Patrice Désilets, game director of the original Assassin's Creed and, more recently, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, is very sorry for being responsible for all those towers you've had to climb over the last decade. 

During a panel at EGLX, Désilets was asked if he saw himself as stuck with always being known as the "Assassin's Creed guy," even though he left the series before finishing Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Prior to Assassin's Creed, he was also the game director for the superb Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

"I dunno man! Honestly, I don't know," he said. "A little bit! If you're going to spend years on something I hope that happens."

But he does feel responsible for starting the trend of making towers a feature of every open world game—everything from Breath of the Wild to The Crew. 

"Breath of the Wild, wow! That was a game where you could do anything, once you finished the first half hour or so. Now, you're going to just climb towers and unfog the rest of the map. Sorry...it's my fault..."

He's still making games about climbing stuff, though. Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey predates the existence of any kind of buildings, but what are trees if not nature's towers? And Ancestors is covered in them. They're a lot easier to fall off than climb, however, and despite the legacy of Assassin's Creed, it's a surprisingly awkward game. 

Cheers, Destructoid.

Ubisoft announced at E3 that it's launching a subscription-based program called Uplay Plus that, for $15/€15 per month, will give its users "earliest available access" to new Ubi games and access to more than 100 that are already out. Today it announced the starting lineup, which can be pretty simply summed up as "everything."

More than 40 games available on the service are "premium editions" that come with additional content such as expansions and DLC. Rainbow Six: Siege on Uplay Plus is the Ultimate Year Four Edition, for instance, which includes all 48 operators currently released. There will be some exceptions, however: The fine print notes, without going into detail, that "where premium or special editions of the game are indicated (for example: Ultimate/Gold/Deluxe Editions), editions included in Uplay+ may not include all premium content."

Uplay Plus is set to go live in September 3, and will be available as a free trial for everyone who signs up until September 30. Note that you'll need to provide a valid credit card in order to take advantage of the offer, and you'll be charged the full $15 for the month unless you cancel prior to September 30. Details are up at uplay.ubisoft.com, and the initial lineup of Uplay Plus games—subject to change at launch and variant by territory—is below.

• Anno 1800 - Deluxe Edition
• Anno 2205 - Ultimate Edition
• Assassin's Creed - Director's Cut
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - Deluxe Edition
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles - China
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles - India
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles - Russia
• Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry - Standalone Edition
• Assassin's Creed II - Deluxe Edition
• Assassin's Creed III + Liberation Remastered
• Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag - Gold Edition
• Assassin's Creed Odyssey - Ultimate Edition*
• Assassin's Creed Origins - Gold Edition*
• Assassin's Creed Origins - Discovery Tour
• Assassin's Creed Revelations - Standard Edition
• Assassin's Creed Rogue - Deluxe Edition
• Assassin's Creed Syndicate - Gold Edition*
• Assassin's Creed Unity - Standard Edition
• Beyond Good and Evil
• Brothers in Arms: Earned In Blood
• Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway
• Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
• Child of Light
• Cold Fear
• Far Cry 2 - Fortune's Edition
• Far Cry 3 - Blood Dragon (Standalone)
• Far Cry 3 - Deluxe Edition
• Far Cry 4 - Gold Edition
• Far Cry 5 - Gold Edition*
• Far Cry New Dawn - Deluxe Edition
• Far Cry Primal - Digital Apex Edition
• Flashback Origin
• For Honor - Marching Fire Edition
• From Dust
• Gods & Monsters (coming soon)
• I Am Alive
• Imperialism
• Imperialism 2
• Might & Magic IX
• Might & Magic VII - For Blood And Honor
• Might & Magic VIII -Day of the Destroyer
• Might & Magic X Legacy - Deluxe Edition
• Might & Magic: Heroes II - Gold Edition
• Might & Magic: Heroes III - Complete Edition
• Might & Magic: Heroes V - Standard Edition
• Might & Magic: Heroes VI - Gold Edition
• Might & Magic: Heroes VI - Shades of Darkness
• Might & Magic: Heroes VII - Deluxe Edition
• Might & Magic: Heroes VII - Trial by Fire
• Monopoly PLUS
• Ode
• Panzer General 2
• Panzer General 3D assault
• POD Gold
• Prince of Persia (2008)
• Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands - Deluxe Edition
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
• Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
• Rayman 2
• Rayman 3
• Rayman Forever
• Rayman Legends
• Rayman Origins
• Rayman Raving Rabbids
• Silent Hunter 2
• Silent Hunter 3
• Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific - Gold Edition
• Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic - Gold Edition
• South Park: The Fractured but Whole - Gold Edition
• South Park: The Stick of Truth - Standard Edition
• Speed Buster
• Starlink - Digital Deluxe Starter Kit
• Steep - X Games Gold Edition*
• The Crew - Ultimate Edition*
• The Crew 2 - Gold Edition*
• The Settlers 1 - History Edition
• The Settlers 2 - History Edition
• The Settlers 3 - History Edition
• The Settlers 4 - History Edition
• The Settlers 5: Heritage of the Kings - History Edition
• The Settlers 6: Rise of an Empire - History Edition
• The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom - History Edition
• Tom Clancy's EndWar
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier - Deluxe Edition
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands – Ultimate Edition*
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint - Gold Edition (coming soon)
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six - Standard Edition
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 - Gold Edition
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege – Ultimate Year Four Edition*
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas II
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Quarantine (coming soon)
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Blacklist - Deluxe Edition
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction - Deluxe Edition
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent
• Tom Clancy's The Division - Gold Edition
• Tom Clancy's The Division 2 - Ultimate Edition
• Trackmania Turbo
• Transference - Uplay
• Trials Evolution - Gold Edition
• Trials Fusion - Standard Edition
• Trials Rising - Gold Edition
• Uno
• Valiant Hearts
• Warlords Battlecry
• Warlords Battlecry 2
• Watch_Dogs - Complete Edition
• Watch_Dogs 2 - Gold Edition
• Watch_Dogs Legion Ultimate Edition* (coming soon)
• World In Conflict - Complete Edition
• Zombi

