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Review: Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China

Review: Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China

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Remember Abe’s Oddysee? Did you like it? Of course you did. Everyone did. Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China channels a lot of what made Abe’s such a great game but finds so many ways to be so, sooo much more. Set during the 16th-century in China, the new Jiajang Emperor has gone and purged everything that he considers a threat to his rule, including the Chinese Brotherhood of Assassins. Our new female protagonist Shao Jun, who was a young member of the Brotherhood, managed to flee West to train, and has now returned to restore the Chinese Brotherhood, and kick Templar ass.

All die hard and/or self respecting Assassin’s Creedophiles (read: fans) should know our protagonist Shao Jun from the animated short Assassin’s Creed: Embers, wherein she seeks out grumpy old man Ezio Auditore, who (very) reluctantly agrees to train her in rebuilding her Assassin Order. We pick up just after Shao Jun’s return as her quest for revenge begins. Along the way we’re treated to some famous locations that include, Port of Macau, the Maijishan Grottoes, and yes, even the Great Wall of China.
The first big change in this Chronicles series though, is that Creed has moved away from Ubisoft’s sprawling metropolis, free roaming styled games, and dialed it back a little to bring us a new 2.5D side-scroller. It’s a little jarring at first, and you could almost be forgiven for thinking of this as a mini-game or tie-in because of its style, but I’ll say it here; Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China is a worthy standalone title within the AC series.
With genuinely breathtaking layouts, designs and animation in the fashion of Chinese painted brushstrokes, China Chronicles (as I’ve been calling it) is a beautiful game to play. It’s got all of the familiarity of the franchise we know, but it’s also found a way to carve its own place out within the franchise too. The game features three depths of plains; background, middle ground and foreground. Within those environments too you’ll find context sensitive areas to hide or interact with your surroundings. Can’t get any further across the screen? Use your rope-dart to swing Spider-Man style into the background and advance there, until you use a throwing knife to drop a beam that takes you back. With this dynamic I’ll admit it can be a little easy to get lost and have to retrace your steps until you’ve found a pathway you may have missed –Assassin-s-Creed-Chronicles-China-Review-PS4-572888 what’s nice though is that your essentially guided through the game by a dour brushstroke of blood, dancing like a scarf across the environments leading you on.
You can still sneak up through the shadows and stab scores of potentially innocent guards in various places too, or you can just run in Leroy Jenkins-style and try stabbing everything that moves. Not advised. Within the game you’ll have an array of stealth tactics, baits and lures. Noise darts distract dopey guards across the screen whilst a whistle will lure them closer. Watch out though as while the game progresses stealth becomes a little harder to hold onto. With twitchy dogs and angry canaries just itching to rat you out to pissed off guards (who also advance in difficulty) and then the sneaky wind-chimes and creaky floorboards… It can be very tempting to go full-on Jenkins. But while stealth and cunning are some of the major components in play here, every now and then ACC:C throws you a break from sneaking and instead decides to burn down the building (literally) and have you free run in a burning panic to some form of safety. It’s not always fire.
After each stage is completed you’ll be awarded a score based on your levels of stealth and whatever secrets you uncover along the way. The better you score the more you’re rewarded, with health bonuses and weapon upgrades and a few other treats, this alone justifies the replay for me. But along with that we’re treated to a ‘New Game+’ option that lets you replay with all of your upgrades while collecting the ones you missed on a higher difficulty. As with any game within the Assassin’s Creed franchise this story it is completely accessible on its own while weaving itself into the franchises continuing narrative that I and all Creed fanboys live and breathe for. The extras menu is where our kin is rewarded with detailed character, location and weapon entries as well as a few other surprises.

A beautiful expansion into the Assassin’s Creed family. 8/10

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