Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018)

 The most recent release in the Assassin's Creed series before Valhalla is released this week was Assassin's Creed Odyssey. It was released for Windows, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on October 5th, 2018. 

Plot

Odyssey is set against the backdrop of the Peloponnesian War, where the player experiences the war as either Kassandra or Alexios, a brother and sister who are grandchildren of King Leonidas of Sparta. The misthios, as they are known, lives on Kefalonia away from the brewing war and dealing with a local warlord. They are approached by a wealthy man, Elpenor, who tasks the misthios with assassinating a Spartan general known as the Wolf. 

The misthios recalls that the Wolf was their father. They had an infant sibling that was ordered to be sacrificed by the Oracle and the misthios had killed a man by trying to stop their sibling from being killed. The Wolf, who's real name is Nikolaos, had thrown the misthios off of a cliff for the crime. The misthios goes to confront Nikolaos, who reveals that he is not their father and that their mother is still alive. 

The misthios goes after Elpenor, who flees. They track him down and kill him, taking a disguise he had to infiltrate a meeting Elpenor was going to. There, the misthios discovers the Cult of Kosmos (a stand in for the Templars as the Order of the Ancients was in Origins) and that their sibling is still alive, having been taken in by the Cult and conditioned into serving them as the "demigod" Deimos. 

The misthios works to eradicate the Cult, enlisting allies such as the historian Herodotus and Pericles. They also search for their mother and find her in command of an island out in the Aegean Sea. Myrinne tells them that their real father is Pythagoras and invites them to try to find him. The misthios finds Pythagoras in holed up in Atlantis, kept alive well past his normal lifespan by a Precursor artifact known as the Staff of Hermes. 

Pythagoras sends the misthios to gather several Precursor artifacts so he could seal Atlantis once and for all. They oblige him and convince him to give up the Staff so Atlantis can stay sealed forever. Pythagoras dies as a result and the misthios seals Atlantis. 

Back in the war, the misthios is unable to stop Deimos from killing the Athenian leader Pericles, and his rival Cleon takes power in Athens. Cleon is a ranking member of the Cult, however, and the misthios kills him in retaliation. 

With the Cult largely broken, the misthios and Myrinne go to confront Deimos, where they can either fight him or get them to stand down. Afterwards, the misthios can return to the meeting place of the Cult and interact with a Precursor artifact there to show visions of the future. The leader of the Cult is revealed as well as Pericles' wife, Aspasia, who thanks the misthios for destroying the Cult as it had gone far beyond what she envisioned. The player can either kill or let Aspasia live. 

In the modern story, Layla Hassan is looking for the Staff of Hermes and using the information gathered from reliving the misthios' memories, gains access to Atlantis. There she finds the misthios, who had been kept alive by the Staff of Hermes over the past 2400 years. They give Layla the Staff, saying that the world needs both order and chaos and that she is prophesied to maintain that balance. 

Gameplay

This game is undeniably massive. Where Origins game map was roughly 80 square kilometers, Odyssey is 256 square kilometers, roughly half of which is open sea. The player can explore the Greek mainland all the way up to Macedonia and the islands that make up the Aegean Sea as far south as Crete. 

Naval combat returns as an integral part of the game for the first time since Rogue (it was present in Origins, but only as part of certain quests). The player can use the ship to fight in naval battles between Athens and Sparta, along with exploring the various islands of the Greek world. 

Each region is either under Athenian or Spartan control and the player and aid or hinder either side by attacking enemy camps, assassinating regional commanders, and fighting in conquest battles. Several of these battles are tied into the main storyline as well. 

Where Origins improved armor through crafting upgrades and the player could change weapons freely, in Odyssey the player can freely exchange both weapons and armor. The best weapons and armor can be obtained by killing Cult members. Weapons and armor can be upgraded with the player's level, though it can be expensive as they require materials such as iron and cedarwood. Eagle Vision again returns in the form of an actual eagle, this time named Ikaros. 

The wanted system makes a return in this game for the first time since Rogue. A ladder of sorts exists with other mercenaries in the Greek world and committing illegal actions will draw in attacks from other mercenaries. However, killing these mercenaries will advance the player up the rankings, which unlocks bonuses like discounts in item shops. 

Hunting Cult members is a massive undertaking on its own. There are 43 Cult members across the Greek world, all of which are revealed by discovering clues in the world. The Cult is divided up into several categories, all of which is headed by a high level leader. 

There are over a hundred side quests unrelated to the main campaign, that range from carrying out local contracts to hunting down boss animals all over Greece. Mythological aspects make their way into the game as well, as part of the Atlantis storyline sees the player fighting the Cyclops, the Minotaur, Medusa, and getting challenged to a battle of riddles with the Sphinx. 

As mentioned before, levelling returns in this game, though the skill tree is not as expansive as it was in Origins. The abilities, however, take on a more mythological bend, in that the player can avoid all fall damage (which is something I did not mind after all the times I fell to my death in the last ten games), along with being able to use overpowered attacks and gaining the ability to have a permanent flaming sword. 

Thoughts

I'm an overall fan of bigger, more epic experiences. Avengers: Endgame is three hours long? Sign me up. I own all of the extended Lord of the Rings movies, the last of which is four hours and twenty minutes long. The first time I played through Origins, I spent 66 hours on it. Odyssey was at least a hundred. One of the general criticism was how massive the game was, but that was not a concern for me. 

I liked the return to full naval gameplay as well. Naturally triremes were a bit more unwieldy to sail as opposed to the eighteenth century vessels of III, Black Flag, and Rogue, but it was endearing to be able to split a ship in half after crippling it by throwing javelins and firing arrows at it. 

This game was largely predicated on player choice, something that was not present in any game before. I could choose to kill or spare certain adversaries, pursue any relationship I pleased, or simply get into philosophical debates with Sophocles any time I wanted. 

Still though, it did not really feel like an Assassin's Creed game, even more so than Black Flag, mainly because the setting was so far back in time it preceded everything familiar about the Assassin's Brotherhood, including the Hidden Blade. With Valhalla being set in the 800s, I don't expect this to be that much of an issue the next time around. 

Assassin' Creed Origins (2017)

 Following a year off from releasing a new game in the series, Ubisoft released Assassin's Creed Origins on October 27, 2017 for PS4, Xbox One, and Windows. 

Plot

Layla Hassan is working in Egypt at the behest of Abstergo to locate an artifact in the desert. Instead, Hassan finds the mummified remains of Bayek and Aya, two members of a precursor group to the Assassins known as the Hidden Ones. Despite not having clearance, Layla uses the DNA from the mummies to look into their lives with an Animus she modified herself. 

In Ptolemaic Egypt, Bayek is the last Medjay, a person who was traditionally charged with the protection of the Pharaoh, but in Bayek's time had been extended to protecting all of Egypt. Bayek resides in Siwa, which houses a Precursor vault. Bayek and his son Khemu are abducted by masked men only known by animal names (The Heron, the Ibis, etc). The masked men want to get into the vault, but when Bayek tries to fight back, Khemu is killed. 

A year later, Bayek has been hunting the five masked men, having first killed the one known as the Heron. He arrives back in Siwa and kills the Ibis, who had been torturing the residents of Siwa to get information on the Vault. He learns his wife, Aya, is in Alexandria hunting other masked men. Bayek learns she has killed the Vulture and the Ram, and she is currently tracking the Snake. She gives Bayek a Hidden Blade and sends him after the Snake. 

Bayek discovers that the Snake is Ptolemy's royal scribe and ambushes him with the Hidden Blade. It costs Bayek his finger to use the blade, but the scribe is killed. The scribe indicates that there is more to the masked men besides the five that Bayek and Aya killed. Bayek seeks more information and gets into contact with Cleopatra, the sister of the current Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII. She tells Bayek that there are more masked men, who are known as the Order of Ancients. The scribe Bayek killed was not known as the Snake, but rather the Hippo. 

She points Bayek in the direction of other masked men, which included the Scarab, the Hyena, the Crocodile, and the Lizard. Bayek assassinates all four of them while Aya works to secure help for Cleopatra from the Roman general Pompey. She sends a letter to Bayek to let him know there are two other members of the Order, the Jackal and the Scorpion. 

Bayek finds that the Jackal is Lucius Septimius, a Roman stationed in Alexandria charged with protecting the royal family. Septimius kills Pompey before he can aid Cleopatra. Instead, Bayek and Aya sneak Cleopatra into the royal palace in Alexandria to get her into contact with another Roman, Julius Caesar. Caesar is impressed with Cleopatra and allies with her. Bayek kills the Scorpion but is stopped from killing Septimius by Caesar, who claims he will face Roman justice for Pompey's death. Ptolemy is killed trying to flee and Cleopatra becomes Pharaoh. 

Cleopatra and Caesar break from Aya and Bayek, who find that both have been seduced by the Order. They find that the Order is showing interest in Alexander the Great's tomb in Alexandria and go to investigate. They find Aya's ally Apollodorus mortally wounded there, but he manages to tell them that Septimius and the leader of the Order, Flavius (the Lion) are headed to Siwa to open the Vault. 

Bayek arrives to find the vault already opened and the town held in thrall by an Apple of Eden. Bayek kills Flavius, but Septimius had already gone to Rome. Aya and Bayek agree to separate for good, with Aya going to Rome to grow a brotherhood there while Bayek remains in Egypt. A few years later Aya tracks down Septimius and finally kills him, assassinates Caesar, and threatens Cleopatra. 

