A celebration of classic puzzle games.
It’s a new week and that means a new update for the Switch Online ‘Nintendo Music’ mobile application.
This time Nintendo has added three soundtracks to the service. This includes the Game Boy hit Tetris, its NES counterpart and the NES album of Dr. Mario.
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It’s beginning to feel like the late ’90s all over again, what with how Mortal Kombat is all the rage. 2024 saw the release of Mortal Kombat 1, the latest entry in the uber-popular fighting game series. And now MK is returning to the big screen, as Warner Bros. gears up for the release of Mortal Kombat 2, a sequel to 2021’s surprisingly solid reboot.
In light of all these big developments in the MK world, we thought now would be the perfect time to look back at the franchise’s long, colorful and occasionally baffling history in film and TV. Check out our slideshow below or scroll down for a closer look at all the Mortal Kombat adaptations and how closely (or not) they followed the source material.
The original Mortal Kombat movie is widely regarded as one of the best video game adaptations to date. Which, granted, is a very dubious honor. Even so, the movie still stands as a solid example of how to bring the series to life in live-action. It presents a reasonably faithful retelling of the original game’s extremely barebones storyline, while drawing in elements of Mortal Kombat II and some of the backstory from the tie-in comics. Like many adaptations, it positions Liu Kang (Robin Chou) as the central hero destined to defeat the soul-stealing Shang Tsung (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). For purists, the movie’s biggest sin is simply that it doesn’t replicate the violence of the games, opting instead for a more pedestrian PG-13 approach.
What the movie does capture, however, is that essential undercurrent of camp and zaniness that goes hand-in-hand with the gratuitous violence. Mortal Kombat the movie definitely isn’t guilty of taking itself too seriously. It’s also the movie that introduced the world to The Immortals’ “Techno Syndrome,” the most iconic video game music this side of the Super Mario Bros. theme.
There’s some pretty stiff competition when it comes to deciding the worst Mortal Kombat adaptation ever made, but this direct-to-video release may just take the top honor. Released ahead of the live-action film and ostensibly a prequel to said film, The Journey Begins sets about fleshing out the origin stories of various MK icons. But the connective tissue is dubious at best. And as dated as the CGI in the live-action movie may be, it’s state-of-the-art compared to the archaic, sub-Playstation quality 3D fight scenes in The Journey Begins. Hardcore fans may want to watch this one out of sheer, morbid curiosity (especially since it’s included as a bonus feature on the Mortal Kombat Blu-ray), but don’t expect it to actually enhance your enjoyment of the games or the movies.
The ’80s and ’90s TV landscape was littered with attempts to translate adults-only pop culture properties into kid-friendly cartoons. Case in point – RoboCop: The Animated Series, Rambo: The Force of Freedom and Toxic Crusaders. We honestly have to respect Kenner’s moxie for deciding to cut out the middleman and directly market Terminator 2 and Aliens toys to kids without even waiting for cartoons.
With Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, USA Network threw its razor-edged hat into the ring. This short-lived series aired on the network’s Action Extreme Team block in 1996. Somewhat bafflingly, it attempts to serve as a continuation of both the 1995 movie and the Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 video game, though the all-ages approach basically renders that moot. Defenders of the Realm simplifies the complex series of alliances and rivalries that define the MK mythos, instead featuring a team of heroes led by Raiden and Nighthawk tasked with defending Earthrealm from Shao Kahn’s interdimensional invaders.
Defenders of the Realm does make one notable addition to the franchise, however. The series was actually the first to introduce Quan Chi before his roles in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat 4.
If the first Mortal Kombat movie is among the best attempts at adapting a video game to film, its sequel is easily among the worst. It’s not necessarily that Annihilation plays fast and loose with the source material. It introduces a number of popular characters like Shao Kahn (Brian Thompson), Jax (Lynn Williams) and Sindel (Musetta Vandel), along with familiar MK elements like Animalities, the death of Johnny Cage and Kuai Liang taking up his brother’s mantle as Sub-Zero. The problem is that the movie fails to string any of that together into a coherent and interesting story. There’s not much internal logic to what happens or which characters appear.
