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Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia

Assassin's Creed comes to the 20th century with the third and final Chronicles title.

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We've played three Assassin's Creed Chronicles titles from Climax and Ubisoft since April last year (when Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China was released). That is a lot. Not that they're that large in scope, but much of the overall game design is the same between the three titles, and ultimately as a whole they fail to really make us care. That's not saying they're horrible games, they just feel a bit inconsequential.

The Chronicles titles are all 2.5D platformers with a heavy stealth component. At their best they allow players to use stealth to remain undetected and accomplish objectives and/or take out any Templars or enemies in their path. The mechanics are sound, and there is actually a few pretty clever ideas, and when the player is offered some larger environments to sneak around and explore ways to reach objectives, it's very enjoyable. The combat isn't as much fun, but once you have a few options at your disposal it works well and there is a certain amount of skill involved with dealing with different types of enemies in combat, dodging bullets and blocking attacks. It's not massively deep, but then again the objective here is not to be seen and thus not have to deal with open combat.

While there are differences in mechanics, for example in Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia you're equipped with a rifle that allows for both headshots and a means to distract guards through sound, said rifle is also fairly similar in purpose to other features in other games (knives in China and Chakrams in India had similar uses). One thing that's different in Russia is that Orelov is rather well equipped from the start, and a second character (Anastasia) adds a nice dynamic where she is much more stealth-oriented.

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Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia

The story is set to the backdrop of the Russian revolution and Orelov's personal agenda as an assassin looking for one last payday before his defection/retirement is a nice touch. There is also no loved one to save here, so it avoids the most overused tropes (unlike its predecessor). There is a narrative thread that runs through all three games, but to be fair they can also be enjoyed as one offs, sort of like how you can focus in on the story of a single main Assassin's Creed game and not care too much about the overarching storyline if that's your preference. The lore isn't imposed on the player, but that also means that for fans of the series they may be a bit light on the story side of things.

Each of the titles have had their own visual style and the Russian artstyle is brilliant. At times it feels like you're playing an old propaganda poster and the restrained colour scheme really speaks to us. Aesthetically this is the most successful entry of the three. It's not technically impressive, and we even encountered one or two glitches and issues with the game (whereas there were none in China or India), but it doesn't need to be technically advanced because the artstyle more than compensates for what it lacks on the technical side.

If you've been paying attention or read our previous reviews of the first two games in the mini-series then you know there's a "but" heading your way. The game mimics much of the pacing of the full scale Assassin's Creed games, and so in-between slow-paced open areas there are chase or timed sequences. And as the action heats up with each episode there are more of these. There's a fire you need to flee. You're being chased. You need to catch up with a train. To be perfectly honest this does not make for great gameplay.

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Assassin's Creed Chronicles: RussiaAssassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia

The animations that work well enough in the slow-paced stealth scenario are too long and laboured to let you adapt on the fly during a chase, and thus it becomes an exercise in trial and error where you'll fail simply because you didn't instinctively choose the correct route or option, and there is very little margin for error during these chase scenes. And so if you're not lucky (and skilled) enough to make it through in one go, you'll have to replay the same sequence over and over until you've optimised your route to make it in time. It's a source of frustration and can overshadow the pure stealth sections that are actually very enjoyable. Even set pieces like sniping guards from afar is fun as you explore ways to take them all out without alerting any of them to the danger.

The positives aside, this is a game that you'll likely be frustrated with at times, perhaps even furious. This can, in some instances, be a sign of a truly great game, but here it just feels cheap and poorly designed. As you'd expect there are more Challenge Rooms to take on here and they are well crafted and do away with some of the gimmicks that are littered through the campaign.

Simply put the game comes into its own when the player is given some degree of freedom, but sadly the main way in which challenge is introduced is by limiting the options for the player and forcing them to either take out a certain number of enemies to progress or race through a chase sequence. And as you'd expect the challenged is ramped up here leading to even more frustration than in China and India.

At the end of the day, the plots of these games aren't very engaging, even if Russia certainly stood out from the others, you'll instead play them if you're a fan of this sort of 2D stealth experience. It's just that there are better alternatives out there from a gameplay perspective. Still, they offer good value, and if while playing all three of them may be a bit much, and overly repetitive, if you're curious we'd recommend you give this last one a try as it stands out as the best of the bunch, mainly thanks to its powerful aesthetics and the more engaging plot, even if it may prove frustrating unless you're a natural at this sort of game.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia
07 Gamereactor UK
7 / 10
+
Solid stealth mechanics, Story is more engaging than in previous chapters, Nice artstyle.
-
Design relies in trial and error and can be a source of frustration, Feels a bit inconsequential and uninspired as a whole.
overall score
is our network score. What's yours? The network score is the average of every country's score

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