Since the first game released in 2007, Assassin’s Creed has continued to fortify its best-selling status with beguiling variations of historic people and places. Here are the most notable Assassin’s Creed games in order.

2007: Assassin’s Creed

The first Assassin’s Creed game was released in November 2007. It took place during the Third Crusade in the Levant in 1191, and turned the cities of Jerusalem, Acre and Damascus into open world, parkour playgrounds. Assassin’s Creed introduced main character Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad as a member of the historical Order of Assassins, albeit thrown into a fictionalised conspiracy plot which enrolled the voice talents of Nolan North and Kristen Bell.

In the words of long-time Art Director Raphael Lacoste, “The world of Assassin’s Creed was created to stir the imagination, to travel in time in order to discover epic locations and witness some of the world’s most pivotal moments in history.” This is where that journey begins.

Assassin’s Creed: Director’s Cut

Image Credit: Ubisoft

2009: Assassin’s Creed II

Set mainly in Florence and Venice, Assassin’s Creed II was Ubisoft Montreal’s next game, which they brought to market with a development team triple the size of that which created the original Assassin’s Creed. The sequel continued an overarching speculative fiction thread, while situating the game in Renaissance Italy between 1476 and 1499.

The game fleshed out the science-fiction of the Assassin’s Creed universe and elaborated on the technology of the animus, which allows 21st century character Desmond Miles to relive the “genetic memories” of his ancestors. In this case, players control Ezio Auditore da Firenze as he roams through Venice, Florence and San Gimignano.

2010: Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

Assassin’s Creed II sold over 9 million copies, and led to two direct sequels in Brotherhood and Revelations. Brotherhood expanded the city of Rome, which is briefly glimpsed in Assassin’s Creed II, and takes place during the years 1500-1507.

Making allegiances with characters such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Ezio challenges the rule of the Borgias in Rome and pursues Cesare Borgia for control of an ancient technology. Brotherhood also added a multiplayer mode to the series for the first time. Within a year, Brotherhood had sold 7.2 million units.

Assassin’s Creed II

Image Credit: Ubisoft

2011: Assassin’s Creed Revelations

The fourth major instalment in the Assassin’s Creed series wrapped up Ezio’s storyline, while resurrecting Altaïr in a brief cameo. Revelations was set in Constantinople at the peak of the Ottoman Empire. Its fictional history spans the years 1511-1512, and features historical figures such as Manuel Palaiologos, Prince Suleiman, Piri Reis and Niccolò and Maffeo Polo.

The artists working on revelations drew on fascinating historic sites, and washed them with a darker colour palette. The Grand Bazaar is rendered as a maze of colourful stalls, at a reduced scale, while the ruined Hippodrome recall classical Greece. The ancient underground city of Derinkuyu, Turkey, inspired a locale in Cappadocia.

2012: Assassin’s Creed III

Revelations was swiftly followed by Assassin’s Creed III, the first game in the series to be set in North America. Through the sci-fi animus technology, series protagonist Desmond Miles relives the experiences of his English-Mohawk ancestor Ratonhnhaké:ton, alias Connor. The game had entered development two and a half years earlier, after the release of Assassin’s Creed II.

Assassin’s Creed III Remastered

Image Credit: Ubisoft

Assassin’s Creed III allows players to collude with and confront historical figures from revolutionary North America, including Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Paul Revere and Marquis de Lafayette. Each is created first as a character within the story, then as a historical figure.

2012: Assassin’s Creed Liberation

A spin-off called Assassin’s Creed Liberation was released the same year, developed by Ubisoft Sofia. Taking place alongside the story of Assassin’s Creed III, Liberation is set in late 18th century Louisiana and focuses on the series’ first female protagonist, French-Haitian Aveline de Grandpré.

2013: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

Black Flag is one of the most warmly regarded entries in the series for its introduction of ship-based exploration on a seamless open world map. It took place in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of piracy in the early 18th century, and followed Welsh pirate Edward Kenway.

It was one of the best selling games of the year, with 15 million copies sold by 2020. An Aveline expansion pack for Black Flag continued the narrative established in the Assassin’s Creed Liberation spin-off.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

Image Credit: Ubisoft

2014: Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry

Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry is a spin-off from the main series. It centres on a slave revolt in Haiti in the 1730s, following protagonist Adéwalé who establishes a fictionalised covert network in Port-au-Prince. For historian Alyssa Sepinwall, Freedom Cry is notable because it “leads players to sympathize with enslaved people fighting against oppressive enslavers.”

2014: Assassin’s Creed Rogue

While Ubisoft Montreal continued work on Assassin’s Creed Unity for a new generation of consoles, Ubisoft Sofia were working on Assassin’s Creed Rogue. The seventh major instalment in the series, Rogue was intended to finish the North America saga while building on the fan-favourite sailing feature.

Rogue was set during the Seven Years’ War, with players sticking with Shay Patrick Cormac, an Irish immigrant from New York. But one of its most important moments takes place in Portugal in 1755, during the devastating Lisbon earthquake which remains one of the deadliest in history.

2014: Assassin’s Creed Unity

Assassin’s Creed Unity launched on the same day as Rogue. It distinguished itself with its large-scale version of revolutionary Paris. The game’s main storyline opens with a crowd of Parisian citizens storming the Bastille on 14 July 1789. Unity proceeded to cover a number of famous landmarks from revolutionary Paris in one of the most impressive city recreations in the series.

Palais de la Cité in Assassin’s Creed Unity

Image Credit: Ubisoft

2015: Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

Syndicate was set in Victorian London. It introduced twins Jacob and Evie Frye to the series, both of whom could be controlled. It also let players pilot carriages around 19th century Bloomsbury. After 2013’s Rogue, Syndicate was the second major entry in the series not to be made by Ubisoft Montreal. Instead, Ubisoft Quebec led development, having previously served as a junior partner in the series.