But even if the plot lived up to the first movie, Annihilation is plagued with lousy effects, underwhelming fight scenes, and actors who would seemingly rather be anywhere else. It’s telling that, apart from Chou’s Liu Kang, nearly all the returning characters were recast for the sequel. But if nothing else, at least the soundtrack is pretty good.
While Annihilation basically destroyed Mortal Kombat’s big-screen prospects for the next two decades, that didn’t stop TNT from airing a live-action TV series in 1998. Mortal Kombat: Conquest serves as a prequel to the movies, taking place 500 years before the era of Liu Kang. Instead, Conquest revolves around Liu’s ancestor Kung Lao (Paolo Montalbán), a warrior monk tasked with training a new generation of fighters to defend Earthrealm. While many of the series’ supporting characters are new creations, many MK fan-favorites show up over the course of Conquest’s one and only season.
The best that can be said for Conquest is that it was ahead of its time. The prequel premise is strong, and it’s certainly a better offshoot of the 1995 film than Annihilation. But even at the time, it was difficult to ignore the lousy wire-fu fight scenes and generally bad special effects. It’s hard not to wonder what might have been if Conquest had come along a decade or two later.
Outside of the games themselves, the MK franchise largely went dormant in the ’00s. It wasn’t until filmmaker Kevin Tancharoen took the initiative and put together a short, unauthorized Mortal Kombat movie that the ball started rolling again.
Though produced on a very low budget and not sanctioned by Warner Bros. or Mortal Kombat’s creators, Tancharoen’s short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth is a surprisingly professional adaptation. Rebirth is unique in that it downplays the franchise’s supernatural trappings, instead casting Scorpion (Ian Anthony Dale) as an assassin working with Captain Jackson Briggs (Michael Jai White) and Sonya Blade (Jeri Ryan) to bring down Shang Tsung’s criminal empire and get revenge on his nemesis, Sub-Zero.
Tancharoen intended for Rebirth to serve as a proof-of-concept for a possible movie reboot. He sort of got his wish as he was given the reins of the live-action web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy.
Tancharoen returned to the MK franchise the following year, this time with the actual approval of Warner Bros. and a greenlight for a full season of live-action webisodes exclusive to Machinima. Legacy doesn’t follow the new continuity established in Rebirth, though Dale, White and Ryan all returned to reprise their roles for Season 1. Instead, Legacy acts as a prequel to the original game, with each Season 1 episode fleshing out the backstory for a different Kombatant.
Season 2 proved to be a fairly steep departure, with Legacy shifting to a more narrative-driven approach while bringing in a number of new characters and recasting many existing roles. One bonus of that revamp is that Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa was able to reprise the role of Shang Tsung (paving the way for him to make the jump over to the games in the form of Mortal Kombat 11 DLC).
As inconsistent as it is in terms of tone and plot, Legacy shows the potential in a more earnest take on the MK mythology. It also looks surprisingly robust for a free-to-watch web series.
Mortal Kombat returned to the animated realm in 2020, in what proved to be a vastly better adaptation than either The Journey Begins or Defenders of the Realm. It helps that Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge is aimed squarely at adults. In fact, this direct-to-video release is actually the first R-rated Mortal Kombat movie.
Scorpion’s Revenge is an adaptation of the original game’s storyline, but with a twist. Rather than framing the movie around the heroic Liu Kang, we’ll see the fateful tournament from Scorpion’s point of view. The movie explores the character’s tragic origin story and the beginnings of his feud with Sub-Zero. You can learn more in IGN’s Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge review.
The first film has proven popular enough to spawn three more direct-to-video sequels, 2021’s Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, 2022’s Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind, and 2023’s Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match.
