Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

All in the Name

Assassin's Creed: Victory - For a brief time, Assassin's Creed: Syndicate went by a different name. The game was mysteriously leaked on Kotaku December 2, 2014 only a month after the release of Assassin's Creed: Unity with a ton of misleading and erroneous content. The game itself wasn't officially revealed until May 12, 2015 under the new name. And boy did they go all out. They announced a couple of toys that was kind of cool (especially the realistic cane). They showed off the Rope Launcher. They included an obstacle course at E3 2015. Then there's the trailers: Debut Trailer, E3 Trailer, and a most interesting cinematic trailer (with Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus). Some dudes even decided to re-enact the parkour!

I just wish there was a cinematic highlighting the female character of the game - Evie. My perfect kind of trailer would be the shadow of a rook gliding over the city - the train tracks, the water, the roads - and then slowly split into two when approaching a warehouse filled with guards. That might insinuate a cooperative mode, but it would definitely be more impactful for me to know that there are two assassins in the fight against the corruption of London. The game was offered for free in Epic Games Store during February 20th-27th, 2020. You read that right. It was this year.

About: However, not many people will recognize the title of this game or what it was about. All they remember is "the one with the twins" in London during the Victorian era. It might have to do with the fact that the game only occurs during 1868 of the Industrial Revolution. As much as the game revolves around liberating children from factories, bringing down greedy corporate bosses, and fighting in the many turf wars between the gangs, you don't really see much from your actions that highlights why this "event" is so important in the first place. Many of the points made in the game refer to what happened to general locations over the years than what really happened during that time period. Even the Great Fire of London in 1666 sounded way cooler in the database than what England did after the bank crisis in 1825. They created the Limited Liability Act of 1855 and the Companies Acts of 1856 if you were curious.

Extra Content

Additional Content: There are two snazzy editions that have a new figurine: Charing Cross or (doubling in price with a real flask) Big Ben Edition. The Rooks Edition only had the less than attractive map of London. A huge problem comes when figuring out all the little extra stuff. The Darwin and Dickens Conspiracy has 3 missions that mostly revolve around the ridiculousness of their non-relevant friend John Hammon. The Runaway Train is a single mission where you have to stop a train by literally stomping out fires. A Long Night Out on the Town is a Season-Pass exclusive mission where you rescue a drunken Bob from some thugs. There are three content packs: Streets of London (with several unlocks), Victorian Legends Pack (with Bloofer Lady outfit for Evie), and Steampunk Pack (with Dr. Daniel's Garment's outfit for Jacob). The level 7 gear is pretty fair, high enough to be used endgame but low enough that the collectible gear is still better.

Let's not forget all the other stuff! Ubisoft Club provides "legacy" outfits - Élise, Aveline, Shao Jun, Ezio, and Edward (as well as other rewards). The Sherlock Holmes look of the Huntsman's Outfit from the Gold Edition. Things get confusing with some of the other outfits like The Creature's Rags, Steampunk Outfit, Victorian Legends Outfit, Suave Outfit, and Nighthawk Outfit. Why does Ubisoft have to make things so complicated?

The Dreadful Crimes DLC: I don't know why Ubisoft decided to make the release of this pack so complicated. It was released roughly 4 months later and made exclusive to the Playstation 4. Then a few weeks later on April 11th 2016, they made it available to PC. You cannot get it on the Xbox One, through the Season Pass, or Gold Edition. This is an utter shame since the 10 detective missions are the best thing in the world. It took me roughly 5 hours to complete and loved every minute of it. They are twice as complex as Assassin's Creed: Unity Murder Mysteries.

You discuss certain cases with Henry Raymond and his young assistant Arthur Conan Doyle. Fans of the Sherlock Holmes books will recognize these names almost instantly. Text highlighting important details float around objects you are interacting with. Objects you can interact with will shimmer after using Eagle Vision. You are allowed to interrogate people by asking them about various topics. Although the missions do not tell you the total number of locations to explore, it will tell you to "continue the investigation" or when you have found all available data entries. Red plus signs will appear over people's heads when new information provides you with more questions to ask them. Definitely worth buying.

