The Assassin's Creed franchise spans 12 main games, 12 spin-offs, a movie, and multiple comics, with no signs of slowing down. It's one of the most beloved properties in gaming with praise given for its historical accuracy, game designs, and narrative. But, as in any franchise, certain tropes and themes span across each game, giving rise to light teasing by gamers who follow the series.
There are lots of meme-worthy moments across the series as players stealth, parkour, and assassinate their way across multiple time periods and real, but slightly off-kilter, historical events.
Stealth Level: Master
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Assassin's Creed games are most famous for their stealth mechanics and silent assassinations. All Assassin's Creeds have quests or moments where the player is supposed to skulk quietly around a building or fortress, either to take it over or steal something from within.
The issue is that if one guard spots the assassin, it's all over. They'll notify the other guards who will then be on high alert, making it much harder to skirt around unseen. Plus, the player loses their stealth bonus. In areas rife with guards, the easiest way to avoid being spotted is to kill off some (or all) of the guards through silent assassination along the way. No one will notice if there's nobody to notice...
What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor?
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Throughout Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, when aboard the protagonist's ship, the player has the option of hearing the crew sing sea shanties as they row to the next location or sea battle. There are up to 34 shanties that can be found in various places around the map. But, despite the franchises' usual dedication to historical accuracy, the shanties heard in Black Flag are actually from decades or centuries later than the time period set.
That being said, this game gets a because they are real sea shanties sang by pirates in history (just slightly more recent history), and they just add so much to the atmosphere and more boring sailing parts of the game. Stepping aboard the ship and hearing the crew sing rabble-rousing pirate favorites has been one of the parts of Black Flag that have received the highest praise.
Never Bring A Gun To A Knife Fight
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Although several Assassin's Creed games give the option of having a pistol, it's not super in keeping with the concept of the 'silent assassin', so they're not used as they would be in traditional shooter games... by the player at least. But in a few of the games, early guns are part of the time period and so make an appearance. Assassin's Creed III, for example, takes place during the Revolutionary War, and as in the meme, the enemies carry muskets.
But that doesn't slow Connor down, he can charge his way through multiple gun-wielding British redcoats using his two handy daggers, taking them all out with barely a scratch (if the player is skilled enough).
Wine And Women (Or Men)
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The characters in Assassin's Creed don't shy away from a drink. There are cut scenes in every game in the franchise that will consist of the main character enjoying a drink (and usually a flirt) with an NPC from their latest story mission.
Some of the games even encom it into the story itself. In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, for example, there are drinking games scattered all across Norway and England where Eivor can challenge locals and find out who can drink the fastest.
Both? Both Is Good...
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Assassin's Creed Odyssey is set in the heart of the Peloponnesian War amidst the Spartan Athenian conflict. In the game, the map tells the player which side owns each segment of the map and their power level in that area. The player has the option to weaken the hold of the Spartan or Athenian forces on any part of Greece by attacking enemy camps, burning silos, taking over fortresses, and killing the leader of the region. Doing this will trigger a conquest battle, that if the protagonist wins, will switch control of the area to the other side.
There are also story missions from both Athenians and Spartans that can change the course of the war, and Kassandra/Alexios has friends and allies on both sides of the war, and no real feelings of allegiance to either side (despite being born Spartan). Throughout Assassin's Creed Odyssey the player is on both sides of the war and regions switch powers with and without their help.
Just Call Me Herodotus
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One of the greatest things about the Assassin's Creed franchise is its faithfulness to the time period it's set in. Along the way, players meet real people who existed in the era and are intertwined in the game's narrative. Although taking some obvious liberties with historical accuracy here and there, the franchise does excellently capture the period, architecture, and happenings of the era each game is set in.
In Assassin's Creed Odyssey, for example, the player finds themselves in the heart of the Peloponnesian War and meets many of the movers and shakers of the time, including the 'Father of History', Herodotus, and the 'Father of Philosophy', Socrates. Anyone who has had a detailed playthrough of any Assassin's Creed game feels they gain a good historical understanding of the period; they'll just fail to mention where they learned it all when the subject comes up in conversation.
Historical Accuracy... What Historical Accuracy?
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As the Assassin's Creed franchise has developed, so too has some of its more fantastical elements. Although earlier games stuck rigidly to historical accuracy in their gaming and weapons choices, the later games, like Assassin's Creed Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, incorporate more fantastical elements and mythology from their time period.
It's mainly in the DLC for Origins that this comes into play, but by Odyssey mythology is a huge part of the main game and has multiple side quests dedicated to it as well as mythological creatures that roam the land for the player to bump into.
Wanted: Climb This Ridge
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Throughout the Assassin's Creed franchise, the protagonist receives a 'wanted' level depending on their actions. The more officials and obvious kills performed, the higher the wanted level. As the player's notoriety increases, so too does their wanted level and the bounty placed on their head, making it harder and harder to go unnoticed.
That is unless all the posters are hidden away from the public's eye like this one here. The earlier games in particular had a tendency to spawn 'wanted' posters in strange and impractical locations that no one except the player would ever see.
Hazard Pay For The Guards
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One of the most fun parts of Assassin's Creed games is the inventive ways the player can quickly and quietly kill off the enemy. Sometimes it involves creeping up behind them and slitting their throat, in other instances, the player can simply walk behind the soldier and boot them off the top of the structure they're standing on.
In earlier games in the franchise, there are soldiers aimlessly hanging out on rooftops who have no other goal than to simply be in the way and disrupt the character leaping from building to building without being noticed. The solution? Kick them off.
Jump... What Jump?
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A favorite part of playing any Assassin's Creed is seeing how high the character can climb. This can be anything from a tall building, to a giant statue, to the top of a mountain. Of course, when the assassin is perched so high, the inevitable next question is, how do they get down?
Rather than taking a logical or safe route, the player has the option to simply... jump. In some places this can be into a pile of leaves or flowers, which will result in a far more dramatic and impressive looking dive; but in others, the player simply leaps awkwardly into the air and hits the ground hard. This can tank health to almost zero yet somehow, even from hundreds of feet in the air, the player will never die and can simply walk off the injury in seconds.