After years of rumors about another live-action Mortal Kombat movie, the franchise finally returned to the big screen in 2021. The new movie isn’t connected to previous projects, but instead serves as a complete reboot. Star Mehcad Brooks (who plays Jax) describes it as having “grounded realism” despite retaining the Fatalities and other violent trappings of the games. Here’s a full breakdown of the Mortal Kombat reboot’s cast.
The reboot hit theaters and HBO Max simultaneously in April 2021. You can check out IGN’s Mortal Kombat review for more. Though the pandemic obviously affected the film’s box office haul, it proved critically and commercially successful enough that Warners greenlit a sequel.
The rebooted Mortal Kombat series will return to theaters in 2025 in the form of a sequel currently titled simply Mortal Kombat 2. In addition to returning favorites like Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, and Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, the film will also introduce Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage, Martyn Ford’s Shao Kahn, Damoin Herriman’s Quan Chi, and Adeline Rudolph’s Kitana. We recently got a closer look at several of the cast members.
At this point, there seems little doubt that Mortal Kombat 2 will be a better sequel than Mortal Kombat: Annihilation was, but that’s not exactly a high bar to cross. The question is whether the sequel can continue the momentum generated by the original and pave the way for even more of the proposed sequels. There’s plenty of fight left in this franchise yet.
Note: this article was originally published on 04/09/2020 and updated on 03/17/2025 with the latest news about the Mortal Kombat franchise.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
“Delta? Come in Delta…”.
Atari cannot stop reviving its classic arcade titles at the moment, and we keep lapping them up. This time around, the legendary developer and publisher has teamed up with Canadian studios Mighty Yell and 13AM Games to bring back the 1980 shoot ’em up Missile Command.
Missile Command Delta is a brand new, turn-based tactical take on the series which blends strategic gameplay with mystery and puzzle solving. It’s a far cry from what we’re used to from Missile Command, but the developers are aiming to retain the “tension and suspense of the arcade original”.
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So you’re after an AMD Radeon RX 9070 / XT? While the price is great, trying to seemingly find one at retail price is about as easy as finding a PS5 in 2020. Instead of paying inflated prices, I’d instead recommend picking up a prebuilt gaming PC—and these Skytech options are some of the best I’ve seen.
Silent Games and Secret Mode have announced that their acrobatic, pensive action-RPG Empyreal will launch on 8th May, with a demo still available on Steam. I hadn’t come across Empyreal before, but I already have Opinions, mostly positive. Firstly, the fonts for damage number pop-ups are… weirdly stringy, given the heft and colour of the character models and environments. There’s barely any meat on them. It makes me feel like I’m beating up a checkout machine, not thwacking golems.
Secondly, I quite like the looks of the game’s four biomes, which “reflect certain philosophical principles”, in the words of game director James Rogers. Going by fleeting glimpses from the below seven minute overview video, there’s a Nature world and a Technology world and a dessicated biome that reminds me of Rime, with a scalding blue sky that consists of tumbledown hexagonal plates.
New details about what’s in store for the horrors waiting within Silent Hill f have emerged, and they make it clear that developer NeoBards Entertainment is keeping in step with the series’ tone.
Warning! The following descriptions contain some gruesome details about the content of Silent Hill f, which will entail possible spoilers and mature content.
Konami aired its latest Silent Hill Transmission broadcast just last week, sharing more details about the upcoming Silent Hill f. Developed by NeoBards, set in a mountain town in 1960s Japan, and written by Higurashi and Umineko author Ryukishi07, Silent Hill f looks to be an interesting new venture for the horror series.
The broadcast didn’t include much in the way of gameplay though. In lieu of that, fans have been poring over the content warnings and ESRB rating for Silent Hill f, both of which are live and provide some surprisingly detailed descriptions of what terrors wait in the town of Ebisugaoka.
Over on the ESRB site, Silent Hill f garnered a Mature 17+ rating for “Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity.” None of that by itself is terribly surprising, but it’s the rating summary that offers some more detail:
“This is a survival-horror action game in which players assume the role of a student confronting supernatural entities in a 1960s Japanese mountain town. From a third-person perspective, players explore the town, solve puzzles, interact with characters, and battle enemy creatures (e.g., humanoid monsters, mutants, mythical creatures).
