Most stealth video games revolve around players hiding in the shadows, just waiting for the right moment to strike. They reward slow-paced and methodical gameplayand usually focus on level design to differentiate themselves from the competition.Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed games take a very different approach though.
These open-world stealth-like video games put the player in the shoes of assassins in older time periods. The series has grown it's parkour and combat systems since its inception, and it has also grown in technical requirements.As the series has grown in depth, however, so too have the file sizes of the games.
Updated March 1, 2021 by Thomas Bowen: Given the limited storage available on the latest generation of consoles and the huge cost of expanding it, video game file sizes have never been more important. Add to this the time that it can take to download a large title and it's easy to see why so many people are starting to take an interest. With Valhalla being the first Assassin's Creed game available for the latest Sony and Microsoft consoles, many series fans were a little worried aboutjust how big it might end up being. If you're one of them; read on to find out how Valhalla measures up with its predecessors in the file size department.
12 Assassin's Creed (7 GB)
Assassin's Creed is the game that started the entire franchise, praised by critics and players alike for its great movement mechanics and engaging story. Believe it or not, this game only took up 7 Gigabytes of hard drive space at launch! Considering how massive this game is and how much there is to do, the file size forAssassin's Creed is surprisingly small.
Players go aroundas an assassin namedAltaïr ibn-La'Ahad, using both stealth through concealment and fast-paced parkour to navigate massive cities during the Third Crusade. Combat is somewhat rough in this game, usually encouraging spamming attacks or plunging attacks, but the movement and the sprawling world were more than enough to keep players engaged.
11 Assassin's Creed 2 (8 GB)
WhileAssassin's Creed had a few minor design issues and the plot was confusing, almost every negative was addressed in its sequel,Assassin's Creed 2. Players control Ezio as he makes his way into the assassin lifestyle. Desmond is trying to learn the secrets of the assassin versus templar war, as he always does.
The sense of scale through Italy inAssassin's Creed 2 made it hard to beat compared to other entries in the series. Parkour was improved, combat had new layers of depth, and the mansion players could invest into gave a metagame progression system to encourage players to come back again and again. It was only one gigabyte larger than the last installment as well, only requiring 8 GB of hard drive space.
10 Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (8 GB)
Continuing Ezio's story,Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is focused more on establishing a group of assassins than exploring a single plot thread.Similar to Assassin's Creed 2, Brotherhood made some small updates to the core gameplay loop that helped separate it from the rest of the series.
One of the largest additions to this installment was multiplayer, having players control assassins that must kill other players who are high-value targets. Clocking in at only 8 gigabytes,Brotherhood was a greatAssassin's Creed title that brought more of what fans loved.
9 Assassin's Creed Revelations (12 GB)
Ezio's story reaches its epic conclusion inAssassin's Creed Revelations. For 12 GB of space, this game provides similar gameplay toBrotherhood. Just likeBrotherhood,Revelations includes some small improvements to its core gameplay to make it engaging.
Things like the hook blade and bomb crafting were appreciated, but there weren't any massive renovations in its design. Instead, that focus went on the game's epic story and phenomenal multiplayer, which was expanded in this installment to include team-based game modes and more maps.
8 Assassin's Creed 3 (16 GB)
The Revolutionary War seems like a strange time for anAssassin's Creed game to take place in, but it works surprisingly well inAssassin's Creed 3. You play as a Native American named Connor, set to assist early-day America and unravel the Templar's plans.
Running through snow and climbing through the trees rather than massive cities was the appeal here, but the core gameplay loop from the previous games was intact here. This game is 16 GB, double the size ofAssassin's Creed 2.
7 Assassins' Creed 4 Black Flag (30 GB)
Similar to howAssassin's Creed 3 took a big gamble on its setting,Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag took a massive gamble on its gameplay loop. And it shows in its file size. This game took over 30 GB of hard drive space, nearly double what the last installment asked for.