Syndicate introduced players to the Industrial Revolution, and Ubisoft’s gas-lit London is populated by themes of technology, poverty, banking, pollution and mass production, as well as empire.

Historical characters featured in the game included Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Florence Nightingale and Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire who lived in the United Kingdom after being deposed by the British Crown.

2017: Assassin’s Creed Origins

Origins effectively reset the series formula, releasing two years after Syndicate and energising the series with cues from leading RPGs like The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. Its sophisticated ancient Egypt setting benefited from inspiration from archaeologists and historians.

The vast, video game interpretation of Ptolemaic Egypt became the first setting in the series to host Assassin’s Creed innovative Discovery Tour mode. In Origins, Discovery Tour took the form of a walking tour through the game’s historical landmarks. Players can wander around the ancient world, taking in the sights accompanied by audio commentary, timelines and textual information.

2018: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was developed in parallel with Origins by Ubisoft Quebec. It explores the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta in the 5th century BC. By 2020 it had sold 10 million copies. Discovery Tour made a reappearance, encouraging players to explore places like the Amphitheatre of Cyrene and subjects such as democracy in ancient Athens.

2020: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

After the release of Origins in 2017, Ubisoft Montreal focused on Valhalla. Valhalla presents a virtual recreation of early medieval England and has the player control a Viking raider named Eivor Varinsdottir. It was launched and partly developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was the biggest launch in the series to date.

Already a vast proposition in terms of runtime, additional content for Valhalla took the action to Viking-era Ireland and to Francia during the reign of Carolingian emperor Charles the Fat. History Hit explored 12 historical locations from France that make an appearance in the Siege of Paris DLC.

2023: Assassin’s Creed Mirage

Assassin’s Creed Mirage aimed to revive the stealth aspects of the series promised, but not quite fulfilled, by the original Assassin’s Creed. Mirage put the player in early medieval Baghdad, an extraordinarily realised interpretation of a historic city at the height of its influence. It was yoked to a compelling story whose success is at least partly related to the fact that it could be completed by humans obliged to find time to sleep, eat and work.

2024: Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set in Japan. It presents the African samurai Yasuke and the adept shinobi Naoe, and appears to span a vast open world in the mould of Origins and Valhalla. A Japan-set iteration of the game has long been on the lips of players, a demand only partially sated by Sucker Punch Productions 2020 Ghost of Tsushima. Shadows puts the action in feudal Japan where its developers, Ubisoft Quebec (responsible for Odyssey), invite players to create a scheming shinobi league.

Below we’ve collected, in no particular order, the best historical games on Xbox Game Pass. The games available on each platform vary, so our picks specify whether they’re only available on PC or restricted to the Ultimate tier of the service.

1. Age of Empires IV (PC)

Perhaps the greatest historical real-time strategy series of all time, there’s no escaping Age of Empires on this list. Embellished with stylish documentary films and with thoughtful innovations on the franchise formula, Age of Empires IV is an excellent gateway into historical gaming.

2. Pentiment

Pentiment is a murder mystery set in a 16th-century Bavarian town, imaginatively rendered in the form of an adventure game. It follows journeyman artist Andreas as he chats his way through medieval Europe’s peasants and priests towards the truth, all of whom talk (via text) in their own style of font depending on their social status. Pentiment’s historical setting overflows with detail but it’s more than a veneer, this medieval world’s social and religious strife neatly corresponding to the themes of its tale.

3. Trek to Yomi

Trek to Yomi is a short game which dresses the side scrolling adventures of lone samurai Hiroki in a monochrome style inspired by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. Critics have noted its unsatisfying combat as a disappointment, but praised its often screenshot-worthy visuals.

4. Chivalry 2

A bloody, slapstick slasher played over grand, multiplayer environments, Chivalry 2 plugs a controller into the action of bombastic medieval movies. You can also load your colleagues into catapults and throw them over enemy walls. Don’t expect a history lesson.

5. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

The regent of historical real-time strategy for over 20 years, Age of Empires II is a classic encompassing 1,000 years of human history. Its multiplayer scene has continued to grow, while its Definitive Edition incarnation gives it an eye-catching remaster. It became available on Xbox hardware in 2023.

6. A Plague Tale: Requiem

In A Plague Tale: Innocence, the player controlled child heroes Amicia and her younger brother Hugo through the plague-ridden and devastated villages of 1349 France. It’s a compelling stealth game, involving supernatural rats and a landscape inspired by its developers’ experiences in south west France. Requiem, launched in 2022, continues the siblings’ journey as they travel south, to the coast and beyond.

7. Assassin’s Creed Origins

Some swear by Assassin’s Creed Origins as the best in the series of subterfuge-stuffed adventure games: it was the first to take on the wonders of the ancient world, and to update the series with design cues from immersive role-playing games.

Origins continues the franchise tradition of meticulously re-creating historical sites. Origins also features the first iteration of the brilliant Discovery Tour mode, which takes the form of an educational walking tour through Ptolemaic Egypt’s historical landmarks.

8. Sniper Elite 5

The World War Two series returns for a fifth iteration in Sniper Elite 5, which sees its protagonist travel to 1944 France to confront the Nazi war machine. As always, the mission is to assassinate high-ranking officers through various means; usually a sniper rifle.

9. Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves has grown bigger and better over the years since it launched, and it now offers some of the best co-op experiences on Xbox Game Pass. It can be comfortably played on Xbox Cloud gaming with touch controls. Sea of Thieves recalls the pirate Golden Age, inviting players to don their best nautical garb and take to the high seas in search of tales to tell and booty to sell.