“Players use axes, crowbars, knives, and spears to defend against and kill enemy creatures in melee-style combat. Blood-splatter effects occur frequently as characters are attacked; several areas depict large bloodstains in the environment and near corpses. Some enemy attacks can result in players’ character getting impaled in the neck and/or getting their faces ripped apart.
“Cutscenes sometimes depict gore and more intense acts of violence: a character burned alive inside a cage; a woman branded by a hot iron; entrails and sinew displayed on serving platters in fantastical celebration/ceremony; a character sawing off her own arm; a character slicing off portions of a character’s face during a ritual. Concept art depicts a nude mannequin-like character, with exposed buttocks and partially exposed breasts; the character appears in a creature-like form throughout the game.”
Faces ripped apart, hot irons, and a character sawing off their arm certainly paint a gruesome picture. Silent Hill f could get pretty gnarly, even by Silent Hill’s standards. It is, after all, the first game in the series to earn a CERO:Z in Japan, an 18+ rating; the others have typically garnered CERO:C or CERO:D, which are 15+ and 17+, respectively.
Silent Hill f may also be dealing with some heavy topics and imagery too. For that, we can look at the game’s content warning, displayed on both the official site and the Steam store page:
“This game contains depictions of gender discrimination, child abuse, bullying, drug-induced hallucinations, torture, and graphic violence. This game is set in Japan in the 1960s and contains depictions based on the customs and culture of that time. These depictions do not reflect the opinions or values of the developers or any individuals involved. If you feel uncomfortable at any point while playing, please take a break from playing or speak to someone you trust.”
Between the actual physical horror and tackling these kinds of themes, Silent Hill f certainly seems like it’s engaging with the kind of material you’d expect in a Silent Hill. For horror fans, that’s hopefully a good sign.
Silent Hill f has no release date at the moment, though having an ESRB rating this detailed certainly suggests it’s not far off. It’s currently targeting PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC when it does launch.
Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.
What’s going on in the world of Marvel Rivals, the NetEase hero shooter that is forecast to get two new heroes every three month season, and thus stands to double its starting roster of 33 heroes providing it stays afloat for at least four years? The word on the street is that they’re adding new Team-Up skills in Season 2, beginning 11th April – and when I say “the word on the street”, I mean it’s been officially confirmed by game director Guangyun Chen. I apologise, I will try not to sound like a cool reporter again.
Store will remove plastic wrapping at point of sale.
For as long as Pokémon TCG (Trading Card Game) has been a thing, scalping has been an ongoing issue. If you’re somehow unaware at this point as to what the practice entails, it essentially sees certain consumers purchasing products at retail price before selling them on at huge mark-ups. It’s not limited to Pokémon TCG, by any means, but it’s a problem that’s been getting exponentially worse over the last few years.
In a recent statement from Pokémon Center Singapore thanks, VGC), the store has confirmed that it will be removing the plastic wrapping from Pokémon TCG products at the point of sale from 13th March 2025 onwards. The move has been standard practice in Japan for a while at this point, but this marks the first instance that the change has been utilised in another region.
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Assassin’s Creed Shadows launches on March 20, 2025, for Xbox Series X|S and allows you play as two completely distinct characters: Naoe, an agile ninja, and Yasuke, a hulking samurai. Nearly everything about them is different, including what weapons they can use. Naoe and Yasuke can each equip up to two different weapon types to switch between, with each offering unique strengths and strategies to use in a fight. Here is a breakdown of all the weapons in Assassin’s Creed Shadows so you can find the right combination for any situation.
A samurai is nothing without his katana, and Yasuke’s long katana is his fastest weapon type, allowing him to quickly slice through foes with deadly precision. While it doesn’t have the longest range, its attack speed makes it ideal for dealing with small groups of enemies – or for when you just want to feel like a samurai and slash through a wandering ronin who thought himself strong enough to challenge you.
