We’re in post-Christmas deals territory, which is a surprisingly good time to shop. Off the rip, we’re seeing new price drops on pre-built gaming PCs, which are becoming all the more popular given the recent price increases on RAM alone.
Amazon has also bumped up its Pokémon TCG stock this holiday, but is anything worth buying? Of course it’s not. Well, there’s a handful of deals to be had, but the independent retailer army that makes up TCGPlayer is leading the way with the majority of the best prices on both the new and secondary market.
TL;DR: Top Deals for Today
Skytech has dropped some cracking deals on a range of their prebuilt gaming PCs before New Year’s Day, and we’re seeing RTX 5070 Ti builds for under $2,000 and RTX 5080 builds for under $2,800. Crazy scenes, let’s get into it.
iPhone 16e Offer From Metro by T-Mobile
Cheapest at Amazon: Pokémon TCG
It’s great to see popular sets like Surging Sparks and Phantasmal Flames Elite Trainer Boxes crop up for less on Amazon, with the former being below market value alongside the Destined Rivals triple booster.
Cheapest at TCGPlayer: Pokémon TCG
It’s strange to see Silver Tempest sealed product showing up on Amazon right now. Perhaps we’ll see more Sword & Shield-era reprints on store shelves? Regardless, TCGPlayer has the Silver Tempest Elite Trainer Box for far less than Amazon, and the same goes for the Prismatic Evolutions ETB.
TCGPlayer also has the best deal on Destined Rivals Booster Bundles, currently sitting at $52.50. That means you get double the booster packs compared to the three-pack booster deal in the last section for less than double the price. TCGPlayer really has the no-brainer deals right now.
Save Up to $460 on Top-Rated Narwal Robot and Mop Vac
Skytech Gaming PC Holiday Sale
Considering we’ve just entered a memory chip shortage across the board, with even DDR4 RAM going for silly money, getting an RTX 5060 build with 32GB DDR4 for $1,079 is a great deal. You’ll have solid 1080p gaming with either an Intel i5-14400F or AMD Ryzen 7 5700 processor to boot. Personally, I’d go for the Crystal build. It costs the same and gives you far more room for bigger GPU upgrades down the line.
If you’re looking to go all-in with 4K gaming out of the box for under $3,000, the $2,799.99 Aqua build comes with a gorgeous clear white and blue case, complete with CPU liquid cooling, an RTX 5080, 32GB DDR5, and the absolute beast that is the Ryzen 7 9800X3D.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
Whether it’s Snake’s elevator ascent to the rainy cliffs of Shadow Moses or the climactic battle between student and mentor in the final moments of Snake Eater, Hideo Kojima and Konami’s epic spy thriller franchise, Metal Gear, is home to some of gaming’s most iconic moments. Telling a story that spanned multiple console generations and pushed the creative capabilities of video games to their limits, Solid Snake and Big Boss’ adventures are legendary, so much so that many claim they’re among the most important releases the medium has ever produced.
Back in 2015, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain seemingly ended the franchise for good, with Kojima leaving Konami and the Metal Gear Solid IP behind to form his own studio. However, Konami has started resurrecting the series through re-releases and remakes, like Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater coming out later this year. With so many new players experiencing this world of undercover espionage, shady government conspiracy and gruff-voiced dudes with cool eyepatches for the first time, we’ve laid out the chronological order of the Metal Gear Solid series so newcomers and returning fans can catch up.
Not including remakes, ports or remasters, there are 17 total Metal Gear games: 11 mainline games, five on handheld devices and one on mobile. Although that’s a lot of games, a decent chunk of them are considered non-canon, with their stories overriding events from the main saga and spinning off into their own unique takes on the universe.
2018’s Metal Gear Survive takes place in an apocalyptic reality where a zombie virus has overtaken the world, so it falls outside the main canon. As for the PSP’s Metal Gear: Acid and Metal Gear: Acid 2, they veer from the timeline and tell a new story, making them alternate-timeline spin-offs. Then there’s the Game Boy Color’s Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, which is an alternate-universe Metal Gear sequel that wipes away the events of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, thus removing it from the timeline. And finally, Metal Gear Mobile and Snake’s Revenge have since been deemed non-canon by the community and Kojima himself in interviews.
That leaves 11 games within the main storyline. Each game is considered part of the true Metal Gear Saga, spanning from a fictional alternate-history 1960s to the late 2010s. So, let’s run you through all the games in that story.
Which Metal Gear Should You Play First?
We recommend two potential starting points for Metal Gear. For those interested in the complete saga, we recommend 2023’s Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, which includes the best available versions of Metal Gear Solid 1–3. Alternatively, for those interested in simply trying out the franchise (and for those with a lower tolerance for older games), we recommend starting with the series’ most contemporary iteration, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
Metal Gear Games in Chronological Order
These blurbs contain mild spoilers for each game, including characters, settings, and story beats.
1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The first slot in the saga’s timeline and the most recent game to get a modern remake, Snake Eater follows a US Special Forces operative codenamed Naked Snake during the events of the Cold War. Sent to locate and extract a Russian scientist from the Soviet Union to prevent him from building a weapon of mass destruction known as the Shagohod, Snake’s shocked to find his former mentor, The Boss, has betrayed the US government and sided with the Soviets.
