THE WAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS ENEMY
Also for: Stadia, Xbox One
[Beware: This review contains some story spoilers.]
Prepare to embrace the enemy in Ubisoft's seventh entry of
their popular historical franchise.
Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered introduces a new perspective (Assassin's Creed III also did this, but only in part) as it delves into the views of the
Templar order. Further expanding the 18th century North American storyline of recent
entries, the player takes control of the young Irish assassin Shay Cormac
at the start of the Seven Years War. He's about to join his American
brotherhood on a quest for an ancient manuscript and the code needed to
decipher it.
But as Shay follows his master's instructions, he discovers that his brotherhood cares little about human lives. In their eyes, the end goal
justifies every sacrifice, even if obtaining
it puts an entire city at risk. This is what eventually prompts him to leave
the creed behind, a betrayal he is not supposed to survive. After a narrow
escape, Shay ends up in the company of Templars who are quick to reel him in.
And that's how you spend the remainder of the game, fighting your former
Assassin friends in an attempt to save the world.
The AC: Rogue storyline further muddles the understanding of right or wrong in
this universe. The Templars and Assassins both have noble goals in common,
but are at odds because of their diverging philosophies. Freedom and
order can both be instruments of salvation and terror in the right or wrong
hands. I like this core concept behind the story, even as it struggles with
the usual boring MacGuffins that makes the details so forgettable.
Series fans needn't fret - in spite of Shay's alignment shift the core gameplay
remains exactly the same. It's all there; assassinations, tailing, exploration,
climbing city buildings and trees in the wild, as well as hunting, stealth and naval combat aboard your newly obtained ship, The
Morrigan. Shay is a trained assassin, working for a different master.
It takes place in the same mix of American wilderness, open seas and
developing cities - in this case it's mainly New York, my favorite city to parkour since
the heydays of Ezio in Assassin's Creed II and
Brotherhood. The remaster runs smoothly, with great framerate and visual fidelity to soak you into the world. The sound design is absorbing as ever, especially in the bustling big city, with roof tiles clattering underneath your feet as you try to eavesdrop on important enemy dialogue in the midst of the crowd's chatter. And the main theme is one of my favorites so far.
My main dilemma with Rogue is all the familiarity. How can I keep myself motivated?
Why should I keep playing a game I've essentially played before, even though
it's my first playthrough? I'm even having difficulties conjuring up
meaningful words for this review, for I have very little to add to my review
of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. The only brand new addition is a
new enemy type, an assassin that you need to first track down and then catch
by surprise in a fun cat-and-mouse duel.
Apart from that, it recycles every little gameplay mechanic, all the menus and
every idea from previous entries. The modern-day storyline, outside the
Animus, is more inconsequential than ever, as it takes place in the same
Abstergo location and repeats one puzzle mechanic throughout. All the
assassination weapons and tools are essentially the same it's been since
Assassin's Creed III, functioning the same.
In an artistic sense, Rogue's sole reason for being is as a hub that chains a
few of the other entries' storylines together. The entire story comprises
seven meagre sequences - from Shay's Assassin beginnings, through his
betrayal, to the resolution as a Templar. This means Rogue is the shortest
main entry in the entire series so far. To give the players their money's
worth, Ubisoft stuffs the game full of inconsequential collectibles, with
little to no written side content to fill in the gaps between main story
segments. No regular sidequests exist, only loot, crafting, a few lore
documents and standard gameplay challenges like whaling, treasure hunting and
optional encounters against legendary sea vessels.
I still enjoy the naval combat the most, although it feels more convoluted in
this story. As a protagonist, Shay is first and foremost a renegade assassin,
and never gives off the impression of being a bona-fide ship captain like his
Black Flag counterpart, Edward Kenway, did. The story doesn't revolve much
around piracy and exploration, nor does Shay mention it being a driving force.
Instead, he is laser focused on the Templar feud with the Assassins.
Even so, it breaks series record for relative playtime spent gathering
collectibles, as you need to hunt for animal skins and bones to improve your
armor and satchels. To upgrade your ship, you have to engage in naval battles or raid enemy warehouses.
It explicitly forces you to level up through a couple of difficulty spikes, to
draw out the experience a little. To survive a few ship battles close to the
end, you'll discover that you essentially need to maximize the ship's hull and
upgrade the cannons a few tiers, at least.
It's still a fine game, because it learns from the best. Black Flag was my
favorite AC-entry, and Rogue does its utmost to replicate it. I had a decent
time with identical gameplay mechanics, although the maps are more cramped. I
got to re-live listening to my crew's sea shanties and close in on other ships
to blast them apart with my cannons and grab their loot. Melee combat is
responsive but very easy, just like last time, with the counter mechanic
making me virtually unbeatable. And the overpowered sleep and berserk darts -
now shot at even longer range with a rifle - turn every stealth section into a
joke.
Outside the cities, I found the usual amount of enjoyment exploring the wilderness, scouting for ways to reach the collectibles marked on the map.
Also, very few of the rote tailing missions remain. In terms of structure,
AC: Rogue feels refreshingly effortless and straightforward. Its story is relatively easy to follow.
Still, with no story-driven side content to speak of, this AC-entry was always
destined to become a parenthesis in the main franchise. Being released on the
very same day as the more technically apt brethren, Assassin's Creed: Unity,
also didn't help. And originally, Rogue was meant to be another standalone DLC
to Black Flag, which makes sense. But I like the game enough that I could've
awarded it a three-star review, were it not for its lingering shoddiness.
I find it baffling that a remaster can contain almost game-breaking glitches.
Apart from the usual flimsy controls with a mind of their own, my playthrough
contained the following:
1. (This one was the most aggravating.) I unknowingly sniped the bodyguard of
one of the final bosses with a berserk dart from beneath his hideaway cliff.
The bodyguard attacked his boss and killed him. When I approached the site
later, the corpse of the boss spoke his threats even as he lay dead at my
feet. I was then supposed to chase after him, but since he couldn't move, the
scene never triggered. The game wouldn't let me proceed and I had to reload
the entire section from the last checkpoint, losing around 20 minutes of
progress.
2. A dead enemy soldier rose to his feet from a bush, looking around quizzically.
3. A hostage taker got triggered into shooting his hostage, and then proceeded to circle his corpse infinitely, constantly peppering his body with bullets. This one was the funniest.
4. A cutscene failed to load the character model and voice of the side character James Cooke, so Shay held a fiery one-sided monologue, with pauses for dramatic effect, addressing no-one.
5. This one almost caused cardiac arrest: As I reached the final naval battle, which was very long and difficult, I died on my first attempt. On the second attempt I won by the narrowest margin - my ship's armor was down to a sliver. But my celebration turned into despair as the game got stuck on the black loading screen afterwards. Luckily, when I reloaded the game, the game started me off after winning the skirmish.
Things like these turned me off, particularly towards the end, but I still saw it through just to soak up the story. Which is quite a good one, mind you, but the game is too dang short - it skims through the introduction and leaves us with little to consider. The way the writers make the assassination targets former friends and allies is an entertaining turn of events that makes Shay a conflicted character. But as players, we haven't had time to know the characters well enough to share that impact.
I don't mind briefly delving into the fun Black Flag-mechanics once more. But I imagine that even for a cow, chewing the cud cannot be as appetizing as eating grass fresh off the pasture. This game feels like DLC and for a DLC it's more than decent. But as a standalone main entry? It just feels a little empty and regurgitated.
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