The Complete Assassin's Creed Timeline

Assassin's Creed Shadows, the latest installment in this sprawling franchise, might seem chronologically out of place. Set in feudal Japan, it occupies a middle ground in the series' extensive historical timeline. Unlike a typical historical narrative, Assassin's Creed doesn't follow a linear path; instead, it leaps across centuries, exploring pivotal moments from the Peloponnesian War in Ancient Greece to the cusp of World War I.

With 14 mainline games and counting, the series' timeline has become incredibly intricate. To unravel this centuries-long saga, IGN meticulously examined every piece of lore to construct a comprehensive, chronologically ordered timeline, clarifying the overarching narrative and the interconnectedness of each game.

The Isu Era

75,000 BCE

Before delving into the timeline, understanding the Isu is crucial. Eons ago, a technologically advanced civilization of god-like beings, the Isu, ruled Earth. They created humanity to serve as their slaves, maintaining control through powerful artifacts known as the Apples of Eden. However, humanity's inherent resistance to enslavement led Eve and Adam to steal an Apple, sparking a revolutionary war.

This war raged for a decade before a solar flare devastated the planet, obliterating the Isu. Humanity, battered but not broken, inherited the Earth.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

431 to 422 BCE - Peloponnesian War

Amidst the chaos of the Peloponnesian War in Greece, mercenary Kassandra uncovers the Cult of Kosmos, a clandestine organization secretly manipulating the conflict. Among their ranks is her long-lost brother, Alexios, kidnapped as a child and transformed into a demigod-like weapon. Kassandra discovers the Cult targeted Alexios due to his lineage – he carries the genes of their grandfather, the legendary Spartan King Leonidas, a direct descendant of the Isu.

Kassandra embarks on a quest to thwart the Cult's ambition to dominate Greece, uncovering their use of an Isu device capable of calculating potential futures to control the war. She eliminates key members of the Cult and destroys the device, bringing an end to the conflict.

During her journey, Kassandra reunites with her father, Pythagoras, also an Isu descendant. Pythagoras entrusts Kassandra with the Staff of Hermes, an Isu artifact granting immortality, and tasks her with protecting Atlantis.

Assassin’s Creed Origins

49 to 43 BCE - Ptolemaic Egypt

During Cleopatra's reign, the Order of the Ancients – another shadowy organization collaborating with the Cult of Kosmos – kidnaps Bayek and his son. They believe Bayek's bloodline holds the key to an Isu vault, a belief that proves incorrect. A tragic incident during his escape leads to his son's death, fueling his vow for revenge.

Bayek and his wife Aya dedicate themselves to dismantling the Order, which controls Egypt through its puppet Pharaoh, Ptolemy, and its influence over Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. While avenging their son, they uncover the Order's global reach, manipulating politics and religion by exploiting Isu Apples of Eden. To combat the Order's oppression, Bayek and Aya establish the Hidden Ones, a secret network of spies and assassins operating across Egypt and Rome.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

861 - Islamic Golden Age

Nearly a century later, the Hidden Ones have established numerous strongholds, including Alamut in Iran. Basim, a Baghdad street thief, undergoes assassin training and investigates the Order of the Ancients' activities in his city. He discovers the Order's pursuit of an Isu temple beneath Alamut and aids the assassins in repelling an invasion. Inside, he finds a technologically advanced prison that once held Loki, an Isu now considered a Norse god. Basim learns of his own reincarnation as Loki and 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. Clan leader Sigurd and his sibling Eivor establish the settlement of Ravensthorpe, encountering the tyranny of King Alfred, an Order member aiming to impose a Christian regime. The discovery of an Isu artifact leads Sigurd to experience godlike visions. In Norway, Basim reveals Eivor and Sigurd as reincarnations of Odin and Týr (Loki's jailers), initiating his revenge. Eivor survives, trapping Basim in a simulated world generated by an Isu computer resembling the Yggdrasil tree. Traumatized, Sigurd relinquishes leadership to Eivor, who defeats King Alfred and returns to Ravensthorpe as a hero.

Assassin’s Creed

1191 - Third Crusade

Over the next three centuries, the Hidden Ones evolve into the Assassin Brotherhood, while the Order of the Ancients transforms into the Knights Templar, their goals remaining unchanged: world domination. During the Third Crusade, assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad steals an Apple of Eden from the Templars. His arrogance leads to a fellow assassin's death, prompting his master, Al Mualim, to task him with assassinating nine Templar leaders.

Altaïr completes the task, uncovering Al Mualim's betrayal and his plan to use the Apple for global control. Altaïr is forced to kill his mentor and assume leadership of the Brotherhood.

Assassin’s Creed 2

1476 to 1499 - Italian Renaissance

In the Italian Renaissance, Ezio Auditore Da Firenze joins the Assassin Brotherhood to avenge his family's death at the hands of the Templars. Using his father's equipment and Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions, Ezio battles the Borgia family, obtaining an Apple of Eden revealing an Isu vault beneath the Vatican. He confronts Rodrigo Borgia, the Templar Grand Master and Pope, ultimately winning and accessing the vault.

Inside, Minerva, an Isu, warns of an impending apocalypse in 2012 and reveals a network of Isu vaults as potential salvation.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

1499 to 1507 - Italian Renaissance

Despite defeating Borgia, Ezio's failure to kill him leads to the theft of the Apple of Eden. Ezio rebuilds the weakened Assassin Brotherhood, becoming leader of the Italian Bureau. They dismantle the Borgia regime and recover the Apple, which Ezio hides in an Isu vault beneath the Colosseum.