After a heated battle, Naked Snake is brutally defeated and left for dead in the jungle. Surviving the encounter, he’s tasked by his commanding officer, Zero, to return to Russia, find his mentor and kill her, all the while tracking down the Shagohod to prevent nuclear war. By the end of the story, Naked Snake adopts the moniker of Big Boss, becoming a legend among the US Special Forces. However, his battle with The Boss and the secrets he’s uncovered throughout his adventure leave him disillusioned with his duty and the government he serves.
Set six years after Big Boss’ climactic battle with his former mentor, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops picks up the legendary soldier’s story as he goes head to head with his former squad, FOX Unit. The game begins with Big Boss learning FOX has gone rogue, betraying the CIA and staging a revolt.
Captured and tortured on a Colombian base by FOX Unit, Boss breaks free but learns he’s been accused of treason. In a bid to clear his name, he decides to hunt down his former allies and pursue their ruthless leader, Gene. By the end of the game, Big Boss learns of Gene’s desire to create a nation of mercenary soldiers known as Army’s Heaven and acquires the mass of funds and equipment saved for the project. Returning to the US, he later forms a squadron of special ops soldiers known as FOXHOUND.
Four years after the events of Portable Ops, we catch up with Big Boss, who has left FOXHOUND and the Patriots. Since leaving, he’s formed a new band of mercenary soldiers known as Militaires Sans Frontières (or MSF) with Kazuhira Miller. Using their newfound army to protect countries that don’t have the forces or means to defend themselves, Big Boss and Miller wage war against an armed militia known as the Peace Sentinels after they invade Costa Rica.
During his investigation, Big Boss soon realizes that his former mentor, The Boss, is somehow involved in the Peace Sentinels’ plans. Worse, they have access to nuclear weapons, wielding a supremely powerful mech called the Peace Walker. Rallying on an off-shore oil rig known as Motherbase, Snake and the Militaires Sans Frontières take the fight to the Peace Sentinels, attempting to discover their true motive and secrets. The game ends with Big Boss battling his former ally Paz, who turns out to be a secret agent of Zero’s shady government organization, Cipher.
A few months following the events of Peace Walker, Ground Zeroes acts as a prologue to the fifth entry in the Metal Gear Solid series: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The story sees Big Boss embark on a new mission after learning that Paz survived their climactic battle during the final moments of Peace Walker and is being interrogated by Cipher at a mysterious military base known as Camp Omega. Knowing that she has crucial information about Cipher and could reveal secrets about MSF to the shadowy organization, he rushes to extract her.
While infiltrating the base, he discovers a mysterious Cipher cell known as XOF, which is led by a sadistic, severely burned commander called Skull Face. The prologue ends with Snake extracting Paz only to realize his allies are being attacked by the XOF back at Motherbase. The onslaught destroys the oil rig and eradicates Militaires Sans Frontières, leaving Big Boss on the cusp of death.
Nine years later, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain opens with a severely injured Big Boss waking up in a hospital in Cyprus. Evading an assassination attempt where he’s attacked by a man covered in flames, a telekinetic soldier and a master sniper, Boss is saved by Revolver Ocelot and returns to action as he leads a new mercenary group known as the Diamond Dogs.
Swearing to stop the XOF after they destroyed Militaires Sans Frontières, he adopts the codename Venom Snake and heads to Africa to pick up their trail, learning that the former-Cipher-affiliated group went rogue. Their leader, Skull Face, is instead working on a devastating parasitic weapon with the power to eradicate the Western world. The game ends with Big Boss setting in motion his plans to create a military nation known as Outer Heaven, where soldiers are free to live without being used to further shady government plans.
11 years later, the story catches up with the first entry in the series: Metal Gear. The game follows Solid Snake: a rookie soldier and member of FOXHOUND. FOXHOUND is once again run by Big Boss, who acts as Snake’s mentor and commanding officer. On his first mission, Solid Snake is sent to track down a weapon of mass destruction being constructed in a military nation known as Outer Heaven.
During his mission, he finds another agent codenamed Grey Fox, who was also sent to track the weapon. Grey Fox reveals the mysterious weapon is a mech codenamed Metal Gear, which has the power to launch nuclear bombs. The game ends with Solid Snake and Big Boss coming to blows, with the latter revealing he was behind Outer Heaven’s plans.
Four years later, Solid Snake returns to action after he learns Big Boss survived the events of the previous game and is currently constructing a new Metal Gear for the fictional nation of Zanzibar Land.
Teaming with various characters, Snake infiltrates Zanzibar Land and attempts to destroy the weapon of mass destruction, battling Big Boss and his army of soldiers along the way.
Six years after Metal Gear 2, Solid Snake returns in a new mission. This time he’s sent to battle his former unit, FOXHOUND, which has gone rogue, turned against the US and taken over a mysterious government facility on an island known as Shadow Moses. Shadow Moses is allegedly a test site for a secret Metal Gear, with FOXHOUND threatening to use its nuclear weapons if they aren’t supplied with Big Boss’ corpse and a large sum of money.