Jack the Ripper DLC: Taking place after the main campaign in the year of 1888, the infamous Jack the Ripper is terrorizing Whitechapel. Evie is called away from India to save Jacob and find out the truth behind the events. You gradually make your way through 10 memories, unlocking 21 new activities for 3 new associates. Within the city are 70 chests, 30 Helix Glitches, and a handful of new items and equipment. Your lady assassin is now at the age of 41 years old and doesn't quite have the special ability to camouflage like she used to. However, she gained the ability to spray a chemical through the use of a spike and grenade that instills fear into its victims. Striking your target through a "brutal take-down" will also give out the same effect.

The quality of the content is extraordinary. You chase down Jack's trail to a couple of new excluded locations. You can use harlots to help you distract the guards. The list of activities is overwhelming. Although I applaud it for expanding on your ability to investigate the murders related to the case, I am not as keen to the sections where you play as the villain as others would be. Terrorizing words appear on the screen that force you to "rid of all the witnesses and evidence" that would lead the assassin back to you. There doesn't seem to be a way to skip these sections. Everything else was pretty good for the 5 hours I played.

My Grandpa Runs Better

Technical Nightmare: Assassin's Creed: Syndicate is very poorly optimized. Since you can move through the city at much faster speeds than Assassin's Creed: Unity, the game has a huge problem loading everything around you. I tried everything: removing lighting effects to increase fps, going borderless window, changing priority in task manager, and changing the refresh rate. Nothing worked. Seeing that you can't skip the Nvidia ad in the beginning, I broke down and downloaded the Nvidia GeForce Experience. After pressing the optimal button, my settings were nearly reset to the default high settings while changing Ambient Occlusion to HBAO+ and Anti-Aliasing to FXAA. It didn't remove the massive stuttering and long loading times from the game but it did reduce them to a tolerable level. I guess the good news is I finally get to read those tips while waiting for a mission to load.

What's Wrong Now? The Assassin Creed series is a lot like the Fallout series. They aren't polished games. There is just so much happening that you sort of expect at least one thing to go wrong at any given moment. I ignored it for a long time, but I can now say for certain that something went wrong with every mission - your target never appears, a carriage gets stuck in a building, there is a misspelling in the subtitles or data entries, people clip into benches, train never came down the rails, the target you have to follow doesn't move or mysteriously resets, game gets stuck loading forever or gets stuck trying to complete a mission, not having enough explosives to sabotage the supplies on a boat, people randomly dying off-screen, people not dying, people not in position during a cutscene, placing dynamite on an uneven surface causes it to instantly explode, you need to fast travel to unlock the next mission, tackle prompts but you still miss, or the game priorities picking up a body over kidnapping a guy that steps on top of it. These are just the things from the top of my head. Though I will admit that it never got so bad where things were invisible or objects flew into the air.

Gameplay

New Features: Because London is a big place with such wide roads, Ubisoft came up with a series of solutions to reduce the strain of traveling long distances. They give you a rope launcher that allows you to instantly travel between two climbable points. A left bumper prompt will appear at your destination. You don't even have to look up to use it. You can drive or hijack any of the various carriages that are seen throughout the city. One particular gang upgrade will allow you to call forth your very own carriage full of clowns rooks. Your hideout is now located in your very own train (named "Bertha" from Agnes). You can check out your souvenirs from the missions, collect revenue, and converse with people for certain activities. You can also click on one of the windows to sight-see the city from around six camera angles from the moving train.