A couple of weeks ago, Assassin's Creed Wiki user AlifMorrisonudin noticed something very interesting in The Division 2: A poster in the game that he thought could be an Assassin's Creed Easter egg. This eventually led to excited conversations on Reddit and at least one YouTube video explaining why it might be significant.   

The poster has a Viking-looking fellow, wearing what could be an Assassin's style cloak, holding a spear and gazing stoically out over what I imagine is the sea, or maybe a winter-swept field or something appropriately Nordic. The word "Valhalla" is plastered across the top, in case there's any doubt about where this guy comes from.   

But what really sells it as an Assassin's Creed tease is the orb he holds in his hand, which bears a distinct similarity to the Apples of Eden, technology created by the humanity-preceding race known as the Isu that are basically deus ex machina gizmos that do whatever they need to, whenever it's needed. If you want to get really deep into the lore, a Viking connection to the Apples of Eden was established all the way back in Assassin's Creed 2 through the Nordic goddess Idun.

Taken altogether, it's pretty convincing, especially since Ubisoft has done this sort of thing previously. But what really seals the deal, at least as much as a deal can be sealed when it's still purely rumor, is this Kotaku report saying that its own anonymous sources said a few months ago that the upcoming game will in fact be about Vikings. Kotaku has a pretty good record when it comes to this sort of thing, and the fact that it's willing to go to print with the rumor lends it considerably more credence.

No other details are known (or rumored) at this point, and probably won't be for quite a while. Ubisoft said last year that the next Assassin's Creed game won't be out until 2020. 

Ubisoft will not release a new Assassin's Creed game in 2019, chief executive Yves Guillemot has confirmed.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey is due out this October, less than a year after the release of 2017's Assassin's Creed Origins. But this quick turnaround was only possible because the two games were being worked on simultaneously, Guillemot said. There will therefore be no new entry to the series next year—instead, Ubisoft will concentrate on updating Odyssey "on a regular basis" with "new possibilities for play".

"When you get [Odyssey] this year, you're going to get in for a couple of years, actually," he said at Gamescom. "On Assassin's, we had a game [in 2018] and we have one this year, but we are not going to have a full-fledged Assassin's next year. It's just because the team were working separately, so we have two games now, one year after the other. But next year you're not going to have a fully fledged one."

It's not entirely surprising: there was no major Assassin's Creed game in both 2016, between Syndicate and Origins, and 2008, between the original and second games. Odyssey is also "much longer" than Origins, and has probably required more resources to make.

Ubisoft released a new Odyssey trailer yesterday, featuring plenty of fighting and an appearance by a snake-haired Gorgon. 

Thanks, Gamespot.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey is finally here, and it's one of the best games in the series to date. But is it the best? We've ranked the main series, excluding spin-offs, from worst to best, taking into account how well (or badly) the series has aged over the years. And after you've read that, we've also ranked all of the starring assassins from the series, from charming Ezio to boring Connor.

