Playing it Safe | Assassin’s Creed Rogue Review

After feeling underwhelmed by Assassin’s Creed III, I figured I was done caring about the franchise. I’d become burnt out from the climbing, the admittedly stale combat, and the nonsensical story that over-complicated what should have been a straightforward narrative. Then, to my surprise, as well as it was to many other gamers, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag released and was a refreshing change for the series. Assassin’s Creed Rogue, the next installment for last-gen consoles, plays it safe for the most part by relying on past elements, but it ends up holding back what is one of the best narratives in the series, yet.

Rogue places you in the shoes of Shay Cormac, a member of the colonial order of Assassins. What begins as a seemingly normal Assassin’s Creed plot quickly gets turned on its head as Shay decides to abandon his assassins brothers and instead aligns with their arch enemies – the Templars. This actually ends up being one of the most endearing aspects of Rogue, because instead of treating the Assassin and Templar conflict as good versus evil, Rogue helps paint it in more of a grey area. Shay questions the Assassins’ motives and wonders if what they do is really for the greater good. It’s a welcome change, and I can only hope this willingness to develop a more complex conflict will continue into more entries into the series.

If you’ve played an Assassin’s Creed game before, you know exactly what you’re getting into. You’ll listen in to conversations, tail targets, kill countless enemies, and synchronize from atop buildings and treetops to scope out the scenery. While you may play on the other team this time around, the goal and gameplay largely remains the same. Shay will talk to his allies about something, you’ll travel to an area, assassinate the target, and escape from the target’s underlings. There isn’t much new content that’s injected into Rogue other than a new air rifle that can be used to shoot sleep and berserk darts, but it acts the same way as the blow dart from previous games.

The popular open sea component from Black Flag makes a return, and it’s just as addictive. You’ll command Shay’s ship, called the Morrigan. You’ll use the Morrigan to navigate across the eastern coast of the United States, and you’ll engage in many of the same activities from Black Flag, too. In order to upgrade the Morrigan, it’s essential to destroy and loot other ships to gain the materials you need to add more canons, weapons – like the new burning oil that can help you stall your pursuers – and strengthen your ship’s hull. There’s also a new ice mechanic introduced to add some new strategy to combat. Small ice chunks will be floating around the water, and destroying them with you cannons can cause a large wave to produce and it can prove to be a nasty surprise for your enemies.

While most Assassin’s Creed games take you to famous landmarks or beautiful cities, Rogue doesn’t seem to feature any noteworthy areas or even interesting looking ones. Running through the cities was bland, and most areas look identical to the last. It’s a shame, because being able to climb around gorgeous scenery is half the excitement of an Assassin’s Creed game. There also isn’t much going on inside these environments. Each area feels fairly lifeless, and there too few NPCs around to give places an organic feel.

Those who loved the previous Assassin’s Creed games will find a lot to like about Rogue, but that’s mainly due to the copy and paste feel of almost everything found in Rogue. Make no mistake – Rogue is an enjoyable game – but throughout my time with the game, I kept feeling like I’d done this song and dance before. Rogue simply lacks a new major element that separates it from other entries and relies too heavily on formulas that have worked before.

The bottom line for Assassin’s Creed Rogue is this: if you want more Assassin’s Creed, you’ll love it; if you’re tired of the franchise, you won’t miss much of anything other than the interesting premise.

This review is based on a review copy of the PlayStation 3 version of Assassin’s Creed Rogue by Ubisoft Sofia and published by Ubisoft.