A polearm capable of sweeping attacks, the Naginata is perfect for dealing with large groups of enemies at once. While slower than the long katana, it has the longest reach of any of Yasuke’s melee weapons, allowing you to keep threats at a distance. It’s also particularly useful when facing enemies with naginatas of their own.
A massive club, what the Kanabo sacrifices in speed, it more than makes up for in sheer brute force. Even light attacks with the Kanabo can break an enemy’s guard and subsequent hits will dismantle any opponent’s armor – and likely their entire health bar – in seconds. The Kanabo is a slow weapon, so Yasuke can be vulnerable while using it in large groups when many different attackers can interrupt his swings.
One of Yasuke’s two ranged weapons, the bow is a silent killer. The ultimate tool in a stealthy Yasuke’s arsenal, it’s great at silently picking off guards from a distance. Certain abilities allow you to slow time while shooting or fire multiple arrows in quick succession, making the bow a viable option in a full-on fight as well.
When silence isn’t high on Yasuke’s list of priorities, the teppo rifle packs a serious punch but be prepared for it to attract a lot of attention as well. You’ll have to reload after each shot, meaning you might need to hot swap to a melee weapon as enemies swarm. It’s not just a one-trick-pony, though – there are abilities that allow you to detonate a sack of gunpowder to create area-of-effect damage, and you can even use the rifle as a club to knock opponents down before shooting them, if you want to make an entrance.
Don’t let the name fool you. The way Naoe wields her katana, it might as well be a completely different weapon to Yasuke’s. A full combo of attacks with Naoe’s shorter katana is likely to feature as many kicks and flips as swings and slashes. A medium speed weapon in Naoe’s hands (to be fair, no weapons are slow in Naoe’s hands), the katana is a solid all-around choice, good for one-on-one fights and small groups.
The tanto is a dagger that Naoe wields with extreme speed, and couples with her Hidden Blade to unleash a flurry of rapid strikes on her enemies. Its range is minimal, so Naoe will have to get up close and personal to use it effectively, but it’s great for fighting singular enemies. As a bonus, a passive upgrade to Naoe’s Assassin mastery tab allows her to use the tanto to perform dual assassinations, but only if the tanto is one of her two equipped weapons.
A scythe and a spikey metal ball connected by a long chain; the Kusarigama is arguably Naoe’s most versatile weapon. Light attacks mean quick strikes with the scythe end, while heavy attacks are sweeping swings with the metal ball end, perfect for dealing with large groups. Its huge range allows Naoe to keep her distance if she chooses.
There’s never really a bad time to use Naoe’s Kusarigama, unless you’re worried about collateral damage as those heavy swings will tear through everything from crates and shoji doors to bamboo trees and fruit baskets. Like the tanto, a passive ability in the Assassin mastery tab allows Naoe to use an equipped Kusarigama to rush assassinate targets, using the chain to hook enemies and launch herself in for the kill.
Naoe doesn’t have traditional ranged weapons like Yasuke, but she does have throwable tools that can help her kill, deal damage, and distract at a distance. Her kunai can take out many unarmored enemies in a single headshot, while her shuriken only deal minimal damage and are best used to stun enemies mid fight so you can regroup to go in for the kill.
There are multiple ways to upgrade your weapons in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Each weapon type has a dedicated mastery tab that you can invest your mastery points in to increase damage and unlock new abilities. Weapons also have levels; you cannot equip a weapon that has a level greater than yours, but if you’ve built a Forge in your Hideout, you can upgrade lower-level weapons to meet your current player level, thereby increasing their base stats.
Weapons come in five tiers of rarity: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. Uncommon weapons each come with a single engraved perk that provides a unique bonus, such as an increase to critical hit chance when striking multiple enemies. Rare and above weapons have two engraving slots, one with a predetermined perk, and another slot that allows you to select an individual perk from your Hideout’s blacksmith. Like to use abilities while fighting? You can engrave a perk that increases your adrenaline gain (adrenaline allows you to use abilities) when striking afflicted enemies. Couple that with a weapon that causes bleeding or poison affliction, and your adrenaline will stay topped up.