Snake heads to the facility and fights various members of FOXHOUND, including Revolver Ocelot, Psycho Mantis and a Cyborg version of his former ally, Greyfox. He also meets the eccentric leader of FOXHOUND, Liquid Snake. The game ends with Snake being declared killed-in-action by Colonel Campbell and presumed dead by the government after they intended to double-cross him. He flees Shadow Moses alive.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty opens two years later, with a now-rogue Solid Snake infiltrating an oil tanker while hunting down a new Metal Gear being transported to the US. There he discovers a prototype Metal Gear known as Metal Gear Ray, which is subsequently stolen by Revolver Ocelot. Ocelot sinks the tanker and escapes, while Snake is blamed for the tanker’s destruction.
Two years later, we shift to a new protagonist: Raiden. An agent of FOXHOUND, Raiden is sent on a mission to an off-shore decontamination facility known as Big Shell, which was constructed to clear the crude oil spill caused when the oil tanker was destroyed during Solid Snake’s mission. Big Shell has been hijacked by a militant group known as the Sons of Liberty, which has taken the US president hostage.
Infiltrating the facility, Raiden soon discovers things aren’t quite what they seem, looking into Big Shell’s secrets and meeting a junior lieutenant named Iroquois Pliskin, who’s clearly hiding a big secret. By the end of the game, Solid Snake joins Raiden’s mission, telling him he’s going after Ocelot (who it’s revealed is possessed by the will of Liquid Snake) and the Patriots.
Marking the end of the main story and Solid Snake’s final mission, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots catches up with Snake three years after the events of Sons of Liberty. Due to the cloning process used to create Snake and the rampant FOXDIE virus still coursing through his veins, we discover that his body is rapidly aging, with the protagonist being told he only has a year left to live. Donning a new nickname, Old Snake, he returns for one final mission.
He’s to assassinate Liquid Ocelot, who is currently running a new version of Outer Heaven which is comprised of some of the biggest private militaries in the Middle East. Equipping his body with nanomachines, Snake sets out to bring Ocelot down, learning that his nemesis intends to once again locate Big Boss’ corpse and execute a mysterious plan. As Snake battles his age and the lingering FOXDIE mutating in his body, he makes his way towards a final confrontation with his most ruthless enemy.
The final story in the current Metal Gear timeline, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance focuses on Raiden who, as we learned during Guns of the Patriots, has transformed into a cyborg. The story picks up four years after Metal Gear Solid 4, revealing that Raiden now works with a private military company called Maverick Security Consulting.
During an operation in Africa, Raiden is attacked by a rival private military group known as Desperado Enforcement. Wounded and left for dead by its commander, Jet Stream Sam, Raiden continues his investigation into Desperado and learns some sinister secrets about the group and its allies. As the revelations about the private military grow darker, Raiden swears to bring them down, setting off on his own to deliver violent justice.
Now that we’ve gotten our hands on the Snake Eater remake, questions remain about what we might see next in the stealth franchise. Konami hasn’t confirmed whether they ever plan to make original Metal Gear games without Hideo Kojima. What we do know for sure is the original games’ messaging about the digital age is as poignant as ever in 2025.
That being said, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater developer Virtuous Studios did tease that remakes of other Metal Gear games aren’t off the table. Speaking with IGN, the team said, “Regarding remakes of previous games in the series other than Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, we will listen to player demand and consider accordingly.” True to their claims, the studio is rumored to being spreading a poll after Tokyo Games Show that lets fans vote on which Metal Gear game to remake next.
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise has covered a lot of ground in its 18 years. The Assassin-Templar conflict has taken players across five continents, from Ancient Greece to Victorian London, spanning 2,300 years of history over the course of 13 mainline games.
With the upcoming release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, we’ve put together this chronology of the Assassin’s Creed timeline so far. This chronology only includes mainline Assassin’s Creed games; spinoff games aren’t included on this list given their lack of importance to the ongoing Assassin’s Creed narrative.
There are currently 14 Assassin’s Creed games in the main series and 17 additional spinoff games. Outside of video games, there is also an Assassin’s Creed board game and an Assassin’s Creed TV series supposedly in the works at Netflix.
Which Assassin’s Creed Game Should You Play First?
There’s quite a few places you could start in the Assassin’s Creed timeline, and I personally recommend picking the game set in an era that you find most interesting. That said, it’s hard to deny that the original Ezio trilogy (Assassin’s Creed 2, Brotherhood, and Revelations) has some of the best writing in the series. If you’re interested in more recent games, Black Flag is a solid entry point with seafaring pirate gameplay, while Assassin’s Creed Odyssey lets you dive into world of ancient Greece.
How to Play the Assassin’s Creed Game In Order
There are two ways to look at the Assassin’s Creed chronology. First: In the order of the games’ modern-day storylines. This option makes sense considering the connective narrative of each mainline game is told through the present day. The present-day story progresses chronologically with each release, so if you’d like to play the games this way, simply scroll down to the section how to play the Assassin’s Creed games by release date. If you’re committed to playing through the entirety of the franchise, this is the order we recommend, as it’s the best way to follow the overarching story and experience the franchise’s evolution from stealth-action games to open-world RPGs.
