Assassin's Creed

Lore & Background

The Assassin's Creed series originated from ideas for a sequel to 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 into an open-world approach, focusing on the Order of Assassins based on the historical Hashashin sect. They initially developed a story called Prince of Persia: Assassin, but Ubisoft's marketing division suggested the name Assassin's Creed, playing off the creed 'nothing is true; everything is permitted' from the novel Alamut. The team created a new intellectual property, eliminating the Prince, and basing it around the Assassins and Knights Templar in the Holy Land during the 12th century. They also postulated genetic memory and created the Animus device to explain gameplay elements.

The series has three overarching story arcs. The first five main games follow Desmond Miles, a descendant of several important Assassins, who uses the Animus to relive ancestors' memories and find Pieces of Eden to prevent a catastrophic event referencing the 2012 phenomenon. From Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag to Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Assassin initiates and Abstergo Industries employees record genetic memories using Helix software. The next three games—Assassin's Creed Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla—follow ex-Abstergo employee Layla Hassan on her own quest to save humanity. Gameplay revolves around combat, stealth, and exploration, including parkour, with main and side missions, and some titles include multiplayer modes.

Reader's Guide

The Assassin's Creed series has received generally positive reviews for its ambition in visuals, game design, and narratives, with criticism for the yearly release cycle, frequent bugs, and the prioritization of role-playing mechanics in later titles. It has received multiple awards and nominations, including multiple Game of the Year awards. Commercially, it is Ubisoft's best-selling franchise and one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time, with over 200 million copies sold as of September 2022. Main titles are produced for major consoles and desktop platforms, with multiple spin-off games for consoles, mobiles, and handheld platforms. A series of art books, encyclopedias, comics, and novels have been published, and a live-action film adaptation was released in 2016.

Ubisoft views the series as having three periods of development and design philosophy. Period one (until Assassin's Creed Syndicate) focused on single-player, action-adventure, and stealth. Period two (from Assassin's Creed Origins to Assassin's Creed Mirage) brought more role-playing elements and live-service features. Period three launched with Assassin's Creed Shadows, using lessons from period two to make engrossing single-player games with a new Animus Hub system for sharing achievements and content. The series' legacy includes influencing other Ubisoft games like Watch Dogs, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon with its open-world design and side activities.

Did You Know?

• The series took inspiration from the 1938 novel Alamut by Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol.
• The series has sold over 200 million copies as of September 2022.
• The most recent main installment as of the article is Assassin's Creed Shadows, released in 2025.

From Prince of Persia to a New Identity

The first Assassin's Creed game grew out of ideas at Ubisoft Montreal for a Prince of Persia sequel targeting seventh-generation consoles. Rather than simply scaling up the linear gameplay of The Sands of Time, the developers leveraged new hardware to render vast open spaces and dense crowds. Narratively, they wanted the protagonist to actively work toward a throne rather than merely inherit one. Research into secret societies led them to the historical Hashashin sect of medieval Iran, followers of Shia Islam under Hassan-i Sabbah during the Crusades. The 1938 Slovenian novel Alamut by Vladimir Bartol became a heavy narrative influence. The team initially prototyped a game called Prince of Persia: Assassin, where the player escorted a non-playable Prince. Ubisoft's marketing division, uncomfortable with a Prince of Persia title lacking the Prince as the playable hero, suggested the name Assassin's Creed, drawn from the creed "nothing is true; everything is permitted." The team embraced the new identity, dropped the Prince entirely, and built a standalone property centered on the Assassin-Templar conflict in 12th-century Holy Land. The concept of genetic memory and the Animus device emerged to explain gameplay mechanics like player death and respawn.

A Dual-Timeline Storytelling Architecture

The series' storytelling operates on two parallel tracks: a historical Assassin's journey through a specific era and a present-day framing narrative involving the ongoing conflict between the Order of Assassins and the Knights Templar. The Assassins champion peace through free will, while the Templars seek peace through order and control. This dual structure has cycled through three major arcs. The first five main titles follow Desmond Miles, a descendant of multiple historical Assassins, who uses the Animus machine to relive his ancestors' memories and locate powerful artifacts known as Pieces of Eden, all to avert a catastrophic event tied to the 2012 phenomenon. From Black Flag through Syndicate, the modern-day story shifts to Assassin initiates and Abstergo Industries employees using Helix software to record genetic memories, with both factions hunting for new Pieces of Eden. The most recent arc, spanning Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, centers on Layla Hassan, a former Abstergo employee, on her own mission to protect humanity from another existential threat.

Three Eras of Design Philosophy

Ubisoft internally divides the franchise's development into three distinct philosophical periods. The first era, running from the 2007 debut through Syndicate in 2015, prioritized single-player action-adventure and stealth within open-world environments. While role-playing elements existed, they served the core loop of combat, parkour-based traversal, and mission-driven progression. Players navigated third-person spaces, tackled main and side missions, and in some titles engaged in competitive or cooperative multiplayer. The second era, from Origins through Mirage, deliberately injected heavier role-playing mechanics and live-service features designed to sustain long-term player engagement. This shift drew criticism for diluting the series' identity. The third era, inaugurated by Shadows in 2025, represents a course correction: the team applied lessons learned from the second period to craft engrossing single-player experiences reminiscent of the originals, while introducing an Animus Hub system that lets players share achievements and content with one another. Each period brought new time periods, fresh stories, and evolved gameplay systems.

Commercial Scale and Cultural Footprint

As of September 2022, the franchise had sold over 200 million copies, cementing its status as Ubisoft's best-selling property and one of the most commercially successful video game franchises ever. Fourteen main installments span from the 2007 original to Shadows in 2025, with the series published by Ubisoft and developed primarily by Ubisoft Montreal using the Anvil engine and its advanced derivatives. The games have earned generally positive critical reception for their visual ambition, design scope, and narrative depth, though reviewers have flagged the punishing yearly release cadence, recurring technical bugs, and the later titles' emphasis on role-playing systems. The franchise has collected multiple awards and nominations, including several Game of the Year honors. Beyond the core console and desktop titles, the brand has expanded into mobile and handheld spin-offs, a 2016 live-action film, and a substantial library of art books, encyclopedias, comics, and novels. Created by Patrice Désilets, Jade Raymond, and Corey May, the series stands as a defining pillar of modern action-adventure gaming.