The Ones Who Came Before - 2025 Highlights

2025 has been another big year for us here at The Ones Who Came Before. Assassin’s Creed Shadows at last released in March, we got to interview true legends in the world of AC, launched new and built upon existing ventures, welcomed new members to our team and more, all while continually growing and becoming one of the leading and most followed platforms for everything Assassin’s Creed.

With only a few days of the year left, let us look back at some of the highlights and our biggest moments from throughout the year!

Thanks to all of our followers for your continued support, whether you have been with us from the beginning, hopped aboard just this year or anywhere in between! We look forward to releasing more content on everything AC in 2026, and hope to see all of you stick around for it!

Interview with Roger Craig Smith

Let’s kick off the list with one of our coolest and biggest landmark projects to date. At the beginning of the year, we had the opportunity to sit down with one of the most popular and in-demand voice actors, as well as one of the most iconic and legendary names in the world of Assassin’s Creed for a chat; the one and only Mr. Roger Craig Smith - the voice of Ezio Auditore - talking everything from Roger’s career, the role of Ezio and preparation for, the character’s legacy and more.

We are so glad we could finally make it happen and put it out there for fans to listen to, after what actually ended up being months of trying to plan it. Thanks again Roger for taking the time to do it and being awesome!

AC Shadows Launch & Original Music Fan Theme Inspired By

One of the major highlights in Assassin’s Creed this year, was of course the launch of AC Shadows, after two delays and one of the most intense and controversial marketing campaigns in gaming history, at last taking players to a fan favourite location over many years, 16th century Feudal Japan. Maybe, maybe not against all odds, the game quickly turned out one of the biggest and quickest successes in the history of the franchise, accumulating 1 million players in under 24 hours, with more joining every day.

The last stretch of road leading to as well as official launch in March, saw us putting out an array of special content, from early access gameplay and first impressions, exclusive interviews with the game’s directors, as well as launch week community streams among other things. Continuing our entry into the world of music, for the occasion, we also put out another original fan theme inspired by - The Wind Between The Cherry Trees - capturing the peace and tranquility of the vast natural landscapes of Japan, written and produced by our team’s musical brains Gargudon. Available wherever music is streamed; listen on Apple Music or Spotify!

The occasion also saw different members of our team attend launch events across multiple countries, representing the site, networking, talking to other fans and content creators, and overall having a fun time. Founder and Team Leader Colum (Col_96) was invited to the Assassin’s Creed UK community launch event, and on the other side of the North Sea, Gargudon attended the fan event at Kappa Bar in Copenhagen arranged by Ubisoft Nordic, enjoying fresh and ice cold “Samurai Sip” cocktails, and even finishing third in the ultimate AC quiz, winning a game code and super cool Shadows themed t-shirt.

AC Shadows Photo Contest In Collaboration with Assassin’s Creed UK

Directly following the launch of this newest instalment, we teamed up with our friends over at Assassin’s Creed UK, for a photography contest using the new game’s Photo Mode, them also serving as judge. We received dozens of entries from followers, and every one of them were nothing short of breath-taking! From shots magnificently capturing Naoe and Yasuke in moments of peace, the beautiful and scenic landscapes of Japan, moments of distress and more, there was a bit of everything, and narrowing it down to but a few winners was a real challenge, the top winner received an exclusive AC Shadows themed Displate.

Thanks to everyone who participated and sent us their incredible captures, and congratulations to the winners and runner-ups. Stay tuned for more photography contests in the future!

Launch of Rally The Creed LIVE

Podcasting has been an average venture of ours over many years, with (discontinued) discussion based show The Memory Corridor and community hangout Rally The Creed, but both were very occasional, sometimes months passing between episodes. In the summer, looking to produce and put out episodes more consistently and frequently, the latter underwent a bit of rebranding, turning it into livestreams on our TikTok every Sunday evening. Despite still being a very new format, it has quickly turned fairly successful, accumulating a couple hundred viewers every Sunday, and has already featured a number of high profile names from throughout the community, from video creators, cosplayers, fellow team members and more.

We hope to keep the show going on this basis in the new year, also having an array of new faces come on, and we hope to see as many of you join us for the streams on our TikTok! All existing episodes are available wherever you get your podcasts and our YouTube channel, and head to the latter for a number of highlight clips from across the episodes as well!

11th Anniversary

In August, it was our anniversary once again, our site this time turning 11 years old. Throughout the month for the occasion, we put out an array of special content, from our version of the legendary Ezio’s Family track, our take on the classic Celtic folk song The Parting Glass famously featured at the end of Black Flag, “The Music Of Assassin’s Creed” community listening stream with Gargudon & Laury_Runs and more.

