I actually missed the boat on the first Assassin’s Creed Chronicles game last year (thanks to Gameadgeddon 2015) so I jumped on this review for Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India to check out this offshoot series. I’ve been a fan of the franchise since it began and have bought every game in the series (except Unity). Getting to play a 2D sidescrolling version of an AC game intrigued me and for the most part, I was happy with what I got.
As the title says, this game takes place in India. The time period is the mid-1800’s, just before the British Empire completely took over India. You play as a Muslim assassin named Arbaaz Mir who must stop the Templars from using a powerful item to enslave men. Thwarting the Templars while rescuing his friends won’t come easy as the streets and buildings are watched over by guards who are all too eager to cut or shoot you down.
If you’ve played a game in the series before then this one will feel familiar despite the different camera angle. You will traverse the world by climbing, shimming, and jumping from different platforms. The combat is fluid and provides you with a decent variety of attacks and dodges. Stealth is also present, with a bevy of different options available for players to keep themselves hidden from foes.
While most Assassin’s Creed games rely heavily on combat. This one is more focused on stealth. The only way to get a perfect rating for each of the level’s segments is to remain completely undetected. This turns each portion into a mini-game unto itself and will have you retrying several times in order to get a perfect stealth rating. Thankfully, levels are designed in a way to facilitate this, though they are still very challenging.
While your character is a master assassin, he can’t sustain much damage. Almost any combat engagement will lead to your death no matter how good you are. Considering that the only way to get a perfect rating is to avoid combat, it’s clear this game doesn’t want you to engage foes, which is both odd and disappointing considering the wide range of combat options available. You need to be very patient with this title and can’t just barrel through it with brute force.
As far as replayability goes, this game has a decent amount of it. You can replay missions in order to get better ratings, and you can even do challenge missions that provide even harder objectives to complete. There are also higher difficulty settings as well. I find this funny because of how challenging the normal game can be.
Graphically speaking, this is a gorgeous title with an interesting water color-esque art style which I found captivating. There is even a hint of surrealism with some of the backgrounds which I enjoyed as well. Each of the game’s cut scenes are displayed with beautifully rendered still images in that same water color/abstract style. It’s a magnificent looking title.
Though these AC Chronicles games have kind of gone under the radar, they are games worth playing if you’re into the series and 2D sidescrollers. I’m glad that Ubisoft created this offshoot series as it provides something unique to the franchise while still retaining what made it great to begin with. Definitely worth your time to check out.
This review of Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India is based on a digital copy for the PlayStation 4 which was provided by Ubisoft.
