The new Assassin’s Creed Mirage aims to be a return to the franchise’s origins, to stealth, parkour and small, dense cities. But there are more elements that define the keys to the first Assassin’s Creed, those that all fans treasure in their memory with great memories of Ezio and Altair, although dozens of other protagonists have come later.
With this article we have set out to make a selection of our five favorite Assassin’s Creed. They don’t follow a specific order, so the first one doesn’t have to be better than the last.
The golden age of Assassin’s Creed began in 2009 with its second installment and ended in 2011 with Assassin’s Creed Revelations. In these three years, Ubisoft published what is known as the Ezio Auditore trilogy, the most remembered and acclaimed protagonist of the franchise. Revelations moves the action to the late 15th century city of Constantinople with an older Ezio searching for answers.
It is a great ending to the story of this character that, in addition, is directly related to and closes the story of Altair Ibn La’Ahad, the protagonist of the first installment. Assassin’s Creed Revelations condenses in a single title everything that fans liked: an incredible city, a good story with great protagonists and mechanics that – at that time – continued to work well and did not become tiresome. Additionally, he also introduced the hidden blade hook, which gave an interesting twist to parkour.
Assassin’s Creed 2 is the beginning of Ezio Auditore’s story in Florence and Venice at the end of the 15th century. For many it is the best title in the franchise – nostalgia plays a great role here – because it showed things that until then seemed impossible. The recreation of the cities was incredibly detailed and you felt like you were truly experiencing the renaissance.
On the other hand, with this installment Ubisoft refined many of the mechanics presented in the first Assassin’s Creed. It is also important to remember secondary characters such as Leonardo Da Vinci, the Medici or the Borgias (the villains of the title), who added another layer of interest to the game.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the last major installment of the franchise and the third to follow the great RPG model, after Origins and Odyssey. There came a point – specifically with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag – when the franchise went from being an Assassins and Templars game to being a simulator of historical eras. If Black Flag was a piracy simulator in the 18th century Caribbean, Valhalla is a Viking simulator in 9th century Britain. But what a simulator!
In our analysis we said that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was the almost definitive Viking experience and is currently known as the installment that has generated the most money. It is a huge game, full of details and with very fun action mechanics. Although it almost completely loses the essence of the Assassin’s Creed, at least when compared to those starring Ezio.
It is time to reclaim the most hated title in the franchise: Assassin’s Creed Unity is a very good game, one of the best. After three adventures through the Americas, the action returned in 2014 to Europe, specifically to the French Revolution. The game had it all: a magnificent setting, graphics that looked like they were from the future, the promise of cooperative play for up to four people, and a new parkour system.
But the game was broken. It was released in November 2014, but was easily one more year away from development. On consoles – PlayStation 4 and Xbox One – it was pedal-powered and had a lot of bugs. This disastrous launch tarnished a title that has held up very well over the years and that, today in 2023, is still one of the best Assassin’s Creed that can be played.
The return to the roots that I talked about at the beginning of the article. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is one of the best titles in the franchise that have been published recently, especially for the most die-hard fans of the first installments. Far from the large worlds and hyper-complex mechanics of Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla, Assassin’s Creed Mirage simplifies the proposal to focus on what is important: the city of Bagdad, stealth and Basim, its protagonist.
Although it is dangerous to approach this new installment too clinging to nostalgia. Mirage is not like the first Assassin’s Creed. It takes elements from the Altair and Ezio games to create a new and updated experience and that’s how it should be enjoyed.
Through these five games it is easy to see what makes an Assassin’s Creed great. To begin with, the most important thing is the setting, but this is not enough. Deliveries like Assassin’s Creed 3 or Assassin’s Creed Syndicate had magnificent worlds in very interesting historical periods, but they failed in how they told their story, in their protagonists and in the playable loop: they became heavy and repetitive.
Another of the great qualities of the franchise was the universe it created with the Assassins, the Templars, Abstergo and the fruit of Eden. Players wanted to know where the artifacts came from and were very interested in the rituals and traditions of a Brotherhood like the Assassins. Ignoring all of this to jump from one random historical period to another and forgetting the importance of the Creed in favor of “simulators” of specific eras was another mistake for many fans.
Perhaps “going back to the roots” should go beyond recovering three or four mechanics from the first installments. Ezio Auditore made fans fall in love with him because he was a worked character and you knew him for three games, something that has not happened again in the franchise. Plus, his trilogy is full of iconic moments and you really feel like you’re moving up in the Brotherhood and discovering their rites and their secrets. But anyway, the next installment will be in 3rd century China and, after, the story will go to feudal Japan.