10. Inkulinati

Dogs swing swords at rabbits on the illuminated pages of Inkulinati, a turn- (and ink-) based strategy game. It follows from the irresistible concept of animating and manipulating the strange and amusing creatures found on medieval manuscripts.

11. Battlefield V (PC + Ultimate)

Folding EA Play into Xbox Game Pass has bolstered its library of historical games with the Battlefield franchise. Battlefield 1 is present, and so are the series entries with modern settings, but Battlefield V is the best pick. The scale of confrontations and the geographical breadth of the game make it an essential World War Two game, while it retains timeless arcade action.

12. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Image Credit: Ninja Theory

Celtic warrior Senua’s journey through Hell for the soul of her dead lover is at the centre of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. It’s big on sound, visuals and atmosphere, and has some tricky combat too. Perhaps its most novel feature is the way it depicts psychosis. It’s a unique game that was recognised with five BAFTAs in 2018.

13. Empire of Sin

A tactical strategy game, Empire of Sin takes players to 1920s Chicago and asks them to lead one of 14 competing families. The narrative gives the game spark, while its turn-based combat is effective if repetitive. Some elements of its design may disappoint: cover is not that reliable, which is a bit of a let-down in a tactics game.

14. Crusader Kings III

Crusader Kings III

Image Credit: Paradox Interactive

A sprawling simulator of medieval rule, Crusader Kings III provides a step-up from Total War but isn’t so daunting to put off newcomers. Political intrigue and securing heirs is the focus of the unpredictable sandbox, which has a marvellous capacity to generate alternate historical timelines.

15. Immortals Fenyx Rising

Greek mythology was already on Ubisoft Quebec’s radar for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey when they started development of Immortals Fenyx Rising, an open-world game in a familiar Ubisoft mould targeted at fans of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. As such its world is more immediately inviting and its tone more light-hearted, serviced by a pantheon of comedic gods.

16. Hades

Hades

Image Credit: Supergiant Games

Developed by Supergiant Games, creators of the beautiful action RPGs Bastion and Transistor, Hades sends you to the underworld of ancient Greek mythology. There you’ll battle your way out of hell, befriend Cerberus and explore a remarkably atmospheric and characterful setting.

17. Humankind (PC)

The historical strategy game Humankind is turn-based and set on the same scale as Civilization. Starting from a nomadic age, players are charged with directing a community through major eras of human history, building cities and negotiating with other civilizations. Within each era, the player can select from a choice of civilization types based on historical societies as templates to develop upon.

18. Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition (PC)

Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition

Image Credit: Xbox Game Studios

The hybrid elements of Age of Empires III made it a little quirky on release in 2006 and struggled to convince Age of Empires II’s champions to jump ship. However its RPG-like management and alternative visuals ensure it’s a fresh real-time strategy experience. Its campaigns told stories about the colonisation of the Americas, sometimes taking worthy leads from dissenting narratives. 

19. Europa Universalis IV (PC)

Europa Universalis IV is a deep historical strategy that gives players huge freedom to create new visions of the past. The game can be started at any point between the Renaissance and the Age of Revolutions, or played through as one of hundreds of nations vying for domination.

On this list, you’ll find impressive virtual reimaginings of historical environments as well as the best historical strategy games and the best historical action titles available on PlayStation. On the other hand, you can take a look at the best historical games on Xbox Game Pass. Here are PlayStation’s best historical games.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Image Credit: Rockstar Games

Best historical open world games on PS4 and PS5:

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut

What amounts to a fresh approach on Assassin’s Creed is composed of an engaging open-world Japanese island, a slick, minimal interface and a satisfying sword-based combat system which employs different “stances”.

Red Dead Redemption 2

The mythologised “frontier” of the American West is the subject of Red Dead Redemption 2’s engrossing open world.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

You can take your pick with the Assassin’s Creed games as to which setting you expect you will find the most enjoyable to acquaint yourself with, but Odyssey perhaps steals the show for its interlinking of familiar Homeric tales, Thucydidean history (it’s set during war between Athens and Sparta) and transporting environments.

Mafia: Definitive Edition

The Definitive Edition of the original game in the Mafia series invites players into an open world, but one designed less as a destination in itself and more as the setting for a period mobster fantasy.

Mafia: Definitive Edition

Image Credit: 2K

Best historical strategy games on PS4 and PS5:

Northgard

Govern a burgeoning Norse settlement on a newly discovered shore in this alternately relaxing and tense historical real-time strategy game. Taking leads from myth and history, Northgard is a solid PC game which also has firm feet on console.

Civilization VI

The classic historical turn-based experience is available on PlayStation, letting players chart a course through human history, or at least a tile-based interpretation of it located entirely on their console’s SSD.

Civilization VI

Image Credit: 2K

Best historical action games:

God of War

With his axe and son in tow, Kratos forges links between the Greek mythology of the preceding God of War games and an evocative impression of Norse mythology.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

From the creators of the notoriously tricky Dark Souls games is this fantastical adventure set in 17th century Japan.

Hades

In the colourfully revisionist Hades, completing loops of frenetic fighting furnishes new episodes of a story that’s set in the ancient Greek underworld.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Uncharted 4’s large levels and explosive set-pieces give the Nathan Drake sequel the feeling of a blockbuster adventure. The game builds narrative beats from historic shipwrecks, jungle ruins and heritage theft.

Best historical multiplayer games:

Chivalry 2

The large-scale multiplayer of Chivalry 2 casts medieval warfare in an utterly unserious light, unashamedly reducing its clashes to ridiculous, joyous, bloody brawls.

Battlefield 1

The World War One version of the long-running Battlefield series is an enjoyable multiplayer shooter, as at home on PS4 or PS5 as anywhere else.

Here are six games like Tomb Raider that let players swing from joist to joist in abandoned places, solve ancient riddles, and dispatch mercenary interlopers with acrobatic flair, frustrating professional archaeologists all the while.

