Assassin’s Creed: Rogue has as its central conceit that an Assassin has turned traitor and started working for the other team. Which is a cool story idea, but how’s it going to play out now that you’re a Templar?
A couple of different ways, it turns out. First, you’ll be fighting the French under the flag of the British, because Ubisoft is a French company and of course they think of themselves as the good guys. You have to take over towns when you visit them by dropkicking snipers off building and spraying your enemies with chemical weapons. And assassination missions are about protecting the target by finding Assassins and killing them first.
Also of interest is how the Canadian setting changes the game, beyond every settlement having a Tim Hortons. This isn’t the warm happy Caribbean; you’re going to freeze to death if you’re in the water too long, which honestly torpedoes how a lot of players did things like take manowars and sneak onto islands, and thus is a nice touch. The naval battles are shown as well, and they look even more fun than they were in Black Flag.
So far, the game looks fascinating, and we’ll be curious to try it out. That opportunity will come November 18th on PS3 and Xbox 360; you next-gen people are stuck with Hitman’s Creed.