In the present, Layla is ambushed by Abstergo mercenaries for not reporting in. She is able to defeat them all and continue exploring Bayek and Aya's past. After she is done, she wakes to find William Miles, who offers to let her join the Assassins. She agrees to go with him, but stops short of joining the Assassins. 

Gameplay

Following Syndicate, Ubisoft decided to take a year off from the series to completely overhaul it. Where single cities served as the focus of previous games, with loading screen waits to travel between regions, the whole of Egypt serves as this game's map. A player could conceivably travel from one end of Egypt to the other without stopping, though it would take time due to the size of the map. 

The major cities include Alexandria, Memphis, Siwa, and Cyrene, along with smaller towns. The map is focused on the west bank of the Nile and points further west, as Cyrene and Siwa are in Libya technically. The mini map of every other game in this series is gone, replaced by a compass bar that picks up locations and quests from a certain distance out. 

Combat was overhauled as well, switching from the "locked in" format of past games and switching to a free for all combat format. The player can use knives, swords, spears, axes, and maces, all of which have their advantages and disadvantages. A bow serves as a ranged weapon and the player can use tools such as throwing fire bombs. 

The player can upgrade their armor or attack stats with upgrades. Materials for the upgrades are gathered through hunting, which returns in this game, and attacking military transports. Levelling the player continues in this game and levelling up grants ability points that can be spent on increasing player skills, such as unlocking chain assassinations. 

Locations have been overhauled in this game as well. Instead of clearing up towns district by district, picking up collectibles and completing side activities to take districts over, the whole map of Egypt is divided up by region, with each region having locations within it to explore, such as tombs and military camps. 

Collectibles are tremendously cut down in this game. There are chests, ancient tablets in tombs, papyrus scrolls in temples, and that's all. Finding these will complete a location, along with killing officers in the military camps. These collectibles are most easily discovered with the revamped Eagle Vision of this game, which utilizes a literal eagle named Senu to scout out locations. 

There are far more side quests than main mission quests, and most of them are related to Medjay duties in serving people and dispensing justice. Due to actions early in the game, special boss characters known as Phylakes hunt the player, and killing them all unlocks a reward. There are several elephants in the game as well and defeating an elephant will grant an ability point. 

Thoughts

I am probably one of the few who thought the series was not getting stale after nine games of relatively similar gameplay, but I still appreciated the changes the series made for this one. Egypt is vast and I enjoyed exploring it, even the remoteness of the desert. The level of detail of Egypt's landscape is unreal and I easily felt the harshness of the scenery. 

The new format of the game reminded me strongly of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, in that it was more of an RPG as opposed to an Assassin's Creed game. The vast number of side quests kind of buries the main storyline to the point where I don't recall much of the main story after the first playthrough. What I remembered most about my first playthrough is the great atmosphere this game built. It is not just the landscape, it's the political tension you can feel in the game as well. 

At the time, Egypt is controlled by the Greeks as the remnants of Hellenic empires struggle to remain afloat. Everywhere you can see Egyptians losing status at the expense of the ruling Greeks, with no small outbreak of violence due to it, especially in the Faiyum region. Then, on top of all that, there is the looming threat of the Roman Republic, who's presence in the game steadily increases the further into the main story the player goes. 

This game seemed much larger on the first playthrough simply because it was the biggest game that the series had released up to that point. On the second playthrough that I am going through now, it does not seem nearly as vast. That is because of the next game in the series took big to an entirely new level. 

On the State of the 2020 Presidential Race and why Trump will (probably) Win

Donald Trump and Joe Biden at the second Presidential debate on October 22nd, image from Newsweek

If a meteorologist told you it was snowing, but you looked outside and saw it was sunny, would you believe him?

The science of meteorology is naturally much better now than when that adage was made, but it can still be used in reference to political polls for really the last decade. In 2012, national polling showed Mitt Romney and Barack Obama in a virtual tie nationally before Obama won comfortably with a 3.9% win. In 2014, polls showed a toss up in the Senate ahead of a Republican wave that saw the GOP gain nine seats. In 2016, well, you know. In 2018, polling was much better, but still had two huge misses in Florida's Senate and Governor's races. 

Polling is an inexact science, which is doubly true in the Age of Donald Trump. While Joe Biden has been leading in nearly every poll, my estimation based on other factors paints a much different picture than what can be gleaned from just the polls. I held a similar view in 2016 and it turned out to be the correct view, so I'm doubling down this year and saying President Trump will be reelected. 

To be clear, this is not a speculation of why people support Trump or Biden and not the other candidate. This is merely a reflection of what I'm seeing beyond the polls

Primary Results

One of the reasons I suspected a Trump victory in the offing the first time around was due to his performance in the primaries. Back then, he received a record 14 million votes in the Republican primary. Trump seemed to excite voters in a way that neither McCain nor Romney was able to. It was not that Trump was receiving those votes, it was that they were participating in the primaries specifically to vote for him as nearly 12 million more voters participated in the 2016 Republican primaries vs the 2012 edition. 

In the full primary era, which is after 1976, no President has even received more votes in an uncontested primary in their second election. George Bush in 1992 received more primary votes than in 1988, but he was facing steep competition (for an incumbent President). Even popular Presidents like Reagan (17% decrease from 1980 to 1984), Clinton (a 7.5% decrease from 1992 in 1996), Bush (yes, he was popular among Republicans in 2004, but still saw a 35% decrease from 2000), and Obama (a 65% decrease in 2012 from 2008) all received fewer votes in their incumbent primary campaign and all four were reelected, all but one rather comfortably. 

In 2020, Donald Trump bucked this trend in staggering fashion. He received over 18 million votes in this primary, a nearly 30% increase from his 2016 total. Given the environment this occurred in, this is beyond unprecedented. Incumbent Presidents put no effort into their primary campaigns normally and for the most part, Trump did not either outside of a few rallies here and there before the coronavirus lockdowns started. In such cases, voters simply do not turn up at a primary for an incumbent President because everyone knows the incumbent President will be re-nominated. 

On top of this, eight states (Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Kansas, Nevada, New York, South Carolina, and Virginia) did not hold primaries in the first place as opposed to every state holding a caucus or primary in 2016. Slightly less than half of the primaries were held after the coronavirus lockdowns began as well. So despite people not having a reason to come out and vote since he was nominally unopposed, despite several states not having a primary at all, and despite the pandemic, Trump saw a 30% increase in primary votes in 2020 from 2016. There is simply no precedent for this because it's never happened in an uncontested primary before. It indicates that enthusiasm for Trump is still tremendous among Republicans, something that's not reflected in the polling (more on that later)

On the Democrat side, based on the first two primaries, Joe Biden should not even be the nominee. Biden finished 4th in Iowa and 5th in New Hampshire. He then finished a distant second in Nevada before finally breaking through in South Carolina and then outperforming expectations on Super Tuesday. To put it bluntly, Democrat leaders panicked when Bernie Sanders attained front runner status after winning New Hampshire and Nevada. 

Other ostensibly moderate candidates Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar were forced out in between South Carolina and Super Tuesday, leaving the moderate wing solely to Biden while the progressive wing was still split between Elizabeth Warren and Sanders. How much of this influenced the results of Super Tuesday cannot be quantified, but it had to have been substantial since despite all of this happening in a matter of 48 hours, Klobuchar and Buttigieg received less than a combined 10% in a given Super Tuesday race after averaging a combined 20-35% in the previous four races. 

This left Biden with the frontrunner status following Super Tuesday. The coronavirus lockdowns happened soon afterwards, which left Bernie Sanders unable to actively campaign to make up for the Super Tuesday shortfall. He suspended his campaign on April 8th, leaving Biden unopposed. Biden ended up receiving 19 million votes in the primary, a Democratic record. The 37 million voters cast in the primary overall is also a record. 

What is telling here in the percentage of the vote that Joe Biden received after April 8th, when he was running unopposed as Donald Trump was. Overall, Trump received 94% of the primary vote while running unopposed. When Joe Biden ran unopposed, he received a comparatively paltry 76% of the primary vote.

The Fall Campaign

Whether it is wise or not during the pandemic, Donald Trump is actively campaigning across the country, making visits from Maine to California and focusing heavily on Florida, North Carolina, and the Upper Midwest since he recovered from the coronavirus. His campaign has spurned TV ads for the most part, instead spending its money on a vast door to door campaign that is more focused on voter engagement. Unlike 2016, the Trump campaign has a massive number of 

By comparison, the Biden campaign has limited appearances and focused more on a digital approach. The campaign went until the end of August before announcing visits by the candidate in fall battleground states and it was not until October before the Biden campaign began to establish a door to door campaign. Usually when a campaign changes game plans halfway through a campaign, it is because they are seeing signs that they may be in trouble. It is not hard to see where the trouble lay either. 

In terms of voter registrations, Republicans heavily outgained Democrats in new registrations in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida. This can be attributable to the "get out the vote" effort on part of the Trump campaign as I believe it is far more effective to engage a voter in person than through impersonal means such as ads or cold calls. Democrats must have sensed this too, since these registration numbers are not exactly a secret, and responded to make up the shortfall. 

