A few days ago, two
Assassins's Creed: Rogue gameplay walk through/ demos videos were released by
Ubisoft. The first starts with a naval battle, and showcases the Morrigan's more nimble manoeuvring abilities compared to the Jackdaw from
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, as well as a few new weapons.
After defeating a few of the adversaries ships, we get to see new Assassin, turned Templar character, Shay Patrick Cormac, taking to land in order to liberate the gang (Assassin) controlled headquarters. This sequence looks very similar to the fort capturing side missions of Black Flag, but with a few added objectives, such as destroying the barrels of poison in this case.
The second video starts off in much the same way, even demonstrating the new arsenal of ship weaponry again.
After defeating the enemy ships, instead of heading towards a gang headquarters, we get to see the ice-breaking capabilities of the Morrigan, as well as the updated sea battle mechanics. Now when an enemy ship rams you, opposing crew are able to board your ship, starting a fight sequence on the deck of the Morrigan.
Profile of the Morrigan (
Source)
At the moment
Rogue is looking a lot like the previous
Assassin's Creed title,
Black Flag, with a few minor tweaks, and the addition of a some new weapons, a gas mask, and an 'Eagle sense.' In the above videos the HUD is the same, as are a lot of the finishing move animations, and even the sound effects while scrolling through the inventory, etc. I'm not sure whether this is the case due to this representing an early build of
Rogue, or because a majority of the game is in fact just a 'copy and paste' of
Black Flag, with a new skin for the lead character, and a new setting with snow and ice. That said, the story of an Assassin, turned Templar, hunting down Assassins is still a plot that sounds fairly interesting and exciting.
A perceived hole in the game's plot, is why an Irishman would be helping the British cause? During the period of the
Seven Years' War (1754-1763) the
Kingdom of Ireland, while still a separate entity to the
Kingdom of Great Britain, fell under the rule of King George II, and later King George III. So at the time the Kingdom of Ireland was a British ally. It wasn't until a few decades later, during the
Irish Rebellion of 1798, that the parties in opposition to the British rule of Ireland received military support from the French Revolutionary Government.
I guess this is how the story arc of
Assassin's Creed: Rogue will tie-in with the events of
Assassin's Creed: Unity, which is set during the
French Revolution. One can now assume that the Templars were supporting the British war effort, while the Assassins sided with the French. This further blurs the lines as to whether the Assassins, or the Templars are the good guys.
In the second video while Cormac is exploring the frozen shipwreck, at around the 06:50 mark, a flock of black and white birds can seen on the ice. At first I thought these were penguins, which would have been a mistake by the developers, given that penguins don't occur in the Arctic naturally. After confirming that the
great auk was not extinct yet during this period, and judging by the large size of the birds, this seems a far more likely identification.
So while
Far Cry 4 will have elephants, rhinoceroses, and honey badgers,
Assassisn's Creed: Rogue will have polar bears, narwhals, and great auks.
