Short answers, pulled from the story.
Assassin's Creed was created by Patrice Désilets, Jade Raymond, and Corey May at Ubisoft Montreal. The series draws inspiration from the 1938 novel Alamut by Slovenian author Vladimir Bartol and from the historical Hashashin sect of medieval Iran, with the central creed "nothing is true; everything is permitted" coming directly from Bartol's novel.
The Assassin's Creed series includes fourteen main installments as of 2025. The most recent main game is Assassin's Creed Shadows, released in March 2025 and set in Japan during the Sengoku period.
The Assassin's Creed franchise has sold over 200 million copies worldwide, making it Ubisoft's best-selling franchise and one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time.
The Animus is a machine within the Assassin's Creed fiction that allows users to relive the genetic memories of their ancestors. Ubisoft Montreal invented the device to explain in-game mechanics like retrying failed missions; extended use creates a side effect called the Bleeding Effect, which grants ancestral skills but erodes the user's mental stability.
A live-action film adaptation of the Assassin's Creed series was released in 2016.
The Animus Hub is a feature integrated into Assassin's Creed Shadows, released in March 2025, that serves as a centralized hub for the modern-day narrative across current and future games. Originally announced as Assassin's Creed Infinity, it was described by executive producer Marc-Alexis Côté as a "new design philosophy" for the franchise.