin’s Creed Syndicate came Assassin’s Creed Origins, which feels like a soft reboot at first glance, given the new gameplay mechanics and design. But it isa direct continuation of the previous games in the series that also serves as a prequelto the main historical timeline of how the Assassin Order developed.
The games now follow protagonistLayla Hassan, a former Abstergo employeeworking with Shaun Hastings, William Miles, and Rebecca Crane for the assassin cause. Origins takes Layla through the memories of Bayek of Siwa during the Ptolemaic reign of Egypt in 47 B.C., whichestablishes the Hidden Ones(the precursor name to the Assassin Brotherhood).
Odyssey takes Laylafurther back into Ancient Greeceto identify the earliest Templar group, the Cult of Kosmos, while Valhallaexplores the Aesir Isu and the Viking expansionof Anglo-Saxon England.
Like the Desmond Miles games, these are all direct sequels to one another, especially Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, because itmarks the return of Desmond Milesfor the first time since Assassin’s Creed 3, with him nowa character known as The Reader living inside a digital world called The Grey.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is the latest entry in the series, and is a prequel game with a direct tie-in to Basim’s arc in Valhalla. Basim is an assassin working with protagonist Eivor, and turns out to be a reincarnation of Loki. His origins as an initiate of the Alamut branch of assassins in 9th century Baghdad are explored as a standalone story in Mirage.
While it featuresplenty of references to past games, this game mostly lacks a modern story, and is less connected to the Layla trilogy, or anything else in the series.
What About Assassin’s Creed Chronicles, Liberation, And Freedom Cry?
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, India, And Russia
The Assassin’s Creed Chronicles series follows a different model from your standard Assassin’s Creed games, reinventing the design as a 2.5D side-scrolling platformer with the core stealth mechanics largely present.
These games take you to Ming Dynasty China, 19th-century India, and Russia during the 1917 October Revolution, and their new assassin characters include Shao Jun, Arbaaz Mir, and Nikolai Orelov, respectively.
Out of the three,Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China does not have a direct connection to previous games. Its only connections to the series lie with the 2011 animated short Assassin’s Creed: Embers, where protagonist Shao Jun meets a very old and dying Ezio Auditore and receives a precursor box from him, and the manga Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun, which chronicles her adventures in China after being trained by Ezio.
AC Chronicles: India and Russia hold much bigger connections to the overall series. In the former, you play as the father of Syndicate’s assassin Sir Henry Green, and meet none other than Ethan Frye, father of protagonists Jacob and Evie Frye . Additionally, you’re able to find further references to ancient female assassin Iltani, a character referenced in Assassin’s Creed 2 and Mirage.
If you get the secret ending in Chronicles: Russia,you’ll find a direct connection to Assassin’s Creed Rogueand the games beyond. It shows Templar Juhani Otso Berg in the present, speaking with Laetitia England about Shay Cormac’s memories and later with Dr. Gramatica about Project Phoenix.
Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation
Liberation is a spin-off game of Assassin’s Creed 3, which launched alongside the 2012 game for the PS Vita handheld console. This game also introduces the first playable female assassin in the series – Aveline de Grandpré.
It’sset within the same revolutionary period of 18th century Colonial America, in Spanish-occupied New Orleans, and the story sees Aveline eventually team up with AC 3’s protagonist, Connor Kenway.
Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry
Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry is set between Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag and Rogue, where you play as Adéwalé, Edward Kenway’s closest ally.
It’sa standalone DLC expansionfor the beloved AC 4 character, with him being the only major tie to the series. Aside from the precursor box,there are no story developments explored from past or future games, merely a solo outing that reveals what Adéwalé was up to before his unfortunate death at the hands of Shay in Rogue.
