Game Review: Assassin's Creed Chronicles India

After playing four consecutive Assassin's Creed games set in the Americas (Black Flag, Rogue, AC III, and Liberation) it was nice to return to the eastern hemisphere. This time I embarked on the setting of British occupied-India in the 1840s in the game AC Chronicles: India. The format is quite different than most major AC games, in that it is a 2.5D side-scrolling game. The Ubisoft developers released a 3-part side-scrolling series set in China, India, and Russia. Having already played and enjoyed the format of AC China, I knew what to expect with this game. While I enjoyed the setting and art, I did not expect it to be so difficult. 

I found AC China to be fairly easy and the assassin Shao Jun could usually fight her way out of a tense situation. However that was not the case for Arbaaz Mir, the assassin from Kashmir, India. While he no doubt embodies the suave and stealthy Assassin prototype, he simply lacks in combat fortitude. Most of the missions in this game rely entirely on stealth and assassination kills and not very forgiving otherwise. What I especially despise in AC games is failing a mission due to being detected. This was quite common in this game, and I find it to be extremely frustrating to not be able to hide, run, or fight your way out of a situation. To be fair he does have an arsenal of special Helix attacks, and a chakram used for cutting down objects. 

Of the 10 sequences in this game, I think I found all but 2 to be very difficult. I would even go as far as saying this was the most challenging AC game I have played yet (and I've played almost all of them). As I mentioned before the reason for this is abrupt desynchronization in the game due to being detected or not achieving a mission fast enough. There were also various puzzles with climbs and jumps that must be done to perfection otherwise it led to failure. I suppose this is to be expected from a side-scroller game, and it's challenging nature is not so much a criticism on the overall quality of the game.

There were several tasks in this game I had to do over and over again for many times. Some examples are, I believe it was sequence 3 I had to sneak past about 10 guards undetected and assassinate a person moving very quickly. Another example (maybe in sequence 8) was sniping many guards without anyone noticing. This required strategy and quick shooting to clear the tower and acheive the task. Perhaps the hardest task for me was in the final sequence 10, that included evading a puckle gun and reaching the final villain. 

However despite it's challenging sequences, the setting of the game was quite majestic. It had all the colorful and exotic backdrop that you would expect from an Indian desert. From the plants, the buildings, the colorful costumes, to even exotic animals such as tigers and giant elephants. The palaces of Amritsar were quite magnificent and reminded me of the Sultanate settings from the Disney film Aladdin. Quite frankly the assassin of Arbaaz reminded me very much of Aladdin with his background in thievery and his love for the princess, Pyara. His outfit was reminiscent of Bayek's, a fellow Middle Eastern assassin from Egypt who packed way more of a punch however. 

I would say this game had a very unique quality to it and did inspire me on Indian history and culture. From the music, the gameplay, the costumes, and the setting it was a total homage to the culture of India which is what I love about these games. I also enjoy the brushing painting artistry of this game that is evident during the gameplay yet more so during the transitional story. This element was what I especially enjoyed about AC China, and would expect it to be included in AC Russia (I only hope AC Russia isn't as difficult as AC India was). So now next up for me will be a deep dive into AC: Syndicate, one that I am very much looking forward to as it deals with Victorian Britain.