1. A Plague Tale: Innocence

A Plague Tale: Innocence

Image Credit: Focus Home Interactive

Stealth and puzzle-solving defines A Plague Tale: Innocence, a game set in 14th century France ravaged by plague and the Inquisition. Unlike Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft, the sibling characters Hugo and Amicia are not the most accomplished gymnasts. However their adventures have them stealthily evading more numerous and more powerful opponents in landscapes marked by devastation and abandonment.

2. Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb

Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb

Image Credit: Lucasfilm / Disney

Playing Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb approximately two decades after it was first released on the original Xbox and PlayStation 2 is a strange and surprisingly rewarding experience. The Emperor’s Tomb articulates Indiana Jones as a gun-toting adventurer intent on looting an artefact in the jungles of Ceylon, present-day Sri Lanka, in 1935, and a string of other locations in a plot that presages the 1984 film Temple of Doom.

Confronting armed resistance in the form of the Nazi SS, Indiana Jones wields a bullwhip, plentiful quips and can jump from platform to platform like Lara Croft. In hindsight, The Emperor’s Tomb is a familiar Tomb Raider-like game, even if the platforming action is more awkward by virtue of its lacking camera and controls.

3. Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia (2008)

Image Credit: Ubisoft

The first Prince of Persia game was released in 1989 for the Apple II. Over the next two decades, the Prince of Persia games took action-adventure platforming to fantastical settings inspired by Western perspectives of ancient Persia and readings of One Thousand and One Nights. Prince of Persia was for a long time the place to go for historical Tomb Raider alternatives. After all, it did help inspire Tomb Raider in the first place.

One of the most accessible Prince of Persia games is the open-world 2008 entry, though the Sands of Time (2003) became the series’ greatest commercial success. It introduced a mechanic which enabled the player to rewind time in order to complete puzzles.

A 2010 film of the same name became the highest grossing video game film at that time, overtaking the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. The series was succeeded by the Assassin’s Creed franchise, but a remake of the 2003 game was announced in 2020.

4. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – The Siege of Paris

Image Credit: Ubisoft

While you were busy throwing Lara Croft from platform to platform in ancient Egyptian temples, the Assassin’s Creed franchise became one of the biggest game series in the world. Swathes of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s open world are there simply to be ridden across on horseback, but its cities and cavernous spaces retain the satisfying climbing that made the first Assassin’s Creed so memorable.

There’s plenty of tombs to pry open in Valhalla’s early medieval world. In November 2021, Ubisoft improved the game’s tomb offering with the Tombs of the Fallen content expansion. In the game’s fiction, these depict the final resting places of legendary warriors of ancient Britain. There’s Boudicca’s Tomb, located within a chamber of puzzles in East Anglia, the historical military leader Cassivellaunus burrowed into Sciropscire soil, and a handful of others to discover.

5. Call of the Sea

Call of the Sea

Image Credit: Raw Fury

Fold up your leotard and replace your weapons in the armoury, because Call of the Sea’s main character Norah has no need for them. Instead, Call of the Sea is a first-person adventure game that tells the story of a woman on the trail of her missing husband’s expedition.

Set in the 1930s, it builds on a pulp fiction impression of the South Pacific as a site of mystery and mild peril. During its short runtime, you’ll solve puzzles and fiddle with mechanical contraptions. You’ll also explore a brightly sketched island, strewn with clues left by the previous expedition. The coherent story draws a little from Lovecraft and shares the premise of a fictional island with the 2013 Tomb Raider game.

6. Strange Brigade

Strange Brigade

Image Credit: Rebellion

Strange Brigade doubles down on the pulpy aesthetics of Call of the Sea, taking the form of a co-operative action game set in the ruins of ancient civilizations and the abandoned camps of antiquarian excavations. It’s the work of British developer Rebellion, also known for the Sniper Elite series and for its CEO Jason Kingsley’s medievalist hobbies.

Strange Brigade doesn’t subvert the genre’s emphasis on the occult or disguise the plundering of ancient sites, but leans into them. The game has players assume the roles of mainly British treasure hunters in the 1930s, shooting at reanimated corpses from ancient Egypt to a plummy voice-over.

It’s simplistic cartoon violence is broken up by puzzle solving. But unlike Tomb Raider, there’s no narrative that insists on its protagonists’ benevolence in spite of the bodies stacked beside the path behind them.

Given it was released in 2015, you may be tempted to make use of player-made mods to improve on the original Total War: Attila experience. We’ve collected some of the best Total War Attila mods, each of which is available for free on the Steam Workshop.

Medieval Kingdoms 1212 AD

Medieval Kingdoms 1212 AD accelerates Total War: Attila’s timeline to the next millennium, bringing new technologies, units, factions and scripted narrative features to the base game. It’s a project of wide scope, implementing 57 playable campaign factions, a rework of provinces and some 4,000 units.

Its high medieval setting takes the campaign into the realms of the Albigensian Crusade in southern France, the 14th century Reconquista in the Iberian peninsula and the consequences of the 1204 conquest of Constantinople by Latin Christian forces. The Pope accordingly has a role to play, alongside a host of scripted features including the ability to annex vassals, release vassals where rule is tenuous, and story events inspired by history.

The huge complement of original units meant Medieval Kingdoms 1212 AD was ideal for History Hit’s series Battlefield Replayed series. History Hit used the Total War: Attila mod to help recreate the Battle of Agincourt, the 606th anniversary of which took place on 25 October 2021.

Terminus Total War – Imperium

Terminus Total War – Imperium adds a new alternate history campaign to Attila: Total War. It adds 14 new factions to the game, each of which is playable in the Grand Campaign, plus over a hundred new units. It invents new identities for Romanised Greeks as well as for Germanic and Norse factions.