The second option (detailed below) presents the games in order by their historic settings. These stories aren’t as intertwined as their modern-day counterparts, but they’re where you’ll spend the vast majority of your time in Assassin’s Creed. This is more useful as a matter of interest than a practical playing guide.
The Assassin’s Creed Games in Chronological Order
With series newcomers in mind, the brief plot synopses below contain only mildspoilers such as broad plot points, historical settings, and character introductions.
1. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (431 B.C.–422 B.C.)
Primary setting: Ancient Greece
Historic Protagonist: Cassandra or Alexios
Modern Protagonist: Layla Hassan
Set nearly 400 years earlier than any other mainline game, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey expanded on the RPG elements introduced in Origins to complete its genre-turn from stealth-based action to open-world RPG.
You play as Cassandra or Alexios, the grandchildren of Sparta’s King Leonidas I. Odyssey is set during the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens, and features key historical figures from that period, including Hippocrates, Socrates, and Plato. It weaves the period’s history with its mythology, introducing creatures such as the Sphinx, Cyclops, and Medusa.
Odyssey is set before the formation of the Assassin and Templar orders, though it does feature a key Piece of Eden* in the Spear of Leonidas.
*Pieces of Eden are powerful technological artifacts created by a precursor race of beings known as The First Civilization. The pieces of Eden and the First Civilization are constants throughout the mainline games that connect the past and modern storylines.
2. Assassin’s Creed Origins (49 B.C.–44 B.C.)
Primary setting: Ancient Egypt
Historic Protagonist: Bayek of Siwa
Modern Protagonist: Layla Hassan
After releasing a new Assassin’s Creed game each year from 2009-2015, Ubisoft took a year off and returned in 2017 with Assassin’s Creed Origins, a soft reboot of the franchise and the series’ first game to introduce RPG mechanics.
Origins is primarily set in Ancient Egypt during the reigns of Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra, though its historic inspiration extends to Rome and the rule of Julius Caesar. Many Assassin’s Creed stories kick off as tales of vengeance, only to unfurl into larger-scale tales of political conspiracy. Origins follows this pattern: The death of Bayek and Aya’s son serves as the impetus for their journey, though as the story progresses, the duo uncover a proto-Templar organization called the Order of the Ancients and ultimately form the Hidden Ones, the first incarnation of the Assassins.
The modern story, meanwhile, introduces Layla Hassan, who serves as the present-day protagonist for Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla.
3. Assassin’s Creed Mirage (861–???)
Primary setting: 9th Century Baghdad
Historic Protagonist: Basim Ibn Ishaq
Modern Protagonist: N/A
Released in 2023, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is the series’ most recent installment. Rather than a full-priced open-world RPG, Mirage is a $50 USD stealth-focused adventure designed as “an homage to the first Assassin’s Creed games.” Ubisoft describes it as “a shorter, more narrative-driven game than recent entries in the series.”
Assassin’s Creed Mirage stars a 17-year-old Basim Ibn Ishaq, a street thief with “nightmarish visions” who’d go on to play a critical role in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Mirage will tell the story of Basim, with the guidance of his mentor Roshan, escaping Baghdad en route to the Hidden Ones’ fortress of Alamut.
Unlike the other entries on this list, Mirage doesn’t prominently feature the present-day storyline. You can read our full review of Assassin’s Creed Mirage for more details.
Assassin’s Creed’s Valhalla is the series’ venture into Norse history and mythology. It’s easily the series’ biggest game; the average time to complete its main story is 60 hours, according to How Long to Beat (15 hours longer than the next biggest, Odyssey). Like Odyssey, Valhalla integrates its setting’s history with its mythology, introducing real-life characters — King Harald Fairhair, King Aelfred the Great, Rollo — and mythological figures such as Fenrir and Odin.
It continues the conflict between the Hidden Ones and the Order of the Ancients while balancing the more personal tale of Eivor and their clan’s pilgrimage from a resource-barren Norway to the more fertile lands of England.
The modern-day story seemingly concludes the three-game arc of Layla Hassan.
5. Assassin’s Creed (1191)
Primary setting: 12th Century Holy Land (Acre, Damascus, Jerusalem)
Historic Protagonist: Altair Ibn’La-Ahad
Modern Protagonist: Desmond Miles
The first Assassin’s Creed takes place 300 years after Valhalla and introduces us to the series’ original protagonist, Altair Ibn’La-Ahad. Assassin’s Creed laid the groundwork for the franchise’s next 15 years of success, introducing foundational gameplay elements like climbing and assassinations while also laying the groundwork for the time-hopping Assassin-Templar narrative.
It introduces key narrative concepts like the Pieces of Eden and the Animus, the in-universe device that allows each game’s modern-day protagonist to relive the memories of their historic counterparts through DNA.
The past story sees Altair hunting down nine Templars during the Third Crusade, while the present-day story introduces Desmond Miles and the modern Assassin-Templar conflict that runs through AC III.
