Every Assassin's Creed Game Ranked By Difficulty

“Assassin’s Creed II” is largely seen as the best entry to date. Fans love Ezio Auditore’s heartfelt origin story and for gameplay mechanics that have become a staple of the series. However, there’s little to no challenge for the average player, as the game goes out of its way to make things easy. There’s no real learning curve here since everything from the weak enemies to defeat to loads of tutorials eliminate any potential hurdles straight away. Purchasing items and weapons is a piece of cake because the game offers more money than Ezio can spend in a lifetime. We’re told exactly what we’re supposed to do in every mission, which leaves little room for difficulty in gameplay. While “Assassin’s Creed II” is a lot of fun overall, it's not the entry that players will feel truly tested their mettle.

Ezio’s final adventure is about as user-friendly as his first, with players rarely given a real test. Although the game does feature stronger enemies than before, the presence of many ranged weapons means we can just eliminate them from a safe distance. Ezio’s status as a master assassin gives him superior all-around abilities from combat to platforming. To its credit, the game attempts to create conflict through the tower defense sequences. Unfortunately, this ends up being more of a chore than a fun difficult mission. Ultimately, “Revelations’” fluid gameplay has the side effect of robbing players of honing their skills, making this another easy trip to the past.

The difference between Jacob and Evie Frye’s fighting styles is something that newer “Assassin’s Creed” fans need to get used to“Syndicate’s” opening hours. Evie’s stealth-based style and Jacob’s expertise as a brawler can be tricky, but players should get the hang of it eventually. “Syndicate’s” story format and missions are relatively straightforward, with repetition making most aspects of gameplay second nature. Since the majority of tasks at hand are similar to one another, it’s easy to navigate around the open world map and understand how enemy A.I. works. However, some difficulties can be present in big assassination levels, where enemies are placed seemingly at random. This means players might have to spend a lot of time figuring out where to find targets, which can be a hard thing to do.

Enjoying “Black Flag” can be an acquired taste since naval gameplay is a core aspect of the experience. This is why players weak in this area can have a difficult time engaging in wars at sea, which get progressively harder as the story advances. Taking on powerful ships can be a grueling task that generally requires repeated attempts. But “Black Flag” also makes life much easier in terms of melee gameplay, where protagonist Edward Kenway is much more skilled than his enemies. The main campaign is also without any real twists and surprises. Upgrading the protagonist and his ship eventually makes them too strong to put down, and conquering “Black Flag’s” challenges becomes easier to overcome.

Depending on how familiar players are with the series, “Rogue” can vary in difficulty since it carries a similar structure to previous entries like “Black Flag.” The map’s lack of depth leaves little room for too many hard missions, so players’ path is simple enough to understand. Things can get tricky due to the smaller emphasis on stealth, as “Rogue” encourages an action-based mindset. Due to this, there are several moments where protagonist Shay Cormac can get stuck in continuous combat, amping up the difficulty in this area. Shay needs to generate income by renovating his surroundings in order to purchase weapons and upgrades. While this isn’t the most exciting task at hand, it does present a different kind of test for players to face.

Ezio’s second adventure is noticeably difficult compared to the other two, as “Brotherhood” makes players work for their achievements. Combat is the standout in terms of difficulty, with Ezio frequently surrounded by enemies that he has to take on his own. Replenishing health and earning money isn’t as easy as “Assassin’s Creed II,” as players need to ensure they complete several missions to boost these attributes before things get easier. Tedious levels serve as barriers to the experience, such as the war machine missions where Ezio has to battle and destroy powerful weapons. These can prove difficult for many due to the contrast in tone with the rest of the game. Still, elements like stealth and open-world exploration remain uncomplicated, so both old and new fans won’t take long before they’re accustomed to “Brotherhood’s” brand of gameplay.

This entry revamped “Assassin’s Creed” for years to come, which made even series veterans feel like novices. “Origins” sticks close to action tropes, requiring players to rely more on offensive maneuvers over defensive tactics they might be used to. Since the game plays close to titles like “God of War” in terms of boss fights, combat sequences are hard-hitting, with constant aggression needed to win these battles. “Origins’” expansive open-world can feel daunting within its first few hours when protagonist Bayek’s skill rating is still low. But the game gradually increases Bayek’s mastery of combat and platforming to lower the overall level of difficulty. All things considered, “Origins” can come across as an easy or hard title to complete if players figure out the best way to use Bayek’s weaponry.

“Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” veered the furthest away from the series’ original stealth theme, focusing more on hack and slash mechanics. As a result, the game packs a punch in the fighting department, where protagonist Eivor is regularly attacked by numerous enemies. This is taken to greater lengths in the Norse mythology arc, which features battles against the likes of the giant Suttungr and the Fenrir wolf. “Valhalla” doesn’t take Eivor’s skill level into account for most of the campaign, which means fighting massively over-leveled bosses is commonplace and a big source of frustration for many players. Since Eivor’s skill tree is upgraded at a slow rate, there’s a lot of trial and error involved to complete “Valhalla” all the way through.

The original entry wasn’t nearly as polished in presentation as later installments. Because of this, “Assassin’s Creed” can drag out its gameplay, such as forcing players to spend long stretches of time traveling from one location to another. Other elements like the eagle vision and stealth-based activities require a lot more effort, as Altair’s limited move set prevents him from completing them as later protagonists can. All this makes “Assassin’s Creed” harder to become accustomed to–even more so since upgrading Altair’s skills doesn’t really make much of a difference. Combat is among the most difficult in the entire series, as fighting mainly revolves around blocking and countering enemy attacks. This slows down the pacing of the game, and it’s difficult to truly be immersed in the “Assassin’s Creed” open world.

Although “Odyssey” features the same gameplay format as “Origins,” it contains a lot of boss fights and enemies with heightened skill levels. Since the open world is free to explore, protagonist Kassandra can come across far more powerful foes than she can put up with. This includes notoriously challenging bosses like the mythological Medusa and the much-maligned Kalydonian boar that made many fans rage-quit. The lack of impact from stealth attacks makes things more difficult, as the lack of instant assassinations means engaging in combat against stronger enemies is unavoidable. Surviving “Odyssey’s” landscape heavily relies on acquiring and claiming the right weapons, so players who aren’t as savvy in this area will face a world of trouble.

“Assassin’s Creed III” served as a soft reboot for the series’ gameplay elements. Fans accustomed to Altair and Ezio’s agile and stealthy style had to contend with Connor’s hard-hitting offense. “Assassin’s Creed III’s” combat centers around power moves, along with the use of Connor’s tomahawk and swords rather than the hidden blade. Enemy defense is a bit too efficient, negating Connor’s attacks with relative ease and complicating gameplay. Naval missions don’t have the finesse that later games in the series do, resulting in some uneven pacing that can make it difficult for players to get used to it. The greatest challenge in “Assassin’s Creed III” might just be the battlefield sequences, which feature a large number of enemies that can swarm Connor to overwhelm him. Players who don’t think fast on their feet are likely to go through repeated playthroughs to get this right.

“Unity’s” heightened difficulty level is unintentional rather than being designed in such a way. The game’s clunky controls make combat the toughest yet in the “Assassin’s Creed” series, as both defensive and offensive attacks rarely make an impact. This pretty much eliminates killing enemies in a sequence, with players forced to fight them one by one in tedious battles. Even more daunting are the large environments that protagonist Arno is required to infiltrate. With few hints provided, it takes a significant time to navigate through most missions just to learn what we’re supposed to do. “Unity” intends to diversify gameplay by encouraging players to explore each area to assassinate the target, but this also leaves room for sequences that can leave players lost and confused.