Assassin's Creed Syndicate is a third-person action-adventure stealth game set in London during the Industrial Revolution of 1868. Players control twin Assassins Jacob and Evie Frye, each with distinct abilities: Jacob specializes in brawling and close combat while Evie excels at stealth. Gameplay features open-world exploration of Victorian London using parkour, carriages, a rope launcher, and gang warfare mechanics. The city is divided into boroughs that players liberate from enemy control by completing missions and building their own street gang, the Rooks. Weapons include brass knuckles, revolvers, cane-swords, and kukri knives, all of which can be upgraded.
When I reviewed the ill-fated PC port of Arkham Knight, I said that the Arkham games were my go-to AAA series. On this form, they've got stiff competition. Here's hoping Syndicate isn't an anomaly and that the future of the series will be something other than history repeating itself.
New toys and strong characters freshen up the Creed formula, but only for a while.
It doesn't offer many surprises, but Syndicate represents a return to form for Assassin's Creed.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate has polished gameplay, gorgeous visuals and a big world to explore, but feels very familiar overall.
Syndicate doesn't get everything right. It doesn't solve all of the series' problems, and at this point, I'm not sure if any one game could. However, it's the first step in a uniformly positive direction that the franchise has taken in years.
