Time to Complete - 13h 36m
Rating - 7/10
Cost - $2.59

I've never played more than an hour of any Assassins Creed game combined, and due to having access to the entire series via Ubisoft+ right now. I feel its a perfect time to get my moneys worth and play them all :3

Anyway, let's get to the games. I am missing AC: Valhalla and Mirage, due to them not being available as part of the subscription. Maybe I will get to them in the distant future.

Where it all started

The first Assassins Creed game actually came out in 2007 (I thought it was way older than this), and personally I feel it hasn't aged very well. The story centers around Bartender called Desmond Miles who has been kidnapped, and subject to reliving the memories of his ancestors. And the gameplay focuses on the adventures of Altair, a member of the Assassins Creed in 1191. After being stripped of his title, you complete assassinations in order to regain your status and rank within the brotherhood. For me it is an okay narrative, albeit a little slow. The game ramps up the story in the latter half, exposing a link between the foes you are tasked with assassinating and creating a bridging story that spans the game. This is the original games defining quality, and the philosophical elements tied to the narrative were a really neat touch.

The graphics are very 2000s, and haven't held up to time. Everything has this strange over contrast, akin to the first Gears of War games or other games of that period. This sheen is not it for me and honestly looks awful but is a product of the time. I do think the parkour is really good for its time, although it is a little clunky and rigid.

I'm convinced the guards are blind

After the novelty of killing as little as possible wore off, I started assassinating anybody who stood in my way, yet the surrounding people barely made a stir. I killed some guards within small crowds with no issues, which I personally found strange. these townsfolk have seen some real S@%&

This game has a good mix of difficult and easy sections, so long as you play the intended way. If you just maul anybody in your path, as long as there isn't a timer on the mission this can be quite effective once you get good at the combat. Though it remains that stealth is your best friend and assassinating the guards that obstruct your mission is by far the easiest method of success. I also found that once your cover is broken, it was really annoying to try and find effective cover and after a while I resorted to a killing spree to remove unwanted attention.

Please sir, I'm poor and sick and hungry

God these beggar women are annoying, between these and the "crazy people" I was getting quite frustrated with the random NPCs and started slaughtering the innocents if they started nagging me. After dealing with the same voice lines from the beggars for many hours I was absolutely fed up with them in entirety. Anyone who has played this game will know what I mean.

Why do these games always end so badly?

I do not know if I am just playing some really unfortunate games right now, but this is one of several games I've completed that just ends abruptly with no explanation. The game builds up this whole arc about Desmond and his relation to the past, and then it ends so abruptly with Desmond having a superhero gimmick with no context. Fortunately I am a little late to the party so hopefully it gets explained in the sequels. OH, and I had to google how to end the game because I didn't get the last present day mission at all.

The kids back in 2007 who had a hold of this game were truly blessed, it is a mix of extremely fun parkour elements and a combat system par for the course of the time. In 2024, the visuals are certainly not picturesque however the gameplay remains top tier, despite the many issues. this game is an example of nothing being perfect, and Ubisoft struck gold with what they had. After playing this first entry I am really quite excited to get stuck into the next title in the franchise.