Assassin's Creed Syndicate Review

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate seeks to bring the franchise back to life after recently stumbling. Set during the Industrial Age in London, two new Assassins, Jacob and Evie Frye, born in the order and raised to fight against the Templars, bring new life to this franchise.

A colorful harmony of characters, missions, and dialogue brings Syndicate to the high heavens but still misses certain key gaps. Despite this, Assassin’s Creed still has some life.

Jacob and Evie take center stage, born and raised in the Assassin order both twins have strong loyalties to the order but how they choose to further those goals contrast one another. Evie is a dedicated Assassin focused on locating pieces of Eden and fighting against the Templars.

Her brother Jacob is less devoted to locating artifacts, instead focusing on social reform and helping people free themselves from Templar oppression. Both are well-written, showcasing their own ideals in the form of sibling banter that’s a joy to watch. It’s a shame that other characters don’t show the same vigor.

Notorious figures like Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Karl Marx, and even supernatural figures will make an appearance throughout your journey. Although they play their historical role adamantly, they mostly remain uninteresting. Most of them call on Jacob and Evie’s services to perform busy work. Even the original characters remain stale, with a poor romance forced into the game. It’s during the campaign that the two Assassins can showcase themselves properly.

You can switch between Jacob and Evie freely, while side-missions and open-world activities are available to both Assassins campaign missions, which have players swapping between the two. Conquest Activities have players taking out gang outposts, kidnapping Templars, stealing valuable items, and liberating children.

These missions tend to repeat themselves, and although higher-level opponents tend to add more challenges, most experienced players will have no trouble completing all these side objectives. It’s hard to ignore that Syndicate has a lot of content to comb through for those hoping to reach 100% completion of this title.

Campaign missions, especially against high-valued targets, remain the highlight of Syndicate. It’s here that players are granted full authority and multiple ways to target their targets. If a mission is too difficult, you can always upgrade both Jacob and Evie.

Completing missions yields experience and money. With it, you can upgrade your weaponry, skills, and your gang. Evie is more focused on stealth, gaining the ability to turn invisible while stationary, and Jacob is a fighter, able to deal more damage than Evie. As the leader of The Rooks, both Jacob and Evie can increase their gang’s fortitude by purchasing new tools.

The Rooks will remain on the streets, waiting to serve Jacob or Evie at a moment's notice. Don’t expect them to yield special talents outside of basic combat or go out on missions similar to the guilds in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.

However, seeing them occupy territory from the Blighters, the Templar-controlled gang, you’ll gain a new appreciation for your gang’s growing influence. Once you take enough territory in a given area, you can start a Gang War, an all-out brawl with the remaining members of the Blighters.

Of course, Jacob and Evie have some new tools at their disposal. The most notable is the zipline. This device allows the duo to travel from rooftops and get to the top of builds quicker than other Assassin’s Creed games.

However it’s not without issues, at times I found myself zipping onto the wrong rooftop. Most of the time, you’ll be using this amazing device to collect items scattered around the city. It’s a shame that so much of the city has been dedicated to locating items.

Combat weapons remain mostly the same. Melee weapons such as assassin blades and throwing knives are great for stealth kills. Handguns, canes, bronze knuckles, and other killing tools are available for crafting and purchasing.

Outfits and capes yield special benefits and can be dyed in different colors. All these can be upgraded further if you have the capital: either in-game currency or using actual money.

Small improvements will definitely be noticed by long-term fans. A newly updated Eagle Vision has made this skill invaluable, and fewer synchronization points make climbing these massive structures less taxing.

If you wish to travel on the streets, Carriages are available for hijacking. If you find someone is chasing you can shoot them, steal their carriage, or shoot their horse and cause them to tumble into oblivion.

But who’s the main villain in all this? It’s none other than a Grand Master Templar named Crawford Starrick. Ruthless and cold, Starrick wants to maintain his control over London through any means necessary. Not only does he desire to destroy the Assassin’s presence in London, but he also finds a legendary artifact that happens to be somewhere in the city.

It’s a shame that he never reaches the heights of other notable Templars like Haythem Kenway. He eventually bleeds into the background, only to surface when the story deems it necessary.

The same can be said about the second story in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Taking place after the events of Assassin’s Creed Unity, the Assassin Order is still battling against Abstergo, this time in search of the same artifact that Jacob and Evie are looking for in their story. Don’t expect any new information regarding Juno’s plan or the new focus to replace Desmond’s journey.

The developers still haven’t found anything substantial to cling to. Other than small bits of information, only to be understood by those who played Rouge and Unity, leaving the player sighing in confusion as the end credits roll. In the end, I wondered what it was all for.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is the next-generation Assassin’s Creed game we were promised last year. The brilliant duo of Jacob and Evie is a refreshing take from past assassins, easily standing on par with Ezio Auditore da Firenze and Edward Kenway.

While the story does little to push the franchise forward, having such a lovable duo in a brilliantly designed city was exhilarating. I haven’t had this much fun playing an Assassin’s Creed game since Brotherhood. If you haven’t tried an Assassin’s Creed game yet, you should start with Syndicate.