Which historical period is the main setting of the first Assassin’s Creed game?

The first Assassin’s Creed game is mainly set during the Third Crusade.

Its historical sections take place in the late twelfth century, principally in the years 1191 and 1193. Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad travels among major cities in the Holy Land, including Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus, while carrying out missions connected to the Assassin–Templar conflict.

The Third Crusade was a major military expedition by European Christian rulers attempting to recover Jerusalem after Saladin’s forces captured it in 1187. The game uses real figures and locations from this period, including Saladin and Richard the Lionheart, but its secret-society plot is fictionalized.

The setting is different from the historical periods used by later games. Assassin’s Creed II moves to Renaissance Italy, Assassin’s Creed III to the American Revolution, and Assassin’s Creed Origins to Ptolemaic Egypt. The First Crusade, which began in 1096, also predates the game’s main events.