With the release of Odyssey, the Assassin’s Creed timeline now stretches across over two and a half millennia.
Considering the series is known for blending the fantasy elements with real history, that’s a pretty fascinating, and complicated, chronology. In this post, we’ll break down the timeline based on in-game details and information drawn from the transmedia universe of novels, comics, websites, and other canonical entries.
Given that some of the games, Revelations in particular, take place across the timeline, we’ll be ordering the games by the setting of their main narrative. We’re also primarily covering the “historical” sections of the game, but may flesh out the timeline with the “modern” storyline in the future.
[Update] Updated for the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla reveal trailer.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (431 BC)
Odyssey is the earliest entry in the Assassin’s Creed timeline by several centuries. It predates the Assassin Brotherhood by some time, and connects to the rest of the series by exploring how First Civilization artifacts were used in the ancient world in and around Greece. The story’s primary antagonist organization, the Cult of Kosmos, may also be an early predecessor of the Templar Order.
Assassin’s Creed Origins: Desert Oath (Approx. 70 BC)
This novel acts as a prequel to Origins, and follows a boy named Bayek who would later go on to become a Medjay.
Assassin’s Creed Origins (49-43 BC)
Origins is set in Egypt during the time of Cleopatra, and explores the beginnings of what would become the Assassin Brotherhood through a Medjay named Bayek.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (873 AD)
Valhalla‘s reveal trailer showed the invasion of Britain by Vikings, a real historical event that took place in 873.
Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles (1190 AD)
Altaïr’s Chronicles is a DS and mobile game following Altaïr before the events of the original Assassin’s Creed. It takes place during the Third Crusade in and around Jerusalem.
Assassin’s Creed (1191 AD)
The original Assassin’s Creed games follows Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad as he undertakes a series of assassination missions during the time of the Third Crusade.
Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines (1191 AD)
Bloodlines takes place directly after the events of Assassin’s Creed, following Altaïr as he learns of the Templars’ plan to escape to Cyprus.
The Secret Crusade (1256 AD)
This novel tracks the life of the Asssassin Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad, as recorded by Niccolò Polo (the father of Marco Polo). Its frame story also connects it to Assassin’s Creed II era, with Ezio discovering the account of Altaïr and reading it.
Assassin’s Creed Lineage (1476 AD)
This collection of three short films jumps the narrative forward to the 15th century, and details the exploits of Ezio Auditore’s father, the assassin Giovanni.
Assassin’s Creed II (1459-1500 AD)
Set during the Italian Renaissance, this story follows Ezio Auditore da Firenze as he undertakes training as an Assassin in order to avenge his slain family.
Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery (1491 AD)
Taking place during the events of Assassin’s Creed II, this DS/mobile game is a side story follows Ezio as he assists the Venetian Thieves Guild with a threat from the Spanish Inquisition.
Assassin’s Creed Movie (1492 AD)
Set during 15th Century Spain, the film adaptation of Assassin’s Creed is canonical, featuring an appearance by Arno Dorian, and being referenced in Assassin’s Creed Origins.
Assassin’s Creed Ascendance (1500 AD)
This short film bridges the story between Assassin’s Creed II and Brotherhood, that follows Ezio and his friend Leonardo DaVinci as they seek information on the Borgia’s rise to power.
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (1500-1507 AD)
Taking place directly after the end of Assassin’s Creed II, Brotherhood follows Ezio as he goes to Rome to take the fight to the Borgia family while he rebuilds the assassin ranks.
Assassin’s Creed Revelations (1511 AD)
In the final installment of the “Ezio Trilogy,” the character travels to Constantinople searching for Altair’s secret library, and in the process uncovers the story of his final days.
Assassin’s Creed Volume 3: Homecoming (1516 AD)
This comic book arc follows Hiram Stoddard, a former pupil of Ezio Auditore.
Assassin’s Creed Embers (1524 AD)
A short CGI film set during Ezio’s twilight years, Embers centers around the training of the assasssin student Shao Jun.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China (1526 AD)
This installment of the Chronicles sub-series continues the story of Ezio’s student Shao Jun as she returns to China during the fall of the Ming dynasty.
Assassin’s Creed Volume 2: Setting Sun (1535 AD)
This comic book arc follows Quila, a chasqui (messenger) living in the Incan Empire. Quila inadvertently discovers a plot to assassinate the Incan emperor, drawing her into a conflict between the Assassins and Templar.