Assassin's Creed

Samuel Roberts, editor in chief: There are so many Assassin's Creed games that iterate upon the barebones original that I would never recommend anyone playing it under any circumstances. By the time you've finished one Assassin's Creed game, another one will be right around the corner. This entry hinted at the potential of an open world assassination game that's about one quarter as intricate as Hitman, but the second game was the one that nailed the formula. 

Jarred Walton, senior editor: I played the original back when it was the only option and found plenty to like, but also way too much repetition. The first tower you climb is an awesome experience. Thirty towers later, not so much. Over ten years later, things have changed, and going back would only ruin any good memories I have of the game. Even at the outset, the open world was extremely repetitive. If you missed this one, at this point it's best left alone.

Tom Senior, web editor: Time has not been kind to the original Assassin’s Creed. At the time it was technically impressive, and the idea of a time-hopping historical action game was really novel. Now the series is well and truly established the first game is more of a curio than a game you would install expecting a good time. 

Assassin's Creed Liberation

Tom: This port of the 2012 Vita game explored stealth in more interesting ways than any of the other games on the list. As Aveline you can change clothes to present yourself as a slave or a wealthy lady, manipulating NPC’s assumptions to access restricted areas and get closer to targets. A lack of changing stations means changing appearance is a bit of a faff, but the main problem is the game’s origins on a handheld system. Spectacle is an important part of Assassin’s Creed’s appeal, and Liberation struggles to deliver on a modern PC monitor. 

Assassin's Creed Unity

Tom: Paris is my favourite Assassin’s Creed city. It’s absolutely gorgeous, even in the slum areas. Sadly it was an overambitious project and the game suffered from a ton of technical problems. The involved loot system hinted that the series might move into RPG territory long before Origins arrived, but it wasn’t particularly interesting. Arno was a complete nobody and the story is chronically dull. A real missed opportunity given the beautiful setting.

Assassin's Creed 3

Samuel: The third game brought us a beautiful world, but one that felt so devoid of interactivity that you might as well have not been there at all. It's a criticism I'd level at the combat, too. I remember Assassin's Creed 3 as a game that plays itself against a beautiful backdrop. But hey, it did debut the boat combat systems that would be built upon in Black Flag (then turned into its own game with Skull and Bones), where the idea of fighting other ships actually made sense. 3 also loses points for having a deeply boring protagonist. 

Tom: Assassin’s Creed 3 has some of the worst missions in the whole series, full restrictive invisible walls, unclear instructions and boring tasks. The game implies that you can hunt redcoats for supplies in wild, wintry forests, but the reality is far more bland, and the towns aren’t as exciting to explore as London, Paris, Venice, or Rome. It’s a shame, because few games tell stories about colonialism, but AC3 manages to make it boring. It’s quite buggy, too. 

Assassin's Creed Rogue

Tom: An average retread of Black Flag in dull wintry tones. The ship combat is still fun, but it’s impossible to escape the de ja vu if you’ve played and enjoyed Assassin’s Creed 4 already.  

Assassin's Creed Revelations

Tom: I’d be tempted to argue this should be higher, though I think if you were going to play an AC game right now Revelations, the third part of the Ezio trilogy, would be a tough recommendation. This game is crowded with unnecessary features and tedious distractions. The tower defence minigames were rubbish, for example, and the crafting system was laboured. 

The big gimmick in this one was a hookblade that let you scoot down ziplines that someone spread across the rooftops of Constantinople. Those are quite fun, and you get to hang around with Leonardo Da Vinci, and Revelations features some of the craziest action sequences in the series. Overall, however, it's a bit of a muddle.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Samuel: London is a dazzling setting, and the idea of two main characters works well, as does the rope launcher that lets you reach high locations easily. Origins has since refined the series' ancient combat, though, which was getting a bit creaky in this entry.

Tom: After the letdown of Assassin’s Creed Unity, the series was getting wearying at this point. The sibling assassins at the heart of it were a fun pair, but I didn’t find London to be as fun to clamber over compared to other cities. Syndicate did so little to advance the formula and distinguish itself from the rest of the games it ended up being oddly forgettable. Yet again there were problems with bugs in certain missions. It had more flair than Rogue, though, and was less wonky than AC3. 

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Samuel: Brotherhood depicts Rome really well, but I prefer having multiple cities to explore in Assassin's Creed rather than just one, putting the second game ahead for me. Calling in assassins with a single button press to do your dirty work feels empowering as heck, though.

Tom: I became obsessed with building Rome, building up my assassin school and finding the little tombs hidden around the city. I wish more games would steal the command that summons an assassin from a nearby bin. It feels badass, and I like seeing how the game will figure out where the assassin leaps out from. Sorry, guard, it turns out an assassin has been waiting in that trough since daybreak waiting for me to turn up and whistle.

