Ever since the first Assassin’s Creed game was released back in 2007, I have to say it’s a series that’s been close to my heart. I have played every game that I could get my hands on and have followed the series through its lowest times but mostly through its gripping gameplay and fantastic concepts. Recently having played AC: Origins it was nice to see the game try something new and implement new mechanics/features into it to make it feel fresh but I’m not going to lie I kind of missed the way the old games played out. Then I was amazed to see that I could do just this with the remake of Assassin’s Creed Rogue. Now I’m just putting it out there, I never played Rogue the first time around. It’s one of the games in the franchised that I missed out on. So with my PS4 controller in toe, I set off on the adventures of Shay Patrick Cormac and what story he brought to the series. A lot of people might be thinking; ‘what’s the point in the remake of this game?’ as it’s not really that old, with it originally being released back in 2014. I however will not be complaining as I like the idea of having most of my Assassin’s Creed games on one console.
So Rogue isn’t much different in terms of the concept of the game, it still follows the struggles between the Assassins and the Templars. The biggest WHAT! Moment in the game is that you eventually turn from Assassin to Templar while progressing through the story. Then it’s up to Shay Patrick Cormac to try and put a stop to the Assassins plans and help the Templars with theirs. This was a really nice twists to play as the Templars for once and see it from their point of view. I mean we had a brief chance to play as a Templar in Assassins Creed 3 but it was nice to have a game concentrate on the struggles of someone caught between the two.
The story is set after Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag and before Assassin’s Creed Three, story wise. The main character Shay Cormac starts off as a new recruit to the Assassins but after a few questioning missions he starts to doubt the Assassins all together and steals a Manuscript that holds valuable information regarding the pieces of Eden. With this in hand he tries to escape but ends up getting shot. Cast adrift he is picked up by George Monro, who convinces Cormac that he can improve the lives of others working with him. After a while he realises that his new companies are in fact Templars. He then finds out that the Assassins have not given up their search for the Pieces of Eden and takes it upon himself to join the Templar order to hunt them down. Throughout the story we come across familiar faces from previous games such as Haytham Kenway, Adewale and we shouldn’t forget the real life influences characters such as Benjamin franklin.
Mechanics wise the game works the same as all the games in the series with a few differences here and there, for example because this game is similar gameplay wise to Black Flag it is safe to say if you are a fan of that game, like I was, you’d love this one. If however you have only played the recent Origins game you might be in for a surprise. The game does feel dated if you have played the new one but not in a bad way more of a ‘look how far the game has come’. The main two features are Shay himself and the Morrigan as these are treated as two different characters if you would.
With these two playable characters if you would, allows for third-person land based action and exploration, such as traversing the roof tops of New York and naval based ship exploration and battles on the Seven Seas.
Shay can be upgraded by hunting wildlife to get materials to craft certain features like health, pistol holders and ammo bags but you are also able to buy him new weapons and equipment from vendors. Then you have the Morrigan which is Shay trusty ship, this can be upgraded by getting materials from raiding other ships on the ocean, completing missions in the Naval company as well as coming across supply camps in the over world. Not to mention you can also customise the look of both Shay and the Morrigan which is really neat. So what can you upgrade on the Ship, well there is the cannons, Ammo it uses and the Hulls armour to name a few. These take time and help prolong gameplay as if you don’t upgrade either of the two you’ll find it difficulty in the late game to take over forts or even fight certain enemies.
Exploring the world has always been one of my favourite things to do in the AC games, they are made up of different areas which once you access a viewpoint will show you all the side missions and collectables for you to get. You also have places in this game that need renovating once you have taken over an area on the map. By doing this you help increase your income that you get regularly. You can explore pretty much all the locations you come across in the game whether this be New York or a little side island that has one chest on it but this to me personally was one of the things I loved about this game, the small details make for an epic experience. You’ll come across new mechanics like the gas mask that Shay has that helps protect him from the effects of smoke and poison, you’ll also get a rifle that can shot grenades. Which shakes the gameplay up from standard sword play.
Exploring the seas has its advantages as well because this is where ship battles and whaling come into play. Ship battle are tones of fun and can eat up your time but this isn’t a problem at all. By locating the certain areas scattered around the ocean you can hunt for sea creatures and get their material to help upgrade yourself or the Morrigan. With the array of collectables in the game it really make you want to explore every little part of the game and it’s packed full of content that you won’t get bored of.
The game looks stunning and if I was going to compare it to another game in the series I would say it looked like AC4: Black Flag when that made its way to current gen consoles. I must say I was very pleased with this remaster and didn’t really notice any major issues. I had a few bugs here and there where textures took a while to load or bits of clothing not loading into cut scenes straight away but nothing too bad that made me loose interested or focus in the game. The best bits for me graphically would still have to be hunting whales or narwhals in the ocean or exploring the islands around the map, these are brilliantly done and make me feel immersed in the world when exploring.
Audio in AC: Rogue is fantastic. Personally love sailing the seas listening to shanties that you can find in the world and unlock for your crew to sing. If not this, then the sounds of cannon fire from your trusty ship while tearing up the seas in fierce ships battles. All this comes together with the sound of the crashing waves and sound of the wildlife while going round the world. The sound of the rifles and swords also add to the whole package that is AC: Rogue and really makes me feel as if I’m in the time period that the games has me play in.
Even though the campaign felts short, there is still lots of to do in AC: Rogue. These range from trying to fully upgrade the Morrigan, hunting the wildlife for materials to sell or upgrade Shay and various side missions as seen in previous games. You also get the joys of finding collectables scattered throughout the land such as chest, animus fragments and supply camps, to name a few. All these will defiantly keep you busy while trying to 100% areas around the world. A few personal favourites of mine, were to take over the gang hideouts and forts so that I could revile the map and generally discovering what collectibles and side missions were in the area. If you’re like me and enjoy completing all the little side quests, collecting all the collectibles and the viewpoints to synchronise on top of, then Rogue doesn’t disappoint and offers hours of gameplay.
Assassin’s Creed Rogue was tones of fun and I personally am glad it got the remaster so that I had the chance to play it on current gen consoles. It was a nice chance to get to see Shay story in the whole series as well as a nice twist to play as a Templar. Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag for me was one of my favourites in the series, so the fact that Rogue was similar just made me love it even more. Gameplay wise I found no issues and was able to just jump in and experience everything with no problem what so ever. Apart from the campaign feeling short and a few graphical issues here and there, the game had no faults and I’m still playing it now to try and get all the collectables and visit all the locations. I’m not bored of the seven seas yet and can see Rogue taking many more hours off my hands but hey a pirates life is a life for me…. Okay Templars life. For the reasons stated in this review I’m happy to give AC: Rogue an Overall 9-10.
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