The Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered review

When Assassin's Creed: Rogue was released in 2014, it was met with a certain skepticism and in part even snubbed by the general public, dazzled on the one hand by Assassin's Creed: Unity, first and ambitious chapter of the series for next generation consoles, on the other hand convinced that the game was a sort of sop for fans of the "old" PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. In reality, the title developed by Ubisoft Sofia, assisted by others studies within the French company, including that of Milan, turned out to be much more than that "stepson" that many feared. And today, which is re-proposed in a remastered 1080p edition complete with the various bonus contents released at the time, (other additional contents are unlocked through the rewards of the Ubisoft Club) there is an opportunity for many fans to discover what the net of a limited longevity and old-fashioned mechanics, it is perhaps one of the most interesting chapters of the saga, at least from the point of view of the story. In fact, the episode offers for the first time a different perspective in the eternal struggle between Assassins and Templars, highlighting the reasons of those who for many chapters have represented only the enemy to be killed, and thus placing the gamer in the shoes of one of the latter, in a pleasant and particularly obscure story written by Richard Farrese, whose only flaw is perhaps not having dug even deeper into the struggling soul of the protagonist.



Shay the Templar

From this point of view, the game completes the history of the Kenways and that of the New World, nestling between Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Assassin's Creed III, with Assassins and Templars who compete to take control of colonial America, on the background of the Franco-Indian wars, of the first settlements and naval battles, in a mixture of events and facts as always halfway between the historical and the fantastic. The protagonist of the adventure is Shay Patrick Cormac, a type with a strong and rebellious nature who joins the Brotherhood of Assassins at a young age, but then leaves it after a particularly traumatic experience that pushes him to become their bitter enemy . And it is precisely his presence that makes the work "original", because if it is true that in Assassin's Creed III the gamer had already worn the shoes of a Templar, Haytham Kenway, here he does it for almost the entire adventure, not for a single portion, with all the implications of the case as regards the evolution of the plot and certain mechanics.



The Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered review

In terms of playability, in fact, the title is stylistically anchored to Assassin 's Creed IV: Black Flag, and therefore does not propose radical changes or the innovations seen in the most modern chapters. But playing with the characteristics of the new character and his deployment, the developers have tried to vary the experience by reworking tasks, strategies and arsenal in this perspective. As a Templar, in fact, the player finds himself carrying out "inverted" tasks compared to those he used to do playing an Assassin, and therefore protecting some characters of the Order from the attacks of the Brotherhood, eliminating the most important local followers after having snuck into their strongholds, or carry out secondary missions with the constant threat of being hunted and hit by surprise by one of the Creed's ex-companions. The latter are in turn chasing Shay, and it is not uncommon to have to deal with one of them emerging from the shadows. while perhaps the protagonist is in turn stationed to make an ambush for some objective.

The Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered review

PlayStation 4 Trophies

Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered offers players 47 Trophies to unlock, distributed throughout the adventure. They are divided into 30 bronze, 14 silver, two gold and one platinum and are obtained upon the completion of particular moments in history or the achievement of some objective.


In the seas of the North Atlantic

To eliminate enemies, Shay has an arsenal that offers a greater range of alternatives than its illustrious predecessors, with several long-range firearms such as the multifunctional and silent air rifle, perfect for acting from the shadows. As if that weren't enough, he knows some new moves that add to those he learned when he was part of the Assassins, like the ability to suffocate enemies with brutal and rapid hangings. Even in the open face and hand-to-hand clashes the protagonist is able to show off a whole series of special techniques, which combined with the paraphernalia in his possession make him a real war machine. Although the basic approach to fighting remains very similar to what was seen in the chapters of the past generation of consoles, as evidenced not only by the persistence of weapons such as swords and hidden blades, but also by opponents not able to offer a level of challenge. adequate, having more solutions available remains an important aspect.


The Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered review

Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered continues directly in the groove traced by the fourth chapter as well as regards the exploration and distribution of events in the game, harmonizing in a more organic way the action phases on land with those of navigation. Also in this episode there are in fact the missions aboard a ship, on the seas and rivers, with some additions to the consolidated structure of Black Flag which includes assaults on the forts (in this edition the bonus mission of The Siege of Fort de Sable) or other vessels to plunder and then resell or integrate into your fleet, for use in a special minigame. Among the small news is the risk that the gamer falls victim to a boarding by the Assassins, or the possibility of interacting with portions of the surrounding environment, especially with icebergs. These authentic floating ice mountains, in fact, can be strategically exploited as a cover to avoid a cannonade or, by counterattacking, as a weapon: once torn apart by a couple of well-aimed cannon fire, the icebergs can cause an anomalous wave that hits the ships, destroying the smaller ones and making the larger ones unstable to control and therefore more vulnerable for a few moments. The perfect opportunity, therefore, to unleash the entire arsenal against them and sink them.


The Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered review

A world to explore

In this sense, the Morrigan, Cormac's ship, can count on a set of advanced devices, which allow it to take advantage of a series of attack and defense solutions a little more varied than in the past. In addition to the traditional primary and secondary guns, mortars and hooks for boarding enemy ships, for example, the Templars have prototypes at their disposal, such as the Puckle cannon transformed into a sort of devastating machine gun capable of tearing apart vessels in seconds, while to keep at a safe distance or even block potential pursuers, making them desist from the idea, together with the classic flammable barrels or mines, there is a fuel oil to be released into the sea and set on fire.


The Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered review

The terrestrial exploration phases are instead characterized by the presence of many locations where you can devote yourself to many activities, including the traditional secondary missions we mentioned at the beginning, or those that include the looting of the warehouses of the forts and the supply fields, the exploitation of mainland income from outposts, restored buildings and hunting, and so on. And again, participate in special events and treasure hunts, from that of the Templars to that of the Vikings, up to the bonus mission of the original edition in search of Sir Gunn's armor, moving along extremely suggestive paths. In addition to the river valleys of the American continent and the New York area, particularly fascinating are the Nordic areas, which represent a characterizing element of much of the atmosphere of this chapter.

The Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered review

Better than the original?

The world of Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered appears alive and reactive, thanks to the excellent level design which, as written before, effectively intersperses settings on land and on the sea, and a direction that among other things seems, in some moments, to want to drive for hand the player so as not to make him miss even a moment of the flow of events that punctuate the adventure. From a visual point of view, the transition to 1080p resolution seems to have benefited the work: the image is more defined, and based on the PC version of the original game a handful of slightly more complex textures have been implemented to give more detail to characters and scenarios, which are also "fuller" given the presence of a greater number of natural elements to reinvigorate the vegetation and fauna of the areas.

The Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered review

In general we see an improvement in the rendering of the environment, and even if the engine and graphics solutions are obviously not comparable to those of more recent productions such as Origins or even Unity, the game, however, knows how to return a beautiful overview, offering rather well-managed environmental glimpses, accomplices of the good particle effects and a pleasant as well as improved management of lights and shadows, whose definition and resolution have been improved. Good modeling of the characters, with an appreciable effort in facial acting, a little less certain animations, which in some cases seem a little limited. Moving on to the audio sector, the dubbing in Spanish is good, well acted for large sections of the adventure with the right interpretative tonality depending on the moment or the mood of the characters. In the same way, the soundtrack is spot on, edited by the composer Elitsa Alexandrova, which boasts some tracks sung such as the splendid choral melody of the Agnus Dei. The music, which ranges from songs reminiscent of the typical Irish ballads, to those of certain action films with a historical setting, then adequately accompany every single phase of the game.

The Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered review

Comment

Tested version PlayStation 4 Resources4Gaming.com

7.5

Readers (16)

8.3

Your vote

Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered is a good edition of a title that was not appreciated at the time as it would have deserved by the general public. However, he has the opportunity to remedy and give a chance to an interesting product in terms of narrative and setting. The game, as we wrote in the review, remains stylistically anchored to Assassin 's Creed IV: Black Flag - and in this perspective it certainly cannot be defined as a surprising episode - yet thanks to the positive aspects mentioned above, it could please long-time fans , provided of course you turn a blind eye to the mechanics that have now passed and to a good technical sector, but not up to the chapters born for the hardware of this generation of consoles. Therefore recommended to those who have not played it on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC or to those who have done so and want to return to relive this adventure in the loaves of a Templar.

PRO

  • The fight between Templars and Assassins from an unprecedented point of view
  • A fascinating character and a vast world to explore, both by land and by sea
  • Significant technical improvements and all bonus content from the original
  • Nice to play despite not exactly innovative gameplay
AGAINST
  • The old mechanics may no longer appeal to those who have become accustomed to those of Origins
  • The main story is relatively short when compared to that of other chapters
  • The phases that take place in the present are quite boring
  • Some historical flaws of the saga remain, such as undemanding enemies in combat
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