Release Date: 11/11/2014
Played On: Win
Available On: PS3 / PS4 / Win / XB360 / XBO
Time Played: 37h 24m
Progress: Completed / 90% Overall Synchronisation
Developer: Ubisoft Sofia
Publisher: Ubisoft
It seems like every Assassins' Creed game has spawned a litany of small spin-offs. Most of the time they're weird little excursions from the norm, but nothing all that notable or important in the lore. At best they show off some alternative mechanics and systems that never surfaced in the mainline games, but at best they end up being complete experiences in their own right.
Assassin's Creed: Rogue is definitely the latter, with a campaign and map worthy of the main series, and one of the most compelling stories told so far. It even comes close to competing with Syndicate for my favourite title in the franchise, but unfortunately Rogue is limited by its close association with AC:3 and Black Flag.
In fact I have to enter a correction immediately, because apparently Rogue is considered a main line entry, even though it does little to prove it. The gameplay is straight out of Black Flag, except this time you're sailing the North Atlantic ocean, and visiting New York. Most of the gameplay loop is exactly the same as Black Flag, with few innovations that are to be expected in main sequels.
I didn't know that this was a main release at the time and assumed it was a spin-off, much like Revelations or Liberation. It uses all the same assets and engine as Black Flag, so I figured it was just another side entry. In fact I think I might have liked it less if I knew this was a feature game to begin with. As it happens, I thought it was an excellent side project, but perhaps a little lacking for a full featured release.
With that out of the way, there's a lot to dig into with Rogue, but most of its unique position in the timeline is thanks to the story and progression of its protagonist. As in Black Flag, you're playing as an employee for Abstergo, exploring adventures to sell as entertainment products on their Animus machine. For some reason Abstergo is evacuated after a bomb or something, but you're held behind to continue synchronising the life of Shay Cormac, the player character for this game.
There's some light puzzle solving and narrative structure to be found outside of the Animus around Abstergo, but it's the same kind of deal as Black Flag. Most of the focus is on the memory synchronisation, instead of modern day conspiracies. I've always been one of those weird people who likes the modern day narrative in Assassin's Creed games, so I was a little disappointed that the lack of substance continues in this instance.
Thankfully though, this is one of the best Assassin's Creed stories told so far. Granted I still haven't played Unity and Origins, but I feel like Rogue has a safe spot near the top of the list. I'll warn you now - there will be spoilers ahead, but nothing that isn't already in trailers and promotional materials.
Ready? Okay cool.
Remember in Assassin's Creed 3, how the game starts with Haytham Kenway assassinating some dude at a theatre performance? You play out the mission and escape just like every other Assassin's Creed game, but eventually you discover that Kenway has been a Templar all along. I loved this opening twist, as it started playing with the notion of who's the bad guy in the war between assassins and Templars, which has only ever been hinted at in the past.
With Rogue, the idea is taken even further, as you begin playing as the assassin Shay Cormac, who is eventually betrayed by the brotherhood and saved by a Templar. Haytham Kenway shows up as Grand Master and brings Shay into the Templar order, which is how the bulk of Rogue is played. You are no longer the stealthy assassin fighting the evil Templars. Shay is an assassin hunter tasked with protecting the peace and order of Templar rule.
It's a compelling take on the typical (and often stale) formula of assassinating Templars to recover pieces of Eden. What's more, it's supported by some key gameplay systems that are unique to the game and playing as a Templar.
One of the most notable additions is that there are now assassins everywhere that will try to kill you by leaping from rooftops and out of shadows. To compensate for this, Shay has a new addition to his Eagle Vision, which highlights when he senses an assassin may be close by. It's an interesting loop of cat and mouse that adds another fun dynamic to getting around in the cities. While most assassins are actually pretty bad at hiding, every now and then it's a race to find where they are before they leap on you and go for the kill.
Obviously this wouldn't have a place in any other game where you're playing as an assassin, but I'm impressed and pleased that it was introduced in Rogue to further sell the fact that you're playing as a Templar. What's more, the territories in the game are a take on the systems established in Brotherhood and Revelations, which involved capturing areas of the map and installing hideouts full of assassins.
This time, you must rid the city of these assassin hideouts by infiltrating gang compounds, blowing up their resources and assassinating their leader. Even though most of the NPCs follow the same behaviour as any other game, the assassin gang leaders behave in their own unique way. It's not as simple as finding them and pressing the kill button, as assassin's will hide and use diversions to break line of sight. If you'd previously tagged a gang leader, but lost sight of them, the tag disappears until you locate them again, creating a fun game of hide and seek.
These assassin hunting additions go a long way to make you feel like a Templar, and even in justifying your motivations for wanting to rid the world of assassins. The whole reason you feuded with the brotherhood in the first place was due to their reckless interactions with pieces of Eden that end up killing innocents. In fact, by the time I was done with Rogue, I found myself rooting for the Templars who seemed to have their shit together a whole lot more than the chaotic brotherhood of assassins.
Beyond these few systems however, the game is Black Flag take 2, with the same parkour system and naval combat we're all familiar with. Keep in mind that I was never as in love with the sailing aspect of Black Flag as everyone else seemed to be. I like it as a part of the overall game experience, but I've always thought an entire game of sailing would be increasingly boring and repetitive.
Nevertheless, I found it interesting enough to conquer every port I came across, and explore every location for hidden treasures and collectibles. It wouldn't be an Ubisoft game without a whole lot of pointless collectibles, and there are loads in Rogue. Although, I was pleased to learn that collecting all of a certain item would unlock a weapon or an outfit to wear, of which there are already many to choose from.
