I broadly consider myself a fan of the Assassin’s Creed series, but my fandom has had its ups and downs over the years right alongside the varying quality of the games. The franchise reinvents itself every few installments, throwing out engaging characters and game mechanics for new concepts in a desperate quest to stay relevant with its huge and diverse audience.
Right at the beginning, I was fully engaged. I devoured Assassin’s Creed 1, 2, and Brotherhood the weeks they released on my PS3. These three games collectively portray something approaching a complete narrative arc, while also setting up a truly bizarre set of lore for installments to come. Not only did they define an entire open world action template, they refined it to a perfect point with Brotherhood’s incredibly fun collection of traversal systems, acrobatic combat, and meta game elements surrounding your own personal team of assassin buddies.
If you like to follow specific actors, the first three AC games are also notable for their inclusion of Kristen Bell as their female lead — and she ended her three game contract with the series in explosive, plot-shattering fashion. Her character’s shifting allegiances and her relationship to the game’s deeper lore all crash together into one of the…