6. Assassin’s Creed II (1476–1499)
Primary setting: 15th Century Italy
Historic Protagonist: Ezio Auditore da Firenze
Modern Protagonist: Desmond Miles
Assassin’s Creed 2 introduced the series’ longest-lasting protagonist, Ezio Auditore da Firenze. A favorite among Assassin’s Creed fans, Ezio’s story ran from 2009’s AC II through 2011’s AC: Revelations.
Ezio seeks to avenge the death of his father and brother, though his hunt for vengeance leads him to uncover a bigger conspiracy and places him at the center of the fight between the Assassins and Templars. Assassin’s Creed II takes players throughout Italy, from Florence to the Vatican, and introduces Ezio to historical figures like Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Pope Alexander VI.
In the present day, Desmond begins his work with the Assassins.
7. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (1499–1507)
Primary setting: 15th-16th Century Italy
Historic Protagonist: Ezio Auditore da Firenze
Modern Protagonist: Desmond Miles
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is a continuation of AC II in both the past and modern-day storylines. The fallout from AC II creates a new antagonist for Ezio, who embarks on another revenge quest while working to rebuild Rome’s weakened Assassins Guild and retrieve the Apple of Eden.
In the present day, Desmond and the modern Assassins head to Italy in search of that same Apple of Eden, a Piece of Eden that may help them prevent the prophesized end of the world.
8. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (1511–1512)
Primary setting: 16th Century Constantinople
Historic Protagonist: Ezio Auditore da Firenze
Modern Protagonist: Desmond Miles
The conclusion of the Ezio trilogy unites the narrative of the Italian assassin with his predecessor, Altair. An older Ezio travels to Constantinople in search of Altair’s hidden library, which was thought to contain invaluable wisdom. In Constantinople, Ezio searches for the keys needed to open the library — each of which possesses a key memory in Altair’s life. Assassin’s Creed Revelations ultimately reveals Ezio’s role in the wider AC narrative.
In the present, a comatose Desmond is trapped in the Animus, where he works with a past Animus user to escape “the Black Room” and return to consciousness.
Revelations also features one of the series’ best trailers (above) first shown at E3 2011.
9. Assassin’s Creed Shadows (1581)
Primary setting: Feudal Japan
Historic protagonist: Naoe and Yasuke
Modern protagonist: N/A
The newest Assassin’s Creed game heads to Feudal Japan during the civil wars in the late Sengoku period. Assassin’s Creed Shadows features dual protagonists, each with unique gameplay, though Ubisoft has emphasized that players won’t be missing out by only playing one route. Yasuke is an African mercenary who becomes a samurai in service of Oda Nobunaga. That service leads him to the Iga province, home of shinobi-in-training Naoe, and tragedy brings the two together in a quest for vengeance.
Like Mirage, Shadows doesn’t have its own modern-day protagonist. Instead, the new game coincides with the release of the Animus Hub, which brings the Assassin’s Creed franchise into a single platform and adds additional “modern-day subplots” as well as a reward system to the game.
10. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (1715–1722)
Primary setting: 18th Century Caribbean Islands
Historic Protagonist: Edward Kenway
Modern Protagonist: Unnamed Abstergo Employee
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag is best remembered for introducing the series’ naval gameplay. It’s set two centuries after Ezio’s trilogy and roughly 40 years before the previously released Assassin’s Creed III.
Black Flag stars Edward Kenway, an 18th-century pirate and the grandfather of AC III protagonist Connor Kenway. It features notorious real-life pirates of the era, such as Edward Thatch (Blackbeard), Benjamin Hornigold, and Mary Read. It also introduces Adéwalé, the protagonist of the DLC-turned-standalone-spinoff Freedom Cry. After unknowingly killing an Assassin, Edward finds himself embroiled in the Assassin-Templar conflict and on the hunt for a secret First Civilization site known as The Observatory.
The modern-day story stars an unnamed Abstergo employee tasked with reliving Connor’s life in order to create a film (though, unsurprisingly, Abstergo’s true intentions are more nefarious).
11. Assassin’s Creed Rogue (1752–1760)
Primary setting: 18th Century American Northeast
Historic Protagonist: Shay Patrick Cormac
Modern Protagonist: Abstergo Employee “Numbskull”
Assassin’s Creed Rogue serves as a narrative bridge between AC III and AC IV. It stars Shay Patrick Cormac, an Irish-American Assassin turned Templar hunting down a Piece of Eden. Templar Grand Master Haytham Kenway, the son of AC 4 protagonist Edward and father of AC III protagonist Connor, appears throughout the story.
In the present, you play as another Abstergo employee, referred to as “Numbskull,” doing the bidding of the modern-day Templars.
12. Assassin’s Creed III (1754–1783)
Primary setting: 18th Century Colonial America
Historic Protagonist: Ratonhnhaké “Connor” Kenway
Modern Protagonist: Desmond Miles
Following a 1754-set sequence during which you play as Haythem Kenway, Assassin’s Creed 3 begins in earnest with Haythem’s son Ratonhnhaké:ton, a.k.a Connor. Set largely during the American Revolution, Connor seeks to protect his tribe from the war and the First Civilization’s Grand Temple from the Templars.
AC III is loaded with historical figures, including George Washington, Sam Adams, Charles Lee, and Benjamin Franklin.