That still leaves the lack of engagement on the part of the candidate himself. As of this moment, Biden has one scheduled visit in Georgia during this last week of the campaign. Trump by comparison is visiting Nebraska (the swing 2nd district), Wisconsin, and Michigan in one day this week. 

Another way Trump has been able to get his message out is through social media, where he commands 87 million followers on Twitter and 30 million on Facebook. Joe Biden, by comparison, has a mere 11 million followers on Twitter and 3 million on Facebook, which leads me to my next point. 

Enthusiasm Gap

If you thought Trump's enthusiasm gap over Clinton was bad, the gap between Trump and Biden is miles worse. Going back to the aforementioned rallies, Trump cannot hold the epic sized rallies he had back in 2016 due to coronavirus restrictions, so what his rallies have been doing is having small (for him) rallies in the open air at areas such as airport hangars. Every single one of them he has held has been full regardless, even in states like New Hampshire, Nevada, and Maine, states he did not win last time. 

Biden's in-person events, when he has them, are miniscule in comparison. Biden can never get more than a couple hundred people to come to one of his rallies, even in formerly safe Democratic states like Michigan and Pennsylvania. His surrogates are not doing any better, as shown by this Kamala Harris rally earlier today. Even Barack Obama, who was to Democrats during his Presidency what Trump is to Republicans now, could not draw more than 400 people to a rally in Philadelphia. 

This is not a recent problem for Biden; he was drawing crowds in the hundreds during the primaries while opponents such as Sanders and Warren were drawing in tens of thousands. We have already seen the danger that lies for Biden with the lack of enthusiasm; the evidence lays with his nearly campaign killing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire earlier this year. 

Beyond that, there is a stunning groundswell of support for Donald Trump that is occurring organically. For the better part of this year, Trump supporters have been organizing parades by boat and by car without any help from the campaign itself to show support for the President, such as this massive display of support for Trump in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. They are not just happening in areas you would expect either; there have been multiple Trump rallies in Beverly Hills and even one in New York City this past weekend. 

While there have been pro-Biden rallies of a similar nature, they have again been small in comparison and far less numerous than the Trump rallies. Just take these dueling rallies in Arizona for example, a state that many are projecting to lean towards Biden. 

Due to a lack of excitement for Biden himself, it stands to reason that his support is more about opposing Trump than supporting Biden. As for how that kind of vote goes, just ask John Kerry in 2004 and Mitt Romney in 2012. 

Minority Outreach

One of the reasons that Hillary Clinton lost was because her campaign took blue collar voters in the Upper Midwest for granted while Trump actively courted them. While Biden is "trying" to win those voters back (he will not), Trump set his sights on a different demographic that favors Democrats: Hispanics and Blacks. 

As mentioned before, the Trump campaign has a very well organized ground campaign focused on voter outreach. It is not just focused on his base; it is reaching out to minority voters as well. Despite the racial unrest this year since the death of George Floyd, the Trump campaign is actively reaching out to the Black community. There are signs of support among Latinos for Trump as well. 

What is interesting is that this slight uptick in minority support is actually reflected in the polls. Several polls show Black support for Trump in the teens to around 20%. It does not sound like much of anything, until you remember Trump received around 8% of the Black vote in 2016. If Trump's support among Blacks has actually doubled, it becomes very hard for Biden to win states like Michigan and Wisconsin. 

As for Latinos, weak support for Biden (see enthusiasm gap) has him in trouble among that group. This will spell doom for Biden in states such as Texas, Arizona, and especially Florida where the large contingent of Cuban Americans living there have a deep mistrust of Biden. 

The Polls

It is often what is unreported about polling that is often the most telling. After 2016, there was much talk about the "shy Trump voter" effect. This asks the question whether there are Trump supporters who are not counted in polling because they do not respond to polling inquiries. One pollster (who had Trump winning in 2016 and again this time) certainly thinks so and explains his reasoning here. 

Another important key question from Gallup asks if voters think they are better off now than they were four years ago. In 2012, 45% said yes ahead of Obama's reelection. This year, 56% said yes. This would indicate that people seem to think Trump's policies are working out well for them even if they do not agree with his personality. Trump may have helped himself in that regard by acting more calmly and measured in last week's debate. 

Perhaps the polls are right. Maybe Joe Biden is heading for a comfortable, 2012-esque Democrat win. But if you had no polls at all and could only look at the race as it is; you would think Trump is heading for a landslide. I'm going to hedge my bet and say Trump wins a close one similar to 2016, though a landslide certainly would not surprise me. 

As a final note; early voting results are useless as they only tell how many people of which party has already voted, not how they actually voted. Democrats lead in early voting, but that was expected given that Democrats favored vote by mail and Republicans favored Election Day in-person voting. Democrats also led in early voting in 2016; look at how that turned out. That being said, it is telling that an estimated 25% of early voters did not vote in 2016. If that 25% share of first time voters is any way reflective of the lead in voter registration Republicans have in multiple battleground states, Election Night (my favorite night every two years) will be very short indeed. 

Assassin's Creed (2016 film)

 Ubisoft took a year off from releasing Assassin's Creed games to instead release a film based on the series. Assassin's Creed premiered in New York on December 13th, 2016 and went into wide release on December 21st, 2016. It made $240 million on a $125 million budget, which was roughly a break even total. 

Plot

In 1492 Spain, the Assassin's Guild initiates a new member, Aguilar de Nehra (Michael Fassbender), who are sworn to protect the Apple of Eden in the possession of Sultan Muhammad XII of Granada, and his son Ahmed from the Knights Templar who are using the Reconquista to try to claim the Apple. 

In 1986, a teenager named Callum Lynch is living in Mexico with his parents when his mother (Essie Davis) is assassinated by his father, Joseph (Brendan Gleeson). His father tells him to run as Templar gunmen led by Abstergo CEO Alan Rikkin (Jeremy Irons) shows up to abduct the family. 30 years later, Callum is set to be executed for capital murder when Abstergo fakes his death to move him to their facility in Madrid. 

Callum awakes and meets Sofia Rikkin (Marion Cotillard), who is in charge of the Animus program for Abstergo in Madrid. Reluctantly, Sofia puts Callum into a redesigned Animus to make him relive Aguilar's memories. In 1492, Aguilar and fellow Assassin Maria (Ariane Labed) attempt to stop the Templars from abducting Prince Ahmed, but are unsuccessful. Callum is overwhelmed by the experience and starts suffering hallucinations of Aguilar. 

Other Assassins are held captive by Abstergo and Callum interacts with them before being dragged to the Animus again. Aguilar and Maria was set to be burned at the stake as heretics, but escape and lead guards on a rooftop chase before jumping from a high building. The shock of the jump causes Callum to desynchronize from the Animus and becomes temporarily paralyzed. 

After he recover, Callum is led to his father, who lives in the facility as well. Joseph explains that he killed Callum's mother to prevent her from being captured by Abstergo. Callum is angered by his reasoning and vows to get revenge on the Assassins. He returns to the Animus to relive Aguilar's final memories. Aguilar and Maria intercept the Templars, who are led by Tomas de Torquemada (Javier Gutiérrez), as they take the Apple from the Sultan as ransom for Prince Ahmed. Maria is killed, but Aguilar escapes with the Apple. 

Aguilar gives the Apple to Christopher Columbus for safe keeping. In the present, Callum fully synchronized with Aguilar's memories, breaking the Animus in the process. As Sofia and Alan leave to retrieve the Apple from Columbus' grave, the other Assassins in the complex launch a revolt and swiftly defeat the guards. During this, Callum is approached by Assassins from the past and is inducted into the Brotherhood. 

With the Apple in hand, Alan Rikkin and Sofia go to a gathering of Templars to unleash its power. Callum and the other Assassins are able to infiltrate the meeting and assassinate Alan, taking the Apple in the process. Sofia vows revenge on Callum for her father's death as the Assassins take off into the London night, the Apple safely in their possession. 

Thoughts

This movie is apart of the canon of the game series and there are many easter eggs in the movie itself, such as items in the games shown in Abstergo's possession, the other Assassins that Callum interacts with are descendants of characters from the game, and so on. What's weird about this is that not much of the lore that had been created in nine games up to that point is shown in the film at all. Yes, there is a fine line between too much exposition and not enough, but the film would have made a lot more sense from a newcomer's standpoint if events shown in the games, like Juno's existence in Abstergo's servers or any existence of the First Civilization at all, had been mentioned. It's not like the movie was ignored in the games; the modern day character in Assassin's Creed: Origins, is shown to have designed the Animus used in the film and offers condolences to Sofia when Alan is killed. 

Most of the movie was set in the present day, which is the exact opposite of the games, where the modern story makes up a fraction of the gameplay. If the movie had taken more of that route, it probably would have been much better. The scenes in the past were the best parts of the movie, with good action, mostly practical effects, and showing the religious and political tensions of the Reconquista as well as could be expected for such a film. If you were aware as I was that the Reconquista is set during the events of Assassin's Creed II, you may have expected an appearance by Ezio Auditore. It may just be fan service, but it would have been awesome to have such a cameo. 

