Update, October 2, 2018: Updated to include Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. A single series that spans swashbuckling pirates, Victorian-era organized crime, the plurality of famous Renaissance artists, a golden apple with the power to obliterate human life and, yes, of course, a boss battle that culminates with the graphic pummeling of Pope Alexander VI for no other reason than “the truth is out there.” Because for all of its overwrought melodrama and impenetrable conspiracies, Assassin’s Creed has spawned, consistently, some of the strangest, most self-effacing and ambitious AAA games. Odyssey’s release is a good opportunity to reflect on the series’ zigs and zags.

This year, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey expands upon Origins with an even bigger world and a number of welcome gameplay additions. Great! A fresh start is what the series needs. Last year, Assassin’s Creed Origins served as something of a reboot, mercifully carving off much of the backstory that had calcified into a complex meta-narrative spanning the history of humankind. Let’s take a moment to recognize that, of all video games franchises on the planet, this particular series about cynical, comical and controversial conspiracy theories somehow became a mainstream phenomenon. If you remember one thing from this article, let it be this: The second Assassin’s Creed ended with the player fist-fighting the Pope in order to uncover the truth of an ultra-advanced, pre-human civilization on which our world’s religion is built. It’s easy to forget how audacious this series was and occasionally can still be.

The brand is so ubiquitous, so familiar, that its core ideas - religion is a misreading of coded messages from an ancient, advanced race of technologists a shadow war between the champions of freedom and control has been fought over centuries by Earth’s greatest historical leaders and thinkers - have mutated from quirky and compelling to obtuse and intimidating to predictable and bland. Over a decade since the first entry, Assassin’s Creed has ballooned into a mixed-media franchise that includes at least seven spinoffs, nine novels, 11 comics, a Michael Fassbender film, an in-development TV show and enough Pop! toys to fill a jam band.

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