Unfortunately though, the outfit and weapon set you choose will not make much of a difference beyond cosmetic preferences. The pistols and swords are effectively all the same, just with better stats when you spend more money. I actually miss the weapons from Assassin's Creed 2, simply because I could choose the style of combat I wanted to get into, and I was always a fan of whacking dudes with a big mace.
Combat is still a straight forward Simon-says of pressing counter at the right time and following it with a killing blow. There are certain enemy archetypes that require a different sequence of inputs to defeat, but it's as simple as choosing whether to counter or disarm an opponent before killing them.
Outside of combat, there are some new toys to play with, such as a grenade launcher and dart gun. The latter does the same thing as the blow darts did previously, except they're in a nice and tidy air rifle that offers silent takedowns. The grenade launcher is actually more of the same, as you launch sleep, frenzy, or frag grenades that hit an area of effect instead of a single target. Occasionally you'll have to blow down a door or a wall of ice with a frag grenade, but apart from these few applications, there really is no use for these new variations on weapons we've already seen.
In the North Atlantic, the cold has an effect in some interesting ways, as it makes being off the ship a bit more dangerous than in warmer climates. For starters you can only survive in the water for a limited time before freezing to death, which sounds harsh until you realise it takes up to a minute or so to freeze when Shay has maximum health. Although, there are certain spots on the map where ships have wrecked in convenient formations to explore and parkour through.
In these sections the danger of freezing water and snow feel much more relevant and deadly, although functionally there's little difference and it's hard to actually die at any point in the game. Actually, much like other Assassin's Creed games, the only times I ended up dying were when Shay decided to jump off a building because I pressed the wrong inputs at the wrong time.
This is still in the era when the parkour system seemed to have a mind of its own at times and if the character model faces one degree in the wrong direction, your entire series of moves will be interrupted by a leap in the opposite direction. Oh, and there are shanties to chase and collect in Rogue, which are still the bane of my existence and if I wasn't such a completionist, I would never have bothered with them.
A fun addition though are the assassin hunts, which are triggered by capturing a pigeon that shows up at certain points on the map. The conceit is that you've intercepted a kill order, so you're tasked with finding the target of the assassination, then taking out any assassins in the area who are going to try it on. What's more, the clock starts ticking down immediately, as they are closing in for the kill while you search the area for where they are hiding. It's a tense and sometimes frantic rush to locate and kill every assassin within the time limit and another plus to playing as a Templar through the game.
Most other systems see a return, such as hunting where you can collect pelts and carcasses to then craft better pouches for ammo and other upgrades. It's kind of annoying on the whole, as some recipes require stupid amounts of materials to craft, like multiple whale skins just to make a little pouch for your belt. I ended up with a lot of money so I just bought the pelts I needed and upgraded my gear that way.
Although, Rogue also has hunting challenges that task you with gathering a certain amount of pelts from a certain animal within a time limit. This could have been an interesting minigame that brought more depth to the hunting system, but instead it spawns a bunch of whatever animal you need, right where you're standing. So fulfilling the requirements becomes a task of seeing how fast you can take down as many animals as possible, instead of cleverly stalking your prey.
Most of this isn't really news to anyone who has played Black Flag, as most of the systems remain intact. This is why Rogue never feels like a full entry in the series, as it doesn't offer that major change that we often see in main titles. While playing as a Templar is an interesting take on the story, and hunting assassins is a whole lot of fun, it's hard to escape that feeling of familiarity that permeates through the entire experience.
Despite all of its similarities and failure to innovate a whole lot, I can't deny that Rogue has been one of the most enjoyable Assassin's Creed games I've played. I think it's perhaps down to the culmination of everything it includes, along with playing the other side.
One of the main reasons I love the Assassin's Creed series at all, is the amount of detail the development team put into recreating the environments and cities of the game. I love running around an old version of New York, exploring its harbours and back roads to view the architecture and get a vibe for the place. This is an art department that always delivers in their meticulous recreations of famous places and people.
With that in mind though, why are there penguins living alongside Polar Bears? I mean, penguins are only found in the south, and Polar Bears are only found in the north. It's weird for a team that's so dedicated to authenticity and detail would make such a colossal mistake as putting wild penguins everywhere in the North Atlantic. It smells of some idiot in charge insisting on penguins when it makes no sense whatsoever.
It might seem like a small thing to criticise, but consider how extensive the authenticity and detail can get in an Assassin's Creed game. I mean it when I say that exploring these excellent environments and locations is my favourite thing to do in the game, and I Suspect I'm not alone. I can't wait to get stuck into Origins and go on a virtual tour of Egypt. It's one of the series' major strengths, so to mess it up with random penguins kind of stands out.
I suppose it's a common trait for a big budget game like Assassin's Creed to have multiple flaws, while still remaining impressive and fun to play. When everything is larger than expectations, it tends to go both ways for the bad and the good.
Rogue is definitely up there as one of the best in the series for me, as it offers something more interesting than yet another assassin chasing after more Templars. By switching allegiances, Shay's story instantly becomes more intriguing and fun to explore, as it feels like the game is covering new ground for once.
The added systems for hunting assassins, coupled with the tested success of Black Flag's core gameplay loop, ends up delivering a pretty great triple A game. This one even managed to avoid messy bugs as I didn't encounter any hiccups the entire time I was playing.
Having played some of the best in the series so far, I feel like I'm now ready for the potential trash fire of Assassin's Creed: Unity. I'll save Origins for last, but I'll remain optimistic for Unity and hope that there's some fun iterations to explore and a beautiful city of detail to admire.
Right now my top Assassin's Creed games include the original installation (because it blew my mind at the time), Syndicate, 2, and Rogue. I use to also include Black Flag, but Rogue has everything that made Black Flag good, and more.
Now if only they'll bring back riding horses through the tight streets of Jerusalem.