Which Assassin's Creed game introduced the playable Assassin Shay Cormac, who joins the Templars?

Assassin's Creed Rogue introduced Shay Cormac, an Assassin who joins the Templars.

Shay Patrick Cormac begins the game as a member of the Colonial Brotherhood of Assassins. After rejecting the Assassins' approach to precursor sites and their willingness to risk catastrophic events, he leaves the order and becomes a Templar. The story therefore presents the conflict largely from the opposing side.

Rogue is not the only game to let players examine Templar perspectives, but Shay is the franchise's central playable Assassin-turned-Templar protagonist. Haytham Kenway is already a Templar when encountered in Assassin's Creed III, while Arno Dorian remains an Assassin in Unity.

Assassin's Creed Rogue was released in 2014. Its historical world covers the North Atlantic, the Appalachian frontier, and New York during the Seven Years' War. The game links directly to Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag through characters and locations, and its ending leads into the opening situation of Unity.