With Assassin’s Creed Shadows on the horizon, players increasingly consider how best to experience the franchise’s sprawling timeline. This guide focuses on the fourteen mainline Assassin’s Creed games, excluding spinoffs, and explains two common ways to order them: by the present-day narrative’s progression or by the games’ in-universe historical settings. For those seeking the clearest overarching story arc, release order remains the simplest path; for fans chasing a strict historical sequence, the following chronology by era lays out the years, settings, and key details to help you plan your playthrough.
To follow the chronological order by history, the sequence is as follows: Odyssey (431 B.C.–422 B.C.), Ancient Greece; Origins (49 B.C.–44 B.C.), Ancient Egypt; Mirage (861–???), 9th Century Baghdad; Valhalla (872–878), 9th Century England and Norway; Assassin’s Creed (1191), Holy Land; Assassin’s Creed II (1476–1499), 15th Century Italy; Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (1499–1507), 15th-16th Century Italy; Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (1511–1512), Constantinople; Assassin’s Creed Shadows (1581), Feudal Japan; Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (1715–1722), Caribbean; Assassin’s Creed Rogue (1752–1760), American Northeast; Assassin’s Creed III (1754–1783), Colonial America; Assassin’s Creed Unity (1789–1794), France; Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (1868), Victorian London. Each entry reflects the era in which the game is set, with the modern-day subplot carried by Layla Hassan in Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, while Mirage and Shadows focus more tightly on their historical storytelling. The list above is strictly the mainline roster; spinoffs and cross-media projects aren’t included here.
If you’re chasing the franchise’s broader narrative arc, many players prefer to read the list in release order. That path follows the evolution from stealth-action roots to expansive open-world RPGs and keeps the modern-day continuity intact as new chapters arrive. The historical-order path, by contrast, is best for fans who want to trace the lineage of the Assassin-Templar conflict through the ages without advancing the present-day plot. Either route is valid; the choice comes down to whether you value the connective tissue of the modern-day story or the historical tapestry of the series.
For completeness, the chronology above centers on mainline entries only, leaving out spin-offs and side projects. The franchise’s long arc continues to expand with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which shifts into Feudal Japan, and the studio’s ongoing plans, including codenamed titles and remakes. Ubisoft has also signaled continued development around remasters and new media, with Black Flag being a primary remake target in the pipeline and media projects such as a potential Netflix adaptation and other ventures in various stages of development. As always, players can tailor their journey to their preferred eras while keeping an eye on future installments that may reshape the timeline.
In summary, the two practical approaches offer distinct benefits. If your goal is to experience the full overarching narrative as it unfolded in real time, begin with Assassin’s Creed II or Assassin’s Creed III and proceed in release order. If your goal is pure historical immersion, follow the list in its chronological order by setting, from Odyssey through Syndicate. Either way, you’ll traverse a timeline that spans five continents and more than two millennia of history, culminating in the ongoing era of Shadows and beyond.