Fun Fixes: Contrary to the humiliating combat Assassin's Creed: Unity had, Ubisoft did a wonderful job making the fights in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate fun again. They automated the ability to take cover behind objects without pressing the 'A' button. Seeing when an enemy blocks is much more clearer with an added white "armor" bar that appears over their vitals. They removed any alternative weapons that replace your primary one and added all the options to the directional pad. You can whistle by pressing down on the directional pad. They removed the additional button press to jump over or slide under objects and automated your response (while holding the right trigger to run). The game now prompts you with a 'B' button when you are able to tackle someone. They have reverted the Eagle Vision back to highlight and show targets indefinitely (as long as you don't run). They got rid of the lockpicking mini-game. They added the ability to see a white button press and a yellow button hold to objects you can interact with.

Fun Fire: One of the biggest changes in the game I immediately noticed is how much easier it is to keep track of gunfire. A 'Y' Button appears above your head with a red circular timer that prompts you to dodge, not by rolling on the ground but by automatically shifting your head to the side a few inches. No longer does the prompt appear on the side of screen. No longer is it possible for them to shoot you if you roll too soon. No longer will they automatically hit you from a mile away or if you are climbing a building. In fact, press the 'Y' button again after you dodge to return fire even if you don't have it equipped! The game still requires you to use the left trigger to aim and 'Y' button to use your currently equipped item. However, they made it much easier now that your reticle sticks to your target as they move.

Level Up: The retained leveling system in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate isn't as daunting as it was in Assassin's Creed: Unity. They removed "sync points" to learn your abilities and allowed you obtain them all rather early in the main campaign like the previous games. These include fun things like hallucination darts that cause berserk status and can spread when coming in contact with fire and voltaic bombs that shock enemies. You can choose between brass knuckles, cane-swords (stun), and kukri (lethality) as your main weapon. They are not tied to any specific assassin. There are various equipment and outfits that you can unlock to help alleviate the damage from higher leveled enemies. Every 1000 experience you obtain through missions or activities will net you one point to spend towards your skill tree. And I have to say that it is pretty massive. Although you have to spend points uniquely to each assassin, both of them will earn the same amount of points no matter which one you use in the game. The only difference is that Evie has the ability to increase her stealth and cloak without moving while Jacob can take less damage and headshot enemies when returning fire. Those with a season pass obtain a "permanent" 10% xp boost (it really is just a 10-hour boost that resets when it runs out). You can also spend money on gang upgrades that can do a wide-range of things from increasing your revenue to making sure people don't randomly taunt you on the streets anymore.

Expenses: The biggest drawback of the game is that your currency is highly regulated. Nearly everything requires a high price to pay. Many items will cost the sum of 10 chests, double that if you count the upgrade. You will constantly be juggling your funds between gang upgrades, weapons, equipment, colors, outfits, and crafting. This isn't a bad thing! For once they did a fairly decent job balancing the amount you get from missions, activities, chests, and kids as you level up. Just make sure you keep looting that chest in your train hideout.

Associates

Where is the Information? One of the main staples of the series is the ability to reclaim the city by completing objectives in the various regions. One thing Assassin's Creed: Syndicate adds is an additional layer of gaining "influence" for your known associates. You can earn several rewards from completing a number of the activities that contribute to their cause. Complete all of them to obtain the level 10 reward from its 5th and final tier. However, the way they handled knowing some of your targets was rather counter-intuitive. Instead of informing you about your target, the game merely lets you know that there is a new database entry. The game doesn't show you the data on the screen, tell you what the entry is about, prompt you to press a button to access the account, show you a cutscene, or even display the strengths and weaknesses of your target when pressing the right analog stick to "identify" the target. No, you have to search for the entry yourself.

Henry Green: Your clumsy assassin friend's true name is Jayadeep Mir. The reason he changed it is pretty funny. Your activities include 18 Templar Hunts (+350 influence) and 12 Gang Strongholds (+750 influence). The Templar Hunts requires you to kill a certain target. As an added bonus, there is an optional objective to perform a unique way in killing your target. On the other hand, Gang Strongholds generally require you to clear the area. You are given the option to burn plans, kill leaders, and rescue rooks for more money, but all these things were rather frivolous when you could have more fun gathering them all together in the middle of the square.

