10 Best Ubisoft Games Ranked
In total, Ubisoft has released over 530 games since it started publishing in the 1980s, and while it has had more misses than hits in the last few years, it remains one of the most important game developers of all time. The company’s main franchises, Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy, have reshaped the gaming industry over the last two decades.
While most of its ninth-generation console games haven’t met player expectations, Ubisoft games like Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cells: Chaos Theory, Ryaman Legends, and Far Cry 3 are unforgettable masterpieces. Recent controversy and internal issues notwithstanding, here is the full ranking of the 10 best games that Ubisoft has ever released.
10. Beyond Good & Evil (2003)
It may not have been an instant success upon release, but Michel Ancel’s Beyond Good & Evil remains one of Ubisoft’s most creative games ever developed. The original 3D version, released for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC, has seen multiple improvements over the years. However, the primary action, where players help the investigative journalist, Jade, solve an alien conspiracy that threatens the existence of her planet, has remained a fan-favorite storyline for years. The unique world development and its engaging story, in which players can take pictures and unlock hidden clues for Jade, make the experience addictive, hence the game’s current status as a cult classic.
9. Watch Dogs 2 (2016)
Ubisoft impressed many gamers with this remake that brought more life to players’ interaction with Marcus Holloway across San Francisco Bay. Like its predecessor, Watch Dogs 2 allows fans to dismantle the corrupt surveillance state by controlling Marcus as he hacks his way through the city. The game’s lightheartedness and more realistic take on San Francisco was a welcome improvement from its predecessor. With its whole open world to explore, players have almost unlimited room for creativity.
8. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003)
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was Ubisoft’s visual imagination of Shahnameh, which has proved very popular with gamers. In the game, an unnamed prince fights to reverse the effects of a grave mistake that ruined his kingdom. Despite having a seemingly complex structure, the game’s concept of a dagger that can reverse time was epic and way ahead of its time. Ubisoft also put in the visuals to match the game’s epic storyline, turning the whole playtime into a visually appealing experience. Ubisoft already cashed in on the game’s popularity with its darker-themed sequel, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, although fans are still looking forward to the upcoming remake.
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7. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (2013)
Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag is credited with bringing the adventure spirit to Ubisoft’s most popular IP. The game continues the franchise’s history of period settings, this time in the golden age of piracy, with realistic open-world locations of Kingston, Havana, and Nassau. Players can sail across the Carribean as they control Edward Kenway, a Scottish pirate turned Assassin, and his ship, the Jackdaw. The game’s pirate theme with a combination of naval gameplay proved so popular with gamers that Ubisoft is creating a remake. Black Flag still retained the fun of the game’s land-based missions with stealth and parkour challenges. Coupled with the game’s enhanced visuals, Black Flag was a huge improvement from the immediate sequels of Assassin’s Creed that preceded it.
6. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (2015)
Despite receiving mixed reviews upon release, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege has become one of the most popular multiplayer games, especially among PC gamers. It is a tactical first-person shooter game in which players choose their favorite operator from the Rainbow Team and compete in intense shootout matches. The intensity of the game’s battles, with the focus on destructible environments, make R6 Siege one of the most engaging multiplayer games ever developed. Ubisoft also put in the graphics to match the game’s intensity, making it easy for players to enjoy the game in multiple modes.
5. Rayman Legends (2013)
Rayman Origins (2003) remains one of the best platform games ever developed by Ubisoft, and its remake a decade later didn’t disappoint. The game allows players to control Rayman and his friends across 2D platforms on multiple missions and defeat enemies, rescue Teensies, and earn prizes as they complete missions on multiple levels. The game’s gripping design defeats its simplicity as it absorbs players into endless tracking motions as they hop, skip, and slide across the visually appealing levels.
4. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (2018)
This is one of the few recent introductions to the Assassin’s Creed franchise that have added real depth, as seen in the game’s critical acclaim. The game takes players to ancient Greece, where they can enter the battle either as Kassandra or Alexios, both descendants of King Leonidas I. The game has virtually no limits as far as missions are concerned, not forgetting the endless options for customization including choice of dialogue and branching quests. With both naval combat and land-based exploration enabled, this game redefined adventure for most players, putting the franchise back on the map for Ubisoft once again.
3. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005)
This was Ubisoft’s stealth game masterpiece that largely championed the genre’s adoption of more realism, especially in multiplayer modes. In Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005), players take on the identity of NSA operative Sam Fisher as he is forced into the field on world-saving missions. The game also features a multiplayer mode where players can cooperate on missions in two-person teams. It encourages players to use stealth and environmental awareness while deploying real-life-looking gadgets to complete missions. The franchise embraced realism with this game, with the additional freedom of the agent being able to execute suspects under interrogation becoming popular with players. Unfortunately, Ubisoft never fully exploited the potential of this game, which was a true game changer.
2. Far Cry 3 (2012)
This is another standout game for Ubisoft from the early 2010s that redefined the industry with its ability to create endless adventure in an open-world environment. In the game, players control Jason Brody, a journalist who is forced to become a soldier as he tries to save his friends who have been captured by pirates led by Vaas Montenegro. The real attraction of the game was its excellent graphics and visuals. Far Cry 3’s world-building is also excellent as its fictional setting, the Rock Islands, feels like a real-life tropical archipelago, with real-looking human and megafauna interactions. The game allows players to own the island in an array of missions that is almost impossible to exhaust, a feature that the game’s future remakes didn’t replicate.
1. Assassin’s Creed II (2009)
While its graphics and sound may not match its successors, Assassin’s Creed II is the game that put the franchise on the map. Set in Renaissance Italy, the game follows fan-favorite character Ezio Auditore Da Firenze, a nobleman who becomes an assassin, and who is also seeking revenge on the people who betrayed his family. The game’s immensely expanded storyline with improved mechanics allows players to explore the full potential of an assassin’s abilities while also enjoying the beauty of real-life locations, including Venice and Florence. Several aspects of the game have since been outpaced by its successors, but its gameplay and world-building were way ahead of time, especially the ability to upgrade Ezio’s gear and abilities.
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