From a movie standpoint, there were parts that did not make much sense. The most obvious example of this is towards the end of the movie where Callum, who goes into the Animus hellbent on helping the Templars than seemingly out of nowhere decides to become an Assassin after all. With the exception of one scene where Michael Fassbender acts like he lost his mind before he goes to into the Animus the second time, everyone in the movie played their roles in serious tones and I could not connect to any of them like I could Ezio or Shay Cormac. 

It was a forgettable experience that killed any chance of further movies in the series. It confused newcomers and long time fans of the series alike, making very few people happy. However, it is not like the entire fortunes of the franchise rested on the move to the silver screen. The game series would return the following year in a completely different way. 

Assassin's Creed Syndicate (2015)

 Assassin's Creed: Syndicate was released for PS4, Xbox One, and Windows at October 23rd, 2015. It had the distinction of being the earliest game in the series to have its existence leaked, with images from the game revealed barely a month after Unity's release. 

Plot

Set in London in 1868, Syndicate follows twins Jacob and Evie Frye as they attempt to free the city from a century of Templar control that stretched back to the death of Edward Kenway. Desperate to relieve the city from the Templars, Assassin Henry Green sends out a plea for help. It reaches the twins in Croydon, who assassinate two Templars, Rupert Ferris and David Brewster. Their mentor declines to send aid to London, so the twins decide to go to London on their own. 

Upon arriving, they find the city in a bad way, with the Templars led by Crawford Starrick pulling the strings in politics, transportation, and medicine, with a street gang named the Blighters terrorizing ordinary citizens. Jacob resolves to take out the Templars and the Blighters by building his own gang, the Rooks, while Evie enlists Henry's help to seek out a Piece of Eden known as the Shroud. 

Jacob seeks out the source of an opiate being passed off as sleeping syrup in the poorer areas of the city and destroys the factory behind its production. He finds that the creator of the syrup, John Elliotson. He assassinates the doctor and goes after the Templar behind the omnibus companies that provide transport in the city. He makes a partnership with Pearl Attaway, who sends him after a rival company she says belongs to the Templars. After assassinating the owner, Jacob is told that Pearl was the Templar and reluctantly assassinates her. 

Seeking to ruin Starrick's financials next, Jacob sought the Templar working in the Bank of England. Working with Sergeant Frederick Abberline, he discovers Philip Twopenny is the Templar and assassinates him. With his death, Jacob learns of a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. After fending off attackers, Jacob learns from Disraeli's wife that the man he seeks in Parliament is the Early of Cardigan. Jacob infiltrates the Palace of Westminster and kills Cardigan. 

With the Templars decimated and the Blighters in disarray, Jacob receives an invitation from Maxwell Roth, the leader of the Blighters. Roth wants to betray Starrick and enlists Jacob as an ally. After capturing several of Starrick's associates, Jacob turns on Roth when the latter wants to burn down a Starrick-owned warehouse filled with children. Jacob attacks Roth in his theatre and kills him, leaving Starrick as the only important Templar remaining. 

Meanwhile, Evie focuses on seeking the Shroud of Eden and cleaning up after Jacob's assassinations. She steals information from Starrick's second in command, Lucy Thorne, that leads her and Henry to the Kenway mansion. There they find that Edward Kenway did find the Shroud and hid it, leaving clues and a key to its location. Evie finds the key in the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, but is ambushed by Thorne, who steals the key. 

Evie and Henry go after Thorne, who is looking for information on the Vault in the Tower of London. After infiltrating the Tower, Evie kills Thorne and recovers the key. The Vault is revealed to be hidden near Buckingham Palace, though Evie is unable to retrieve blueprints for the Vault from the Templars. 

During all this, Evie has to fix situations created by Jacob's assassinations, including stopping counterfeit medicine from sickening children, setting up a new omnibus company, and recovering stolen money plates for the Bank. By the time Jacob has dealt with Maxwell Roth, Evie is fed up with Jacob's recklessness. The two get into an argument and express their desire not to work together again after defeating Starrick. 

Jacob and Evie work together to get into a ball being held at Buckingham Palace. Evie is able to retrieve the blueprints she missed earlier, but is stopped by Starrick, who she is forced to dance with. Jacob takes out snipers meant to kill the heads of Church and State, which allows Evie to get away from Starrick. Starrick, however, steals the key and infiltrates the Vault, taking the Shroud in the process. He is able to overcome Jacob, Evie, and Henry for a time, until the twins manage to separate him from the Shroud and are able to kill him. 

The three are later knighted by Queen Victoria for their efforts. With the Templar threat defeated, Jacob and Evie to decide to work together again to continuing trying to fix the social ills of Industrial London. 

The modern day story is nominally the same as the previous game. The initiate is contacted by Bishop to sift through these memories to locate the Shroud of Eden. Once the initiate finishes the memories, the Assassins led by Shawn Hastings and Rebecca Crane go after it. However, the Templars led by Otso Berg and Violet da Costa are there first and secure the Shroud. Da Costa takes it to Abstergo to aid in the Phoenix Project, which is Abstergo's plan to clone a Precursor being, namely to give Juno a physical body. 

Gameplay

London is considerably larger than Paris was in Unity, which allows for more exploration, especially with the addition of the rope launcher. The rope launcher allowed for near instantaneous ascent of buildings, including Big Ben and St. Paul's Cathedral. London is separated into seven boroughs, including the Thames River. Each of these boroughs starts off controlled by the Blighters, whose hold can be broken through side activities. 

These activities are given by allies of the Assassins, including Frederick Abberline, Henry Green, and Clara O'Dea, who is a young girl who has a network of children working for her that collect items and information. By completing these activities, which include abducting Blighters, assassinating Templars, taking gang strongholds, or liberating children from unsafe factories, the Blighters hold on a borough is broken and the Blighter leader of that borough can be drawn out to be killed in a gang war. Defeating the leader gives the Rooks control of that borough. 

Side missions return in the form of character missions, where the twins can aid a historical character such as Charles Dickins or Queen Victoria in a series of missions. There is a time rift in the world that the player can travel through, allowing them to play as Jacob's granddaughter Lydia. Set in 1916, Lydia works with Winston Churchill to uncover a German spy ring in London during the First World War. Lydia kills the ringleader, who turns out to be a Sage. Afterwards, it is revealed that Juno led the player through the rift to find out what happened to the Sage from that time. 

Tools include the rope launcher, smoke bombs, and voltaic bombs, which shock enemies. Open carrying of weapons is not allowed in Victorian London, so the player the player must use cane swords, brass knuckles, and the Hidden Blade. Throwing knives and pistols can be used at range. 

Syndicate introduces a levelling system that is expanded on in subsequent games. Completing kills and missions grants the player experience, with experience points granted for every 1000 XP earned. These points can be used to unlock skills for Jacob and Evie and once enough points are spent, the player can gain a level, up to level 10. The player's level matters, as the various boroughs have different difficulty levels. Unlocking higher levels allows the player to be able to fight stronger enemies and unlock higher level weapons and gear. 

Collectibles include Helix glitches, chests, pressed flowers (used to unlock outfit colors), illustrations, different beers, and music boxes. These boxes contain amulets which are used to unlock a special outfit for Evie that is of Precursor origin. 

Thoughts

This game was a vast improvement over the previous installment. Whatever broken mechanic led to the issues with the player movement in the previous game was fixed, there were no coop missions, and navigating the city was much, much easier. 

London was designed brilliantly, I felt. You could feel the grittiness and grime of Industrial London, and the social stratification of the city, from wealthy Westminster to poor Whitechapel, was seen very sharply. I enjoyed the rope launcher as well, as it allowed for the easiest movement of any game in the series. Carriages, too, could be used on the streets to get around quickly as well. 

Interacting with historical characters was interesting, I found. This was the first game in the main series (Liberation is not in the main series) to have a female protagonist and certainly switching back and forth between Jacob and Evie and their different strengths was a nice change of pace. 

Still though, the formula for the series had largely remained the same since the beginning and while I did not necessarily mind, there was a certain fatigue growing for the franchise. Ubisoft would take a year off from the games to overhaul the series, but first the franchise took a detour through the silver screen. 

Assassin's Creed Unity (2014)

 Assassin's Creed Unity was the first in the series to be exclusively released on eighth generation consoles. It came out on November 12th, 2014 on PS4, Xbox One, and Windows. 

Plot

The game starts in 1307 with the capture of Templar Grandmaster Jacques de Molay as the French army attacks their temple. De Molay sends one of his subordinates to hide a Sword of Eden as an Assassin pursues the Templar. The Sword is hidden and the Templar is killed soon afterwards. De Molay is captured and executed some years later, with the Templar Order publicly disbanded. 

At this point, an Assassin named Bishop interrupts the memory and talks to the player, asking for their help in finding a Sage during the French Revolution. The player is made an Assassin Initiate and transported to the Palace of Versailles in 1776, reliving Arno Dorian's memories. Arno is visiting the palace with his father Charles and meets Élise de la Serre, a young girl his age that he plays with. When he returns to his father, he finds that Charles has been murdered (see the ending of Assassin's Creed Rogue) and he is taken in by Élise's father, François. 

Thirteen years later, Arno remains François's ward as Élise studies in Paris. As the Estates General begins to gather, Arno is supposed to deliver a letter to François but sneaks off to spend time with Élise. Arno is interrupted by a guard and leave, only to find François murdered. Arno is blamed for the murder and thrown in the Bastille. There he meets the Assassin Pierre Bellec, who reveals that Charles was an Assassin and the de la Serres were Templars. He trains Arno while imprisoned until they both escape during the Storming of the Bastille. 

