Summary
With over a dozen mainline and spin-off games, theAssassin’s Creedfranchise continues to expand on the lore with new adventures in different periods and locations. As a result, almost every game introduces one or two new protagonists to play while either roaming an exotic location or assassinating a target through stealth tactics.
Over the years, as more protagonists have emerged, Ubisoft has diversified its extensive roster by including female protagonists alongside iconic male characters such as Ezio Auditore and Edward Kenway. Each woman in the Assassin Brotherhood brings something unique to the franchise in terms of gameplay, storytelling, and performance, with some excelling more than others.
It’s a tradition in theAssassin’s Creedfranchise that players are sporadically pulled out of the Animus to take control of a character in the modern day. InAssassin’s Creed: Origins,Odyssey, andValhalla, it isLayla Hassanwho uses the Animus to relive the memories of Bayek and Aya, and it is also a tradition that fans generally don’t care about these segments.
Layla Hassan deserves credit for being one of the only long-lasting modern-day protagonists outside of Desmond Miles. She is a likable character overall who has a nice banter with her comrades in the Brotherhood, but it was the gameplay side that made her less appealing, with menial tasks that felt unneeded when gamers just wanted to return to being a Medjay or a Viking.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Chinaintroduces the player toShao Junin 16th century China, an apprentice of the beloved Ezio Auditore who fought against the Mongol invasion. The lesser-known spin-off is often praised for mixing 2.5D gameplay with unique gameplay, resulting in a title that doesn’t get enough credit.
Aside from being the first Chinese protagonist in the franchise, Shao Jun was a more straightforward character, devoted to her cause as an Assassin to stop the Templars to no end. While there is nothing wrong with character development, fans appreciated having a character who knows that she is a deadly warrior and is unafraid to show it.
6Aya (Assassin’s Creed Origins)
The First Assassin Was Sidelined For Most Of The Game
Ayais the secondary protagonist inAssassin’s Creed: Originsand wife of Bayek, so she has as much of a reason to hate the Templars. They killed her only son, which sent her on the path to becoming an avid pursuer of justice, thus leading to the formation of the Hidden Ones, which would evolve into the Assassin Brotherhood.
Rather than the more cliché route of Aya and Bayek bonding over becoming assassins, they are permanently divided, but not in a toxic way; they understand that things are different now. Aya is a fascinating character who is, unfortunately, held back by the fact that she is rarely playable, and the player cannotexplore the massive open-world mapand is stuck with a preset loadout that is not nearly as fun as Bayek’s kit.
As the rising Viking warlordEivor, players can choose whether they are male or female at the start ofAssassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Both options are performed well by their respective actors, but Eivor is often criticized by the fanbase for being one of the least interesting in terms of personality and story, even with the option to choose their dialogue.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhallais a divisive title already, as the massive open world felt too bloated with UbiSoft embracing a semi-live-service structure. Eivor suffered as a result, as their personality isn’t fleshed out all that much other than a desire for revenge andbecome a land-conquering Viking. However, Eivor can still be fun to play with plenty of customization options for them.
Using the template established byAssassin’s Creed 3,Liberation HDputs the player in the middle of Louisiana after the French and Indian War of the 18th century. It also was the first game in theAssassin’s Creedfranchise to have a female protagonist,Aveline De Grandpré.
Aveline was born into wealth, but when she saw the injustice being done in the world, especially with slavery, she fought back as an assassin. Not only was she a likable character, but for a game that was originally a PS Vita exclusivebefore being remastered on PS3and Xbox 360, she provided improved gameplay fromAssassin’s Creed 3, with the ability to dual-wield weapons and Chain Kill special attack.
Evie Fryeand her twin brother Jacob fromAssassin’s Creed: Syndicateare unorthodox in their approach to being members of the Assassin Brotherhood. Evie is the more level-headed character, whereas Jacob, while charming, is hot-headed and arrogant from start to finish, with the player swapping between them whileventuring through Victorian London.
The differences in the Frye twins’ personalities are reflected in their gameplay, with Jacob focusing on being a straight-up brawler. Evie, on the other hand, focuses on more classic stealth and infiltration. Like her brother, Evie is not a perfect hero, which helps make the Frye twins feel more grounded and why fans wish they would return in a future game.
The Greek adventure ofAssassin’s Creed: Odysseygives players the choice of eitherKassandraor her brother Alexios. Both have identical storylines, so it mostly just comes down to the player’s preference for the character itself, and Kassandra has become the more popular choice.
While Alexios is not a bad character, fans ofAssassin’s Creed: Odysseyalmost unanimously see Kassandra as the superior characterdue to her charisma, humor, and incredible voice acting. Kassandra can be an intense and powerful warrior, and then immediately complement that with motherly qualities that make her as lovable as she is fierce.
To hook the player into the story ofAssassin’s Creed: Shadows, Ubisoft gaveFujibayashi Naoea gut-wrenching prologue that instantly makes her a sympathetic character, losing so much to the villains, similar to Bayek fromOrigins.
Her progression as a character is also backed up by improved player choices for her dialogue, resulting
Naoe’s story is backed up with gameplay that allows playersto freely explore feudal Japanas a shinobi, seeking out the evil men and women who wronged her. The shinobi combat and stealth are a perfect match for theAssassin’s Creedseries, allowing for a blend of more traditional gameplay with the more RPG-like style of later games.
