Assassin’s Creed has a handful of titles more deserving of a remake than Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. The series has been around for just over 15 years now, with more than 20 mainline releases and spin-offs. With such a long history, it’s odd that one of the middle entries is rumored to be getting remade instead of the earliest games or the titles that flew under the radar.

The remake of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag has not yet been officially announced, but reports suggest that it’s already in the works. The latest rumor suggests the remake will abandon Black Flag‘s modern-day story entirely. AC4 was the first game to follow Desmond’s death in Assassin’s Creed 3, but the suggestion is already drawing ire from longtime fans. Most importantly, though, there are plenty of older or lesser-recognized Assassin’s Creed titles that deserve a remake first.

Assassin’s Creed 2

2009

Assassin’s Creed 2 is one of – if not the most – beloved games in the entire franchise. It is a perfect example of a sequel. It improved upon every aspect of the first game and innovated in fun, clever ways. The dual hidden blades, hidden gun, and smoke bombs added new approaches to the first game’s stealth combat, and the parkour enhancements like the climb leap make traversal feel vastly refined. It also introduced one of the most famous protagonists in the series and video games in general, Ezio Auditore.

Assassin’s Creed 2 was remastered in The Ezio Collection in 2016, which compiled all three games featuring the Italian Master Assassin. It had some good graphical touch-ups, but the visuals look pretty dated compared to remastered versions of other games. An Assassin’s Creed 2 remake could maintain its near-perfect gameplay foundation and focus more on a graphical overhaul, which would help make the game’s distinctive locations come to life.

Assassin’s Creed Unity

2014

Unity released one year after Black Flag, but it’s a more divisive entry, and has much more room for improvement. Part of its troubles was simply stepping away from Black Flag‘s beloved high-seas gameplay – a necessity considering Unity‘s setting in Revolutionary Paris. Crucially, Assassin’s Creed Unity was the series’ first installment to abandon the Xbox 360 and PS3; its console versions were exclusive to the eighth-gen Xbox One and PS4.

The highlight of Unity was its big crowds, adding a new dimension to social stealth that the series has yet to recreate. A remake could build on this to increase crowd density even further, and solidify the revolutionary atmosphere with better effects and more robust NPC animations. A Unity remake would also be a great time to refine its interesting, but lackluster twist on the parkour system. A simple addition of buttons to go up or down was a great idea at the time, but ended up taking significant control away from the player – something that could be reevaluated in a remake.

Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry

2013

Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry began as an expansion to Black Flag and was later released as a standalone game. Its gameplay is pretty much identical to Black Flag, but the story is the standout element of Freedom Cry. The game focuses on Adéwalé, an Assassin operating in the Caribbean to investigate the Templars and dismantle the slave trade. Adéwalé was a prominent side character in Black Flag, but Freedom Cry gives him time to shine as one of the most compelling protagonists in the franchise.

Freedom Cry has one of the best Assassin’s Creed stories, but its biggest shortcoming is its length. Unfortunately, it can be a relatively short game, with the average playthrough clocking in at around five hours, which is way below the standard for a standalone AC game. Although Freedom Cry’s length makes sense, given its beginnings as a DLC, its story and gameplay can be given more time to develop in a remake. Doing so would not only offer one of the coolest Assassins more time in the spotlight, but it would satisfy the goal of putting out a pirate-themed title that would be met with a Black Flag remake.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

2010

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is an excellent follow-up to the incredible Assassin’s Creed 2. In many ways, Brotherhood could have rightfully earned the AC3 title instead, but as the story focuses again on Ezio, it makes sense to distinguish it. Still, the gameplay enhancements elevate it way beyond its predecessor. Combat feels much smoother, and Ezio’s new gadgets offer a refreshing sense of variety. Parkour also saw major improvements, and the addition of the parachute makes traversing the vast map of Rome much more convenient.

Brotherhood was included in The Ezio Collection with graphical improvements but, much like the other titles in the collection, these enhancements only took the game so far, and now it could use another touch-up. In some ways, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood can stand alone from the other titles in Ezio’s trilogy. However, it’s tricky to justify remaking this game without an Assassin’s Creed 2 remake first. Still, as with AC2, Brotherhood has an incredible foundation, so a remake could emphasize a graphical overhaul to bring it into the new generation.

Assassin’s Creed 2: Discovery

2009

Perhaps more enticing than remaking AC2 or Brotherhood would be a greatly expanded version of a lesser known Ezio story: Assassin’s Creed 2: Discovery. The game was released the same year as AC2, but exclusively for the Nintendo DS, coming to iOS a year later. Discovery is essentially a chapter that happens in the midst of AC2, taking place after Ezio becomes an Assassin, but before confronting Rodrigo Borgia in the Papal Palace.

Discovery primarily takes place in Spain during the early decades of the Inquisition. The DS game is quite limited in its scope, and is a side-scroller, thus giving a remake a lot of potential to drastically reimagine the experience. Discovery could be fleshed out into a full-fledged adventure for Ezio, which would certainly appeal to longtime fans, and avoid retreading too much ground by remaking a game already on consoles and PC.

Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation

2012

Assassin’s Creed: Liberation is an often overlooked title in the franchise, mainly because of its origin as a handheld game. It launched as a PlayStation Vita exclusive on the same day that Assassin’s Creed 3 was released, so it inevitably got lost in the shadow of the mainline entry on consoles. Nevertheless, Liberation has a lot of outstanding elements, including its main character, Aveline de Grandpré, who is the first female protagonist in the franchise. Aveline later received her own expansion in Black Flag, titled Aveline, so it’s safe to say she made a lasting impression on the franchise.

Despite featuring such a notable protagonist, it’s unfortunate that Liberation’s story is underwhelming, and the gameplay is standard for an Assassin’s Creed game. Overall, Liberation did little to stand out from its console counterparts upon release. Liberation received a remake of sorts when it was ported to consoles, and a remaster of that version was released alongside Assassin’s Creed 3 Remastered. These improvements make the game more exciting to play, but the same shortcomings from its initial release remain. However, there is still plenty of room for Liberation to grow in a new remake.

Assassin’s Creed

2007

Of all the games in the series, the original Assassin’s Creed is the most worthy of receiving a remake. It kicked off the franchise over fifteen years ago and hasn’t received as much as a remaster. It’s a beloved game that introduces the badass assassin Altaïr and one of the most intriguing story worlds in all of video games. It has a truly incredible story that still holds up today, and it’d be great to have Altaïr back in action again. However, the gameplay hasn’t aged so well.

Assassin’s Creed’s controls can sometimes feel clunky by today’s standards, and the gameplay loop, in particular, is very repetitive. For each of Altaïr’s marks, he must accept missions like eavesdropping, interrogation, and pickpocketing. These missions grow more challenging as the game progresses, but they only become tedious as they offer little variety.

Assassin’s Creed’s collectible flags are another example of the repetitive, monotonous gameplay loop. Using parkour to reach their locations begins to feel like a chore after a while, and there is no reward for finding them all. An Assassin’s Creed remake could overhaul the gameplay and progression systems, giving the original title new life and the added depth it deserves.

As exciting as the possibility of an Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag remake is, the earlier and more maligned Assassin’s Creed games are much more in need of a tune-up. Some form the foundation for the series and are often regarded as the best, but their age is beginning to show. Moreover, shorter spin-off titles like Liberation offer a ton of narrative value and deserve some attention to expand beyond their original release. These Assassin’s Creed games deserve the remake treatment first to make them easier to get into for the newer fans of the series and to offer a refresh on the franchise’s roots.