13. Assassin’s Creed: Liberation (2012)
Liberation was a big deal in the franchise for being the first game to let you play as a woman. And it was a handheld PS Vita game, which was impressive. It played a lot like Assassin’s Creed III, which was a good thing in my book. But being a Vita game limited it in scope and gameplay.
Don’t get me wrong, what’s here is solid and inspired. The idea of using different outfits to blend in to different social classes was a neat spin on the social stealth that had long been a part of the franchise. It’s a gamification of the concept of “passing,” which is not something many (if any) games deal with or include. It’s simplified and not handled perfectly, but still admirable to include at all. Sadly, the rest was also simple and limited—problems directly tied to the mobile platform—and the reason Liberation is so low on this list.