Assassin's Creed Origins

Chris Livingston: It's just great that we can still be completely blown away by a game world. Just floored by it. Considering how far games have come, and how many we've played, and all the different sights we see on a regular basis, to just be rocked back on our heels, stunned by the beauty and detail and scope of a location like we are in Origins. 

Tom: I couldn’t get on with the combat or the level gating of enemies but visually Origins sets a new standard for Assassin’s Creed. None of the other games capture the bustling ambience of a marketplace quite as well, and I love the ability to hop from dusty ground level to an eagle-eye view of Egypt.

Assassin's Creed 2

Samuel: A consistent and engaging action-adventure with a lively setting, a likeable protagonist and a decade-long revenge tale. 

Tom: Venice is a beautiful setting for a game, and it’s a pleasure to explore it as the jovial Ezio. Personally I prefer Brotherhood because I enjoyed collecting assassins like Pokemon, but 2 has the better story, and it’s the point where the series really gains some personality. The first game could feel like a tech demo waiting to become a game, 2 lives up to the promise. 

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Andy K: In many ways, this is the peak of what Ubisoft has achieved with Assassin's Creed. It's clear RPGs such as The Witcher 3 and Mass Effect have been a great influence on the direction of the series, with richer, freer quests, a bigger, more interconnected world, accessible character customisation, and dialogue options.

Odyssey is probably slightly too long, but it's a big, beautiful, sweeping adventure set in a vivid, mythical vision of ancient Greece. It feels like the least historically accurate Creed yet, to the point where Greece and its scattered islands might as well be a fantasy setting in places. But that works in its favour, making for a gorgeous world to journey across.

Throw in that brilliant Exploration Mode, which gives you geographical clues to where an objective is rather than pointing a marker at it, and you have an incredibly fun, rewarding open world. But Black Flag just beats it for me, purely because the piratical theme and Caribbean setting are a touch more compelling and well-realised. It's a close call, though.

Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag

Jody: Part of what's interesting about Assassin's Creed is the idea each game can explore vastly different time periods, but the series' formula has a flattening effect on that. Sometimes they feel samey no matter how unusual the setting. Black Flag's the exception because the Golden Age of Piracy isn't just a backdrop to parkour over, performing air-assassinations off the top of Blackbeard's hat. Once you've done a bit of the assassins vs. templars stuff at the start it goes whole hog on letting you be a pirate captain, like you've eaten your vegetables and now here's your rum-flavored dessert.

Chris: When we played Assassin's Creed 3, we all had the same thought: this ship stuff is awesome. Why don't they make a whole game out of it? Dreams come true.

Tom: Collectible sea shanties! Too many games overlook the value of a good shanty, but not Black Flag. You can also wear four pistols on your chest and use them in hand-to-hand combat! And you can hunt ghost ships on the high seas! I agree that the story is a slog, but at least Kenway has some vigour, and the game gives you so many ways to sail off into adventure. Black Flag makes me crave a dedicated pirate series with these production values, one that doesn’t have to worry about all that Assassin vs. Templar silliness. It’s odd that the Assassin’s Creed game we love the most is the one that cares least about Assassins, but there you go.

Update: Ubisoft hasn't answered my inquiry, but it did drop this on Twitter, confirming that Assassin's Creed: Odyssey will be officially announced at E3.

It's a very "This is Sparta!" moment, isn't it? We'll find out more in a couple of weeks: Ubisoft's E3 press event is slated for 1 pm PT/4 pm ET on June 11.

Original story:

A rumor surfaced in March on Comicbook.com indicating that the next Assassin's Creed game will be set in ancient Greece. "Several sources" said it was so, although the site advised approaching the story with all appropriate caution; but it also noted that "murmurs" of a possible Greek setting had previously come up earlier in the development of Assassin's Creed: Origins.   

French gaming site JeuxVideo added weight to that story today, and also a possible title, with an image of an Assassin's Creed: Odyssey "collectible helmet keychain." The helmet is very clearly in the Greek style, and the Odyssey is a famed epic about the Greek hero Odysseus, who takes the long way home after the Trojan War. That could make the Assassin's Creed timeline a bit hinky—Ptolemaic Egypt, the setting for Origins, didn't come into being until nearly a millennium after the Trojan War—but it's also possible that "Odyssey" isn't a specific reference to the poem as it is a cool word that very loosely fits the motif. 

