Assassins Creed Rogue - Preview

Rogue is exclusively for last-gen consoles

There has been so much buzz around the release of Ubisoft’s magnum opus Assassins Creed Unity in the last few weeks. But Assassins Creed Rogue is just emerging as a solid yet silent winner. As the title indicates, the Assassin turns himself against the Brotherhood and joins hands with the Templars and hunts back the Assassins.

As we all know Ubisoft have developed the Unity in such a grand manner only for next gen consoles. But, with Rogue the developers have instilled hope on the millions of Xbox 360 and PS3 gamers as this is exclusively for last-gen consoles. Rogue is all set to be released alongwith the Unity on November 11 and 14 for last-gen consoles. The game has planned a release for PC around early 2015.

The players take the role of Shay Cormac, a new recruit of the Brotherhood, who feels disillusioned and betrayed by the assassins. Swearing vengeance, he joins with the Templars and ultimately becomes an ‘Assassin Hunter’. Assassins Creed Rogue ties together the stories of Black Flag and Assassin’s Creed 3 and also ropes in some important characters from the previous Assassins Creed games we played. Ubisoft have already confirmed that in this game, Shay will meet Haytham Kenway, Adewale, Connor’s mentor Achilles and also Benjamin Franklin, with whom Shay works for a brief time.

Shay meets the templar Haytham Kenway in this game

Gameplay

Rogue is set during the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), a time of friction between the European powers that shifted the trajectories of their many colonial holdings. This time period bridges the gap between the Age of Discovery and the start of colonial revolutions, i.e., from ACIII to ACIV to put in simple words. Also, Shay’s exploring uncharted territory takes him from the Appalachian River to the frozen North Atlantic. These locations act as a space between the environments of ACIII and ACIV, completing the Kenway saga. The game offers three massive maps : New York which is under threat from villian gangs, a network of rivers and islands, and North Atlantic Ocean where naval gameplay offers new twists and turns.

Shay has his own fair share of skills and weapons like grenade launchers, advanced rifles and poisons, given to him by the Templars to use. Eagle Vision is back in this game and can highlight threats to help Shay protect Assassin targets and neutralize the assassins. The game can be played in either way, as stealth and sneaking or all-out blasting, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use some distraction or destruction here and there.

Rogue offers numerous weapons from grenades to poisons

Rogue takes full advantage of the naval exploration with Shay’s ship The Morrigan. It’s smaller, faster and agile than the Jackdaw, Edward Kenway’s ship. The ship comes with a flammable oil-slick defence, rapid-fire deck cannons and a high-speed ram. The naval combat feels even smoother and faster-paced than it did last-time around, as you use your new techniques to wreak havoc on your foes.

There are lots of things to do in Rogue, shops and facilities to repair, hunting, item gathering, a lot of coastline to explore and getting cash and resources for upgrading, which will surely keep you pre-occupied when not playing the main campaign. Also there are French settlements and Assassin gang hideouts to take over, which has different victory conditions.

The Morrigan

Rogue gets close with the graphics quality of AC: Black Flag, but is given a more wintry spin with all ice, snow and black water. Even from a closer look it’s very obvious that the old AnvilNext engine still holds up pretty well, and there’s still some impressive detail to enjoy in this game.

First Impressions:

One thing is absolutely certain, AC: Rogue does seem to be like AC: Black Flag, part two. There is a lot of naval action, a lot of enemy HQs, and general look and feel is near identical. But, there are enough changes and connections to make Rogue very appealing to all gamers. We will have to wait till next week to see what it offers!