There’s no wrong weapon loadout or combination in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and a master Assassin will learn to skillfully wield them all. As long as you have more health than your targets then you’re doing just fine.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows launches March 20, 2025, for Xbox Series X|S. That means you still have time to pre-order Assassins’ Creed Shadows on the Microsoft Store for Xbox to get the Claws of Awaji expansion (coming later in 2025) and the Thrown to the Dogs bonus quest for free. You can also pick up Assassin’s Creed Shadows Digital Deluxe Edition which includes the above items, plus the Sekiryu Dual Pack including gear and weapon sets for both Naoe and Yasuke, the Sekiryu Beast, and Dragon Tooth trinket as well as the Sekiryu Hideout Pack that includes four unique ornaments to customize the hideout, as well as five mastery points.
UBISOFT
Experience an epic action-adventure story set in Feudal Japan!
Become a lethal shinobi Assassin and powerful, legendary samurai as you explore a beautiful open world in a time of chaos. Switch between these two unlikely allies as you discover their common destiny. Master complementary playstyles, create your shinobi league, customize your hideout, and usher in a new era for Japan.
ENTER FEUDAL JAPAN
Explore the captivating open world of Feudal Japan, from spectacular castle towns and bustling ports to peaceful shrines and war-ravaged landscapes. Adventure through unpredictable weather, changing seasons, and reactive environments.
MASTER COMPLEMENTARY PLAYSTYLES
Become Naoe, a shinobi Assassin, and Yasuke, a legendary samurai, as you experience their riveting stories and master their complementary playstyles. As Naoe, use stealth to avoid detection and agility to confound your enemies. As Yasuke, strike your foes with lethal precision and power.
MAKE INFORMATION YOUR WEAPON
Travel the world, and build your own network of spies to be your eyes and ears across locations to hunt down your next target. Along the way, recruit new allies with unique abilities to help accomplish your missions.
BUILD A PLACE TO CALL HOME
Create a fully customizable hideout for your growing shinobi league as you train your crew, craft new gear, interact with key characters, and choose your base’s buildings layout, decorations, and accessories.
UBISOFT
The Assassin’s Creed Shadows Digital Deluxe Edition includes:
– The base game
– The Sekiryu Dual Pack including gear and weapon sets for both Naoe and Yasuke, the Sekiryu Beast, and Dragon Tooth trinket
– The Sekiryu Hideout Pack including four unique ornaments to customize the hideout for your shinobi league
– Five mastery points
Experience an epic action-adventure story set in Feudal Japan!
Become a lethal shinobi Assassin and powerful, legendary samurai as you explore a beautiful open world in a time of chaos. Switch between these two unlikely allies as you discover their common destiny. Master complementary playstyles, create your shinobi league, customize your hideout, and usher in a new era for Japan.
ENTER FEUDAL JAPAN
Explore the captivating open world of Feudal Japan, from spectacular castle towns and bustling ports to peaceful shrines and war-ravaged landscapes. Adventure through unpredictable weather, changing seasons, and reactive environments.
MASTER COMPLEMENTARY PLAYSTYLES
Become Naoe, a shinobi Assassin, and Yasuke, a legendary samurai, as you experience their riveting stories and master their complementary playstyles. As Naoe, use stealth to avoid detection and agility to confound your enemies. As Yasuke, strike your foes with lethal precision and power.
MAKE INFORMATION YOUR WEAPON
Travel the world, and build your own network of spies to be your eyes and ears across locations to hunt down your next target. Along the way, recruit new allies with unique abilities to help accomplish your missions.
BUILD A PLACE TO CALL HOME
Create a fully customizable hideout for your growing shinobi league as you train your crew, craft new gear, interact with key characters, and choose your base’s buildings layout, decorations, and accessories.
Internet connection and Ubisoft Account required to redeem digital content.