It's strictly a rumor at this point, but two consecutive, consistent reports—not to mention the fact that ancient Greece is obviously fertile soil for an Assassin's Creed game—makes it a reasonably solid one. The proximity of E3 lends weight to the report as well, as this is the time of year when surprises seem mostly likely to be blown. I've reached out to Ubisoft to inquire about the title, and absolutely do not expect a response—but if I get one, I'll let you know.

Samuel, Pip and Phil are back, and have played some games for once. Phil talks about the comedic warmth of Chuchel, Pip gets annoyed by a disembodied voice in Assassin’s Creed Origin’s new Discovery Tour, and Samuel attempts to make a pork mech in Smoke and Sacrifice. Then we move on to Twitter questions, which may have been a mistake. 

Download: Episode 61: I’ve had cheeses from places you wouldn't believe. You can also subscribe on iTunes or keep up with new releases using our RSS feed.  

Discussed: Chuchel, Into the Breach, Assassin’s Creed Origins, Smoke and Sacrifice

Starring: Samuel Roberts, Phil Savage, Philippa Warr

The PC Gamer UK Podcast is a weekly podcast about PC gaming. Thoughts? Feedback? Requests? Tweet us @PCGamerPod, or email letters@pcgamer.com. This week’s music is from Botanicula.

Over the course of the Assassin's Creed series we've played as a huge variety of hooded killers, from pirates to revolutionaries. And although some are memorable, likeable characters, others might as well be mannequins stuffed into elaborate costumes. So here's every main series protagonist (minus the DLC characters, because we'd be here all day) ranked from worst to best.

Ratonhnhaké:ton

Game Assassin's Creed IIIPlayed by Noah Watts

This guy could have been one of the most interesting Assassin's Creed protagonists. He's the son of a Native American woman and an English man—born during a time of great tension between those two cultures—and played an active role in the American Revolution. But the writers forgot to give him one important thing: a personality. Connor (to use his easier to spell alias) is an extraordinarily boring, earnest man, who sulks, pouts, and complains his way through what is also the worst Assassin's Creed game.

Arno Victor Dorian

Game Assassin's Creed UnityPlayed by Dan Jeannotte

Another revolutionary, this time of the French variety. Arno is born into a wealthy family in Versailles, but becomes an assassin after a stint in the Bastille, a famously brutal Parisian prison. Again, like Connor, he has an interesting backstory. And I like how different he is from most Assassin's Creed protagonists: namely being a bit more loose with the whole Creed thing. He starts out cocky and kinda likeable, but then he slips on the hood and all that personality steadily drains away over the course of the game.

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad

Game Assassin's CreedPlayed by Philip Shahbaz

The original assassin. The beginning of the legend. And, unfortunately, one of the dullest heroes in the series. Altaïr looks cool, but there isn't much going on under the hood. Reviews talked about how boring he was, which inspired Ubisoft to introduce a very different character in the second game. But more on him later. There's no denying Altaïr's importance in the series' mythology, but would it have killed him to crack a joke now and again?

Aya of Alexandria

Game Assassin's Creed OriginsPlayed by Alix Wilton Regan

Minor spoilers for Assassin's Creed Origins.

Aya is the the second playable character in Origins, although husband Bayek gets more screen time. She's strong and spirited, with an endearing belief in Cleopatra's ability to do right by Egypt. But, and this could be because we don't spend much time with her, her personality never really shines through. I like how her allegiance to Cleopatra drives a wedge between her and Bayek, but her driven single-mindedness also makes her a bit one-note.

Shay Patrick Cormac

Game Assassin's Creed RoguePlayed by Steven Piovesan

Shay is an interesting addition to the pantheon of Creed heroes because he isn't an Assassin at all, but a Templar. However, even though he's working for 'the bad guys' (I personally prefer the Templars to the preachy Assassins), his former life as an Assassin himself still haunts him. He's tough and ruthless, but refuses to prey on the weak and occasionally shows mercy. He's nuanced and flawed and we need more lead characters like him in the series.

Evie Frye

Game Assassin's Creed SyndicatePlayed by Victoria Atkin

Evie is more professional and straight-laced than her wild brother Jacob, but she doesn't fall into the trap of Altaïr and Connor by letting her devotion to the Creed define her. There are glimmers of humour and humanity beneath Evie's hard exterior, and she genuinely cares for her brother despite spending most of the game scolding his recklessness. Capable, smart, and passionate, she's one of the most admirably committed leads in the series.

Aveline de Grandpré

Game Assassin's Creed III: LiberationPlayed by Amber Goldfarb

Growing up surrounded by wealth and privilege in New Orleans, Aveline witnessed the hypocrisy and injustice of slavery first-hand, shaping her attitude to life and eventually leading to her joining the Assassins. Relegated to an Assassin's Creed III spin-off—yet infinitely more interesting than boring old Connor—her guilt over being freed and brought into wealth while her friends suffered in slavery gives her personality a sharp edge.

