It's safe to say that the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows marks a pivotal moment for Ubisoft's long-running stealth action franchise. The first Assassin's Creed was an incredibly fresh experience for its time despite its few faults, enough for it to spawn an entire series that quickly became one of the core pillars of Ubisoft's business. The launch of Assassin's Creed 2 in 2009 kicked off a string of yearly entries that greatly expanded the lore of the Assassin's Creed franchise while slowly introducing new gameplay elements, but diminishing returns on 2014's Assassin's Creed Unity and 2015's Assassin's Creed Syndicate led to Ubisoft going back to the drawing board, taking some time to plot the series' next era.