With the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows on March 20th, Ubisoft added a fourteenth installment to its thriving franchise. Launched in 2007, the franchise has evolved considerably over the past 18 years. From the now-outdated early gameplay and assassination mechanics to the open-world RPG dimension of the latest titles. But the franchise's evolution doesn't necessarily mean it's become better in every way. Loss of identity, changes in style and gameplay, overly heavy content, and recycling—player criticism of the evolution of Assassin's Creed is rife. Enough to make you want to rank the worst games in the franchise. And so it's not necessarily the oldest games that end up in this ranking.
#5 Assassin's Creed Valhalla
While Assassin's Creed Valhalla isn't a bad game in itself, its place in this ranking is due to the fact that a good portion of players are fed up with it (which in no way prevents its commercial success). With Origins in 2017, then Odyssey in 2018, the license opened up to the open-world RPG arena, with all that this implies: battles with health bars and levels, plentiful loot, a world to explore freely, a character to level up with a huge skill tree. Ubisoft wanted to reach other types of players, particularly fans of massive games and RPGs.
But after two installments of the genre, the studio is pushing the RPG recipe a little too far, to the point of disgust: a ton of content, points of interest, side quests and loot, for a colossal lifespan of more than 100 hours for the most completionists. We are therefore far from the DNA of the license. Ubisoft is using filler to bulk up its game, which creates repetitiveness and therefore frustration for players.
#4 Assassin's Creed III
After two excellent first installments and the rather good spin-offs Brotherhood and Revelations, Ubisoft is moving away from its Altaïr and Ezio Auditore characters to introduce a new character: Connor/Ratonhnhaké:ton, who is thrown into the middle of the American Revolution. Other new features include a freer map to explore and the ability to wage naval battles. While Ubisoft is trying to experiment and add a new dimension to its franchise, the result falls short of expectations. The hero suffers from a severe lack of charisma, comes across as very cold and unappealing (a real contrast to the beloved characters of Ezio and Altaïr), which prevents players from identifying with him. This is a shame, because Connor is supposed to help the Founding Fathers and promote Mohawk culture. Also, while the inclusion of the Frontier, a near-wild area to segment the major cities of the East, is a good idea, the entire world ultimately feels empty. As for the gameplay, it turns out to be too rigid, too easy, and uninspired in its combat, and the infiltration phases, which Ubisoft had nevertheless praised for their credibility, are useless.
#3 Assassin's Creed Syndicate
After Baghdad and the Crusades, the Italian Renaissance, or the American and French revolutions, the license sets its suitcases in Victorian London, remodeled for the occasion in an attractive Steampunk atmosphere. Everything started well in this ninth opus with the possibility of embodying - for the first time - a mixed duo in the person of Jacob and Evie Frye, the integration of the grappling hook to ensure more verticality in the approach to assassinations, and therefore a city with multiple secrets just waiting to be explored.
But by wanting to emphasize these secrets, its multiple points of interest and a whole bunch of side quests, Ubisoft forgets its main plot, devoid of interest with an antagonist not up to the ambition of the title. A real disadvantage for a license that relies on its inspiration from historical facts and key periods in the history of humanity to stand out. Note that Syndicate is the latest in a recipe that is gradually starting to run out of steam.
#2 Assassin's Creed Unity
On paper, Assassin's Creed Unity has some serious arguments. First, the French Revolution and a Paris more alive than ever, supposed to benefit from the performance of the new generation of consoles (PS4 and Xbox One) to take the license to the next level. But Ubisoft botched its subject to release it on time. The result: a game riddled with bugs (faceless characters, popping of textures), framerate drops, but also a completely buggy AI, that does anything, when it doesn't disappear, making it impossible to complete certain essential quests.
Add to that a far-fetched storyline and an aging game design, which tends to make us do the same thing all the time. This is due to repetitive side quests lacking in ingenuity (except for the Murders to Solve quests).
#1 Assassin's Creed Rogue
The laziness and lack of ambition in this Assassin's Creed are obvious. Everything - or almost everything - is said in its pitch, or rather its chronology. Released in 2014, it is situated between AC 3 and IV: Black Flag. By clumsily attempting to connect the narrative threads, Ubisoft offers a retelling of Edward Kenway's adventure in the wild seas of the Caribbean at every level. Very similar gameplay, whether in combat, naval battles, or maritime navigation, identical (or even inferior) graphics, and the same atmosphere. The game brings nothing new, except for a main character whose goal is to eliminate all the assassins. A good initial idea quickly drowned in a mass of uninteresting quests. In short, Rogue is a big DLC for Black Flag in disguise, and the worst game in our ranking.
And to go further, discover these three eras in which the license will immerse us for the future.
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