The post A Complete Guide To Weapons in Assassin’s Creed Shadows appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Revealing itself like a hidden blade, Assassin’s Creed’s razor-sharp and refreshing combination of history, science fiction, and parkour-based action turned heads everywhere when it first emerged on our screens back in 2007. The result was a series rich in lore and unforgettable characters, spanning games, comic books, and even a Hollywood movie.
So with Assassin’s Creed Shadows sneaking up on its March 20 PlayStation 5 launch, here’s the perfect place to arm yourself with everything you need to know about the main strand of the series’ 13 titles.
Introducing the world to 12th-century assassin Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad, the fresh-faced sandbox action stealth game presented the concept of the Animus, a machine which allows people to relive the genetic memories of their ancestors. In this case, Altaïr’s life during the Third Crusade of the Holy Land is seen through his unsuspecting 21st-century descendant, Desmond Miles, as a winding plot unravels across both timelines.
Assassin’s Creed set the tone for the genre for generations to follow, but most importantly, it was a pioneering leap forward for its even more popular sequel…
On PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 (via backwards compatibility), the following three titles are available as part of Assassin’s Creed The Ezio Collection
Continuing Desmond’s story, this crafty follow-up surprised everyone by sneaking away from Altaïr and dropping us into the Italian Renaissance Era. Ezio Auditore da Firenze was now the historical recipient of the Animus, delivering a story of revenge that saw the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli weaved into his quest. Even Desmond himself was granted more agency as he became entrenched within the modern-day Assassin Brotherhood.
If Assassin’s Creed cut new cloth for its iconic style and timeless gameplay, the sequel only helped sharpen its impact as Ezio became a fan-favorite character.
Set immediately after the events of Assassin’s Creed II, Ezio was the focal point again for this swift and deadly sequel, as he aimed to expand and recruit members into the Assassin Brotherhood across Rome. While retaining the new notoriety system from the previous game that tracked your social infamy and wanted level, Brotherhood introduced the ability to enact assassinations via horseback, perform heavy weapon throws and use a crossbow and poison darts. Ezio could also call upon apprentice assassins for asset-earning missions or help.
Most notable was the inclusion of a fantastically devious multiplayer mode for the first time in the series, which let you hunt down friends and then drift away into a crowd like you were never there…
Concluding the Ezio trilogy, Revelations featured the now-aged assassin traveling to Constantinople to find five keys needed to unlock Altaïr’s secret library that has the potential to end the war between Templars and Assassins. Meanwhile, a comatose Desmond is forced to achieve full Animus synchronization with Ezio and Altaïr to save his own mind.
Revelations granted Ezio even more mobility with zip lines and the new Hookblade, which not only provided quicker traversal but could also be used in combat, yanking targets into a close-range attack, throw or even theft. Random events with NPCs and Templar ‘stalkers’ also kept players on their toes.
Setting the franchise in North America for the first time, Assassin’s Creed III drew a line under Desmond’s ongoing mission to prevent a global cataclysm. This time, his path to the past was via the memories of an 18th-century Templar called Haytham Kenway, and Kenway’s illegitimate son – Ratonhnhaké:ton, who becomes the assassin Connor.
Assassin’s Creed III unleashed a vast number of changes and improvements, with a greater focus on rural environments. Connor could duel-wield, perform a wider variety of counters, combos, and takedowns, and even use enemies as human shields. Animal hunting and naval combat were also introduced, and dramatic weather changes such as snow and rain impacted gameplay. In short, it was an (American) revolution for the series.
With Assassin’s Creed III whetting the appetite for travel, Black Flag truly set the player free. Expanding on the previous game’s naval exploration and combat, Black Flag’s focus on the high seas during the Golden Age of Piracy allowed for a wider range of attacking enemy vessels, treasure trekking across underwater shipwrecks, sea animal hunts, and a variety of ocean-based side missions.
Combining exploration on both land and sea to such an extent gave Welsh pirate Assassin Edward Kenway unparalleled freedom, mirrored by Kenway’s ability to not only free-aim but also use up to four flintlock pistols together. Not a bad trick to have up one’s sleeve in a world with the likes of Blackbeard, Calico Jack, and Benjamin Hornigold.