Arno tries to reach out to Élise, but she reveals that the letter Arno failed to deliver to her father would have warned him of the murder attempt. Arno is distraught at being turned away by Élise and seeks out the Assassins and joins them. They grant him permission to hunt down François's murderers, as the Assassins and Templars had a truce at the time and the murder threatened to end that. 

The investigation leads Arno to assassinate Charles Sivert and the Roi des Thunes. His continuing investigation leads him to François-Thomas Germain, who smithed the weapon that killed de la Serre. Germain points him in the direction of Chrétien Lafrienière, who Arno also assassinates. This draws the ire of the Assassin council, who had not given him permission to commit the assassination. 

Arno discovers that Élise is in danger from a Templar ambush and rescues her. They agree to work together to find her father's murderers, despite he status as a Templar. The Assassin leader Mirabeau allows this and Élise reveals that Germain was exiled by her father from the Templars, which leads Arno to believe Germain was behind François's murder. Before they can act, Mirabeau is murdered and Arno discovers Bellec is the killer. Bellec does not want a truce with the Templars and fights Arno when the latter will not go along with him. Arno is forced to kill Bellec as a result. 

Following Mirabeau's death, the Assassin council sends Arno to recover correspondence between Mirabeau and King Louis XVI before it falls into the wrong hands. Arno retrieves the letters, meeting an artillery officer named Napoleon Bonaparte along the way. Bonaparte helps Arno track down one of Germain's accomplices, Frédéric Rouille. Assassinating Rouille leads Arno to Marie Lévesque, who was plotting to starve Paris to create unrest. After killing her, Arno finds a plot to have Louis XVI executed by another accomplice of Germain, Louis-Michael de Peletier. Upon assassinating him, Arno finds that Germain will be at the king's execution, leaving he and Élise to attempt to assassinate him there. 

Germain, however, anticipates them and escapes and Arno saves Élise instead of pursuing Germain. Élise is furious with him for letting Germain escape and leaves him. Arno returns to the Assassin council, who expels him for assassinating without permission. Arno returns to Versailles and begins drinking. Élise finds him there some months later and convinces him to return to Paris to stop the Reign of Terror. Before he goes, Arno assassinates La Touche, an accomplice of Germain, and finds Germain's last accomplice is the man behind the Terror, Maximillien de Robespierre. 

Arno and Élise decide that discrediting Robespierre would better reveal Germain's hiding spot as opposed to killing him. Robespierre is arrested and briefly escapes, before being recaptured by Arno and Élise. Robespierre reveals Germain's location before being sent off to his execution. Arno and Élise pursue Germain to the Temple where the Sword of Eden is hidden, but not before Germain gets the Sword. Arno is trapped and Élise fights Germain until the Sword becomes unstable and explodes, killing Élise and mortally wounding Germain. Arno finishes Germain off, revealing that he was a Sage. 

Arno buries Élise with her father and returns some years later to the Temple to find Germain's skeleton. He places the bones among the endless number of other bones in the Paris catacombs, leaving Bishop satisfied that Abstergo would not be able to find the Sage's remains.

Gameplay

Unity took better advantage of eighth generation capabilities than Black Flag was, as it had the best graphics of any game in the series up to that point. The game is restricted to merely Paris and nearby Versailles, but the level of detail is stunning. Not that this has to due with the gameplay per se, but Unity's model of the Notre Dame cathedral is so accurate that there was some speculation it may be used in the effort to rebuild the cathedral after the devastating fire last year, not that it came to anything.

 Since naval combat and exploration from the previous three games are gone, this game focuses on side missions that can be completed in the city. These include solving murder mysteries, such as Jean-Paul Marat, and solving Nostradamus riddles, which unlocks a special outfit. Arno's base is the Café Theatre, which can be renovated and has its own missions to be completed. During the course of the game, the Initiate occasionally has to escape the memory sequence to avoid being detected by Abstergo, and these Rifts contain missions of their own. 

Collectibles include cockades, treasure chests, and artifacts. Unity also introduces co-op missions, which allow the player to work in teams of up to four to complete assassination missions and heists. Sync points are another collectible that only exist in these co-op missions. 

Unity introduces a precursor to the levelling system of later games. The player's gear, (hood, chestplate, belt, weapons, etc.) determines the player's level based on a five star rating. Different areas of Paris have different levels of enemies, so the higher a player's gear, the higher their rating becomes, and enemies become more manageable to fight. 

Tools include the Phantom Blade, which fires a silent bolt from the Hidden Blade mechanism. Smoke bombs and poison gas can be used as well to distract and damage enemies. 

Thoughts

This game was very difficult to get through. Not because I did not like the storyline, though admittedly it wasn't as interesting as previous games. It was technical issues that made this game hard to get through. To put it this way, I was so fed up with playing the first time through, I only got 52% synchronization the first time through. Compare that to the next game, Syndicate, which I got 93% synchronization on the initial playthrough. 

The player movement in this game is easily the most unmanageable of any game in the series, including the original game. When trying to run forward, the player would try to jump up the nearest obstacle, climbing up and down buildings was difficult because the movement would always try to deflect sideways instead of straight up or down, and I would get stuck on random objects like chairs and not be able to jump off. I once got stuck on a chair in combat and was unable to continue fighting and was killed once. 

Speaking of combat, if you are do not have the proper level, you were thoroughly outclassed in an instant. Even if you were overpowered, combat was still difficult due to the jerky player movement and the snipers shooting at the player that never seemed to miss and could be fired at a rate that was entirely unreasonable for the flintlock musket era. 

The coop missions were aggressively aggravating. To be clear, I always play games solo. I don't even play Fortnite with anyone else. While other Assassin's Creed games had had multiplayer modes, starting with Brotherhood, they were not required to achieve 100% synchronization. It was required in Unity. On top of that, you would need a PSN subscription to even be able to play coop with other people. The coop missions were a nuisance to complete, especially one mission that required capturing four dozen flags in a short time frame, which was a near impossibility playing solo with the broken player movement. 

Given that it was set at the French Revolution, ever-present mobs existed all over the city. They were difficult to get through, often forcing me to jump over buildings and be at the mercy of the difficult player movement. Some of the crowds were so big that the game had trouble rendering them, forcing frame rate drops that do not exist in any other game in the series. 

By the end of my most recent playthrough, which I did get 100% synchronization on through many infuriating moments, I was ready to be done. Fortunately, the next game ran much more smoothly and was far more enjoyable. 

Assassin's Creed Rogue (2014)

 Assassin's Creed Rogue was released on November 11, 2014, which was the same day Assassin's Creed Unity. It was released for PS3, Xbox 360, and Windows initially and rereleased for eighth gen consoles in March 2018. 

Plot

Rogue ties together story elements from III and Black Flag and then leads directly into Unity. Set in the backdrop of the French and Indian War, it follows Shay Patrick Cormac, an Irish immigrant who is an initiate for the Assassins at the beginning of the game. The Assassins are allied with the French in the colonies as the events of the French and Indian War begin. Shay is tasked by his Mentor Achilles (the same Achilles from III) to find a Precursor Box and Manuscript that have fallen into Templar hands. 

Shay is aided by other Assassins, namely Liam O'Brien, Hope Jensen, Kesegowaase, and Louis-Jospeh Gaultier, Chevalier de la Vérendrye, though Shay and Chevalier were antagonistic to each other from the beginning. With their help, Shay is able to track down the Templar Lawrence Washington and assassinate him, but not before learning that Templars Samuel Smith and James Wardrop had the Box and Manuscript. 

After some years, Shay is able to assassinate Smith and Wardrop and retrieve the Box and Manuscript. However, all of the men he had assassinated were older men who could not put up a fight and Shay began to have second thoughts about his mission. Regardless, Shay is able to activate the Box with the help of Benjamin Franklin's lightning experiment and saw that it revealed Precursor temples. Shay recognized the location of one as Lisbon, Portugal and travelled the ocean to open the temple and retrieve the Precursor device. 

Upon arriving in Lisbon on All Saint's Day in 1755, Shay is able to access the temple underneath a cathedral. He goes to grab the device, but as he picks it up, it disintegrates and triggers a catastrophic earthquake that levels Lisbon. Shay is disillusioned with the Assassins upon returning to the colonies and tries to take the Box and Manuscript from Achilles. He is discovered and cornered on a cliff at the edge of the Davenport Homestead. Shay moves to jump in the ocean to drown the Manuscript and escape from his guilt, but is shot before he can jump and falls off the cliff. 

Shay is rescued by a passing merchant ship and is sent to New York to rest and recover at the home of Barry and Cassidy Finnegan. After the Finnegans are attacked by a local gang, Shay goes to protect them by eliminating the gang leader and taking over their base. He is approached by Colonel George Monro, who asks for Shay's continued help against the gangs. Shay rescues Christopher Gist, who helps him regain his old ship, the Morrigan, and gathers a crew. 

Shay and Gist work to rid the area of the gang's influence as they are a proxy for the Assassins. Gist and Monro turn out to be Templars and Shay continues to work with them. Monro is given a command of British troops operating in the frontier against the French when he is ambushed by Kesegowaase. Shay is able to rescue him, but in the process the Assassins discover that he is alive. Kesegowaase attacks Monro's forces in Albany soon after and Shay sails there to assist Monro. He kills Kesegowaase, but Liam kills Monro and takes the Manuscript, which did not fall into the ocean as Shay had originally thought. 