Jacob Frye

Game Assassin's Creed SyndicatePlayed by Paul Amos

Jacob is cocky, rebellious, witty, and a bit of a prick. And that's why he's one of the better Assassin's Creed heroes, because he seems to actually be having fun. He's never happier than when he's brawling on the cobbled streets of London with his brass knuckles. But he's also a fierce defender of the downtrodden, which leads to him following his father and embracing the Creed, even though early in the game it's the last thing on his mind.

Alexios

Game Assassin's Creed OdysseyPlayed by Michael AntonakosOdyssey is notable for giving you the option to play as a male or female character. The dialogue is the same, but the delivery of each performer is very different. Alexios is well acted, but plays it far too straight, sounding like a dozen other gruff videogame heroes. He was always going to struggle in a series already heaving with serious, bearded men, and this only highlights how much better, and more charismatic, his female counterpart is.

Bayek of Siwa

Game Assassin's Creed OriginsPlayed by Abubakar Salim

The newest Creed hero and one of the best. Origins is set in the twilight years of Ancient Egypt as Greek and Roman culture sweeps in, but Bayek is a man of the old world. He deeply respects tradition and religion, but can be charming and funny too. His weakness for children in trouble, caused by the death of his son, makes his dark side particularly shadowy. But his innate good nature and natural instinct to help the weak always shines brighter.

Edward James Kenway

Game Assassin's Creed IV: Black FlagPlayed by Matt Ryan

This charismatic Welsh pirate is, at least in the early stages of the game, more concerned with fame, gold, and glory than following the Creed. And it's this attitude, along with his bawdy sense of humour, that makes his personality so infectious. He deepens and grows as a person throughout his Caribbean adventure, eventually renouncing his old life to become an Assassin, but he never loses his love of swashbuckling on the high seas.

Haytham Kenway

Game Assassin's Creed IIIPlayed by Adrian Hough

Arguably the worst Assassin's Creed features one of the very best lead characters. You begin the third game as Haytham, and he immediately proves to be a complex, conflicted character; more than the villain his allegiance to the Templars suggests he might be. There's good in him—although it's often fogged by the work he does—and his Bond-like charm and ruthlessness make him a joy to play as. Then Connor shows up and spoils all the fun.

Kassandra

Game Assassin's Creed OdysseyPlayed by Melissanthi MahutEven though she has all the same lines as Alexios, Kassandra sounds like she's having a lot more fun on her quest. She's fiery and charismatic, tough and charming, and one of the best heroes in the series to date. A Spartan mercenary on an odyssey of discovery, she finds herself tangling with a sinister cult and trying to track down her birth parents. Voice actor Melissanthi Mahut gives her a little of Ezio's mischievous charm.

Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Game Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood, RevelationsPlayed by Roger Craig Smith

Well, obviously. Ezio has been a fan favourite since his very first appearance, and he had the luxury of another two full-size games to develop as a character. So maybe that's an unfair advantage, but even in Assassin's Creed II he was a breath of fresh air. Witty, charming, and mischievous, Ezio is a character who buzzes with life and personality, from his younger days brawling on the streets of Florence to Revelations' moving final scenes.

Assassin's Creed: Origins lands one month from today, bringing with it puzzle-filled pyramids, Witcher-like investigation, and Caesar and Cleopatra. Expect new words on that from our Tom over the next few days. If you're yet to sample what's come thus far, though, the Assassin's Creed series is on sale now through Friday on Steam. 

Despite their age, that means netting both Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed 2 for just £2.71/$3.39 with a 66 percent discount, and Assassin's Creed Revelations for £4.07/$6.79. 2014's Liberation and the standalone Freedom Cry are going for £5.43/$6.79 and £4.07/$5.09 respectively, while the Climax Studio-led China Chronicles spin-off is just £2.71/$3.39. 

Black Flag, Rogue, Unity and Syndicate are also subject to two thirds price drops, selling for £5.43/$6.79, £5.43/$6.79, £8.49/$10.19, and £13.99/$15.99 in turn. And, if you're feeling extra flush, the Assassin's Creed Bundle gathers those four games and costs £30.01/$35.78. 

