Assassin's Creed: Rogue

AC: Rogue has been on my radar since is released - even though in the wider world, AC: Unity seemed to overshadow it, being released at about the same time. Rogue is... almost an expansion for AC IV: Black Flag. It works okay as a stand-alone game, but the same technology, appearance, and all is there. Free-running is functional, but not as good as the more recent Syndicate. Naval combat is still pretty good - not as revolutionary as Black Flag's, but just as good. It feels a little on the short side and there are a lot of collection activities I missed - perhaps because it was a complete/bundle edition that was purchased for me, and the bonuses that came with that meant I had to scrounge less in-game for upgrades.

Story-wise, it's interesting because it focuses on a Templar rather than an Assassin (after the first part, anyway). The only major mechanical change that brings is having the occasional Assassin's leaping out of the bushes at you. ;) It drives home that the two sides aren't that different at the core. They're both organizations who know about the ancient, pre-human civilization and look for their stuff. From the games in general, the Templars usually learn about an artifact and go looking for it to use it. Then the Assassins set out to stop them because "Templars are bad, mmmkay?"


Seriously, in Syndicate, the Assassins... cause a ton of disruption in London, fix some of it, get a powerful artifact from the Templars and... put it back in its box.

In Rogue, the quest revolves around a manuscript with locations of certain ancient "temples" and a device that allows the manuscript to be deciphered. The main character, Shay, gets these for the Assassins and is sent to Lisbon to find one of the sites, which he does, but when he accesses it, it sets off an earthquake that trashes the city. He comes back to his sect leader, Achilles, all pissed off at having caused so much death and declares they need to stop. When Achilles blows him off, he steals the manuscript (why destroying it is never discussed is beyond me) and is chased and nearly killed by the Assassins.

Shay's rescued by Templars. He works with them some more in personal gratitude than for any philosophical reasons, though eventually does join their order. The Templars, after all, seem to be a force of stability here. Things really pick up when the Assassins make a play for the manuscript again and set out for another site. Shay throws himself into stopping them even if this means killing former friends (who admittedly did try to kill him first).

But the real kick in the ass comes at the end - as Shay chases two Assassins into another temple. Achilles looks to his fellow and says, "Shay was right." All that trouble, all that bloodshed, and it's all because he was too busy rushing forward, trying to beat the Templars, to stop and think maaaaaaybe there could be more to it.

Seriously, fuck that dude.


It may have only taken about a week to finish the story, but it was an enjoyable ride.