The latest in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed spin-offs, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia drops players into the year 1918, smack dab into the Bolshevik revolution. It's a perfect setting for the series, but unfortunately the game's unforgiving and often times infuriating stealth gameplay squanders an otherwise promising adventure.
Assassin's Creed diehards will likely recognize protagonist Nikolai Orelov. He's starred in Assassin's Creed comics, and now he has his own game. In the title's opening moments, Orelov has accepted one final job. Once it's complete, he secretly plans to flee Russia alongside his family. It turns out that his last job is little more complicated than he expected. He's tasked with stealing a powerful relic from the Russian royal family, the same royal family the Bolsheviks execute.
Alas, Orelov doesn't quite know what he's gotten himself into when he stumbles upon the fleeing princess Anastasia, who happens to have the relic he's looking for. The two set out to return to Assassin headquarters in Moscow, but they will have to sneak their way past an army to do so. Along the way there are a number of twists and turns that make it unique for an Assassin's Creed title, especially toward the end.
This sets the stage nicely for the game's 2D stealth gameplay. Orelov has a number of tools at his disposal, the most prominent of which is a winch gun that allows him to pull down objects, grapple up to climbable surfaces and destroy electronic generators. Also available to players is a smoke bomb and Orelov's handy sniper rifle. You'll use these to sneak by or assassinate enemies much in the same way you might in one of the main entries in the franchise. Orelov can hide in bushes or behind color-coded boxes and pillars to dispatch enemies from behind cover to remain unseen as well. Ana is playable during certain levels as well, and features similar abilities with a few twists. The power of the artifact in her possession allows her to turn invisible for short periods of time, warp between hiding spots and even make the bodies of enemies disappear.
It all sounds fairly typical for a stealth game, but it is less a stealth title and more of a puzzle game. This is because rather than giving players a scenario and the tools to solve it as they see fit, the game can only be played one way. Don't try to be creative with your smoke bombs or lure enemies away and dispatch them one by one. Most scenarios have to be finished precisely as the designers intended, oftentimes with no margin for error. Step out of cover a half-second too late? Retry. Jump an inch too soon? Retry. Retry. Retry.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia is brutal in that regard. It is unforgiving and uncaring. There isn't anything wrong with difficult games, but more often than not, it feels like you are fighting Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia rather than playing it. Deaths often feel cheap and confusing. Solving a particular scenario most often boils down to simple trial and error.
Some of the frustration is thanks to the game's control scheme. The game copies the same control scheme of the mainstream Assassin's Creed games, and while those work well enough in a 3D open world environment, they are awful for a 2D stealth title where the slightest miscalculation results in instant failure. I can't count the number of times my character shuffled slightly too far to the left and was instantly spotted thanks to a pixel of my character's coat coming in contact with the enemy's vision cone.
Occasionally you can fight your way out of a bad scenario, but that is extremely rare. In the main series, players can fight their way out of most situations or simply run and hide. That's not the case here. While there are attack, heavy attack and block buttons, you'll never use them, as the vast majority of the time you'll be dead within moments of an enemy spotting you. If you aren't shot on sight, chances are you'll simply fail the objective, which often involves not raising any alarms.
Don't worry, it's not just the stealth segments that will leave you wanting to hurl your controller through the nearest wall. There are a number of "escape in time" running segments as well as sniping bits where Orelov will put his rifle to use. These, in theory, would seem to offer a nice change of pace.
Unfortunately, that's not the case when the same level of difficulty that applies to the stealth portions applies here as well. Get ready to memorize the position of each and every guard, because if you miss one shot you'll find yourself at the previous checkpoint. None of it feels like it should be hard, but very often it is.
These are the kinds of deaths that make getting through this 6-8 hour adventure an absolute chore. The salt in the wound is that the upgrades for Orelov's abilities and weapons that could make the entire experience easier are tied to your performance in each level. Given how difficult it is, chances of you scoring well on more than a handful of levels your first playthrough are not good, keeping those upgrades (like more health) painfully out of reach.
If there's one universally positive aspect of Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia, it's the game's visuals, in particular the gorgeous backgrounds. In the foreground, the game's muted colors are both visually appealing and serve the gameplay, as climbable surfaces are colored in red and hiding spots appear green. The game's between-mission cutscenes adopt an appropriate animated look as well, and while they aren't anything spectacular, they get the job done. Whether it's the smoke of far-off factories blowing in the wind or the buildings of Moscow, simply standing still and enjoying the stellar art direction is a highlight of an otherwise sour experience.
Upon completing the game, players can choose to tackle it once again in New Game Plus, with the added benefit of a score multiplier that should make obtaining all the upgrades far easier. That being said, it's hard to believe anybody would willingly put themselves through the experience that is Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia a second time. It's difficulty without any real reward, frustration with no payoff. While it's easy on the eyes, this latest Assassin's Creed tale was better left untold.
This review is based on an Xbox One review copy provided by Ubisoft. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
Photos: Ubisoft