On Black Flag, here's a snippet from Tom's 2013 review: 

Whatever Assassin's Creed was trying to be in 2007, it's now buried under generations of feature creep, but that's no bad thing. Black Flag is best regarded as a collage of the games and technologies Ubisoft have cultivated over the past decade. There are strong notes of Prince of Persia in the platforming challenges of the archipelago's Aztec ruins. You can put on hunters' rags and travel the world in search of rare prey. The sailing is a great element unto itself. Some of these aspects have been bettered in other games, but by brute force, Black Flag's varied components merge beautifully to create rich and constantly interesting world. 

Head this way for Steam's Assassin's Creed sale. 

Once upon a time, Ubisoft's library was simple: it made platformers starring terrifying mascots with no limbs, and roughly 17,000 Tom Clancy tie-ins. But over the last decade, Ubi has muscled in on the genre that GTA made famous, building huge worlds spanning radically different time periods. Regardless of whether you’re controlling a historical hitman or a coma-bound cop, though, Ubisoft’s sandboxes love to borrow mechanics from other Ubi games.

Join us as we look back at the history of the Ubisoft's open world games, to see just how these sprawling sandboxes have evolved (and grown more and more alike).

A stealthy start

Ubisoft first began to dabble in the sandbox space with 2007’s Assassin’s Creed. Skip back a decade, and you’d never guess the seismic scope the franchise would reach. Before the 2D spin-offs, books, and shitty Michael Fassbender films could wear us all down, there was just this ambitious (more than a bit broken) sandbox that spawned many of the features open world games still cling to in 2017. 

Chances are you don’t remember much about the original Assassin’s Creed. You probably recall moping around ancient Jerusalem stabbing folk as a dude in a hoodie. Perhaps you have a dim recollection of eavesdropping on NPCs chatting away on benches. Maybe you even remember that early kickass trailer with the horribly catchy Unkle song. 

The one thing you’ll definitely recall is Ubisoft’s obsession with making players scale super lofty buildings. That all started in Altaïr’s adventure. To fully scope out all of the Holy Land’s side activities, you had to climb the tops of the tallest structures across Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus. Doing so gives you a very literal eagle’s eye view of the sprawling mass of humanity hundreds of feet below; a bird of prey swooping around the building when you reach its summit. 

These vertigo-bating landmarks birthed Ubi’s most infamous open world feature: gradually filling up a map with mission markers.

Crossover feature: Climbing towers

Assassin’s Creed may have introduced us to the idea of big-ass buildings that revealed points of interest when climbed, but it was 2012’s Far Cry 3 that really cemented the feature. Jason Brody’s leopard-punching, pirate-blasting, tattoo-inking tropical holiday had the sort of wide reaching influence on the open world genre its two predecessors could only have sweaty night terrors about… mainly because its predecessor literally gave you malaria. 

Surprisingly, Far Cry 2’s obsession with making you stuff pills down your throat to keep mosquito-borne diseases away never caught on—nor did its love of jamming weapons. Far Cry 3 ditched the annoying obstructions in favour of features that kept you itching to explore.

Far Cry 3’s antenna towers undoubtedly cast the longest shadow on almost every Ubi open world that followed. Scaling these rickety structures—which often feel like they’re being kept up by little more than prayers and a few loose screws—helps Brody fill his map up with all manner of side distractions. Haphazardly jumping, swinging and climbing your way between the crooked layers of the towers in Far Cry 3 isn’t just a hoot in and of itself, it also makes tracking the series of wildlife hunts, enemy encampments, treasure chests and races spread throughout the densely packed archipelago a lot easier.  

Crossover feature: Animals

Also, animals. An ark's worth of animals. Brief hunting escapades may have popped up a few months prior in Assassin’s Creed 3, but it was Far Cry 3 that really took the pelt-collecting ball and ran with it. Forget quietly ruminating on the unspoken majesty of the animal kingdom: Ubi’s critter-obsessed shooters just want to make you shoot endangered species in their furry faces. 

Not that the trend Far Cry 3 kicked off (which seemed heavily inspired by Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption) entirely revolves around needless slaughter. Hunting down and skinning animals allows Brody to use pelts to craft ever larger ammo bags and other weapon-focused accessories. 

The creature carnage in Far Cry 4 takes things even further, with attacks coming from land, sea and air—lord are that game’s ultra aggressive eagles ever jerks. The Himalayan sandbox would also introduce rideable beasts in the form of rampaging elephants, which the prehistoric follow-up would go nuts with.

Last year’s Far Cry Primal makes the toothy, tusked inhabitants of its ancient world the stars of the show. Far Cry 3 may have let you punch sharks, but next to Primal’s wild encounters, that's positively tame. When you can train sabertooth tigers, command jaguars to stealth kill fellow cavemen, and use an owl as a sort of feathered, Mesolithic drone to tag enemies—a feature both Watch Dogs 2 and Ghost Recon: Wildlands would quickly reskin—bopping Jaws’ cousin on the nose ain’t no thang. 

