Series Review: Assassin's Creed Franchise

An introduction to Series Review: Assassin's Creed Franchise.

Assassin's Creed. These two words are sure to invoke a strong opinion from anyone who has played any of these titles. But why? What is it about Assassin's Creed that resonates, both positively and negatively, to so many in the community? I have been a fan of the series since the franchise saw its first release with 2007's Assassin's Creed. I spent my time drawing the Creed's logo on my shoes and notebooks for school while debating with my friends why I thought Altair was a superior assassin to Ezio. The series offered so much for me to love, from exploring ancient civilizations, to meeting (and killing) historical figures, not to mention a great story and cast of characters to boot.

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For the next 8 years we saw a new game in the franchise come and go, but then something changed. The Assassin's Creed franchise went from being widely loved and praised to heavily scrutinized and forgettable. With the buggy, unstable release of 2014's Assassin's Creed: Unity, the franchise became the poster child for a rushed, unfinished, over saturated franchise. The reception of Unity sent ripples through the industry. The community was clear. People valued quality over quantity, and most felt the quality had been on a decline for years.

The backlash caused publisher Ubisoft to rethink their approach to the franchise. They still released an installment in 2015, but the franchise's reputation had been shot and most never paid attention to Assassin's Creed: Syndicate. Ubisoft announced the following year that they would not be releasing a main series game in 2016 and would be conducting a major overhaul to the series. The next installment, Assassin's Creed: Origins, served as the birth of a new era. The franchise moved to an open world RPG setting and from a "paired animation" combat system to a more free form hit-box system. These changes seemed to fit the franchise well and several more years of successful releases seem to have put the franchise back to the top.

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Having recently completed 2020's Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, I was reminded just how much I have enjoyed this series over the course of the last decade. The older titles carry this weight of nostalgia while the newer titles have managed to consume more hours of my life then I care to admit. On reflecting back on the history of this franchise, I want to take a detailed look at each main release and the evolution of the series as a whole. There are a couple titles I skipped over at the time due to me feeling the series was becoming over saturated and I really look forward to taking a fresh look at these games.

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