- Assassin's Creed (PlayStation 3) screenshot: Leaving the Masyaf fortress. courtesy of Ubisoft

Assassin’s Creed Needs More Chronicles: China Energy

Originally posted on Total Apex Gaming | By Mollie Dominy | Last updated Apr 30, 2025 10:22 AM ET

It’s been almost two decades since Ubisoft first gave us Assassin’s Creed—a game that took your high school history class, threw it off a roof, stabbed it with a hidden blade, and then hit you with a conspiracy theory pop quiz.

At its core, this series is about one thing: a never-ending war between two ancient orders—the Assassins, who want freedom, and the Templars, who want control. You know, classic “we know what’s best for humanity” energy—just with more parkour and murder.

We’ve followed this battle across time: from Jerusalem to Renaissance Italy, to the American Revolution, to the Viking invasion of England. And then, somewhere along the way, Ubisoft kind of… wandered off the main path.

When Myth Took the Wheel

Screenshot: Assassin’s Creed: Origins (PlayStation 4) courtesy of Ubisoft

Recent entries (Odyssey, Valhalla, Mirage) have leaned hard into historical spectacle and mythological storytelling. Cool settings? Absolutely. But somewhere in all the world-building and Isu artifacts, the series drifted from its core theme: that ideological knife fight between Assassins and Templars.

It’s still there—but buried beneath layers of gods, glowing artifacts, and side content that sometimes forgets why this fight even started in the first place. If you’re a lorehound who misses that raw, focused conflict? You’re not alone.

Chronicles: China Got It Right

Enter Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China—the forgotten child of the franchise that quietly nailed the original concept.

Released in 2015 as a 2.5D stealth platformer, it follows Shao Jun, a Chinese Assassin mentored by none other than Ezio Auditore. The game strips away the bloated systems and instead zeroes in on one Assassin, one mission, and one Templar target—classic AC energy.

More importantly, Chronicles: China puts the war back at the center. No myth. No distractions. Just ideology, blades, and personal stakes. It reminded fans what the series could be when it trims the fat and focuses on its core conflict.

Final Thoughts: Time to Refocus

The lore of Assassin’s Creed still has legs—strong ones, if Ubisoft remembers how to use them. Bringing back the intensity of Chronicles, or at least its narrative focus, could help ground the franchise again.

Sure, we’ll take the mythology, the ruins, and the open worlds. But give us more Shao Jun energy. More ideological tension. Less glowing space fruit.

Assassins vs. Templars. That’s the hook. Don’t bury it.

This article first appeared on Total Apex Gaming and was syndicated with permission.

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