Clara O’Dea: This isn't your typical little girl. From the moment you meet her, you know she means business. The only activity she offers is to liberate the children from 12 Factories (+750 influence). You don't have to kill everyone. Your main goal is to free the children. Killing the foreman or finishing without a guard using a bell alarm are completely optional. You will know you are in the right place when the song of sad children plays in the background. After freeing them, you can walk up to kids in the street and get anywhere from crafting material, consumables, or 5000 pounds! Don't ask me how they got 'em. Just don't move when pressing the right bumper. The kids will walk straight to your initial location once pressing the button and stand there like a moron if you aren't there. They easily scare too if there is something happening nearby. The Legendary Assassin Gauntlet and the girl's sweet hug at the end makes it all worthwhile.

Ned Wynert: Ok, let's talk about this... person. Even the database entry can be confusing. This girl "abandoned" her old persona and replaced it with a masculine one. Not only did my brain immediately recognize the female voice but I also had flashbacks to Naoto Shirogane in Persona 4. Your activity involves raiding 20 Carriages (+500 influence), Trains (+250 influence), and Boats (+250 influence). These opportunities can randomly appear anywhere on the map. However, I ultimately abandoned these missions. I think it might have to do something with chasing after these targets if anything goes wrong. I'm not totally sure why. At least I can attest to Ubisoft studio - Reflections doing a fantastic job making all the carriage mechanics as smooth as they possibly did for this game.

Robert Topping: This fruity maniac looks like he is straight from a Need for Speed racetrack. He asks you to help out in 12 Races (+250 influence) and 7 Fight Clubs (+1000 influence). Unfortunately, his activities are split between the fun and tiresome. The races are entirely too strict with the timer and bogged down my computer with everything that was loading in the background. Yet the fight clubs help with some of those tricky perks. The extra cash can be pretty good too.

Frederick Abberline: I love this guy. Yes, the guy who looked into the Jack the Ripper cases in 1888. His costumes are a hoot. I guess the guy loved us too since he tears up a little when waving you farewell. He gives 18 Bounty Hunts (+560 influence). The game gives you the option to kill the target. However, it is much more immersive if you read into the database entry to find out how they will act once you face them. Wait a couple minutes before engaging to hear them rant about whatever they are doing and kidnap them to hear them try and defend their actions. If you knock them unconscious, you'll miss out on some interesting dialogue. Once you shove them in the back of the cart, don't worry if they start screaming for help as you barrel down the street. As long as you can still see them through the little window in the back of the cart, you'll be alright.

Collectibles

How Many Are there? Just because London is 30% bigger than Paris in Assassin's Creed: Unity doesn't mean it is ok to add 30% more things to collect. And just because I spent a total run-time of 45 hours on the game doesn't mean I enjoyed gathering them all up. A lot of that is from reading the logs and waiting for the game to load.

221/345 Treasure Chests: Most of the treasure chests are easy to find. They have a very minimal amount of 300 pounds and crafting materials, even with the added bonus from the gang upgrade. I wouldn't go out of your way to collect them unless you are passing them by.

112/180 Helix Glitches: I started to gather these at first because the intel files are rather hilarious to listen to. Sure, there isn't a way to know how long each file lasts or watch the display of a simple playback line to see how far along it is while you listen to it. Still, they are pretty much required to understand that weird ending. Most can be collected by using your rope, jumping into haystacks, or reaching high points within the city. The reason why I stopped was that they cruelly only give you 6 playable files while locking away the other 4 behind a bunch of text files containing nonsensical ranting of people I don't care about. That's when you know it's time to pull out YouTube.

5/32 Secrets of London: It was rather interesting that I ran through the entire game collecting any "secrets" I could find and I only managed to collect a total of 5. There is no way I could deduce where they are from an obscure "riddle" that doesn't even specify what area they are in. The only way they appear on the map is if you get close enough and use your Eagle Vision. You can hear little jingles from the music boxes that contain the items to open up the device for the armor. People suggest using helix credits to unlock the map for all the glitches. Of course Ubisoft would do that to you.

