If you've somehow managed to avoid Assassin's Creed up to this point and are looking to dive in, (or, as is more likely the case, you're looking to fill a gap in the vast library of historical murder simulators Ubisoft has created since 2007) now might be the time to do so. Ubisoft is running a franchise sale on its stabby depictions of human civilisation, offering impressive discounts on some of the best games in the series, as well as its newest entry at half-price.
The best offers in the franchise sale are, jointly, Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Both games are available for 90% off, bringing the price of each down to $6 (£5) apiece. If you have to choose between them, Valhalla is the larger and more comprehensive game of the two, featuring numerous systems and ideas that don't appear in Origins.
After those, the next best deal is probably for Assassin's Creed: Odyssey at $9 (£7.49). Odyssey is properly massive, letting you explore the whole of Ancient Greece, fight in the Peloponnesian War, and even do battle with Medusa and the Minotaur. I do think it spreads its systems quite thin compared to Valhalla and Origins. But really, the main separator here is that it is just slightly more expensive.
If you're interested in exploring the series' back catalogue, then the best deal among the older games is probably for Assassin's Creed: Unity, which is 85% off at $4.50 (£3.89). While Unity was famously derided at launch due to an abundance of technical issues, it is actually a great Assassin's Creed game, with a fantastic setting of revolutionary Paris, and an underrated story and characters. It's also probably the easiest older Assassin's Creed to return to today, partly because it still looks astonishing 11 years on.
Elsewhere, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag is 70% off at $12 (£10.19). This is probably the best of the old Assassin's Creeds, thanks to its excellent pirate ship sailing. If simulated piracy is what you're after though, you might be better off grabbing Assassin's Creed: Rogue, which is the same game mechanically, but is also a lot cheaper, down 85% at $3 (£2.54).
Finally, Assassin's Creed 2 is also reasonably cheap at $5 (£2.14). Personally, I'd recommend spending a little extra for one of the newer games. But if you want to experience the point at which the series became good, this represents a cheap way to do that.
While we're hardly short on Assassin's Creed games at this point. It's all but certain we'll see more from the series in the coming years. The latest reports suggest that Shadows is over-performing financially, and Ubisoft has reportedly begun work on the next Assassin's Creed game already.
There's also a heavily rumoured remake of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, which has leaked more often than a cannon-blasted pirate ship. And let's not forget Assassin's Creed Hexe which is supposedly set in the Holy Roman Empire and is being codirected by Watch Dogs: Legion director Clint Hocking.
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