The present-day story concludes Desmond’s arc, as he and the other modern-day Assassins gather in the aforementioned Grand Temple to prevent the prophesized end of the world on December 21, 2012.
13. Assassins Creed Unity (1789–1794)
Primary setting: 18th Century France
Historic Protagonist: Shay Patrick Cormac
Modern Protagonist: Unnamed Helix Player
While Assassin’s Creed Unity features scenes that span from 1307 to the mid-1900s, it’s primarily set during the height of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1794. It stars French Assassin Arno Dorian, who becomes involved in the Assassin-Templar conflict while embarking on yet another quest for vengeance.
Historical figures include Napoléon Bonaparte, Marquis de Sade, and King Louis XVI.
Unity’s modern-day story is among the least memorable, as it removed gameplay entirely in favor of cutscenes and ultimately proved inconsequential to the ongoing narrative. You play as a gamer playing Helix, Abstergo’s Animus-powered gaming software created to push Templar propaganda and collect unsuspecting users’ DNA.
14. Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (1868)
Primary setting: Victorian London
Historic Protagonists: Jacob and Evie Frye
Modern Protagonist: Unnamed Helix Player
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate stars dual protagonists Jacob and Evie Frye, twin Assassins clearing London of Templar control while seeking a Piece of Eden. While a certain side mission extends the timeline to WWI, the majority of Syndicate is set in 1868. Notable historical figures include Alexander Graham Bell, Charles Darwin, and in the future sequence, Winston Churchill.
Syndicate stars the same modern-day character as Unity, who’s working with the Assassins to locate another Piece of Eden in London.
Upcoming Assassin’s Creed Games
Ubisoft’s latest AC game is Assassin’s Creed Shadows. We have tidbits of information about the next mainline Assassin’s Creed game, codenamed titled Assassin’s Creed Hexe, which will feature “witchier” vibes. Several remakes of older Assassin’s Creed games are also in development, according to Ubisoft’s CEO. The one remake we know for sure is in the pipeline is Black Flag, with the new ‘Resynced’ version theoretically launching in March 2026.
If you think more games should be about giving cursed skulls to weird strangers, then I’m here to tell you that you’re fine, you’re normal, you’re right, and you should play Strange Antiquities.
You may have already played Bad Viking’s first game in the ‘Strange’ series, Strange Horticulture, a gothically-tinged tale of running a plant shop, but with more than a touch of Lovecraftian business lurking in the shadows. As someone who’s a little bored of the more toothless cosy games on the market, I’m always delighted to find something with sinister undercurrents and supernatural goings-on. Also, ritual murder! Not enough cosy games feature ritual murder.
Ninjas and samurai have always been a staple of video games, but even with their perennial popularity, 2025 has been an exceptionally good year for titles about deadly Japanese warriors. A bunch of ninja- and samurai-themed games hit PlayStation 5 this year, offering a huge variety of takes on the idea of becoming a sneaky, sword-wielding fighter in dark clothes.
From fast-paced combo-ridden action games, to slower and stealthier assassin-themed takes, no matter how you like your ninjas, 2025 has had something for you.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Sure, the Assassin’s Creed series is about two ancient orders of ridiculously influential warriors battling one another throughout history, and also there are godlike aliens. But what the games sometimes lack in narrative realism, they make up for in nailing historical settings. Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ depiction of feudal Japan is unmatched, and the series’ focus on stealthy takedowns is right in line with the ninja sensibilities of its protagonist, Naoe — after all, “assassin” is right there in the name. But if you’re looking for some variety, good news: Assassin’s Creed Shadows has two protagonists, so you can get the ninja experience and a taste of the samurai life throughout the course of its lengthy story.
Like Ghost of Tsushima before it, Ghost of Yōtei sports a “Kurosawa mode,” named after the famed Japanese filmmaker, and that’s a pretty good indication of the cinematic experiences that await you. Yōtei is a lot like playing through a samurai film, but with a whole lot of shinobi elements thrown in along the way. Its protagonist, Atsu, isn’t a ninja or a samurai, per se — she’s a mercenary, and she uses every advantage she can to win battles on her quest for revenge. What Ghost of Yōtei channels from the ninja experience is the idea of stealth and silent takedowns. For example, Atsu’s upgraded kusarigama can snare enemies from a distance. She can also unleash kunai for chained assassinations and disappear with smoke bombs. Each enemy encounter demands clever improvisation to match the threat, and that’s Atsu all over.
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment | Developer: Sucker Punch Productions | PS5
Ninja Gaiden 4
Team Ninja’s and PlatinumGames’ titles are often all about speed — overwhelming your foes through ridiculously fast reactions and unrelenting combos. With Ninja Gaiden 4, it’s all slashing, dodging, and obliterating enemies. While there are a lot of classically ninja-esque elements at play, as you might expect from all the uses of the word “ninja” in this paragraph already, what Ninja Gaiden 4 really grabs onto is an over-the-top mobility and agility in its ninja experience. You’re incredibly fast as you run along walls, grapple over gaps, and dodge past enemies, and once you start laying into opponents, you’re able to combo them so fast they can’t even react. If you’ve got a need for ninja speed, this is the game for you.