20/20 Vintage Bear Bottles: Found within every tavern of the city are these little beer bottles resting on one of the countertops. Once you collect one, a new database entry appears where Shaun uses exaggerated metaphors to describe the taste and flavor of the beer. Now, I'd like to point out that I highly doubt any of these beers are real. Therefore, I don't believe any of Shaun's "tasting reviews" are real either. I still don't know what "Moult de couronnes, plus de vertus" means. I guess it wouldn't hurt to stick around in a tavern and listen to one of the guys sing you a song. There are a few recorded in the soundtrack you can check out. But I think they should have done something more - added a little effect every time you picked one up, allowed you to play chess at one of the tables, or at the very least have you sit down or lean back in one of the booths while the guy plays the piano. Oh well.

50/50 Illustrations: I bet these illustrations are made-up too. They aren't hard to collect. One will always be at the intersection of an alleyway connecting with the main street. They don't appear on the screen, but the new ones are highlighted in the database. There isn't much reason to collect them other that they are there.

30/30 Pressed Flowers: Usually located in an isolated spot on a bench or grave site, these data entries show off a nice little illustration of a flower and a poetic description of what it represents. I couldn't find the exact source of the writing, but there appears to be some truth to the Language of Flowers that was described by Victoria. Unlike the illustrations, collecting a set number of pressed flowers will unlock different colors for your outfit. Every now and then you will be able to see a cute lovey cutscene between Evie and Henry.

12 Royal Correspondences & 10 Letters From The Front: 12 letters can be found around the palace that touch on what the royals would talk about outside the public eye. 10 letters can be found inside "The Rift" that describe some conditions, hopes, dreams of various people during that time period. These don't do anything other than give you a little bit of backstory.

Story

Modern Day: Gone are the days where you wander around a giant office. Instead you are introduced to some video feed of your favorite team - Bishop, Shaun, and Rebekah. The cinematography is pretty nice during each of the cutscenes. It's too bad that the series ends here chronologically. You'll also see the assassin Galina Voronina pop in for assistance. Don't be ashamed if you don't know who that is. Neither did I. Her backstory is in the discontinued Assassin's Creed: Initiates (Access the Animus backup) and any new entry of her is in Titan Comics series Assassin's Creed: Assassins (what a name) and Assassin's Creed: Uprising. You'll get to see what became of Otso Berg and his "Sigma Team" from the previous games.

The Twins: As you progress through the missions, you'll start to realize that you will be playing two assassins throughout the game. Their attributes are about 90% identical. For example, you upgrade belts for Jacob and capes for Evie but they both benefit their stealth and defense. The difference is the game gives you the option to level them up distinctly from one another and switch them at any time before accepting a mission.

Your campaign will be shown from two perspectives, one where Jacob hunts down a series of targets and another where Evie searches for the Piece of Eden. Their banter is hilarious. You can choose between the two for most side-missions. Fight Clubs will provoke Jacob to rip off his shirt while Evie only wears a tank top (it was a good way to make money for Sherlock Holmes). Completing gang events will have that person speak out to the crowd at the end of the mission. Things can even get a bit confusing when you choose one of the Frye twins for an early mission and follow-up with the other later on. The "recollection" of events will prioritize to whoever you picked in the latter assignment.

Campaign: As much as I enjoyed the surrealism of the comedic duo in a cartoon setting, I'd have to agree that the story is kind of lacking. A lot of the missions feel dis-jointed when you bounce around between both perspectives. Things move rather fast when they suddenly want to go to London, luckily win a bet that earns them a train, and sort of stumble into all these important figures. Don't get me wrong. They do a lot of creative things. They tell the sad story of what happened to the Kenway Mansion after Edward came home from his pirating days in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. They use the "drunken state" from the previous game for Jacob's night out on the town. Memory 8 has a beautiful theater. They also made the wild decision to make the credits completely optional, not even coming up when the game ends. They even added some crazy songs this time around! But each cutscene feels extremely short and contrived. I guess if you really wanted to know more about the story, you'd dig into those database entries.

