The Assassin’s Creed Timeline – How To Play The Games In Chronological Order

From ancient Greece to England during its industrialized age, Assassin’s Creed games have always been a fun trip through history. Each era explored by the franchise has been surprisingly authentic as well, with Ubisoft even offering gameplay modes in recent titles that allowed players to soak up the time period and not have to worry about being mauled by the local wildlife.

So if you were looking to experience the series not from the first game, but from the first chronological entry, where would you start? That’s what we’ve done below, as we’ve looked at each of the mainline games released so far–and a few of the spin-offs–to create a timeline that covers Spartan legends, the golden age of piracy, and the French revolution.

Something to be aware of if you’re looking to get the full scope of the AC timeline is that many events take place during DLC expansions for the games, including those for 2, 3, Unity, Syndicate, Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. AC2 is otherwise missing some notable levels, while AC3’s Tyranny of King Washington is a great three-part story. Unity’s Dead Kings concludes the story in a much-improved way over the base game. Odyssey’s The Fate of Atlantis does a lot of worldbuilding involving the Isu. And so on.

We’ve included the just-released Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which falls roughly in the middle of the overall timeline. Set in ancient Japan, the game stars two protagonists once again–the first time since 2015’s Assassin’s Creed Syndicate allowed the Frye twins to share the stage. If you’re interested, you can read our Assassin’s Creed Shadows review to see how it stacks up against the rest of the series, as well as our Assassin’s Creed Shadows guides to help you out.

If you need to pick up any of the games in the series, many of them are on sale individually, as well as in discounted bundles through Ubisoft’s store right now:

• Assassin’s Creed — $5 ($20)
• Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection (PS4) — $10
  • Includes: II, Brotherhood, Revelations
• Assassin’s Creed Ezio Auditore Pack — $11.60 ($40)
  • Includes: II, Brotherhood, Revelations
• Assassin’s Creed American History Pack — $28 ($80)
  • Includes: III Remastered, IV: Black Flag, Freedom Cry, Liberation Remastered HD, Rogue
• Assassin’s Creed Mythology Pack — $32 ($160)
  • Includes: Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla
• Assassin’s Creed Modern Revolutions Pack — $18 ($90)
  • Includes: Unity, 2x Unity DLC, Syndicate’s Gold edition
• Assassin’s Creed Mirage + Valhalla Bundle — $33 ($100)
• Assassin’s Creed Shadows — $70