Shay is inducted into the Templar Order by Haytham Kenway. He explains to Haytham the nature of the temples that the Assassins are seeking and Haytham agrees to stop them. With the help of Captain James Cook, Shay tracks down Adéwalé (from Black Flag) and kills him, then travels to New York to cripple the Assassin gangs. 

Shay and fellow Templar Jack Weeks stage a false flag attack on the British using gang disguises. This prompts the British to retaliate and allows Shay to sneak into Hope's mansion in the chaos. However, Liam and Hope are able to activate the Box and Liam departs to find the next Precursor site. Hope poisons Shay, who chases her down and assassinates her to recover the antidote. However, Liam and Achilles leave New York on Chevalier's ship and head for the North Atlantic. 

Shay pursues them, again enlisting the help of James Cook. He is able to locate Chevalier's ship and kills him, but discovers Chevalier had already gotten Liam and Achilles to the temple. Shay and Haytham follow, reaching the temple and infiltrating it just as Liam and Achilles arrive at the device. Achilles realizes Shay was right about the device all along and Liam tries to kill Shay for destroying the Assassins, accidently knocking the device off of its pedestal and triggering an earthquake. 

Everyone flees the temple, with Shay running off in pursuit of Liam. Liam falls to his death, with Shay barely surviving. Shay finds Haytham and Achilles fighting near the ship. Haytham is about to kill Achilles when Shay stops him, saying that the Assassins may still pursue the temples unless Achilles warns them not to. Haytham agrees, but shoots Achilles in the knee to cripple him. He then tasks Shay to retrieve the Box and Manuscript. 

Fourteen years later, Shay is able to locate the Box in Paris. He infiltrates the Palace of Versailles with Benjamin Franklin's help and finds the Assassin holding the Box, Charles Dorian. He kills Dorian and retrieves the Box, setting up the events of Unity.

In the modern day, these events are experienced by another analyst in Abstergo Entertainment. After Shawn and Rebecca infiltrated the facility the previous year, Abstergo sent in high ranking Templars Otso Berg and Violet De Costa to prevent further security breaches. However, Shay's date file was rigged with a computer virus, which cripples the building. During the course of the game. The unnamed analyst is able to restore the servers and eventually uploads the footage of Shay's memories to the Assassin's network to show them how destructive the Assassins can be. Afterwards, the analyst is given a choices: join the Templars or die. 

Gameplay

While this is a full title, Rogue uses the same gameplay mechanics as Black Flag, though with enough tweaks to make sure it is not a complete rehash. In combat, Shay uses a knife and sword, which allows for different moves. He also has access to an air rifle, which fires berserk and sleep darts to incapacitate enemies, and fire crackers to distract them. Shay also uses a grenade launcher, which has an area effect on enemies. 

Naval combat has been tweaked as well. The Morrigan can utilize a Puckle gun, which was a precursor to the Gatling gun. The ship also has the ability to create an oil slick, which be set ablaze to damage enemy ships. The Morrigan is equipped with an icebreaker ram to be able to get through the ice of the North Atlantic. There is no underwater exploration like Black Flag, since the waters of the North Atlantic are lethal. 

The setting for the game includes the North Atlantic, which mainly centers around Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the nearby Arctic waters. Another area that is explorable is called the River Valley, which seems to be loosely related to the St. Lawrence and the Hudson River Valley. New York returns in this game, though with a bigger land area than the version in III.

Since the story is short, much of this game's time is taken up with location activities. Forts can be taken from the French in the North Atlantic and the River Valley, and gang headquarters can be liberated in all three areas. There are smaller settlements as well that can be seized from the French. Instead of Assassin contracts, Shay has the ability to stop Assassins attempting to carry out a contract. 

Hunting returns in this game, though instead of animals native to the Caribbean, Shay can hunt animals native to the Arctic like polar bears and Arctic wolves. Again, these skins are used to create health upgrades and increase the effects of the darts and grenades. 

Renovations return in the game as well, which can be unlocked by conquering forts and liberating gang headquarters. Resources for the renovations are obtained by attacking French ships, mainly in the North Atlantic since the bigger ships cannot get into the River Valley. Collectibles in this game include Animus fragments, song sheets, prosperity fragments, which increase payouts from renovations and holding territories, Viking swords, chests, and buried chests. The Viking swords unlock a Viking outfit  and the buried chests have keys that unlock a 12th century Templar armor.

Legendary ships make a return in this game, though this time they are more historic battles in the context of the French and Indian War. Completing three of these unlocks one last ship, the Storm Fortress, which honestly is probably one of the most difficult boss fights of any game in this series. 

Given that Shay betrayed the Assassins, they are now constantly on the hunt for him. During ship battles, the Morrigan can be reverse boarded, which can decimate the crew numbers. On land, stalkers hunt Shay and can be counter killed when they ambush Shay. 

Thoughts. 

I love this game. Honestly, this is close to my favorite games in the series. Shay's story is tragic and you feel his pain as he betrays the Assassins and follows a dark path. I thought it was interesting to see the other side of the Assassin-Templar conflict, one that portrays the Assassins in a bad light for once. 

Until Origins and Odyssey were released, I thought this game's setting was the most beautiful in the series. You can feel just how raw the frozen wilderness was, even on seventh generation consoles. Even the ice of the Arctic was jaw-dropping. The background music, inspired by Shay's Celtic heritage, matches the rough scenery perfectly, really giving me a feel for the vastness of this wilderness. Even with the shortened story, this game kept me busy for tens of hours exploring every nook and cranny of the frozen islands of the North Atlantic and the forests and rivers of the River Valley. 

Probably more in this game than any other game, I enjoyed going after all of the unlockable outfits. Besides the ones listed above, some outfits can be crafted like a frontiersmen coat. The Templar coats are great as well, even the 12th century armor.

I wish there had been a longer story, but considering they were making and releasing Unity at the same time, it's amazing that they turned out a game this good. I certainly enjoyed it a lot more than Unity, which will be the subject of the next review. 

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013)

 Following the end of Desmond's story, Ubisoft continued with the annual release of Assassin's Creed games with Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. It was released for PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, and Windows in October/November 2013.

Plot

The present day story is set at Abstergo Entertainment where the player is an unnamed analyst sifting through the memories of Haytham Kenway's father, Edward. Set from 1715 to 1721 in the Caribbean, Edward had been a Welsh farmer who left his wife to be a privateer in the Caribbean before turning to piracy. His ship is attacked by a rogue Assassin named Duncan Walpole. Edward kills Walpole and takes his Assassin garb and documents he was carrying for the Spanish governor of Cuba. 

Edward makes his way to Cuba and briefly gets involved with the Templar Order run by Cuban Governor Laureano Torres, Woodes Rogers, and Julien Du Casse. Torres explains they are looking for the Observatory, a Precursor Temple that would allow the Templars to spy on whomever they pleased. The key to the Observatory is a man called the Sage, who the Templars capture and bring to Havana. After feeling like he was short changed on his reward from the Templars, Edward goes to break the Sage, who is named Bartholomew Roberts, out of captivity, only to find he has already escaped. 

The Templars discover this betrayal and imprison him on a prison ship. Edward escapes with Adéwalé, a former plantation slave also imprisoned on the ship. They free other captives and seize control of a brig in the Spanish fleet, escaping with it through a hurricane. Edward names the ship the Jackdaw and takes it to Nassau. There he meets up with Edward Thatch and Benjamin Hornigold to help set up a Republic of Pirates. Setting forth with the Jackdaw with Adéwalé as his quartermaster, Edwards helps Thatch capture a galleon to use for defense of Nassau, killing Du Casse in the process. Edward captures Great Inagua, where he uses the cove to make a settlement. 

One of his fellow pirates James Kidd invites him to Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula to learn more about the Observatory. Upon arrival, Edward discovers that Kidd is an Assassin and the information he brought to the Templars harmed the Assassins based in Tulum. While there, Edward confirms that Roberts is the Sage from Mayan ruins. The Assassin mentor Ah Tabai informs Edward that slave traders arrived at Tulum and captured both Assassins and Edward's crew. Edward helps free both groups, but is still banished from Tulum for helping the Templars. 

Deciding to pursue the Sage himself, Edward take Torres hostage as a ploy to free the Sage from a slaver in Jamaica, Laurence Prins. Upon arriving in Kingston, Edward sees James Kidd, who intends to assassinate Prins and Torres. Edward prevents this, convincing Kidd to wait until he has the Sage. Prins and Torres escape, causing Edward to revise his plans. Edward and James go after Prins, with James revealing that he is a woman named Mary Read. Together, they infiltrate Prins' plantation and assassinate him, though the Sage again escapes. 

Returning to Nassau, Edward discovers their Pirate Republic is in bad shape. He and the other leaders agree to lay off pirating for a while and instead seek out medicines to help the people of Nassau. Edward and Thatch, now known as Blackbeard, end up travelling to South Carolina to attain medicine, with Thatch deciding not to return to Nassau afterwards. 

