5 Assassin’s Creed settings ranked by historical tourism potential

Assassin’s Creed exists in modern gaming as massive, open-world games that take their historical settings quite seriously. While you usually have to climb and stab your way through these games, they do function as historical tourism. The franchise has certainly changed over time, and there are some changes we still want to see, but the focus on historically accurate fiction has remained strong. In fact, the more modern games have leaned even further into this, which has resulted in this list being heavily populated by more recent Assassin’s Creed games. This list is not based on the quality of the games themselves, although we have ranked the Assassin’s Creed games before.

5

Assassin’s Creed Unity

While it had a disastrous launch, its French Revolution setting is still incredible

Assassin’s Creed Unity is the poster child for bad game launches, coming out in a broken, messy state. The online game didn’t work, the single-player didn’t work, and it was filled to the brim with bugs. None of that is still true of Assassin’s Creed Unity in 2025, though, and underneath all that is a well-made Assassin’s Creed in the classic stealth-focused style. On top of that, it features an incredibly detailed France from the late 1700s, during the height of the French Revolution. Not only does this mean an early industrial France, but it means you get to see the country in various states of disaster as the revolution unfolds. It’s such a pivotal point in French history, so getting to explore not only the country but one of the biggest moments of its modern history. Sure, the exact events don’t involve Assassins and Templars, but Assassin’s Creed Unity has plenty of great history for you to explore.

4

Assassin’s Creed Origins

Let’s check out ancient Egypt

Assassin’s Creed Origins takes place in 49 B.C. near the end of the Ptolemaic period. This period of time meant that there were sprawling cities and populated areas, but it still firmly feels like what the average person would imagine Ancient Egypt was like. Assassin’s Creed Origins covers a large area of Egypt, as Cleopatra attempts to take over the country from her cousin, as Roman soldiers under the command of Julius Ceaser enter the region. Those forces clash multiple times in large-scale battles, but they also impacted the people living in Egypt at the time, which can be seen as you explore the environment.

The first of the open-world modern Assassin’s Creed games, Assassin’s Creed Origins, doesn’t feature the biggest open-world map, but it is still incredibly detailed. Egypt also still feels unique, even among the games set in similar time periods.

3

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

A game so big you get to explore a couple of locations

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the biggest game in the franchise, in terms of length. Because of that massive size, it has several locations, including Norway, England, and Finland. It takes place in 878 A.D., during the great Viking Expansion into Europe. Political pressures cause you to leave Norway and settle in England, which the country of England does not care for. While you can easily spend over 100 hours exploring every inch of these countries in the base game, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla also features several DLCs, including ones taking place in Ireland and France, giving you even more historical settings to explore.

The lush green of England and the snowy tundra of Norway make for two great contrasting locations, which is part of what makes Valhalla such an interesting game to play. Even if you don’t care about the checklist nature of the modern Assassin’s Creed games, this one has too many locales for you to explore to ignore.

2

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Everybody loves Ancient Greece

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is not only one of the best games in the series, but it also features a setting that is quite popular, Ancient Greece. Set in 341 B.C. during the Peloponnesian War, where Athens and Sparta are battling it out. This game puts you at the center of this conflict, as a former child of Sparta, so not only do you get to explore a large amount of Ancient Greece and the surrounding islands and areas, but you get to meet prominent figures from history. It also features naval combat, so you get to see ships from that era in action.

While Assassin’s Creed Odyssey does have several DLCs that are great, they are all based around Ancient Greek myth, taking place in the underworld and other myth-based locations. While those DLCs don’t represent actual historical locations, the base game is quite detailed in its depiction of Ancient Greece.

1

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

People were begging for Japan, and Ubisoft delivered

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the most recent game in the franchise, and while the Japanese setting has been done by Ghost of Tsushima, Japan in Shadows is far larger and more detailed. The game takes place in 1597, coming towards the end of Lord Nobunaga’s reign in the country, as Westerners start to arrive in the country and different political factions battle it out for control. While in terms of quality, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is in the good but not great category, it is the first one exclusive to the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. That means a massive map, but more importantly, it means a really detailed world.

One of the other next-gen elements is a changing seasons system, where the weather and environment will shift as the seasons pass, which happens at semiregular intervals. While the seasons will change in other games as the story progresses, this constant rotation allows you to experience more parts of the map in different weather and conditions. It cannot be understated how gorgeous Japan looks in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. It’s worth picking up just for the digital historical tourism.

Oh, the places you’ll go

While Assassin’s Creed hasn’t covered every part of the globe just yet, it has some pretty significant places in history in the franchise. While I didn’t mention some of the older games, since the historical tourism aspects have become bigger and more prominent as the series has progressed, there are some incredibly built worlds to explore, like Renaissance-era Italy in Assassin’s Creed 2. All the mainline games feature some level of digital tourism, but the more modern games have become true digital vacations.