THE WAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS ENEMY
Prepare to embrace the enemy.
Ubisoft’s seventh main entry in the Assassin’s Creed series offers a new perspective—one that places you firmly in the ranks of the Templar Order. Assassin’s Creed: Rogue Remastered expands on the 18th-century North American storyline of recent entries and casts you as Shay Patrick Cormac, a young Irish Assassin caught in the early days of the Seven Years’ War.
Shay begins his journey as a loyal member of the Brotherhood, tasked with retrieving an ancient manuscript and the code needed to decipher it. But following his mentor’s orders soon leads him to an uncomfortable realization: the Assassins, for all their lofty ideals, are willing to sacrifice entire cities if the end goal demands it. That moral breaking point pushes Shay to abandon the Creed—an act of betrayal he is not meant to survive.
He does. Barely.
Rescued by the Templars, Shay finds himself on the opposite side of a conflict he once fought for. The rest of the game sees him hunting former allies in an effort to prevent further catastrophe.
At its core, Rogue continues to muddy the already blurred moral lines of the Assassin’s Creed universe. Both factions strive for peace, but through opposing philosophies: freedom versus order. Either can become a tool for salvation or oppression depending on who wields it. I genuinely like this thematic foundation, even if the narrative still leans heavily on forgettable MacGuffins that drain its finer details of impact.
Series veterans needn’t worry: despite Shay’s allegiance shift, the gameplay remains entirely familiar. Assassinations, stealth, tailing missions, climbing, hunting, and naval combat all return unchanged. Shay may serve a different master, but he is still very much an Assassin in motion.
The setting is the familiar blend of American wilderness, open seas, and developing cities—most notably New York, still one of my favorite parkour playgrounds since the days of Ezio in Assassin’s Creed II and Brotherhood. The remaster runs smoothly, with stable framerates and solid visual fidelity. Sound design remains excellent, especially in crowded urban areas, where clattering rooftops and ambient chatter sell the illusion. The main theme is also among my favorites in the series.
And yet.
My main issue with Rogue is its overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Why should I stay motivated in a game I’ve essentially already played—even though this is my first run? I found myself struggling to say anything meaningful here that I hadn’t already said about Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. The sole genuinely new mechanic is a recurring enemy type: rogue Assassins who stalk you and must be ambushed in a tense cat-and-mouse duel.
Everything else—systems, menus, weapons, tools—has been lifted wholesale from previous entries. The modern-day storyline is more inconsequential than ever, repeating the same puzzle mechanic in the same Abstergo setting. Functionally, nothing has changed since Assassin’s Creed III.
Artistically, Rogue exists mainly as connective tissue, tying together threads from other games. Its story spans only seven short sequences, making it the briefest mainline entry in the series. To compensate, Ubisoft pads the experience with collectibles: animal skins, crafting materials, loot, and standard challenges like whaling, treasure hunting, and naval encounters. There are no proper side quests, and very little written content to deepen the world between story beats.
Naval combat remains the highlight, though it feels slightly out of place this time. Unlike Edward Kenway, Shay never truly feels like a seasoned captain. Piracy and exploration aren’t narrative drivers here; his focus is squarely on the Assassin–Templar conflict. Still, upgrading your ship is mandatory, with difficulty spikes forcing you into grinding naval battles to survive late-game encounters.
Despite all this, Rogue is still enjoyable—because it borrows from the best. Black Flag was my favorite entry, and Rogue mirrors it closely. I enjoyed listening to sea shanties again, engaging enemy ships, and looting their wreckage. Melee combat is responsive but trivial, with counter mechanics rendering most fights effortless. Overpowered tools like sleep and berserk darts—now fired at long range with a rifle—turn stealth sections into a formality.
Exploring the wilderness remains pleasant enough, and thankfully, many of the worst tailing missions are gone. Structurally, Rogue feels clean and straightforward, and its story is easy to follow.
But as a standalone release, it was always destined to feel like a footnote. Launching on the same day as Assassin’s Creed: Unity didn’t help, nor did the fact that Rogue was originally conceived as DLC for Black Flag. That origin shows.
I might have awarded it three stars—were it not for its technical issues.
For a remaster, Rogue contains an alarming number of glitches. During my playthrough, I encountered:
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A boss killed prematurely by his own berserked bodyguard, resulting in an unskippable soft lock.
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A dead soldier resurrecting himself from a bush.
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A hostage taker executing his captive, then endlessly circling the corpse while firing into it.
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A cutscene where Shay delivered a dramatic monologue to an invisible James Cooke.
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A near-heart-stopping freeze after the final naval battle, resolved only by sheer luck upon reload.
These issues, especially late in the game, seriously dampened my enthusiasm. I pushed through mainly to see how the story resolved—which, to be fair, is one of the game’s stronger elements. Turning former allies into assassination targets is an effective twist, and Shay is a more conflicted protagonist than most.
But the problem is scale. We don’t spend enough time with these characters for their fates to truly land.
I don’t mind revisiting Black Flag’s mechanics. But even a cow must eventually tire of chewing the cud. Rogue feels like DLC—and as DLC, it’s more than decent. As a full-priced main entry, however, it feels hollow and regurgitated.
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