Assassin’s Creed Revelations

1511 to 1512 - Ottoman Civil War

Seeking Isu knowledge, Ezio travels to Masyaf to investigate Altaïr's library, only to find the Templars have already begun collecting the keys to unlock it. He travels to Constantinople, allying with Ottoman Assassins against Byzantine Templars, disrupting their plan to restore the Byzantine Empire and secure the keys.

In the library, Ezio discovers Altaïr's remains and a message from Jupiter, revealing the location of the Grand Temple and crucial data for humanity's survival. Ezio leaves the Apple untouched, retiring and eventually dying.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

1579 - Sengoku Period

[Details about the storyline of Assassin's Creed Shadows are currently limited. However, it is known that an African mercenary travels to Japan with a Jesuit missionary, where he becomes a samurai named Yasuke and participates in the invasion of Iga province. He eventually unites with Naoe, the daughter of a shinobi master, in pursuit of a common goal.]

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag

1715 to 1722 - Golden Age of Piracy

Edward Kenway becomes entangled in a Templar conspiracy after killing an Assassin. He learns of the Templars' search for the Observatory, an Isu device capable of spying on anyone, and their pursuit of the Sage, a human reincarnation of Aita, the pirate Bartholomew Roberts.

Edward seeks Roberts and disrupts the Templars, establishing a pirate republic before confronting Roberts. After retrieving the Observatory's power source, the skull, from Roberts, Edward assassinates Templar leader Laureano de Torres y Ayala and secures the skull, returning home to his family.

Assassin’s Creed Rogue

1752 to 1776 - French and Indian War

Shay Patrick Cormac, after causing an earthquake in Lisbon while retrieving an Isu artifact, defects from the Brotherhood, stealing their map of Isu temples. The Assassins pursue him, but he is rescued by the Templars. Shay rises through the Templar ranks, targeting prominent Assassins and eventually confronting his former mentor, Achilles, in the Arctic.

Shay and Haytham Kenway (Edward's son) injure Achilles, preventing further Isu temple discoveries. In 1776, Shay suggests a Templar-led revolution in France.

Assassin’s Creed 3

1754 to 1783 - American Revolution

The Templars aim to unlock the Grand Temple. Haytham Kenway obtains the key, traveling to the Mohawk-guarded temple in the American Colonies. He fails to unlock it but fathers Ratonhnhaké:ton (Connor Kenway) with Kaniehti:io. Years later, Connor, seeking revenge for his family's murder, becomes an Assassin, fighting Templars within the British forces during the American Revolution.

Connor confronts and kills Haytham, burying the Grand Temple key.

Assassin’s Creed Liberation

1765 to 1777 - Spanish Occupation of Louisiana

Aveline de Grandpré, based in New Orleans, uncovers a Templar plot to control Louisiana, discovering slave labor is used to unearth an Isu temple. She gathers components of a Prophecy Disk, revealing the story of Eve's rebellion against the Isu. Aveline kills her stepmother, the Company Man, and activates the Disk.

Assassin’s Creed Unity

1789 to 1794 - French Revolution

Arno Dorian, orphaned after his father's murder by Shay Cormac, is raised by François de la Serre, a Templar Grand Master. Framed for murder, Arno joins the Assassins, uncovering a Templar rift led by François-Thomas Germain, who plots a French revolution. Arno and Élise work together, pursuing Germain to a crypt where a Sword of Eden explodes, killing Élise and wounding Germain, who is revealed to be the Sage. Arno seals Germain's remains.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

1868 - Victorian England

Twin assassins Jacob and Evie Frye arrive in London, seeking the Shroud. They discover the Templars control London through industry, politics, and crime. Jacob assassinates Templar leaders while Evie races to find the Shroud. They defeat Crawford Starrick, recovering the Shroud and returning it to its vault. Evie later raises her daughter, Lydia, who later kills the latest Isu Sage during World War I.

Transition Period

1914 to 2012

The Templars establish Abstergo Industries, aiming for global control through capitalism and the Animus, a virtual reality machine accessing ancestral memories to control the future.

Assassin’s Creed 1, 2, Brotherhood, Revelations, and 3

2012

Desmond Miles, abducted by Abstergo, uses the Animus to locate Apples of Eden. Assisted by Lucy Stillman, he escapes and works with Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, exploring Ezio's memories to prevent the apocalypse. Desmond finds the Apple, experiences a vision of Juno, and falls into a coma. He awakens, travels to the Grand Temple, and sacrifices himself to prevent the apocalypse.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag

2013

Abstergo uses Desmond's DNA to explore Edward Kenway's memories, seeking the Observatory. The Noob, a researcher, is tasked by John Standish (the Sage) to hack Abstergo, but Standish is killed before he can use The Noob as a host for Juno.

Assassin’s Creed Unity

2014

Abstergo releases Helix, allowing players to experience genetic memories. Guided by Bishop, an initiate relives Arno Dorian's life, discovering Germain's remains are safe in the Paris Catacombs.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

2015

The initiate searches for the Shroud, learning it's beneath Buckingham Palace. Abstergo retrieves it, planning to create a living Isu, but Juno manipulates them. The Assassins learn of Abstergo's plan.

Assassin’s Creed Origins

2017

Layla Hassan, an Abstergo researcher, develops a new Animus and uses Bayek and Aya's DNA to relive the Hidden Ones' origins. William Miles recruits her into the Brotherhood.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

2018

Layla uses Leonidas' Spear to relive Kassandra's memories, discovering Atlantis and meeting Kassandra, who reveals Layla's role in bringing balance and gives her the Staff of Hermes before dying.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

2020

Layla and the Assassins explore Eivor's memories, discovering Yggdrasil in Norway. Layla enters the simulation, meeting Basim and The Reader (Desmond's mind), preventing future apocalypses. Basim escapes, obtains the Staff of Hermes (containing Aletheia), and joins the Brotherhood.

Assassin's Creed: The Complete Playlist