Impressions of Assassin's Creed Rogue
I finished another installment, Assassin's Creed Rogue.
The game is built on the same engine as Black Flag, which was very good. Even though the previous installment, AC Unity, was already on a new engine. Judging by the feel of it, this is DLC that they decided to release as a separate game.
Once again, you spend most of the game sailing a ship across different seas, only this time in northern waters. Hence the new details — ice floes that you have to break through with the ship, floating icebergs that you can (and sometimes have to) shoot with the cannon so you do not hit them and damage the ship.
The ship upgrade system is almost the same as in Black Flag. The battles are almost the same too, they just added a few details. One pleasant innovation is that during naval combat not only can you board an enemy vessel, but an enemy vessel can board you as well. A couple of times that even saved me — you are fighting several ships, you have been battered badly, it seems you are about to be sunk, and then they board you, which ends up saving you: you quickly defeat everyone in melee, repair your ship using the captured one, and calmly continue the fight with your hull strength restored.
The modern-day storyline is also similar to Black Flag — you walk around the Abstergo office, there is some kind of accident, for some reason almost everyone except you has been evacuated, you hack computers, start servers by solving puzzles, and along the way collect various information, much of it with references to previous installments.
For example, there is a short dossier on Al Mualim from the first game. Though viewed through a different lens — a Templar one.
Overall, the main changes are in the scenery. There is a lot of snow, the gameplay is slightly expanded with details from AC III about the Native American Connor — there is more tree climbing. And the world map feels larger. But all of it is dull and routine because of the boring plot.
The plot itself is just boring and muddled. Once again the Assassins prevent the Templars from finding artifacts so they cannot use them to bend the world to their will. Along the way a young Assassin becomes disillusioned with the brotherhood after taking many lives and joins the Templars. Supposedly he wants to stop the murders, but at the same time he slaughters almost everyone indiscriminately. Sadly, with such a great engine they still could not manage an interesting story. Once again there is a lot of «collect them all» stuff, only even duller.
Although the graphics have visually become cooler and prettier, there is something strange going on with the shadows in the game. All the faces look dull and creepy.
On the plus side, the game has a nice nod to the installments about Ezio Auditore — in one place you have to climb around a temple (Lisbon), jump across pillars and beams, find and pull levers to open a secret passage.
One of the most beautiful and dynamic scenes in the game is the escape from Lisbon. According to the plot, the famous earthquake that destroyed Lisbon was caused by the game's protagonist himself while he was still an Assassin. In fact, that is what changed his view of Assassin methods. This section is a fairly simple runner — just run and dodge — but it is all done beautifully.
The cities are more reminiscent of the locations from AC III — American colonies, gloomy cities.
Back to the graphics again — everything is beautiful, but what the hell is happening with the shadows? Why is everything so gloomy?
Everything is kind of yellow and dreary.
Naval battles are still great. You fire the cannons and steer the ship. The smoke from the shots blocks visibility, so you have to maneuver to see where the enemy ship ended up in order to aim again. Or fire blind, which is not bad either. The battles are just as dynamic.
The melee combat, in my opinion, became prettier and bloodier compared to AC IV Black Flag. That is nice. But the weapon set did not change: darts, sabers, pistols, a rope with a hook. Though overall it is a great set.
A lot of characters from other installments appear in the game. For example, Kenway, who, as I later understood, is the son of Edward Kenway, the main hero of AC IV Black Flag, who became a Templar and went to the American colonies to search for artifacts. He was the one who fathered a son with a local woman from a Native tribe — Connor, the hero of AC III. I have always liked that way the story connects several installments of the series.
If not for the boring plot, the game would have been great. But in the end I played it very little — I just finished the story, sailed around the world a bit and dropped it. All of this was already in Black Flag, but there it was much more colorful, interesting and fun. I did not even feel like fighting the legendary ships. I would rather install AC IV Black Flag again and play that than replay Rogue. Though who knows.
Next in line is the latest main installment — Assassin's Creed Syndicate, which I finally finished. If I have time, I will write down my impressions of it too, for the record.