The mod takes the original game’s start date of 395 AD, as the Western and Eastern halves of the Roman Empire look eastwards towards Attila’s horde of terrifying Huns, and immediately shatters it further. Instead of facing Attila as part of a great power able to muster vast armies, players can take on the governance of smaller fictionalised polities, including the Province of Hispania or a much reduced Byzantium.

Fall of the Eagles

Intended to flesh out the units and battles of Attila, the Fall of the Eagles mod is an overhaul with an eye on realism and historical authenticity. Instead of shifting the game to another time period, Fall of the Eagles diversifies the textures and unit models in the existing game with new versions based on historical sources.

In addition to the visual changes, the mod also amends systems to do with garrisoning and upgrading units, while the effects of seasons have been changed to have more of an impact on troops.

The mod includes lots of other small changes, too, including making the loyalty of troops a bit more precarious. The team who made Fall of the Eagles also worked on a mod for Total War: Rome II called Constantine: Rise of Christianity.

634 Fire & Swords

The 634 Fire & Swords mod for Total War: Attila shifts the game’s timeline to the year 634. The mod includes boosting the number of playable factions in the game, moderating the AI’s preference for spearmen, and reskinning many of the units appropriate to the year 634. The Gewisse also make an appearance in southern England.

Radious Total War Mod

Team Radious’s take on Total War: Attila is an overhaul aimed at making big changes to the campaign AI, diplomacy, battles as well as rebalancing aspects of the game’s economy. The mod makes the main campaign faster while it introduces custom units to facilitate different playstyles.

If you’ve played the base game, you’ll notice that each of the units you made use has found itself with different properties in Radious’s world. Every unit and its stats, cost, upkeep and abilities has been rebalanced. The units are downloaded as part of a separate package called the Radious Total Units Mod, so be sure to follow the installation instructions correctly.

Natural Water Mod

The Natural Water Mod for Total War: Attila brings a richer variety of water visuals to the game. “No more jelly/milky thingy!” claims modder “dotvhs”. This straightforward change to the game makes an immediate difference to various areas of the campaign map, where the mod has different effects.

Olympian Campaign Camera

If you find yourself itching to pull back the camera on Attila’s campaign map, the Olympian Campaign Camera may be what you need. The mod adjusts the height parameters for the camera, so that the player can zoom further out on the map in order to take a much wider view of their grand strategy plans. It also enables getting closer to the ground itself.

Olympian Battle Camera

The Olympian Battle Camera does exactly what you think it does: adjusts the height parameters of the in-game camera, throwing off restrictions that prevented you from creating absurdly zoomed out images of your battles.

Yet from the goofy escapades of rogue soldiers in Battlefield: Bad Company to the earnest World War One storytelling of Battlefield 1, the series always aspires to a distinctive brand of sandbox entertainment. Eschewing some harder to find classics, here are the best Battlefield games you can play right now, in no particular order.

1. Battlefield: Bad Company (2008)

Battlefield: Bad Company

Image Credit: Electronic Arts

A stunning multiplayer demo for Battlefield: Bad Company on the Oasis map established the series’ now hallmark feature of highly destructible environments. For the first time in the series, mortar strikes could rain through rooftops and explosives could gouge the landscape.

While the mission design of the singleplayer story was of varying quality, the titular Bad Company proved memorable characters. They were a sit-com-suitable ragtag crew of soldiers, crashing through clichés as they went AWOL to scavenge for gold. Redford was the sensible soldier on his last days of retirement, Sweetwater the dorky medic, Haggard the guns-blazing comic relief.

2. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (2010)

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Image Credit: Electronic Arts

Many will remember Battlefield: Bad Company 2 as the best Battlefield ever made. It continued its predecessor’s narrative drive in an ironed-out singleplayer, while it expanded the series’ multiplayer vehicular warfare onto vast, staged maps like Arica Harbour.

The combination of squad-based tactics with effortless and novel destruction made it an engine for unique stories. An expansion, Bad Company 2: Vietnam, was a throwback to the standalone 2004 game Battlefield Vietnam. Bad Company 2 still looks presentable, despite the fact Battlefield 3 launched just a year later with a huge visual upgrade.

3. Battlefield 3 (2011)

Battlefield 3

Image Credit: Electronic Arts

A more sober take on the series after the Bad Company duo, Battlefield 3 angled itself as a deliberate sequel to 2005’s Battlefield 2 and its self-serious take on modern warfare. There’s no Sweetwater or Haggard in Battlefield 3’s campaign, but plenty of opportunities for developers DICE to showcase the game’s improved lighting, animation and sound.

Its flashier aesthetics weren’t at the expense of multiplayer fun, and Battlefield 3 chiefly delivered on spectacle with 64-player confrontations. It’s still a favoured game from the franchise but was largely superseded by the slight changes provided by Battlefield 4.

4. Battlefield 4 (2013)

Battlefield 4

Image Credit: Electronic Arts

“Levolution” is the key phrase associated with Battlefield 4. The level destruction which had been moderated in Battlefield 3 was refitted to incorporate entire skyscrapers, the raising of which changed the design of multiplayer maps in real-time.

Barring Battlefield 2042, it’s still the most recent main game in the franchise to be set in the contemporary world. Already eight years old, Battlefield 4 is still active with players and rivals alternative first-person shooters for scale and spectacle.

Is Battlefield 4 worth it in 2021?

Battlefield 4 remains an excellent entry in the series. It’s unfortunate that some maps are still locked behind expansions so many years from launch, but the base game can be acquired for relatively inexpensive prices. It also features on EA Play, which is available to subscribers of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

5. Battlefield V (2018)

Battlefield V

Image Credit: Electronic Arts

Battlefield V was the first time the series returned to World War Two since the online-only Battlefield 1943, and a flashback in Bad Company 2. Battlefield V remains one of the best Battlefield games you can play right now. It encompasses a range of settings from North Africa to the Pacific, where players can jump into satisfying airplanes and tanks from the era.

