Summary
Just as theAssassin’s Creedgames are well known for their historical settings and adventures, they’re also defined by their central main characters. These protagonists contextualize the world of conspiracy, intrigue, and, of course, assassination.
Luckily, the franchise has generated a veritable gallery full of compelling characters to populate Ubisoft’s worlds. Whether it’s a devoted Assassin twin or the lovable rogue of Florence,Assassin’s Creedgames are full of compelling characters. Here are some of the best and most memorable thatACplayers have stepped into the shoes of.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicatehad the dubious honor of releasing when franchise fatigue was high, and gamers were looking for a refresh. That environment damaged the game’s reputation, which is a shame. Evie Frye isn’t just one of the best female assassins in the franchise, but one of the very best characters, period.
Evie is the more concerted, considered, and concentrated twin to her brother Jacob. She is completely devoted to the ideology of the Assassins, and has a genuine stake in making a world more equal than the one she was born into. She’s political, clever, and a great cypher to see the dynamic world of Victorian London, whichis finally earning critical reappraisal.
After a while, it became clear that theAssassin’s Creedgames needed a reboot and rethink if they wanted to thrive further. That refresh came withAssassin’s CreedOrigins, leaning into a massive open world filled with RPG elements rather than the stealth-action of the franchise’s past.
While the game may be a bit too long, Bayek, the central character, is a clever iteration of the dashing and self-serious rogue who plays the leading role in manyAssassin’s Creedgames. He’s got a sense of humor, a genuinely tragic past, and a strong sense of justice. He helped found the ideals of the Assassin’s for every game set afterwards, as well as a solid baseline forthe increasing supernatural elements in the games.
Setting a piracy game in the 18th century was a risky proposition for a lot of reasons, but primarily because tricky issues like slavery cannot just be ignored. Thus,Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry, the standalone expansion toBlack Flag, put first mate Adéwalé into the protagonist position.
Adéwalé is an ex-slave from one of the many sugar plantations of the Caribbean who finds liberation and freedom in the ideology of the Assassins. He brings a new perspective on how literal the ideology of “freedom” can be in a historical setting. His inclusion is a strong way to approach the tricky pre-Revolutionary setting of the Americas.
AsAssassin’s Creed: Unitytook the spotlight in 2014 as the main entry for the franchise on the new generation of consoles,Assassin’s Creed: Roguewas overlooked as the off-brand entry that released only on the previous generation consoles, acting as a side-quel toAssassin’s Creed 3.
However, as overlooked asRoguewas, it still had one of the most interesting protagonists in the whole franchise in Shay Cormac, an Irishman who fights for the Templars instead of the Assassins. Shay brings a fresh perspective to the millennia-old conflict of the games, making him far more compelling than many of the Assassin characters.
With all of history as a playground, it was only a matter of time untilAssassin’s Creedtook the plunge and set a game in the age of pirates. This resulted inAssassin’s Creed: Black Flag, one of the most widely beloved entries in the series on account of its ship combat, compelling story, and stunning world.
Edward Kenway, the pirate-turned-Assassin, is the central axis on which the game swings. He starts off as a violent rogue with little to live for, and rejects the Assassins for most of the game. He has a long, slow-burning arc that turns him from a wandering rogue into a committed Assassin and reunites with his family in one of the franchise’s most touching concluding scenes. The stage is set forthe heavily rumored remake to arrive soon.
Of the many settings thatAssassin’s Creedcould go to, the Crusades aren’t the easiest, and Altaïr is hardly an easy character to understand. He is essentially a warrior monk embroiled in the world of religious politics, which hardly sounds like the easiest place for a franchise to begin, but Altaïr is a big reason why it works.
Altaïr starts off as a ruthless and reckless Assassin willing to kill at a moment’s notice. He’s fully committed to his order’s esoteric teachings. Yet, through the game, Altaïr begins to discover the true meaning of what it means to be free, and whether the Assassins are the deliverer of that freedom, or are just the other side of the Templar coin.
AfterAssassin’s Creed: Origins, gamers were unsure whether Ubisoft would continue down the path of sprawling open-world RPGs or return to the more simple action-stealth gameplay of the franchise so far. Unfortunately for some, and fortunately for others,Assassin’s Creed: Odysseywent all-in on the RPG elements, resulting in one of the beefiest western RPGs ever made.
Kassandra is a major reason why it works. Overshadowing her male counterpart Alexios and becoming the canon Hidden One in this period, Kassandra is a formidable warrior with a goofy sense of humor, embodying the heroes of Greek mythology in the past, and becoming a mythological figure in her own right as she navigatesthe gorgeous Greek islands. She’s an instantly likeable protagonist who has gone down as a fan favourite.
No other character had a chance of topping this list. Introduced inAssassin’s Creed 2as a pointed countermand to the self-serious Altaïr, Ezio begins as a fun-loving rogue roaming the streets of Florence like a tomcat looking for trouble, with little responsibility and the world at his fingertips.
That all ends when his family is murdered as part of a widespread political conspiracy. Performing some ofthe most iconic kills in the entire franchise, Ezio goes on a long journey through his trilogy of games from reckless rogue to Master Assassin, becoming one of the most legendary Assassins in the game world, and an icon of gaming as well.
