Few video game franchises make use of different time periods as well as Assassin’s Creed. Each game is set during an important period in history, and the developers use real historical figures and events to make the whole thing feel authentic.

During the series’ early years, it was easy to keep track of what happened when. But once the releases stopped being in chronological order, things got a little confusing. To help make sense of it, here is each main game listed in the order they happened. One quick thing to note is that the year of the DLCs, flashbacks, and certainly the present-day sections have been disregarded. It’s simply the main part of each game that has been considered.

12 Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (431 - 422 BC)

Kassandra or Alexios’s adventure starts way back in 431 BC. Then they spend the next decade hunting hard to find Cult members, collecting important artifacts, and playing their part in the Peloponnesian War.

There’s some contention on what year the game actually finishes due to the multiple endings. But as the two siblings’ final confrontation atop Mount Taygetos is in 422 BC, that seems a good ending point.

11 Assassin’s Creed: Origins (49 - 43 BC)

As its title suggests, Origins sees the creation of the first-ever Assassin Order. Although, instead of the traditional Brotherhood that is featured in other games, this faction is known as the Hidden Ones.

In the years before the group’s official formation, Bayek and Aya hunt down the Order of the Ancients. Their goal is to avenge their son, who died because of the villains’ actions. They succeed, of course, as they are two of the most powerful protagonists in Assassin’s Creed history.

10 Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (873 AD)

Despite being the latest installment in the series, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is set long before most of the other games. In fact, the narrative takes place in the midst of the Viking Age.

Eivor and their clan set out for greener pastures as they make their way to England to find a new place to call home. In classic Assassin’s Creed fashion, it’s not quite as simple as that as the new place is filled with enemies.

9 Assassin’s Creed (1911 AD)

 

The first game in the series takes place during the Third Crusade, and the Templars are actual Knight Templars. Although, some of the group’s other members are a little more inconspicuous.

Altair finds this out first hand as he slaughters many of them while making his way back up the Assassin ranks. And he deserves some credit as he goes from a disgraced Assassin to a hero within a single year.

8 Assassin’s Creed 2 (1459 - 1499 AD)

Assassin’s Creed 2 is the first time you get to witness the true birth of an Assassin, literally and figuratively. Ezio starts the game as a baby before shortly growing into a young man who flirts with women and climbs buildings.

Over time he learns about the Assassins, becomes one, and murders some of the evilest Templars of the Renaissance. Naturally, this all takes him a long time.

7 Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (1499 - 1507 AD)

Ezio’s second adventure starts right where the last left off. With the Apple in hand and Rodrigo Borgia defeated, he goes back to the Auditore Villa to celebrate.

Yet, it isn’t long before Rodrigo’s children start to cause trouble for the now-accomplished Assassin. However, Cesare Borgia’s nefarious schemes prove to be much quicker to stop than his father’s. He is still one of the toughest bosses to take down, though.

6 Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (1511 - 1512 AD)

For his final quest, an aging Ezio travels to Constantinople during the rise of the Ottoman Empire.

However, he isn’t interested in all of the politics; he simply wants to find the keys to Altair’s vault. And he happens to meet his future wife in the process. Thankfully, the whole thing only takes a year as Ezio’s old body couldn’t have lasted much longer.

5 Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag (1715 - 1722 AD)

The Kenway series of games occur many years after Ezio’s escapades. Edward is the first Kenway to make a name for himself in the Assassin and Templar conflict.

He starts Black Flag as a selfish Pirate who isn’t a fan of either of the Ancient Orders. Over the following seven years, though, the number of people by his side starts to diminish. And he begins to grow fond of the Assassins.

4 Assassin’s Creed: Rogue (1752 - 1776 AD)

There is some crossover between the stories of Rogue and Assassin’s Creed 3 as they both take place around the time of the American Revolutionary War.

In Rogue, you take control of a man named Shay Cormac. During the early parts of the game, he starts to see some evil in the Assassins. So he leaves the Creed behind and becomes a part of the Templar Order he’d always opposed. He then begins killing the people he used to call his brothers and sisters.

3 Assassin’s Creed 3 (1754 - 1783 AD)

During the first Sequences of AC3, you take control of Haytham Kenway as you build a team of seemingly respectable individuals.

Then the game shifts to the perspective of his son, Connor Kenway, who is just a child at the time. Throughout the game, the younger Kenway trains to become an Assassin to fight injustice in America. He spends many years on this endeavor and stops several cruel Templar plots.

2 Assassin’s Creed Unity (1776 - 1808 AD)

In Unity’s opening stages, Arno witnesses the death of his father at the hands of Shay Cormac. He is then raised by François de la Serre, who is also murdered, this time at the start of the French Revolution. Eventually, as is customary in the Assassin’s Creed games, Arno gets wrapped up in the Assassin and Templar strife.

He joins the Assassin side, but his life-long friend and love interest, Elise, becomes a Templar. Both of them, however, only care about uncovering the evil plot that involves many of France’s most influential people.

1 Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (1868 AD)

Jacob and Evie Frye make their way to London at the start of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. The city is at the end of the Industrial Revolution, but as this is Assassin’s Creed, that isn’t the only thing going on.

The Templar Order also has a stranglehold over London and all of its residents. The deadly Frye Twins attempt to loosen that grip by finding the Shroud of Eden and creating gang warfare in the streets. It works, and it doesn’t even take a year.

NEXT: Assassin’s Creed: 5 Things That Are Historically Accurate (& 5 Things That Aren’t)