Skip to main content

Assassin’s Creed Rogue gameplay first looks highlight both land and sea action

Don’t look at Assassin’s Creed Rogue as the “lesser” AC game for 2014 just because it’s only heading to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. It’s very different from Unity, much more akin to evolution of what AC4: Black Flag delivered, but it’s got a whole bunch of new tricks for players to make use of, as you can see in this part of newly released gameplay clips from Gamescom 2014.

The first clip focuses entirely on the game’s naval play, with protagonist Shay Patrick Cormac, a Templar, piloting his ship, the Morrigan, through the rough sees of the North Atlantic Ocean. This region was the site of some of the heaviest fighting between the British and French during the Seven Years’ War that spanned 1752 through 1761.

Recommended Videos

Some of the new features showcased in the naval footage include the Morrigan’s Icebreaker Ram upgrade, which is used to cut through some of the dense ice floes that bar progress in Rogue‘s open seas. You also get to see some of the ship’s new weapons in action, including an early machine gun turret, a front-firing cannon equipped with explosive shells, and a rear-firing spill of burning oil.

Many features of Black Flag return, such as sea shanties (“around” 20 new ones mixed in with old ones), harpoon hunting challenges, dynamic ship-to-ship battle events, fleet building, and Morrigan upgrades fueled by scrap gathered throughout the world. The North Atlantic region also introduces some new elements, such as destructible icebergs that hide collectibles and serve as cover from incoming fire, and gang ships, assassin-controlled craft that attempt to ram and board the Morrigan if you get the locals angry enough.

 

The land-focused clip actually starts with a repeat rundown of some of the features covered in the naval gameplay clip. The Morrigan docks at around the three-minute mark, with Shay heading out to take down a gang hideout. The gang is an assassin-allied faction in AC Rogue, so in addition to destroying some barrels of poison gas and taking down the camp’s flag, Shay also has to hunt down the assassin that leads this bunch of ruffians.

As with the naval gameplay clip, the focus in this chunk of footage is on showing off some of AC Rogue‘s new features. Shay carries an air rifle that fills a role similar to the long-range blowgun of previous games. He’s also got a grenade launcher, useful for taking out groups of enemies at range with both lethal and non-lethal attacks. Gas and smoke are both factors in AC Rogue from both an offensive and defensive perspective, and Shay carries along a gas mask that he can equip to ward off any ill effects.

Overall, the play seems similar to what we’ve seen in past AC games. There’s a new compass feature in Eagle Vision that helps point the way to objectives via a colored circle that appears at Shay’s feet, but the basic traversal and combat systems are immediately familiar, even with the new toys. The key takeaway from this land-focused demo is that Shay’s opposition presents a stiffer challenge in combat. You’re frequently facing bona fide assassins, and they make use of the various tricks we’ve grown accustomed to using ourselves over the course of multiple Assassin’s Creed games.

Adam Rosenberg
Former Gaming/Movies Editor
Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…
How to get and use Scouts in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Naoe perched on a spire in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

There are plenty of familiar mechanics returning in Assassin's Creed Shadows, such as fast travel and earning XP to level up both Naoe and Yasuke. One of the many new features you will be introduced to early in the game is the Scouts. Once you unlock the Hideout and are given your initial Scouts, they will become an essential tool for finding your next objective and gathering vital resources needed to upgrade your Hideout. However, how to use them or get more isn't very clearly explained for how essential they are. Let us fill you in on all the details about how Scouts work in Assassin's Creed Shadows.
How to get and use Scouts

Scouts have several primary functions, the first and most important being to scout areas on the world map. Very often, your next objective will not be placed on the map, but instead, you will have directions on the rough location of where it will be. This is where Scouts are necessary. By following the game's directions on the map, you need to put your cursor over the area it is describing and assign one or more Scouts to reveal the area. You do this by pressing Square or X to bring up the dispatch menu and then deploying them at that area. You can see how many Scouts are available on the bottom left of your screen and can assign multiple to an area by pressing the right trigger. The more Scouts you use to scout an area, the larger the area they will reveal.

Read more
How long is Assassin’s Creed Shadows?
Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows fighting an enemy. He's dressed in his samurai armor.

It's no secret that the Assassin's Creed games have gotten longer and longer over the years. This is typical for Ubisoft open-world titles, but many are hoping that Assassin's Creed Shadows has scaled back on the bloat a bit. There's always fast travel and finding the fastest ways to earn XP to cut down on the grind, but there's only so much time that can be saved. If you're worried that this game might be another 100-hour time investment to fully complete, let's use our Eagle Vision to scout out how long Assassin's Creed Shadows is before you start playing.
How long is Assassin's Creed Shadows?

As you would expect, the amount of time you could put into Assassin's Creed Shadows will vary wildly based on how you approach it. You can focus on just the story and nothing else, tackle a handful of side missions and activities, or attempt to complete anything and everything the game has to offer.

Read more
How to unlock and use fast travel in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
shadows

The Assassin's Creed games have always been open-world titles that set you loose in a variety of historical locations. Assassin's Creed Shadows is no different, save for the introduction of the long-requested Japanese setting and dual protagonists. While you're earning XP and getting deeper into the game's story, it will become less and less viable to travel by foot or horse between objectives. That's where fast travel comes into play, but the system works slightly differently in this entry than usual. Here's how fast travel works in Assassin's Creed Shadows.
How to use fast travel

The core of the fast travel system in Assassin's Creed Shadows should be familiar to anyone who has played the series before. You will unlock viewpoints at set locations by climbing up to high points and synchronizing to give yourself a fast travel point, but there is another map marker you can use to fast travel as well. A new building called Kakurega are featured in most major towns and villages in the game that need to be unlocked by purchasing them with Mon. Once you do, they provide you with another fast travel point.

Read more