What players got in return was well worth it, combining the slick combat and traversal the series is known for with phenomenal naval combat and exploration. Seriously,Black Flag is such an amazing game because of how fun and different its naval combat is. It's arguably the best non-pirate themed pirate game ever made.
6 Assassin's Creed Rogue (12 GB)
Assassins Creed Rogue Shay Patrick Cormac Cover
Assassin's Creed Rogue had a fantastic premise, allowing players to control a Templar instead of an assassin and viewing events from their perspective.
Fans thought they were getting a massive game, butRogue was very much an expansion-size video game instead of a true sequel likeBrotherhood orRevelations. At 12 GB, this game had less content for players to experience compared to the naval-exploringBlack Flag.
5 Assassin's Creed Unity (50 GB)
Assassin's Creed Unity was advertised to be the next massive leap for theAssassin's Creedseries. Requiring a massive 50 GB of space,Unity was the most technically demandingAssassin's Creed game to date. Unfortunately, this game was simply not polished on release.
Replicating horrendous early access video game,Unity included hundreds, if not thousands of bugs that would cause areas to stop rendering, frame rates to drop to the single digits, NPCs to float in the air, and even have character faces stop rendering, revealing their eyes and teeth instead. After countless patches and community-made memes,Unity remains a nice diversion from the main series, but it doesn't hold its own compared to the past of future titles.
4 Assassin's Creed Syndicate (40 GB)
Syndicate takes place during the Industrial Revolution, allowing players to ride carriages and use grappling hooks to fight enemies. Compared toUnity,Syndicate only takes up 40 gigabytes of hard drive space to run and is substantially more stable.
Most fans of theAssassin's Creed series were disappointed with the few innovations this game made, showing how bland the game's combat has become. The story in this game is great, but the dated combat from the originalAssassin's Creed was desperately showing its age.
3 Assassin's Creed Origins (42 GB)
After the lukewarm reception ofSyndicate, Ubisoft knew that theAssassin's Creed franchise needed to evolve or it would die in obscurity. That is why they took an extra year of development time to overhaul the series to wow fans.
Assassin's Creed Origins is the fruit of that labor, and it is a fantastic example of how to revive a stale franchise. Combat took influences from the likes ofZelda andDark Souls, focusing on player reactions through dodging and parrying instead of spamming attacks. Exploration is as good as ever, letting players climb up the Great Pyramids of Egypt alongside exploring its unique towns. It felt larger in scope, but the game was only 2 GB larger thanSyndicate, requiring only 42 GB of hard drive space.
2 Assassin's Creed Odyssey (46 GB)
Going forward in time is hard forAssassin's Creed games to do, as going too far into history can result in hidden blades being quickly replaced with silenced firearms or more technology, harming stealth gameplay.
Learning that mistake fromSyndicate,Odyssey takes place not too far afterOrigins does, taking players to the mythical location of Greece. Ancient philosophers are here alongside beautifully realized Greek architecture. The game featuresOrigins' combat and progression system while making some much-needed improvements to the formula. It might be 46 GB, but the scale of this game rivals modern RPGs likeThe Witcher 3.
1 Assassin's Creed Valhalla (47 GB)
Set in theninth century,Assassin's Creed Valhalla allows players to channel their inner viking in what is one of the most brutal Assassin's Creed games to date. As you might expect, it's packed fullof Norse mythologyand offersa few big improvements to general gameplay. The game's main protagonist is one of the best we've seen in years and their story is every bitas captivating.
Despite the game's huge open world and its availability on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series platforms, the file size of Valhalla clocks in at just 47.1 GB. This does make it the largest game in the series when it comes to file size, but considering the huge step up in visual fidelity, it's pretty impressive that Ubisoft were able to keep the game within just a few gigabytes of its predecessors.
NEXT: Assassin's Creed: 10 Of the Most Powerful Protagonists of the Franchise, Ranked
