PHOTO: Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad is the first Assassin the player takes control of
In this article i'll give you a quick synopsis for all the main entries in the series, so that the next time you boot up an Assassin's Creed game everything will start making sense.
⏰ If you're pressed for time, scroll all the way down to my TL;DR section.
❗ Take into account that this is a quick synopsis, meaning subplots or large story parts of secondary nature are omitted. Also be aware there are major spoilers ahead.
📺 If you'd like to watch gameplay from the latest Assassin's Creed Game (Odyssey), you can find my complete playthrough on dtube !
The general plot
The game series is all about the everlasting secret war between the Assassins and the Templars. The latter seek to rule the world by finding the immensely powerful "Pieces of Eden" artifacts. The former try to stop the Templars by destroying the artifacts and you play as one of them. Ideologically it comes down to the need for order vs the need for free will.
PHOTO: The player also gets to control a Templar later in the series
The games take place in the past, but there are also sections that take place in the present, where Abstergo Industries, the world's largest pharmaceutical conglomerate, is the modern reincarnation of the Templars.
Assassin's Creed (2007)
In 2012 the world's largest pharmaceutical conglomerate, Abstergo Industries, kidnaps bartender Desmond Miles. They force him to use the "Animus", a machine that makes him relive the memories of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, a senior member of the Assassin Brotherhood during the time of the Third Crusade and Desmond's ancestor.
PHOTO: The Apple of Eden. The player is hunting down such ancient artifacts throughout the series
As Altair, the player races the Templars to an artifact of immense power, the "Apple of Eden". He tries to destroy it, but instead unlocks a secret map within that reveals the location of countless other Pieces of Eden around the world (which sets up the plot for every following Assassin's Creed game).
Assassin's Creed II (2009)
The Assassins rescue Desmond Miles and build their own version of the "Animus", which they use to train Desmond as an Assassin by revisiting the memories of his ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze, in the time of the Renaissance.
Ezio hunts down the Pope and Templar grandmaster Rodrigo Borgia, who has been planning to unify Italy's most influential families under the Order and also seeks to unlock the "Vault", a chamber he believes to contain immense power. After beating Borgia, Ezio enters the Vault and learns of the "First Civilization", an almost extinct species that joined forces with humanity in building a network of vaults to preserve their technology and culture.
PHOTO: Inside a temple of the "First Civilization"
The Assassins detect a solar flare that is scheduled to pass the planet in a few months and which could trigger the same catastrophic event that took out the First Civilization. To prevent this, Desmond reenters the Animus as Ezio and the story continues in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010)
Desmond's mission is to find the "Apple of Eden", an artifact that could prevent the impending disaster set in motion by the Templars. Once again as Ezio, he uses the artifact to cripple the Borgia family and restore the Roman Assassins to full strength, but more importantly to locate the remaining Pieces of Eden.
PHOTO: Juno, one of the last survivors of the First Civilization
Desmond learns that he's a decendand of the the First Civilization, but also their enemy. Shortly thereafter, Juno, a surviving member of the First Civilization takes control of Desmond's body and leaves him in a comatose state. As the credits roll, two men are heard discussing whether to put Desmond back in the Animus.
In the next part i'll go through the next 3 games in the series, Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011), Assassin's Creed III (2012) and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013), so stay tuned!
⏰ TL;DR: In a war that rages on until the present, Templars seek to control the world through powerful ancient artifacts and Assassins seek to stop them. By using the "Animus", a machine that allows the player to switch back and forth between the present and the past, the player assumes the role of an assassin and learns of an ancient "First Civilization" that was almost destroyed by un unknown event. More importantly though, he learns that the Templars are trying to cause another such event.
One of my favorite video game series, although I started with assassins creed 3 I still appreciate first few games.