We are immensely grateful for and proud of what our site has and continues to become. From founder Colum (Col_96), then only a kid, starting it as a place merely to share cool AC theories with next to no followers, to first being recognised by Ubisoft, becoming a three-man, then the 25+ members team we are today and 65K+ followers later, our site has certainly seen its share of growth and expansion, continually becoming one of the leading Assassin’s Creed fansites and communities out there.

Coven - Original Music Fan Theme Inspired by Codename Hexe

As part of our 11th anniversary celebrations, one of the newest members on our team - Charlie Cooper / TheAssassinLord - composed an original music fan theme, inspired by the upcoming Codename Hexe. Charlie has many different skills under his belt, and has taken on the role of everything from composer, video editor and narrator, graphic designer and more, and is a fresh and valuable new addition to our team.

The track described in the composer’s words; “Coven is a reimagining of Ezio’s Family by Jesper Kyd and the Assassin’s Creed III theme by Lorne Balfe, two of my favorite franchise scores. I blend them into a haunting piece inspired by the dark tone of Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe, drawing on my love for composers like Hans Zimmer who fuse nostalgic melodies with tension and scale.”

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate 10th Anniversary Content

Turning a decade this October was the final instalment of what could now be considered the original era of the franchise, 2015’s Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. For the occasion, we put together special retrospective looks at the Victorian London epic, looking back at everything from the story and characters, the lively and vibrant open world, the Jack The Ripper DLC, 5 overall things the game nailed to near perfection, as well as what it could have improved and more.

Both were a lot of fun to write and edit, and ended up decent successes, and were met with praise from viewers. AC Syndicate - The Grand End Of An Era and 5 Things AC Syndicate Did Right… & Wrong as well as a number of short clips from both videos are all available on our YouTube channel!

Black Flag Main Theme / He’s A Pirate Classical Guitar Rendition

For the occasion of Black Flag’s anniversary in October, Gargudon picked up a classical guitar once again, for an extended and remastered arrangement of the game’s iconic main theme originally written by Brian Tyler, that we originally released a rendition of for the game’s 10th anniversary in 2023. This new version saw the second half of the theme with a different and increased tempo added, as well as its main twist being the fusion with another legendary Pirate theme; the iconic He’s A Pirate from Pirates Of The Caribbean, originally written by Klaus Badelt.

Making this guitar arrangement ended up a bit of a challenge at points, but was a lot of fun and the ultimate crossover between the two most legendary Pirate captains, and was met with praise from viewers and community members.

Assassin’s Creed / Ubisoft Halloween Community Showcase

For the occasion of Halloween, we looked to the cosplayers among our followers and in the community, for an Assassin’s Creed and Ubisoft themed costumes showcase. We reached out to cosplayers and friends of the site, called upon our own, and were sent incredible photo shoots by followers, showcasing costumes ranging from the most legendary Assassins, to major characters from Far Cry and Watch Dogs.

Featured in the showcase on our Instagram were Rick Boer as Edward Kenway, Krishna Dammert as Ezio Auditore, Line Chambet and Blade.Of.Blackheart as Arno Dorian, NeonCosplays as Faith Seed from Far Cry 5, UnknownWrench as Wrench from Watch Dogs 2, and last but not least our own Laury_Runs as Eïvor.

New Additions to the TOWCB Team

And last but not least, this year of course also saw us welcoming a number of new content creators of many talents to our ever evolving team. Our Art Team was brought new life and taken to completely new heights, with the addition of several new super talented artists; from Jebs’ manga inspired style, Aita_Sageblood’s unique 2.5D leaning style, to incredible portraits by Serajeddine who ultimately came and went, but left quite the enduring mark!

On other fronts, our video team welcomed James Davis (TopChef1288) - video narrator/editor, streamer and secondary host of Rally The Creed Live - as well as mentioned multi-talent Charlie Cooper / TheAssassinLord, both key figures in helping our growing video venture further take off.

We look forward to building our team even further in the new year, and we want you on it! Are you passionate about AC with a knack for writing, video creation, art or social media managing among other things? Get in touch with us by sending us a message on any of our social media platforms and we’ll take you into consideration, we are excited to hear from you!

And that more or less sums up the best and most significant highlights throughout 2025 for us here at The Ones Who Came Before. There are of course still a few days of the year left, and we still have bits and pieces of content we are excited to share before the new year.

Once again, thanks to everyone one of our followers for supporting us yet another year! We look forward to welcoming new followers, team members and creating new content in 2026, maintaining our place as one of the leading fansites and communities for everything Assassin’s Creed.

We hope everyone had a magnificent Christmas and holiday season, and happy new year Assassins!