London Stories: Listen, I'm going to be pretty blunt here. I don't think I really "learned" anything from doing these missions. 6 Charles Dickens Memories have you chasing down ghost stories. 5 Charles Darwin Memories have you chasing down those who oppose his theories. 5 Karl Marx Memories have you performing various radical tasks. 4 Queen Victoria Memories have you tracking down explosives. 3 Darwin & Dickens Conspiracy Memories (DLC) have you doing some stupid things for John Hammon. The only redeemable missions are the 5 Train Hideout Memories (and a couple are DLC-dependent). They have you helping out Nigel with some train-related activities, including the use of a Gatling gun!

World War: On the large map, at the end of the Thames river, lies a "Rift" that the game never points you to. Once you touch it, you'll enter Lydia Frye memories of 1916 during the first World War. Although you already knew that the main protagonists would live by the end of the game, the database entries tell that this person is the grand-daughter of Jacob Frye and was trained under Evie Frye. The content in itself could be best described as a DLC. It has its own missions, letters, and activities. You fight against zeppelins (which the Germans really did use during the war). You are personally met by Winston Churchill! My theory is Ubisoft might have thrown out a poll at one time to see what setting people most wanted the series to be in next and World War 1 was at the top. In any case, unlocking things in this region would most definitely benefit you in the London area.

Miscellaneous Notes

Carriages: I've touched on a few things about the carriages. You can use them to get across the city quickly. You can shove your kidnapped or unconscious bodies into the back for transportation. You can participate in a series of races. Yet, there are still a few things I didn't mention. It is entirely possible for you to hide in the back of a cart. You can get on the roof of one and jump over to another one use the left bumper. You can quick-shot enemies while driving. A GPS will show you the quickest route to your destination. You can break using the left trigger and even slowly back up after coming to a complete stop. Pressing the 'A' button will whip your horse for some added boost. Although your characters will comment on the horses that carry you around, they aren't personally exclusive to the carriage from a gameplay standpoint. They will run over everything without stopping and spontaneously "jump" to the side when ramming enemies. The one thing I wished the game had was the ability for your rooks to take control of the vehicle. They are so dumb that they refuse to get back into the driving position while carrying cargo when they engage the blighters.

Running Away: The very first thing I noticed when trying to run away from the police is that my health bar is now tucked in the bottom left-hand corner with the mini-map. The second thing I realized was that there is a hatch on nearly every roof that enemies will "pop" out of to attack you. While still running away, the third thing I found out was that jumping through a window was now wrapped to the left bumper instead of the left trigger. I felt like turning around and shouting "I don't want to fight! I want to sing!" But the policeman have some mean whistles and batons at their disposal.

Things only got worse when trying to chase down enemies. If they didn't go 90mph after hijacking a carriage, they seem to always outrun me. And why did one of my targets have to be "The Fastest Runner in London"? Man that guy could run! Sometimes I just wish that the game would differentiate between a target that I could "tackle" and a target that I would never catch up with... maybe "chase" would be a better word. It's like playing against some Need for Speed car that somehow is always at a set distance from you no matter what speed you are going.

Review

Assassin's Creed Syndicate sidesteps its predecessors with a host of improved gameplay mechanics and unique story-telling. Utilizing the setting of London, the game balances out its larger landscape by adapting new alternative ways to get around the city through the use of trains, carriages, and a rope launcher. Although the game lacks any form of multiplayer, following both perspectives from the dynamic duo assassins can be entertaining, refreshing, and enjoyable. However, the game still suffers from a wide-range of technical glitches and poor optimization. This becomes abundantly apparent when traversing the city at higher speeds never before seen in the series. The story also dramatically suffers when side-missions are reduced to simple fetch quests and its history is buried behind a series of database logs. I'd wait for the game to go on sale before trying it out.

 

6-27-2020