Assassin’s Creed Volume 1: Trial by Fire (1692)
This comic book arc follows Tom Stoddard, a Master Assassin who is on assignment in Salem during the Salem Witch Trials. Stoddard is the descendant of Hiram Stoddard, an assassin trained by Ezio Auditore, and the ancestor of Charlotte de la Cruz, a modern-day Assassin.
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag (1712-1722 AD)
This narrative centers around Edward Kenway during the Golden Age of Piracy as he sets off to make his fortune… only to be pulled into a conflict between the Assassins and the Templars over an ancient artifact called “The Observatory.”
Assassin’s Creed Forsaken (1735 AD)
This novel is presented as Haytham Kenway’s personal journal, beginning with his childhood and continuing into his rise through the Templar Order.
Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry (1735-1737 AD)
The standalone expansion to Black Flag follows Edward Kenway’s former first mate Adewale, as he engages on a quest to free slaves and disrupt the slave trade in the Caribbean.
Assassin’s Creed Rogue (1752-1760 AD)
Assassin-turned-Templar Shay Cormac hunts down his former brethren during the Seven Years’ War. Many characters in this game, such as Edward’s son Haytham Kenway and Achilles Davenport, are major players in Assassin’s Creed III; and the end of the game acts as a prologue for Assassin’s Creed Unity.
Assassin’s Creed III (1754-1783 AD)
This installment follows Haytham’s son Conner, also known as Ratonhnhaké:ton, as he assists the American Revolution in order to save his Native American tribe from the Templar Order.
Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation (1765-1777 AD)
In this PSP game set in the Louisiana Bayou, African-French assassin Aveline de Grandpre battles the Templars in New Orleans towards the end of the French and Indian War
Assassin’s Creed Unity (1776-1808 AD)
Set in Paris during the French Revolution, Unity introduces the assassin Arno Dorian as he seeks to expose the corruption behind the Revolution.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag – Aveline (1784 AD)
This standalone mission for Black Flag takes place in Rhode Island following Aveline’s mission to recruit an escaped slave into the Assassin Order.
Assassin’s Creed Templars Volume 2: Cross of War (1805)
This comic book arc follows the Templar Solomon Bolden in the Mediterranean region.
Assassin’s Creed: Brahman (1839 AD)
This comic book series introduces Arbaaz Mir Kashmiri, Master Assassin of the Indian Brotherhood of Assassins at Amritsar, a storyline that is eventually continued in Chronicles: India.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India (1841 AD)
The assassin Arbaaz Mir attempts to recover the Koh-i-Noor diamond during a war between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company.
Assassin’s Creed Underworld (1862 AD)
This novel follows Henry Green and Detective Abberline in a story that begins six years before the start of Syndicate.
Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (1868 AD)
Syndicate tells the story of twins Jacob and Evie Frye, who must unite the factions or organized crime in Victorian London in order to fight the Templars. A section of the narrative also follows Jacob’s descendant during World War I.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate: Jack The Ripper (1888 AD)
Set 20 years after the main narrative of Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, Evie hunts for famed murderer Jack the Ripper.
Assassin’s Creed: The Fall & The Chain (1888 AD)
These comic book series introduce Nikolai Orelov, a member of the Narodnaya Volya, the Russian branch of the Order of Assassins.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia (1918 AD)
The final installment of the Chronicles trilogy follows Russian assassin Nikolai Orelov, a character originally introduced in the comic Assassin’s Creed: Subject Four. The story is set in 1918, just after the October Revolution, and centers around Orelov’s mission to save the grand duchess, Anastasia, who shares memories with the assassin Shao Jun. A hidden ending in Chronicles: Russia reveals the Precursor box’s role in the Phoenix Project.
Assassin’s Creed Templars Volume 1: Black Cross (1927 AD)
This comic book arc follows Darius Gift as he travels to Shanghai to undertake his first mission for the Templar Order. It introduces the titular Black Cross faction of the Templars, and Juhani Otso Berg, leader of the Templar Sigma Strike Team.
Assassin’s Creed: Uprising Volume 2: Inflection Points (1937 AD)
This comic book arc follows Ignacio Cardona, a member of the Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins, during the Spanish Civil War.
Assassin’s Creed: Conspiracies (1943 AD)
This comic book series is set during World War II and follows Eddie Gorm as he becomes embroiled in the race to invent atomic weapons.
Assassin’s Creed: Bloodstone (1963 AD)
This story, to date the furthest along on the timeline in terms of the “historic” narrative, follows Alekseï Gavrani. Gavrani is an Assassin and former Soviet hitman. He is recruited by the CIA to undertake a mission during the Vietnam War.