Publisher: Microsoft Corporation | Developer: Team Ninja, PlatinumGames | PS5
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound
Side-scroller Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound channels the early entries in the Ninja Gaiden series, mixing modern game design ideas with an old-school charm. You fight through hordes of enemies, including a whole lot of demons, with weapons that kill most enemies in a single hit. The ninja fantasy isn’t so much in the blades, speed, or abilities — although those elements are all there — as it is in mastering the battlefield. You’ll need to size up your foes, and the order in which you need to defeat them, so you can make the most of power-ups to take down tougher foes, or avoid potentially devastating attacks.
Publisher: Dotemu | Developer: The Game Kitchen| PS5, PS4
Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny Remastered
Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny, as the name suggests, falls on the samurai side of the spectrum, but it shares a lot with 2025’s crop of ninja games, like powerful fighting abilities and a focus on battling demonic enemies. Capcom’s remaster of this 2002 classic sends you on a quest of revenge against an army of fiends, encouraging you to engage in smart swordplay as you balance slashing, blocking, and nailing powerful Issen counters. Onimusha 2 also gives the samurai experience a slightly different spin, drawing on elements of Capcom’s contemporary games of the time, like the Resident Evil series, to channel a bit of a survival-horror vibe.
Publisher: Capcom | Developer: Capcom Production Studio 2 | PS5, PS4
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
Similar to Ragebound, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance also reinvigorates a famed ninja series by reaching back into its 2D side-scrolling past. Shinobi plays up the ludicrous power and skill of its ninja, Joe Musashi, with an emphasis on weakening enemies so that you can perform a blazing fast assassination on several of them at once. Strategically whittling down the life of every enemy on the screen without outright defeating them, just so you can watch Musashi zip around at lightning speed to finish them off, is always satisfying. With a katana, kunai, and powerful, magical Ninpo and Ninjutsu abilities, you have all sorts of ninja-themed options at your disposal to take on anything the game throws at you.
Publisher: Sega | Developer: LizardCube | PS5, PS4
Honorable Mention: Ninja Five-O
Another side-scrolling ninja title returning from the past, Ninja Five-0 was previously a super hard-to-find game that was only available for portable systems way back in the early 2000s. But with Ninja Five-0 making its way to the PS5 this year, you’re finally free to answer the age-old question: What would happen if a cop was also a ninja? You’ve asked that question, right? Ninja Five-O gives you a pretty in-depth answer as you use ninja skills and abilities to save hostages and take down bank robbers and other criminals. Firearms are no match for your speed, skills, or the arsenal of classic weapons at your disposal, including a katana, a grappling hook, and shuriken.
While 2025 might be drawing to a close, don’t worry — it seems we won’t be short on ninjas and samurai on PS5 in the New Year, either. Sucker Punch is gearing up to deliver cooperative multiplayer action with the release of Ghost of Yōtei Legends next year.* Ghost of Yōtei Legends will be free DLC for all Ghost of Yōtei owners.* Nioh 3 is already preparing to strike on February 6, and brings a whole set of ninja skills and abilities to complement its deep samurai gameplay. Ninja Gaiden 4 is arming itself with a major expansion in early 2026 that adds new story content and weapons for its ninja protagonists. And Onimusha: Way of the Sword, the first new mainline entry in Capcom’s series in two decades, will launch a sneak attack sometime next year.
*Available via patch update. Internet connection and account for PlayStation Network required. PlayStation Plus subscription (sold separately) required for online play or multiplayer. PS Plus is subject to recurring subscription fee taken automatically until cancellation. Age restrictions apply. Terms apply: play.st/psplus-usageterms.
CD Projekt has sold its DRM-free PC storefront GOG to its original co-founder, Michał Kiciński, for 90.7 million Polish złoty (approx. $25.2 million). Kiciński is also co-founder of CD Projekt itself, and currently holds 10% of share capital in the business.
Kiciński co-founded GOG in 2008, and it has operated within the CD Projekt Group for over 17 years. Selling GOG “fits” CD Projekt’s long-term strategy, according to a FAQ posted online. CD Projekt, the Polish company behind smash hits The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, wants to focus on video game development and other projects, it said. CD Projekt is currently developing The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2.
“Selling GOG fits CD Projekt’s long-term strategy,” reads the statement. “CD Projekt wants to focus its full attention on creating top-quality RPGs and providing our fans with other forms of entertainment based on our brands. This deal lets CD Projekt keep that focus, while GOG gets stronger backing to pursue its own mission.”
Kiciński commented: “From the very beginning, GOG has always been built on strong values and clear principles. When Marcin Iwiński and I came up with the idea for GOG, the vision was simple: bring classic games back to players and ensure that once you buy a game, it truly belongs to you — forever.”
GOG will operate independently, it said, and continue with its DRM-free philosophy. Following the sale, CD Projekt and GOG signed a distribution agreement that specifies the terms of future cooperation, including a plan to release CD Projekt Red’s upcoming games on GOG.