A short singleplayer mode offers little of the thrill of even the middling maps of Battlefield V’s multiplayer. It nevertheless merits some praise for its anthology of War Stories which manages to introduce players to multiple perspectives on the war.

6. Battlefield 1 (2016)

Battlefield 1

Image Credit: Electronic Arts

Battlefield V followed the template set by Battlefield 1, the only game in the series set in World War One. Together they offer gameplay with quicker time-to-die that gives it less a hardcore feel than an arcade one.

What makes the historical Battlefield games interesting is how they use their settings as the basis for transformation. Battlefield 1, with its antiquated weapons and sprawling War Story missions, offers a refreshing experience for players exhausted by the modern settings of other Battlefield games.

Is Battlefield 1 or 5 better?

With its wider selection of vehicles, which include tanks, fighter aircraft and bombers, Battlefield V manages to edge its way past Battlefield 1 as the more enjoyable playing experience. With that variety comes a greater capacity for players to generate their own distinctive stories.

7. Battlefield Hardline (2015)

Battlefield Hardline

Image Credit: Electronic Arts

Battlefield Hardline is a spin-off from the main series of Battlefield games. It invites players to participate in a big game of cops-and-robbers. Hardline is an anomaly in a series more comfortable in open landscapes crawling with tanks and strafed by aircraft. Its peculiar multiplayer mode worked by most accounts, but it promptly dropped off the radar and now occupied servers are rare.

What is the best Battlefield?

Which Battlefield is the best to play right now ultimately comes down to your preference of theme. While classic titles like Battlefield 2 make compelling candidates, the split between modern titles that are easily playable right now is between the modern-set Battlefield 4, the World War One-themed Battlefield 1 and World War Two-set Battlefield V.

Which Battlefield is the most active?

However if you’re looking for the Battlefield game with the healthiest community of players, Battlefield V is a strong choice. It has repeatedly been the most-played game in Steam, most recently in September 2021 with a respectable peak of 76,456 players during a free weekend period.

8. Battlefield 2042

Battlefield 2042

Image Credit: Electronic Arts

Battlefield 2042 has some impressive credentials, including the promise of bigger maps than previous games in the series and the innovative Portal mode. This lets players resurrect previous titles such as Bad Company 2 inside the Battlefield 2042 game, and even pit two teams from different eras against each other.

On the other hand, it may be some time until it is in a state where it is thoroughly recommendable. Battlefield 2042’s problematic launch means that it is a less reliable experience than other Battlefield titles.

The Forgotten City

The Forgotten City

Image Credit: Dear Villagers

Leading our selection of games set in ancient Rome is The Forgotten City. On the banks of the River Tiber, a mysterious passage leads to the titular subterranean colonia. What the player finds there is a vivid impression of an ancient city, with a twist.

There is an authentic Roman lavatory and a gladiator wearing period-appropriate armour, yes, but the game excels because of its worthy story, tied around an effective time loop mechanic.

As designer Nick Pearce explained to History Hit, Roman art and archaeology inspires much of the material elements of the game. He consulted with archaeologist Sophie Hay and historian Philp Matyszak: “We exchanged well over 300 emails, shared video calls, and discussed obscure aspects of ancient Roman art, architecture, history, culture, language, costumes, cuisine, and so on. It was a wonderful, enlightening and frenetic experience.”

Expeditions: Rome

Expeditions: Rome

Image Credit: THQ Nordic

Expeditions: Rome is a turn-based RPG developed by Logic Artists and published by THQ Nordic. With its lush visuals, it makes a good first impression. Announced in 2021, Expeditions: Rome encourages players to assume the role of a disgruntled member of the equestrian order, forced to flee the city of Rome.

The design is oriented around making the player feel like “a small, elite group of professional Roman soldiers” according to its designers, while creating a memorable narrative experience. The world in which the player acts will change over the course of a decade, connected in some way with the choices made by the player.

Expedition: Rome follows titles covering the Conquistadors and the Vikings, and will cover military campaigns in Greece, North Africa and Gaul.

Domina

Domina

Image Credit: Dolphin Barn Incorporated

Domina is a gladiator management simulator first released in 2017. Its distinctive pixelated art style frames a game “vaguely based on Roman gladiator schools circa 55BC – 55AD” according to developer Dolphin Barn Incorporated. Resource management is based around balancing food, water and wine, which can be purchased from the winnings players make by winning in the arena.

As you entertain audiences with violent confrontations, your gladiators will gradually improve their abilities. With more gold, players can outfit their gladiator school with training upgrades and specialise their gladiators with new gear. If they die, so be it. In Domina, as in ancient Rome, gladiators are entirely disposable.

Assassin’s Creed Origins

Assassin’s Creed Origins

Image Credit: Ubisoft

Assassin’s Creed Origins is set in the last years of Ptolemaic Egypt and features eminent figures including Julius Caesar, Cleopatra and Pompey. Leading the game is protagonist Bayek of Siwa, who travels to Alexandria, meets historical figures such as Apollodorus the Sicilian, and completes espionage missions for Cleopatra.

In this way the game’s fictional narrative inserts itself into Caesar’s Civil War (49–45 BC) and Cleopatra’s war against pharaoh Ptolemy XIII. Origins’ story depicts the assassination of Pompey the Great by Lucius Septimius in 48 BC and, inevitably, the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC.

Caesar 3

Caesar 3

Image Credit: Activision

Caesar 3 is a city building game that lets players live out their privately cherished fantasies of administering a Roman colonia. Originally released in 1999, Caesar 3 positions the player as a provincial governor tasked with developing a city, cultivating trade and industry and keeping citizens safe.