The British Empire reasserts authority in Nassau not long afterward, with Woodes Rogers arriving to offer a pardon to the pirates there. Benjamin Hornigold goes over to him, but Edward and Charles Vane decide to break out of Nassau. They build a fire ship and break the blockade to escape. 

Edward travels to visit Thatch, who is planning on retiring with Nassau fallen. However, they are attacked by British forces and Thatch is killed. Edward meets up with Charles Vane afterwards, who agrees to help him find the Sage. They capture a slave ship that might have information, but before they can get any information, they are mutinied upon by another pirate, Jack Rackham, and stranded on an island. Vane goes insane and Edward escapes the island by himself. 

Resuming his hunt for the Sage, Edward learns he is on an island off of Africa. Edward meets Roberts there and frees his crew, earning Roberts' trust. Roberts has Edward help him capture a Portuguese man of war for his flagship, then assassinates Benjamin Hornigold, who had joined the Templars following Nassau's fall. Roberts reveals the Observatory and the device held within to Edward before trying to strand him there. Edward is injured in pursuing him and Roberts decides to turn him over to the British. 

After several months in prison, Edward is freed by Ah Tabai, who came to free Mary and Anne Bonnet, who had joined Mary in pirating and was captured with her. Edward is able to free the two women, but Mary dies during the escape after having been sick for some time. Edward tries to drown his sorrows in a bottle, and is forced to relive all of the friends he has lost while in a drunken stupor. 

Edward is awoken from his drunkenness by Adéwalé, who convinces him to make amends with the Assassins. Edward takes on Anne as his new quartermaster and sets out to end the Templars. He seemingly assassinates Woodes Rogers, who tells him that Roberts is back in Africa. Edward tracks him there and assassinates him, recovering the device in the process. Returning to Havana, Edward pursues Torres, but is fooled by a decoy and has to fight Torres' bodyguard El Tiburon. 

Realizing that Torres is already at the Observatory, Edward sets off in pursuit. After fighting his way through Spanish soldiers and the Observatory's defenses, Edward assassinates Torres and is able to return the device to its home. He then learns that his wife back home had died and that his daughter, whom he didn't know existed, was coming to the Caribbean. 

The game ends with Edward granting the Assassins the use of his cove as a base of operations. He greets his daughter and returns to London with her, remarries, and has a son, Haytham, from this second marriage. 

In the present day, the analyst is occasionally brought out of the Animus to hack into Abstergo computers by an IT specialist, John Standish. He passes the information to Rebecca Crane, who with Shawn Hastings has infiltrated Abstergo Entertainment. The analyst is eventually imprisoned by Abstergo, at which point John helps him escape to to hack the computers again. This hack reveals that Juno is loose in Abstergo's computers, but is unable to possess a physical body yet. 

Furious, John attacks the analyst and reveals that he is also a Sage, who turns out to be Juno's husband Aita, who had been reincarnated multiple times throughout human history. John tries to poison the analyst, but is killed by Abstergo guards. The analyst is released as Abstergo finds out what John was up to this whole time. 

Gameplay

Where naval gameplay was limited in III, Black Flag fully realizes the potential that naval gameplay could bring to the franchise. The entire Caribbean is open for exploration, from the Yucatan Peninsula to Hispaniola, and from Jamaica to Florida. There are islands and underwater wrecks to explore, along with Mayan ruins and dense jungle. 

Naval combat also takes primary importance in the game. Players can use the Jackdaw to attack other ships, ranging from tiny gunboats to massive man of wars. Defeating these ships will grant the player money and materials to improve the Jackdaw and the settlement at Great Inagua. Once the Jackdaw is strong enough, the player can take part in four legendary battles, which feature fights against extremely powerful man of wars that can be difficult to defeat. 

Hunting returns in this game, with materials from animals kills being used to create better equipment for Edward, such as body armor and bullet pouches. Whaling is introduced in this game as well to help in that endeavor. 

Dual wielding of weapons returns, with Edward chiefly using two swords. He can carry up to four pistols at once, which can be used to chain shots together. Edward also has access to a blow dart that can be used to fire sleep or berserk darts at enemies. For stealth, Edward can use groups of people or foliage as cover to hide from enemies, which can be used to set up ambushes. 

Collectibles in this game include treasure chests, buried chests which contain ship design plans, manuscripts, animus fragments, messages in bottles, Mayan Stelae, and song sheets. The Mayan Stelae can be used to unlock a room in Tulum to give Edward a special First Civilization outfit. Side missions include assassination contracts, conquering naval forts, naval missions, and Templar hunts. The Templar hunts allow Edward access to a special outfit locked away on Great Inagua. 

Thoughts

Black Flag was the first game I played to 100% completion, and for good reason. This game is just plain fun. Weirdly enough, this game works far more as a pirate game than an Assassin's Creed game, as Edward is never at any point an Assassin, though he does work with them at the end of the game. He is first and foremost a pirate captain and the game revolves around the player doing pirate activities in attacking ships and exploring the Caribbean. 

Truth be told, there was not much difference between the versions of the game released for the seventh and eighth generation of consoles. It might be because Ubisoft was not aware the eighth generation consoles would be released in time for the game's release when they started development in 2011 and only belatedly created a version of the game for eighth-gen consoles. Ubisoft would not take better advantage of the newer consoles capabilities until Unity the following year, or arguably even Origins in 2017. 

Edward's character development is compelling as well. He is brash and selfish at the beginning of the game, but as he self destructs through the course of the story between losing all of his friends and immersing in a violent lifestyle, he matures and sobers up by the end of the game. The deaths of Thatch and Mary hit particularly hard, along with Edward's attempt to drink away his sorrow. The most moving part for me, however, was the end of the game when Anne sings the "Parting Glass" as Edward meets his daughter for the first time and leaves his piracy behind. 

The Caribbean is designed beautifully, though the design of hurricanes in game was personally annoying just because I'm a meteorologist. In particular, I liked sailing on the open ocean during sunrise and sunset in game. However, just for me personally, my favorite setting from all of these games did not come in this title. It came in the next one. 

Assassin's Creed III (2012)

 Following the end of the Ezio trilogy, the Assassin's Creed series moved to a new character and setting for Assassin's Creed III. This game was released in October 2012 for Windows, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U. It was rereleased for PS4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One in March 2019. 

Plot

Desmond, Rebecca, Shawn, and Desmond's father William have arrived at the Central Precursor Vault in Upstate New York and are able to access it with the Apple Desmond acquired in Rome. Upon entering, Desmond is knocked unconscious by Juno after activating the Vault and is put back in the Animus. 

The Animus takes him to eighteenth century London and follows Haytham Kenway as he kills someone and steals a medallion from him. Kenway is then sent to the American colonies to find the Precursor Vault. Upon arriving there, Kenway gathers several men to aid in his search, including Charles Lee, Thomas Hickey, Benjamin Church, John Pitcairn, and William Johnson. 

Haytham's actions bring him into conflict with British General Edward Braddock as the latter begins to gather his expedition into the Ohio Valley. Haytham makes contact with a Mohawk woman, Kaniehtí:io and aids her in ambushing Braddock in 1755. She takes him to the Vault, but Haytham is unable to open it. Haytham and Kaniehtí:io are intimate with each other before Haytham returns to Boston to attend to other Templar duties. 

Years pass and the focus changes to Haytham and Kaniehtí:io's son, Ratonhnhaké:ton. Ratonhnhaké:ton is a young boy when he witnesses his mother's death following an attack on his home village spearheaded by Charles Lee and the other Templars. He grows up and is sent by the Clan Mother to find Achilles Davenport to be trained as an Assassin to oppose Haytham's Templars. Ratonhnhaké:ton finds Achilles, who trains him and gives him the name Connor so he can blend into Colonial society more effectively. 

Connor completes his training and accompanies Achilles to Boston so he can start to rebuild Davenport Manor. There he witnesses the Boston Massacre and is introduced to the Sons of Liberty. Upon returning to the manor, Connor brings on two carpenters who repairs an Assassin ship, the Aquila. 

Now a full Assassin, Connor begins to target the Templars, first assassinating William Johnson to prevent the sale of his people's land around the Vault. Connor then becomes embroiled in the incipient American Revolution, fighting at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, where he assassinates John Pitcairn. 

The following year sees Connor in New York where he assassinates Thomas Hickey to stop a plot to kill George Washington. The next year as the Continental Army suffers at Valley Forge, Connor makes contact with his father Haytham as both Assassin and Templar agree to a truce to hunt down Benjamin Church. Connor tracks Church to the Caribbean, where he kills him. 

The temporary truce comes to an end when Connor finds out Washington ordered an attack on his village as Haytham accidently reveals he knew about the attack that killed Connor's mother. Connor prevents the attack and plots to kill Charles Lee with the hope that he can turn his father from the Templars. 

Connor tracks Lee to New York and infiltrates Fort George to assassinate him. However, Haytham had sent Lee away to protect and fights Connor instead. Connor kills Haytham and follow Lee to Boston. Connor is severely wounded but is able to kill Lee, recovering Haytham's Medallion and buries it at the Davenport Homestead. 

While reliving these memories, Desmond is occasionally roused from the Animus to find power sources for the Vault in New York and Brazil. William goes after a power source in Egypt, but is captured by Abstergo and taken to Rome where he is held hostage by Warren Vidic. Desmond travels to Rome and frees his father, killing Vidic with the Apple in the process. 