“CD Projekt and GOG share the same roots and values: freedom, independence, and a genuine sense of ownership,” Kiciński continued. “I believe that CD Projekt, with its exceptional AAA games, will stand, as always, behind the GOG offering — making GOG the best place on the planet to purchase The Witcher and Cyberpunk games, both existing titles and the new ones we all anticipate so much.
“As a mature gamer, I often play classic games myself and deeply admire the creativity behind many of them. I truly believe that well-crafted classics can deliver as much joy as new releases. When it comes to pure playability, timeless games often prove to be really the safe choice, especially in a market flooded with gazillions of low-quality smaller games. Beyond preserving classics, GOG has always sought out new games with a retro spirit. I am personally involved in the development of a few games like that and they will certainly make their strong appearance on GOG in 2026.”
Michał Nowakowski, joint CEO of CD Projekt, added: “with our focus now fully on an ambitious development roadmap and expanding our franchises with new high-quality products, we felt this was the right time for this move.
“For a long time now, GOG has been operating independently. Now it’s going into very good hands — we are convinced that with the support of Michał Kiciński, one of GOG’s co-founders, its future will be full of great projects and successes. We would like to thank the GOG team for years of fruitful cooperation and wish them all the best. And to the GOG community, I say ‘see you around,’ because our upcoming releases will naturally be available on GOG as well.”
GOG has long competed with Steam for the hearts and minds of PC gamers by leaning on its no-DRM policy, although Valve’s platform remains the overwhelming market leader. In the FAQ, the question ‘is GOG financially unstable?’ is asked. The answer, officially, is no. “GOG is stable and has had a really encouraging year,” reads the statement. “In fact, we’ve seen more enthusiasm from gamers towards our mission than ever before.” GOG hit the headlines recently for getting behind indie game Horses after Valve banned it from Steam.
It sounds like from a user point of view, nothing changes here. As for CD Projekt, it can now strip out GOG from its business, which at latest count employed 1,335 staff. In The Witcher franchise it has the aforementioned The Witcher 4 as part of a new Witcher trilogy with Ciri as protagonist, The Witcher Remake, and Project Sirius. Cyberpunk 2 is also in development, as is Project Hadar, a new IP.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The debut trailer for Sword and Fairy 4 Remake is out in the wild — and it looks a lot like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Developed by Chinese studio Up Software and published by Cube Game, Sword and Fairy 4 Remake is a single-player turn-based role-playing game made in Unreal Engine 5 due out on PC and consoles at some point.
The official trailer, dubbed “Unpredictable Divine Will,” has already drawn comparisons to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s eye-catching battle system, from the dynamic user interface to the action heavy parry system. Even the camera perspective and the way the camera moves during battle rekindles memories of Sandfall Interactive’s hugely popular RPG.
Sword and Fairy 4 Remake – Official Trailer “Unpredictable Divine Will” is here! Developed by Up Software and published by Cube Game, this single-player turn-based RPG is reborn in Unreal Engine 5 with the latest technology. Set off on a journey to find the immortals with Tianhe… pic.twitter.com/dKlfnDJsta
“Set off on a journey to find the immortals with Tianhe Yun’s team,” reads the official blurb. “In the meantime, a hidden truth that has been sealed for a long time is revealing itself.”
The Legend of Sword and Fairy is a Chinese video game franchise that encompasses nine mainline Chinese mythology/xianxia-themed role-playing computer games. The first game launched in 1995 for PC and enjoyed critical and commercial success across China. Many sequels and spinoffs have followed in the years since.
The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4 is in fact the fifth installment in the mainline video game franchise, and acts as a prequel to the third game. The latest game, The Legend of Sword and Fairy 7, came out in 2021 as the ninth mainline entry on PC, with an English version released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and S in 2022 under the name Sword and Fairy: Together Forever. It was seen as an alternative to the recent mainline Final Fantasy games, which of course inspired Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s development.
Fans are drawing a line from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to Sword and Fairy 4 Remake, and some are accusing its developer of copying Sandfall’s game. “Totally not copy and paste combat, style, parry, from Clair Obscur Expedition 33,” said one commenter. “Is this DLC of Expedition 33?” said another. “We got Expedition-like genre now,” added another fan. Others, however, are saying Sword and Fairy 4 Remake just looks like a modern turn-based RPG in the Persona style, and are pointing to previous entries in the series as evidence of its credentials.
The first E33-like is already on its way from China and it’s through the announcement of the remake of “Legend of Sword and Fairy 4”. pic.twitter.com/jfiVnNn42X
Cube Game has said an English version of the trailer will be revealed in the coming days by a “regional publisher.” We’ll hopefully learn more about Sword and Fairy 4 Remake then.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The last full week of 2025 UK charts data is in, and for the most part, it’s a minor reshuffle of the usual suspects, with EA SPORTS FC 26 sitting pretty at #1 and Mario Kart cleaning up twice over and first-party Nintendo (published) games taking up more than a quarter of entries in the all-formats chart.
A recap: of the seven hopefuls I slipped into our bulk 2025 list of “Oh, that looks alright” games, only three actually released in 2025, and one of them wasn’t very good. If it’s the hope that kills you, I am therefore dead four, arguably five times over. Real Necron shit, honestly.