While a roster of games, from Total War: Rome 2 to Imperator: Rome, aim to reconstruct a simulation of managing the Roman empire, fewer games are interested in the day-to-day governance of Roman cities. Caesar 3 fills that gap. It’s a straightforward strategy game with timeless appeal.

We’ve traced the travails of Tomb Raider by listing the main titles of the Tomb Raider games in order below.

1996: Tomb Raider

Adventuring archaeologist Lara Croft makes her debut on the Sega Saturn, Sony Playstation and MS-DOS in 1996 with Tomb Raider. Inspired by the explosive exploits of Indiana Jones and the aesthetics of Egyptian tombs, Tomb Raider impressed players with its 3D levels, acrobatic combat and puzzles.

Tomb Raider I

Image Credit: Square Enix

1997: Tomb Raider II

After the success of Tomb Raider, which sold seven million units worldwide, a sequel for Playstation and Windows expanded the original and doubled down on its action.

1998: Tomb Raider III

The third title in the Tomb Raider series swiftly followed and depicted Croft’s adventure around the world to secure fragments of a meteorite. More advanced software permitted greater detail thanks to graphical features including triangular polygons.

1999: Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation

The fourth instalment in the Tomb Raider series has Lara confronting the Egyptian god Set. Though it sold five million copies, it didn’t beat the sales expectations set by the first three titles.

Tomb Raider Chronicles

Image Credit: Eidos / Square Enix

2000: Tomb Raider Chronicles

Developers Core Design had attempted to kill Lara Croft off in The Last Revelation, but a direct sequel was ordered by Eidos. This emerged in Tomb Raider Chronicles. Lara is presumed dead, and her past adventures are traced through the reminiscences of those at her memorial service in a curious anthology formed from previously cut ideas.

2003: Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

While Tomb Raider Chronicles was in development, another team worked on Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness for the Playstation 2. After a difficult period of development, the game failed to satisfy players or build on the success of the 2001 film adaptation starring Angelina Jolie.

The disappointing showing of the film’s sequel, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003), was linked to The Angel of Darkness, and proposed sequels for The Angel of Darkness were scrapped.

2006: Tomb Raider: Legend

Development duties for Tomb Raider were transferred to Crystal Dynamics, and their overhaul of the series was the first in a critically successful trilogy.

Tomb Raider: Anniversary

Image Credit: Eidos / Square Enix

2007: Tomb Raider: Anniversary

Just one year after Legend, Anniversary was released as a complete remake of the original Tomb Raider. It didn’t sell as well as Legend, though it did shift 1.3 million units.

2008: Tomb Raider: Underworld

Tomb Raider: Underworld released simultaneously for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 using a new game engine. This lent it more impressive environments and supported animation modelled on Olympic gymnast Heidi Moneymaker. Keeley Hawes continued to voice Lara Croft, as she did in Legend and Anniversary. By 2009, it had sold 2.6 million copies.

2013: Tomb Raider

Crystal Dynamics began developing the next iteration of the Tomb Raider franchise soon after Underworld. It was conceived as another reboot, with the origins of Lara Croft rewritten under the direction of lead writer Rhianna Pratchett. Lara was performed by Camilla Luddington. It sold over 11 million copies, making it the most successful Tomb Raider title to date.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Image Credit: Square Enix

2015: Rise of the Tomb Raider

2013’s Tomb Raider had reset the formula for the series and emboldened it to borrow elements from role-playing and survival games. Rise of the Tomb Raider continued this trend by elaborating the game’s skill trees and crafting mechanics. It followed Lara Croft as she battled a paramilitary organisation in Siberia.

2018: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

In place of Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal became the lead developer on Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The game concluded the origin trilogy that began in 2013, and depicted Lara Croft assuming her masterful ‘Tomb Raider’ persona in a South American setting. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the last of our Tomb Raider games in order, and sold over 4 million units. In 2021, Netflix and Legendary Entertainment announced that an animated series would continue where Shadow left off.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Image Credit: Square Enix

Because of the great number of entries in the series and a handful of reboots, remasters and definitive editions, there’s often confusion about the order in which the Tomb Raider games were released. We’ve answered some common questions below.

Is Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider the same game?

Rise of the Tomb Raider is the second game in the most recent reboot trilogy, developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. It’s distinct from Tomb Raider, which can refer to both the original game from 1996 and the game of the same title from 2013.

Is Tomb Raider Definitive Edition the first game?

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition is an updated version of the 2013 game. This game was developed in order to get the most out of the new generations of consoles at the time, the Xbox One and Playstation 4, while also enhancing the experience on PC. It includes an visual improvement as well as additional content.

Should I play Rise of the Tomb Raider before Shadow?

If you want to experience the narrative of the Tomb Raider franchise as it was intended, Rise of the Tomb Raider should be played before Shadow of the Tomb Raider. However, they are both self-contained stories. Shadow of the Tomb Raider explains its mechanics to the player and does not require any previous knowledge of the franchise.

Which Tomb Raider game is first?

Thanks to the strange quirk of video game re-releases, there are at least three entry points into the Tomb Raider series. The natural start is Tomb Raider (1996), which is the true first game in the series. However, this game was remade in the form of Tomb Raider Legend in 2006. The version that came out in 2013 is the first game in the most recent Tomb Raider timeline.

1. Apotheon

Apotheon is a 2D side-scrolling action game, wrapped in a striking art style inspired by the black-figure pottery of ancient Greece. Its story sees Nikandreos, last hero of humanity, challenging the Greek divinities as he ascends Mount Olympus. Apotheon also has a free multiplayer component called Apotheon Arena.