True to its title, Assassin’s Creed Rogue allowed players to control Assassin-turned-Templar Shay Patrick Cormac, offering a dramatic twist of focus for the series. The result was a fascinating spin on expectations across all levels of the gameplay.
While much of the previous elements remained – naval combat and exploration, and a vast open world, albeit mostly set across the icy North Atlantic and mid 1700s New York City – Shay has access to a wider access of projectile weapons, and he’s constantly under threat from Assassins. There are even missions where you must intercept and defend an Assassin target from their hooded assailants.
Released at the same time as Assassin’s Creed Rogue on PS3, Assassin’s Creed Unity, brought the franchise to PS4 for the first time, powered by an all-new game engine. While the chilly Rogue focused on a different narrative direction to previous titles, Unity’s jaunt across Paris during the French Revolution warmed things up with a gameplay first for the series: an optional co-op campaign for up to four players.
Collaboration, shared resources, and highly customizable weapons and gear that affected your playstyle were all prominent, as you assumed control of Assassin Arno Dorian.
19th Century Victorian era London was the next stop, arriving with two more series of innovations. Not only were there twin Assassin protagonists that players could switch between – Jacob and Evie Frye – but Evie’s inclusion marked the first time you could play as a female Assassin in the mainline titles.
Their task to find a piece of Eden and free the Big Smoke from Templar rule was aided by the ability to use carriages as transport, and a ‘kidnapping’ mechanic where the twins could hold an enemy hostage to blend in and access restricted areas. Sneaky.
Jumping all the way back to Ptolemaic Egypt and gently rebooting the series, Assassin’s Creed Origins explored the bloody beginnings of the Assassin Brotherhood (the Hidden Ones) and Templar Order (the Order of the Ancients) conflict. The vengeful Bayek of Siwa is our gateway to the past this time, channeled via former Abstergo Industries employee Layla Hassan in the modern-day era.
Offering more role-playing elements than its forebears, Origins featured a greater focus on leveling up systems and progression, intricate crafting, and complex combat mechanics that also allowed Bayek to enter a frenzied state or perform brutal finishing moves.
Leaning on the more mythological aspects of Ancient Greece, Odyssey continued Layla’s story in the modern day while giving players the chance to become one of King Leonidas’s descendants, Kassandra or Alexios. While the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta was central to its narrative, Odyssey built on the firm foundations set by Origins’ RPG-inspired elements, adding dialogue choices and NPC relationships, branching quests, and even multiple possible endings.
Naval combat also made its welcome return, and a ‘mercenary system’ expanded on the earlier game’s ‘stalker system’, with richly written bounty hunters targeting you. Oh, and let’s not forget the tense encounters with mythological creatures such as the Sphinx and Minotaur…
If the title didn’t give it away, Valhalla placed players into the Viking invasions of 873 AD, running alongside the final part of Layla’s globe-trotting modern-day story. Valhalla reintroduced the Assassin/Templar war’s prominence in the series, entangling Viking raider protagonist Eivor – who you can choose to be male or female – into their growing conflict.
Further refining the previous games’ mechanics, Valhalla brought back the player settlements mechanics that were last fully explored in Black Flag, as well as offering the chance to enjoy drinking contests, fishing and the hilarious insult hurling flying competitions.
With its more direct and linear story, focus on stealth over action, and reemphasis on parkour-based movement, Mirage was a pushback to the series’ roots. Even the modern-day narrative was reduced to give players more time in 9th Century Baghdad with street thief turned Master Assassin, Basim Ibn Ishaq, who we first encountered in Valhalla.
And now? It’s not long before we experience the next stage of the Assassin/Templar war, this time in 16th-century Japan alongside shinobi Fujibayashi Naoe, and legendary samurai Yasuke, in Assassin’s Creed Shadows on March 20.
But remember: “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
