Thanks to the recent Ubisoft Giveaway, I was able to get my hands on Assassin’s Creed Syndicate for the low low price of… free. I was waiting to get it on PS4 for a few bucks since I wouldn’t have to use the UPlay, sorry Ubisoft Connect Client. But free is a better deal.
My thoughts on the game as simple. Assassins Creed Revelations must’ve been a pretty high peek for Assassins Creed to fall so low. Not just because the gameplay was so formulaic that I experienced everything the game had to offer after the first boss fight. But the game offered so little new in terms of gameplay and variety that I was done with the game only after offing half of the baddies.
And I don’t think that this is the fault of a bland game design. But an issue of either a slow narrative, or lack thereof. You meet a colourful cast of characters from a Little Girl running a children information network, a man with a top hat with a B, and a Woman dressed in a nice 3 piece suit who runs a… smuggling… thingy. I genuinely can’t remember these people since they are introduced and the only time I see them is in, in-game icons showing that I helped them by working on the gang.
Even the main Character Eve and Jacob (who I kept calling Jacob , Edward throughout the game since he acts just like Kenway), barely talk with each-other. And the only time they do is when you meet [INSERT HISTORIC FIGURE HERE]. Or when Eve is cleaning up Jacob after a rampage.
I feel with a repetitive game like a Ubisoft title, the game needs a more compelling narrative, like we’d eventually see in Assassins Creed Odyssey, but that game has it’s own issues. Issues which I can feel take their roots in this game with a very spongy combat system. Thank god a knife in the throat or a bullet through the head will kill anyone irrespective of their “Level”.
What’s worse is that on PC, the game would crash for seemingly no reason, causing my PC to Blue Screen more time than I care to remember. But the sad thing about this is, I’d prefer to play it over Odyssey.
Is it tedious? Yes, but you can use the mechanics to get around it.
Is the story slow? Yes, but it is mercifully short and unoffensive.
Tie that along with an beautiful score from Austin Wintory, which I will be exploring later, and the game is a passable experience. There is a much more memorable game in the first two Assassin’s Creed games then here, but for the price of Free, or what I see the XBone version of this game going for, it’s not a bad way to kill a week.
A couple of years ago I started playing through the AC games in order. Like you, I had picked several up for free (starting with Unity when the Notre Dame burned), and completed the collection (except the most recent ones) with nice discounts.
I liked Syndicate a lot, especially after Unity which I really disliked. The not-quite-steampunk setting appealed to me, and compared to Unity it controlled much better. I absolutely hated the PC controls in Unity.
I also liked Evie, but honestly could’ve done without Jacob. The sibling idea sounds good on paper, but I don’t think it works. And Jacob is just the less interesting one. I also feel some of the twists in their relationship came out of nowhere.
Gameplay wise the rope launcher was fun. I disliked how often you’d get into a fight just for walking down a street, and using the rope was a good way to escape or avoid that.
Looking back at it, I think this is my second favourite AC. The story is much less compelling than several others, but the setting and characters make up for it.