With the power sources and the Medallion in hand, Desmond is able to fully unlock the Vault. There he discovers a device to save the world from the coming coronal mass ejection and prevent another catastrophe such as the one that ended the First Civilization. Juno and Minerva arrive, with  Minerva trying to prevent Desmond from using the device as it would free Juno. Desmond, however, decides to activate the device at the cost of his life, thus preventing an apocalypse. Juno escapes the Vault and enters the Cloud. 

Gameplay

After several games in a row of similar gameplay, III introduces several new features. Dual wielding of weapons is now possible, with the player able to wield a sword, tomahawk, the hidden blade, heavy axes, and muskets. Ranged weapons include a flintlock pistol and a bow. Chaining kills together still exists in this game, with double kills possible now. 

The game takes place in the frontier of New England, along with Boston, New York, and select areas of the Eastern Seaboard and the Caribbean. The Frontier is a massive area spanning the area between Boston, New York, and the Davenport Homestead and features several towns such as Lexington and Concord, along with more untamed areas of the Ohio Valley. 

Hunting is introduced in this game, with skins available to sell for cash. Other ways to generate income involve sending trade caravans from the Homestead containing raw materials and finished goods. These materials are obtained by recruiting trained artisans to live on the Homestead through a series of missions. These goods can also be used to complete delivery missions. 

Other side missions include hunting, frontiersmen, and thief challenges, along with courier missions and street fights. The player can also attack British forts and liberate them, which work to reduce tax rates on trade caravans. Naval combat is introduced in this game with the Aquila and the player can complete privateer missions with this to further reduce tax rates. Collectibles include feathers, treasure chests, almanac pages, and Peg Leg trinkets. The trinkets can be exchanged for information on Captain Kidd's Treasure, which leads the player to Oak Island to recover a First Civilization artifact that can be used to repel bullets. 

The recruitment system from Brotherhood and Revelations returns in an entirely revamped fashion. Individual recruits are unlocked by completing liberation missions in Boston and New York. Once recruited, the Assassins can be sent on missions or called into combat to gain experience. In combat, they have an expanded range of abilities, such as starting riots or acting as bodyguards. 

Of the games that track synchronization rates, this one probably had the most to do to attain 100% synchronization. 

Thoughts

This game was actually the first Assassin's Creed game I played all the way through, attracted as I was to fighting in the American Revolution at that time. I was perhaps disappointed that the game didn't focus on the fight for independence and instead focused around the conflict, but it still set me on the path to fully enjoying the entire series. 

That being said, I enjoyed playing this title once I got used to the overall storyline of the game series. The remastered version especially was impressive, upgrading the game's graphics to levels more reminiscent of more recent titles in the series. 

The naval combat was certainly interesting, though it would not be fully realized until the next game. I did enjoy building the Homestead from the ground up and actually building what amounted to an economy between producing raw materials, finished goods, and even inventions from that time. 

As far as emotional impact goes, this game was not as pronounced as the Ezio trilogy. Connor was somewhat hard to relate to as he lacked Ezio's charisma. The most impact the game had did not come from Connor's story, but instead in the present day story. I could feel that things were coming to an end with Desmond throughout the game, especially when he rescued his father from the Abstergo facility he was held hostage at in the first game. 

Then there was the matter of Desmond dying. Yeah, that hurt. Desmond went through considerable growth from being held captive in the first game to where he ended up. At the end of the day, he sacrificed his life to stop a global catastrophe, which I can respect even if I did not like that he died. 

This game marked the end of the first phase of Assassin's Creed games. The second phase would commence with the next release Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011)

 Assassin's Creed: Revelations is a direct sequel to Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and serves as the last game of the Ezio Trilogy. It was originally released in November 2011 (a few days after The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim) on PS3 and XBox 360. It was rereleased with the rest of the Ezio trilogy for PS4 and XBox One in 2016. 

Plot

Desmond Miles is in a coma following his possession by Juno. To save his mind, he is put back in the Animus, where he meets Clay Kaczmarek's consciousness. Clay explains that Desmond must find a memory that separates his consciousness from his memories of Ezio and Altaïr in order to wake up from his coma. 

Desmond reenters Ezio's memories as an older Ezio travels to Masyaf to seek wisdom from Altaïr hidden in a vault in the Assassin's home. Masyaf, however, was abandoned by the Assassins nearly 250 years before and is currently overrun by Byzantine Templars. Ezio finds out he needs memory disks to unlock the vault and that they are located in Constantinople, seat of the Ottoman Empire. 

Ezio travels to Constantinople and meets with the Assassin's guild there, led by Yusuf Tazim. While searching for the disks, he gets involved in Ottoman politics, where he meets the future Sultan, Suleiman. The prince has Ezio investigate an attempt on his life, which lead Ezio to kill the head of the Janissaries, who they mistakenly thought was conspiring the the Byzantines. 

Ezio is able to recover most of the disks with the help of a Venetian woman living in the city, Sofia. He then travels to Cappadocia, where the leader of the Byzantines is hiding. After assassinating him, Ezio discovers that it was Suleiman's uncle Ahmet who was conspiring with the Byzantines and threatens Sofia's life in exchange for the memory disks. 

Upon returning to Constantinople, Ezio discovers that Ahmet has killed Yusuf and abducted Sofia. He gives the disks to Ahmet and rescues Sofia before going after the disks again. He recovers the disks just as Ahmet's brother and Suleiman's father Selim arrives. Selim kills Ahmet and commands Ezio not to return to the city. 

The memory disks allow Ezio (and Desmond) to explore further memories from Altaïr's lifetime. After the events of the original game, Altaïr struggled to maintain his new status as mentor, even going into exile for a time due to the scheming of his rival Abbas. Altaïr only returns to Masyaf at an advanced age and is mentor again for a short time as the Mongol invasion gets underway. 

The Animus occasionally spits Desmond out of Ezio's memories, where he can relive his own youth, from growing up off the grid to running away to tend bar before being abducted by Abstergo. Eventually, the Animus's safe room disintegrates, deleting Clay and forcing Desmond to continue reliving Ezio's memories. 

Ezio and Sofia travel to a now empty Masyaf, where Ezio enters the vault to discover that it is empty save for Altaïr's remains and a final memory disk. The vault was built only to contain Altaïr's Apple, which Ezio decides to leave behind. Ezio senses that Desmond is watching and speaks directly to him, reaching the Sync Nexus that Clay was describing. 

The Nexus allows Jupiter, another Precursor being, to speak to Desmond. Jupiter explains that he was working with Minerva and Juno on various attempts to stop a devastating cataclysm from ending the Precursor civilization. They created humans to work for them, but humanity rebelled, with the war distracting from their efforts to stop a coronal mass ejection. They fail and Desmond witnesses the destruction of the First Civilization before Jupiter tells him a second calamity is fast approaching and the key to stopping it lies at the central Precursor vault in New York.

Desmond awakes from his coma and discovers that Rebecca, Shawn, and his father William have transported him to New York while he was in his coma. He states that he knows what they have to do and the central vault activates as the game ends. 

Gameplay

Out of all three games, Revelations has the most unique gameplay of the three. The hook blade is introduced, with allows for faster free running and allows for new combat moves. This game also greatly expands the use of bombs from the previous two games. Instead of just smoke bombs, the player can use bombs that distract, incapacitate, or kill enemies. 

In this game, the player can recruit Assassins once again, though this time levelling them up goes into greater detail. The player does not necessarily recruit random citizens as in the last game, but there are specialized characters that have special missions when they are recruited. They gain experience in combat and by doing missions around the Eastern Mediterranean. When they reach a high enough level, special missions are unlocked that allows the recruit to become a Master Assassin. 

Borgia Towers are replaced by Assassin Dens, which have to be liberated from the Byzantines. The notoriety system of the previous games returns, though this time if the player draws too much attention to themselves, the Byzantines will attack a den. They can be repelled in a sort of tower defense mini-game. The attacks can be permanently stopped if a Master Assassin is assigned to a den. 

As with the other two games, there is a economy system that draws incomes from renovations in Constantinople. Collectibles return in the form of chests, Animus data fragments, and pages of an old Assassin's journal. Collecting the journal pages unlocks a special mission in the Hagia Sophia, where the player can unlock a unique armor set. 

This was the only game of the Ezio trilogy where I noticed a significant difference in the graphics quality with the remastered edition. 

Thoughts

The end of the Ezio story has an extremely moving ending that is carried out at the end of the game when Ezio gives up his Assassin lifestyle and speaks directly to Desmond. It was a long journey, playing as Ezio across three games taking up tens of hours (remember, I shoot for 100% completion), so the ending of his journey was very impactful in my mind. 

The gameplay changes did not do much for me, either good or bad. I know a lot people criticized the Den defense mechanic, but if you are careful you only need to do that once early in the game and that is it. The new bombs were certainly interesting, though I perhaps did not use them as much as the game intended unless I was trying to complete a mission a certain way that the game stipulates. 

Reliving Desmond's past was interesting, as you can see what he was doing before he was abducted. Playing as Altaïr certainly brought back some nostalgia. Really, this game was about wrapping up Ezio's story and I think it did a tremendous job of this. 

But for the sense of finality to this game, the story carries on with Desmond in the present day. But that story is drawing to a close as well.