Ubisoft has since pushed more animals into Assassin's Creed: Origins. Even Watch Dogs 2 depicts San Francisco's Pier 39 with a rookery of slovenly seals leisurely sunning themselves on gangplanks.

Crossover features: Sneaking, tagging, and stealth takedowns

Stealth has also played a large role in many of Ubi’s open world games, regardless of the setting, era or enemy type. It started with players blending into crowds with the ‘social stealth’ gameplay of the original Assassin’s Creed. It was an innovative feature for its time—after all, most stealth games up to that point forced their characters to either hide in the shadows or a cardboard box.

Sneaking mechanics were quickly shoved into most of its games following Assassin’s Creed's success. Who cares if these stalking scenarios were often absurd: they make for easy mission design, dammit!

Diving underwater, then pulling pirates into the drink as you clear out enemy strongholds in Far Cry 3. Slipping between cover to slap a chokehold on Watch Dogs’ various shortsighted guards. Poking Edward Kenway’s head out of Assassin’s Creed 4’s suspiciously plentiful patches of long grass. Using a tiny, extra voyeuristic RC car to infiltrate the offices of a tech startup in Watch Dogs 2, then zapping any security personnel that get too curious. Solid Snake and Sam Fisher have a lot to answer for.  

Whether you’re whacking religious zealots in the time of the Crusades or putting San Francisco office workers to sleep with a taser gun, over the years Ubisoft has proven there’s no open world setting it can’t crowbar a stealth section into. 

Tagging enemies is another prominent feature most Ubi games have turned to over the last few years. This actually predates Ubisoft's open worlds, in games like Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Rainbow Six: Vegas, but it's since become a vital part of their sandboxes as well.

Placing markers down to keep track of your foes’ positions popped up in Far Cry 3, with Brody’s super useful set of pirate-tagging binoculars. Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, and Ghost Recon have all subsequently borrowed this eagle-eyed feature, while even the likes of Metal Gear Solid V have benefited hugely from Jason’s peeping Tom bouts of recon making tagging an open world staple.

Oh, and almost every one of those games lets you perform stealth takedowns, too. Because of course any self respecting hipster hacker/out of his depth fratboy/neanderthal can neutralise foes with the quiet, deadly efficiency of a Navy SEAL team.

Crossover feature: The Ubisoft collectible

This is the big one. More than any of the above crossover features, one recurring element has helped prop up Ubi’s increasingly sophisticated sandboxes this past decade: collectibles. ALL the collectibles. 

Eagle feathers in Assassin’s Creed; lost letters and spirit totems in Far Cry; Watch Dogs’ key data caches; Kingslayer files in Ghost Recon: Wildlands; even crystalline shards in the otherwise wonderfully nonconformist Grow Home, and its sequel Grow Up. Grand Theft Auto 3 may have introduced the world to sandbox collectibles with its fiendishly placed hidden packages, but we doubt Rockstar envisioned game worlds rammed full of bird feathers, PC files and statue heads. 

Hell, Ubisoft has even managed to cram several garages full of collectibles into its vehicled-based sandboxes. 2011’s brilliantly offbeat Driver San Francisco has 130 movie tokens to hoover up as you bomb around the Golden City while you mind-jack cars in gaming’s most exciting coma. The Crew wouldn’t miss this OCD party for the world, either. The flawed 2014 racer scatters 20 Wreck Parts in each of the five sections that make up its vast North American sandbox of endless highways. 

It’s almost as if Ubisoft doesn’t trust you enough to leave you to your own devices for five minutes. A good thing, too. Why take your time admiring the painstakingly recreated canal networks of Renaissance era Venice in Assassin’s Creed 2, when your inner completionist could be making Ezio ruin his shins by scampering up rooftops for mangy bird feathers?

There’s no question Ubisoft’s open worlds have evolved drastically over the last ten years. Place the original Assassin’s Creed next to the upcoming Beyond Good & Evil 2 (Michel Ancel’s long awaited sequel lets you explore entire galaxies), and you may as well be comparing a kid’s crayon scribbles to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Still, there’s no question Ubi’s plethora of internal studios love to crib concepts from each other’s games. 

So whether its a slightly out of place stealth mission, wads of XP to splurge on increasingly convoluted skill trees, or vaulting up towers to open up that fog covered map, you should probably expect Ubisoft open worlds to continue to share crossover features as they continue to evolve. Darwin would be delighted. Probably.