The Complete Assassin's Creed Timeline

Assassin's Creed Shadows, the latest installment in this sprawling saga, might seem chronologically misplaced. Set in feudal Japan, it occupies a middle point in the series' vast historical timeline. That's because the Assassin's Creed franchise doesn't follow a strict chronological order; instead, it leaps across centuries, exploring pivotal moments from the Peloponnesian War in ancient Greece to the brink of World War I.

With 14 mainline games and counting, the series' timeline has become increasingly intricate. IGN has meticulously researched every detail of the lore to unravel this centuries-long narrative and present it in chronological order, revealing how each game fits into the overarching story.

The Isu Era

75,000 BCE

Before we delve into the historical timeline, understanding the Isu is crucial. This highly advanced civilization of god-like beings once ruled Earth, creating humanity to serve as their slaves. The Isu maintained control using the powerful Apples of Eden. However, humanity, naturally averse to enslavement, rebelled. Eve and Adam, two humans, stole an Apple of Eden, sparking a decade-long war. This conflict ended abruptly with a devastating solar flare that wiped out the Isu, leaving humanity to inherit the Earth.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

431 to 422 BCE - Peloponnesian War

During the Peloponnesian War, Kassandra, a mercenary, uncovers the Cult of Kosmos, a shadowy organization secretly manipulating the conflict. She discovers her long-lost brother, Alexios, kidnapped as a child and transformed into a demigod-like weapon by the Cult. The Cult targeted Alexios due to his Isu lineage, inherited from their grandfather, the legendary Spartan King Leonidas. Kassandra's mission to thwart the Cult's plan to dominate Greece leads her to an Isu device capable of calculating potential futures. She eliminates the Cult's leaders, destroys the device, and ends the war. Her journey also reunites her with her father, Pythagoras, an Isu descendant who bestows upon her the Staff of Hermes, granting immortality, and tasks her with guarding Atlantis.

Assassin’s Creed Origins

49 to 43 BCE - Ptolemaic Egypt

In Cleopatra's Egypt, Bayek, a Medjay, and his wife Aya confront the Order of the Ancients, another shadowy organization collaborating with the Cult of Kosmos. The Order kidnaps Bayek and his son, believing his bloodline holds the key to an Isu vault. Tragically, Bayek accidentally kills his son during his escape. Driven by revenge, Bayek and Aya dismantle the Order, uncovering its global conspiracy to control politics and religion using Isu artifacts. Their fight against oppression leads to the creation of the Hidden Ones, a secret society of assassins operating in Egypt and Rome.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

861 - Islamic Golden Age

Centuries later, the Hidden Ones, now established across the world, including Alamut in Iran, train Basim Ibn Ishaq, a street thief from Baghdad. Basim investigates the Order of the Ancients' activities in Baghdad, uncovering their quest for an Isu temple beneath Alamut. He helps the assassins repel the Order's invasion and discovers a technologically advanced prison containing Loki, an Isu considered a god by the Norse. Basim, a Loki reincarnation, vows revenge on those who imprisoned him.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

872 to 878 - Viking Invasion of England

Basim accompanies a Viking clan to England, continuing his pursuit of the Order of the Ancients. Sigurd and Eivor, the clan's leaders, establish Ravensthorpe while battling King Alfred, a Templar seeking to impose a Christian order. Sigurd's discovery of an Isu artifact triggers visions, revealing him and Eivor as reincarnations of Odin and Týr, Loki's jailers. Basim attacks, but Eivor survives, trapping him in a Yggdrasil-shaped Isu computer simulation. Sigurd, traumatized, relinquishes leadership to Eivor, who defeats Alfred and returns to Ravensthorpe.

Assassin’s Creed

1191 - Third Crusade

Over the next three centuries, the Hidden Ones evolve into the Assassin Brotherhood, facing the Knights Templar, the evolved Order of the Ancients. Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, an assassin in the Holy Land, steals an Apple of Eden from the Templars, but his arrogance leads to a fellow assassin's death. He is tasked with assassinating nine Templar leaders, uncovering Al Mualim's betrayal and his plan to use the Apple for world domination. Altaïr kills Al Mualim and takes control of the Brotherhood.

Assassin’s Creed 2

1476 to 1499 - Italian Renaissance

Ezio Auditore da Firenze joins the Assassin Brotherhood to avenge his family's death at the hands of the Templars. He acquires an Apple of Eden, revealing an Isu vault beneath the Vatican, where Rodrigo Borgia, the Templar Grand Master and Pope, seeks access. Ezio defeats Borgia, accesses the vault, and encounters Minerva, an Isu who warns of an impending apocalypse in 2012 and reveals a network of Isu vaults as a potential solution.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

1499 to 1507 - Italian Renaissance

Borgia's forces steal the Apple of Eden from Ezio. He rebuilds the weakened Assassin Brotherhood in Rome, reclaiming the Apple and hiding it in an Isu vault beneath the Colosseum.

Assassin’s Creed Revelations

1511 to 1512 - Ottoman Civil War

Ezio investigates Altaïr's library in Masyaf, thwarting the Templars' attempt to unlock it. He discovers Altaïr's remains and an Apple of Eden containing a message from Jupiter, revealing the Grand Temple and its crucial data. Ezio leaves the Apple untouched and retires, dying shortly after.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

1579 - Sengoku Period

In 16th-century Japan, an African mercenary, Yasuke, joins Oda Nobunaga's forces and encounters Naoe, the daughter of a shinobi master. Their shared goals unite them amidst the Sengoku period's conflicts.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag

1715 to 1722 - Golden Age of Piracy

Edward Kenway becomes embroiled in a Templar conspiracy involving the Observatory, an Isu device used for spying and blackmail. He seeks Bartholomew Roberts, the current Sage, and ultimately secures the Observatory, killing Laureano de Torres y Ayala and securing the device.

Assassin’s Creed Rogue

1752 to 1776 - French and Indian War

Shay Patrick Cormac, after causing an earthquake in Lisbon, defects from the Assassin Brotherhood to the Templars, pursuing his former master, Achilles, to the Arctic to prevent the Assassins from finding more Isu temples. He suggests that the Templars start a revolution in France.

Assassin’s Creed 3

1754 to 1783 - American Revolution

Haytham Kenway seeks the Grand Temple, but his son, Connor (Ratonhnhaké:ton), becomes an Assassin during the American Revolution, ultimately killing his father to prevent the Templars from obtaining the Temple key.

Assassin’s Creed Liberation

1765 to 1777 - Spanish Occupation of Louisiana

Aveline de Grandpré confronts a Templar plot to control Louisiana, discovering her stepmother's involvement and activating a Prophecy Disk revealing Eve's story.

Assassin’s Creed Unity

1789 to 1794 - French Revolution

Arno Dorian avenges his adoptive father's murder, uncovering a Templar plot to ignite the French Revolution. He confronts François-Thomas Germain, the extremist Templar leader and Sage, ultimately sealing his remains in the Paris Catacombs.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

1868 - Victorian England

Jacob and Evie Frye fight the Templars' control over Victorian London, recovering The Shroud and preventing the Templars from using it to create a living Isu. Evie later assassinates Jack the Ripper, and her daughter, Lydia, later eliminates the leader of a Templar spy network during World War I.