2. Hades

Zagreus is the Prince of the Underworld (following the tradition of lost Greek works such as the plays of Aeschylus), and the main character of Hades. This hugely acclaimed game is a fast-paced romp through a richly reimagined and atmospheric setting from ancient Greek mythology.

3. Immortals Fenyx Rising

Immortals pits the novel demigod Fenyx against Typhon, the Titan reported by Hesiod to be “terrible, outrageous and lawless”. Puzzles and confrontations with mythological creatures such as Medusa and Cyclops carry the player through a vibrant, fantastical world.

4. A Total War Saga: Troy

A Total War Saga: Troy – Mythos

Image Credit: SEGA

Creative Assembly’s Total War series took a detour through Greek mythology with its Mythos expansion to Troy in 2021. Mythos expanded the historical strategy game to include mythical creatures and Elysian warriors.

In his review, Nic Reuben called Mythos “as successful an overhaul as one could hope for, freeing the studio to add tactical dimensions to battle that simply weren’t possible before, and turning a previously visually beautiful but occasionally stilted title into a rousing, romantic epic.”

5. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey screenshot

Image Credit: Ubisoft

A world of sandy Aegean islands, bucolic mountainsides and gigantic representations of Greek mythic figures makes up Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s stomping ground. Its story pulls liberally from mythology, while its roster of characters is stuffed with your favourite faces from 5th century BC Greece.

6. Age of Mythology

Age of Mythology: Extended Edition screenshot

Image Credit: Xbox Game Studios

The real-time strategy game Age of Mythology provides a mythological twist on the Age of Empires games. It unites characters and cultures inspired by Greek, Egyptian and Norse mythology in a story which makes stops in Troy, Tartarus and Niflheim.

When historian Dr Ross Clare spoke with History Hit, he observed how Age of Mythology “constantly plays around with what a strategy game is supposed to be, and plays around with what classical content can do.”

7. Homer’s Odyssey

The Odyssey by Homer is adapted as an interactive narrative game in Another Circus’s visually impressive puzzle and card-based Homer’s Odyssey. Embodying Odysseus, players will learn the story of his journey while interacting with objects and illustrations that illuminate the original text.

8. Titan Quest Anniversary Edition

Titan Quest is an action RPG with settings inspired by ancient Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia and China. Like most of the games on this list, its main character is a Greek hero empowered by the divine. It’s worth experimenting with this classic role-playing game if you’re familiar with Age of Mythology. Titan Quest was co-created by Age of Empires veteran Brian Sullivan.

9. Smite

Smite is a competitive multiplayer game, or more specifically a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game, which uses mythology as fodder for its wide selection of playable characters. The distinctive qualities of each god, goddess or mythological figure feeds into the type of abilities and tactics that are available to players when participating in the team-based combat that is the subject of a successful esports scene.

10. Zeus: Master of Olympus

Zeus is similar to Sierra Entertainment’s other city-building games like Caesar as well as more recent titles like Nebuchadnezzar. First released in 2000, Zeus: Master of Olympus is set in a mythical version of ancient Greece, which it presents in a 2D, isometric view.

Yet if you have exhausted your explorations of the degraded Roman architecture of Francia and resigned your command over the trireme Adrestia, there is a range of alternative games like Assassin’s Creed. Here are five historical games like Assassin’s Creed, which draw on the defining traits of the series.

1. Ghost of Tsushima

For the player who wants another historic landscape to explore in the virtual world, Ghost of Tsushima is a natural next choice. A Playstation exclusive, its third-person action-adventure gameplay closely resembles the mixture of stealth tactics and open-world exploration that are familiar to the Assassin’s Creed series.

The setting of Tsushima is a real island that is part of the Japanese archipelago. During the Mongol invasions of Japan in the 13th century AD, troops of the Mongol army occupied the islands and defeated a small force of defending samurai. Jin Sakai is the protagonist of Ghost of Tsushima, and is a survivor of that invasion.

2. God of War

A stealth game this is not, but God of War is a good companion piece to the mythologically-inspired tales of the Assassin’s Creed games, especially the Viking-inspired Valhalla.

While its predecessors were simple hack-and-slash affairs, the resurgent God of War puts the story in the centre. Its open world bears comparison to Assassin’s Creed, but its take on the mythical realms of ancient Scandinavian is its own.

3. Raji: An Ancient Epic

Raji: An Ancient Epic is a smaller journey than the marathons of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and for that reason serves as an excellent palette cleanser. Its world design is inspired by the history and mythology of India while its story is punctuated with combat as well as puzzles.

4. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

While Uncharted 4 isn’t a period piece, its protagonist Nathan Drake is an antiquarian who frequently finds himself in historical places. It shares with Assassin’s Creed a satisfying system of traversal in Drake’s free running skills and large environments in which to use them. The blockbuster action of the Uncharted series is heightened by confident storytelling which can leave the convoluted backstories of Assassin’s Creed trailing.

A Thief’s End was originally released in 2016 on the Playstation 4. Its narrative threads draw players to Madagascar, the Scottish Highlands and the purported pirate enclave of Libertalia. Drake is, of course, an archaeologist in the Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider mould. All archaeology is in some sense destructive, but Drake’s methods warrant an investigation from UNESCO.

5. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Despite its reputation for punishing combat, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice joins our list of games like Assassin’s Creed due to its immersive historical setting in premodern Japan and its emphasis on stealth. It is less premised on role-playing than the Dark Souls games and pulls historical inspiration from the tradition of shinobi espionage warfare.

Among your armoury of subterfuge abilities is a grappling hook, which introduces some of the free-form movement of the Assassin’s Creed series. It takes place during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. Assassin’s Creed hasn’t set a mainline title in Japan. But between Sekiro and Ghosts of Tsushima, players are spoiled for alternatives.