In more than one way Assassin's Creed Syndicate was seemingly an answer to Unity's criticism. With shifted priorities in mind being a final send-off of the established franchise formula that would [supposedly] undergo a retooling for the trilogy that succeeded it. Was the game itself any good, though?

State of things is not good for the Assassin Brotherhood at the tail end of the Industrial Revolution as we step into the shoes of twins Jacob and Evie Frye. London has been purged and Templars are firmly in control lead by Crawford Sterrick with his vision of order over chaos, or rather Templar order because they know best what's in humanity's interest. Faced with such dire circumstances the twins make contact with the only Brotherhood contact left in the capital of the world and set out to liberate it. In Evie's case this also means chasing after artifacts while Jacob is more content building up his own gang called the Rooks in place of Templars' henchmen.

Biggest difference you'll immediately notice is we're working with a deuteragonist setup this time around, meaning both Jacob and Evie are protagonists in their own right. Minute gameplay differences aside, which I'll get into, they have their own approach to things as well as sub-stories to tackle. You want my honest opinion having finished the game as well as the story DLC? Evie should've been the sole protagonist. As opposed to her more intellectual mindset, Jacob is a loud brawler who ends up causing more problems than he actually solves. Narratively they have this friendly sibling rivalry that escalates suddenly towards the very end only to deflate in a disappointing finale. I can only wonder if Ubisoft was afraid what player reaction would've been to a female protagonist, but I think that's entirely unfounded. It does let itself have two actors when there's need for different personalities which is probably preferable to a protagonist that acts however the plot demands, consistency be damned.

Compared to Unity's Paris I found London not much of a character itself. Too gray and grimy, which is period appropriate, with only standout being the Thames as you parkour across moving ships and posts, essentially giving you the first taste of “dynamic landscapes” taking a break from usual buildings. Plenty of mutton chops and mustaches to go around, though. Westminster burrow stands out as being the only noticeable piece of greenery in the city and palace stands apart from the rest of the city. There's a totally-not-secret Rift in Sequence Six that takes you for a brief excursion forward in time, but you don't leave London so much as just man a few AA batteries and call it a day.

I said in the opening Syndicate was an answer to Unity, and narratively I would say it improves upon it in most meaningful ways, but what about gameplay? Well, we're taking a sidestep and some steps back as well in that department. This was the part I was most conflicted over.

Let's just peel the biggest deal breaker off quickly – parkouring has been lobotomized. How you go from what was arguably series' peak to THIS is beyond me. I'm being dishonest because I know how. For all the fans out there, you remember lifts in the series? You run into them and they pretty much momentarily zip you up to the roof they're connected with? Well, Syndicate introduces a zip-line gun not long after the prologue, and that thing is your personal lift albeit with somewhat finicky window of usage. On top of it you can also zip between climb points now. So let me ask you the following: why bother climbing at all when you can just ZIP you're on top of the building followed by another ZIP you're on the adjacent building now? Of course, this addition does not exist in a vacuum as game accounts for it, in fact as much as I was annoyed by its existence the damn thing was just too handy to ignore, but it removes so much of the basic legwork that went into parkour and formed a backbone of franchise' identity. Even what's left has been simplified by losing many animations and reactivity. What would've once been a descent with flourish is now just a sequence of two repeated animations.

Other changes to contend with are more on alteration level rather than fundamental disruptions. For example, gear system still exists, but Ubisoft took a saner approach by removing all extraneous modifiers on equipment and boiled it down to simpler breakdowns. Weapons come in three types + assassin gauntlets and firearms shared by siblings, but their respective armors are unique as Evie has cloaks while Jacob has belts. These DO show on your characters, but it is the outfit of choice that determines your overall look as there are no more individual pants or gloves to mix and match. As was the case the last time economy around gear procurement is tuned for critical path aka if you do any of the side content you'll have stuff that's way beyond what you should have. At the same time some items will remain locked based on how much you engage in particular activities... this time primarily through reputation bars you fill out by doing missions, repeatable or otherwise, for side characters. Fear not because Syndicate will give you enough pity gear through main story progression for this to not be an issue.

Second, and reason why you cannot just buy the best stuff outright if you grind enough Pounds, is the leveling system. Not only does it impact gear and burrow danger level, but acquiring skill points and spending them is the only way to get new skills. Rather than outright locking basic features now you're rather acquiring modifications and improvements, like increasing defense or higher quality resource looting. Jacob and Evie each have few unique skills only one can unlock, former being more combat-centric while latter embraces stealth. Since there is no difficulty choice to speak of and you will eventually get enough points to max out both characters this is difference for flavor's sake.

Taking into account when I'm playing this I was almost unaware just how much DLC was out there. Probably because of main campaign integration which makes me think Syndicate was pretty desolate at launch. The Last Maharaja adds a pretty decent sub-story, The Dreadful Crimes brings back my favorite element from Unity in form of murder mysteries, but it's Jack the Ripper I'll be talking about since it's the beefiest one, and actually a story of its own necessitating separate choice in the menu. Taking place 20 years after the base game, and seeing Evie return to London, right in the middle of Jack murdering prostitutes and taunting the police with his threatening letters all the while Jacob goes missing. Writing quickly blows its load that he has connections with the Assassins while keeping the player in the dark. It takes a series of investigations, going through Jack's informants and even controlling the madman himself before conclusion is reached, and I wish it was better handled. In tangible terms Jack the Ripper re-uses two burrows from the base game, but has its own gear and skills to acquire. Biggest addition would definitely be the Fear system which lets Evie terrify the new gang with fear bomb and spikes. You incapacitate victims and their screams make others run away eliminating them from combat. Odds are technically against the player as enemies out-level you, but you know. I was doing it more for 100% mission synchronization than any real need.

Lastly there's presentation to look at. I already touched upon it when talking about London, but as usual this comes down to how much you enjoy the locale aesthetics. It's a grim city with carriages filling the streets and gaslight illumination by night. I'd say some visual appeal was lost from Unity, but soundtrack was what surprised me having barely noticed it in the game. Then I gave it a listen on its own, and damn if it's not solid.

Final Thoughts and Rating?

Assassin's Creed Syndicate edges into my “solid” category, and solely because all the work it puts into memorable personalities and stories barely nudges it in. Following the uneven Frye twins as they undertake liberation of London from Templar's rational domination there's a mixed package here. Immense decline of parkour thanks to the zip-line gun cannot be overstated enough, but I liked Ubisoft pulling back on the gear system and game overall being more manageable. I was glad to see some features return even if it was in simplified form, like for some controllable allies as Rook gang members or ability to distract with prostitutes in the DLC. On the other hand, making you do missions to fill out reputation bars in order to unlock more goodies didn't sit so well with me. Sign of things to come?