Best Female Protagonists In Assassin’s Creed

Summary

• The AC franchise features diverse protagonists, including women, each adding unique elements to gameplay and story.
• Aveline and Evie Frye challenged traditional gaming narratives by providing strong female assassins.
• Kassandra is a standout character in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, praised for her charisma, humor, and strong voice acting.

With over a dozen mainline and spin-off games, the Assassin’s Creed franchise continues to expand on the lore with new adventures in different periods and locations. As a result, almost every game introduces one or two new protagonists to play while either roaming an exotic location or assassinating a target through stealth tactics.

Over the years, as more protagonists have emerged, Ubisoft has diversified its extensive roster by including female protagonists alongside iconic male characters such as Ezio Auditore and Edward Kenway. Each woman in the Assassin Brotherhood brings something unique to the franchise in terms of gameplay, storytelling, and performance, with some excelling more than others.

8

Layla Hassan

The Modern Day Storyline Is Rarely Interesting

It’s a tradition in the Assassin’s Creed franchise that players are sporadically pulled out of the Animus to take control of a character in the modern day. In Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, it is Layla Hassan who uses the Animus to relive the memories of Bayek and Aya, and it is also a tradition that fans generally don’t care about these segments.

Layla Hassan deserves credit for being one of the only long-lasting modern-day protagonists outside of Desmond Miles. She is a likable character overall who has a nice banter with her comrades in the Brotherhood, but it was the gameplay side that made her less appealing, with menial tasks that felt unneeded when gamers just wanted to return to being a Medjay or a Viking.

7

Shao Jun

The Oft-Forgotten Apprentice Of Ezio

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China introduces the player to Shao Jun in 16th century China, an apprentice of the beloved Ezio Auditore who fought against the Mongol invasion. The lesser-known spin-off is often praised for mixing 2.5D gameplay with unique gameplay, resulting in a title that doesn’t get enough credit.

Aside from being the first Chinese protagonist in the franchise, Shao Jun was a more straightforward character, devoted to her cause as an Assassin to stop the Templars to no end. While there is nothing wrong with character development, fans appreciated having a character who knows that she is a deadly warrior and is unafraid to show it.

6

Aya (Assassin’s Creed Origins)

The First Assassin Was Sidelined For Most Of The Game

Aya is the secondary protagonist in Assassin’s Creed: Origins and wife of Bayek, so she has as much of a reason to hate the Templars. They killed her only son, which sent her on the path to becoming an avid pursuer of justice, thus leading to the formation of the Hidden Ones, which would evolve into the Assassin Brotherhood.

Rather than the more cliché route of Aya and Bayek bonding over becoming assassins, they are permanently divided, but not in a toxic way; they understand that things are different now. Aya is a fascinating character who is, unfortunately, held back by the fact that she is rarely playable, and the player cannot explore the massive open-world map and is stuck with a preset loadout that is not nearly as fun as Bayek’s kit.

5

Eivor

The Viking Protagonist Can Be Male Or Female

As the rising Viking warlord Eivor, players can choose whether they are male or female at the start of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Both options are performed well by their respective actors, but Eivor is often criticized by the fanbase for being one of the least interesting in terms of personality and story, even with the option to choose their dialogue.

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is a divisive title already, as the massive open world felt too bloated with UbiSoft embracing a semi-live-service structure. Eivor suffered as a result, as their personality isn’t fleshed out all that much other than a desire for revenge and become a land-conquering Viking. However, Eivor can still be fun to play with plenty of customization options for them.

4

Aveline De Grandpré

From Elegant Riches To Rebellious Vigilante

Using the template established by Assassin’s Creed 3, Liberation HD puts the player in the middle of Louisiana after the French and Indian War of the 18th century. It also was the first game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise to have a female protagonist, Aveline De Grandpré.

Aveline was born into wealth, but when she saw the injustice being done in the world, especially with slavery, she fought back as an assassin. Not only was she a likable character, but for a game that was originally a PS Vita exclusive before being remastered on PS3 and Xbox 360, she provided improved gameplay from Assassin’s Creed 3, with the ability to dual-wield weapons and Chain Kill special attack.

3

Evie Frye

The Frye Twins Were Unconventional Assassins

Evie Frye and her twin brother Jacob from Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate are unorthodox in their approach to being members of the Assassin Brotherhood. Evie is the more level-headed character, whereas Jacob, while charming, is hot-headed and arrogant from start to finish, with the player swapping between them while venturing through Victorian London.

The differences in the Frye twins’ personalities are reflected in their gameplay, with Jacob focusing on being a straight-up brawler. Evie, on the other hand, focuses on more classic stealth and infiltration. Like her brother, Evie is not a perfect hero, which helps make the Frye twins feel more grounded and why fans wish they would return in a future game.

2

Kassandra

The Closest Thing To A Wonder Woman Game

The Greek adventure of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey gives players the choice of either Kassandra or her brother Alexios. Both have identical storylines, so it mostly just comes down to the player’s preference for the character itself, and Kassandra has become the more popular choice.

While Alexios is not a bad character, fans of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey almost unanimously see Kassandra as the superior character due to her charisma, humor, and incredible voice acting. Kassandra can be an intense and powerful warrior, and then immediately complement that with motherly qualities that make her as lovable as she is fierce.

1

Fujibayashi Naoe

Tragedy Turns Her Into The Greatest Shinobi

To hook the player into the story of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, Ubisoft gave Fujibayashi Naoe a gut-wrenching prologue that instantly makes her a sympathetic character, losing so much to the villains, similar to Bayek from Origins.

Her progression as a character is also backed up by improved player choices for her dialogue, resulting

Naoe’s story is backed up with gameplay that allows players to freely explore feudal Japan as a shinobi, seeking out the evil men and women who wronged her. The shinobi combat and stealth are a perfect match for the Assassin’s Creed series, allowing for a blend of more traditional gameplay with the more RPG-like style of later games.