2014 was an odd year for Assassin’s Creed. The current generation of consoles were still barely a year old, so a lot of new games with improved graphics were being released to celebrate the innovation and to sell consoles.
But Ubisoft did something a little odd. They decided to release two Assassin’s Creed titles that year. One on the previous generation of consoles (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) and one on the current generation.
At the time, I skipped Rogue simply because I had gotten the Xbox One and I have a soft spot of the French Revolution, so naturally, I wanted to perform a leap of faith in Assassin’s Creed Unity.
During Easter 2020, I decided to start this journey through the Assassin’s Creed franchise and decided that I would play all the games in the series. Luckily, I managed to grab the remastered Assassin’s Creed Rogue for dirt cheap.
So, after I finished the Freedom Cry expansion for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, I jumped into Rogue for the first time. I have to say, I wish I played it when it initially came out.
The Seven Years War
I didn’t know much about the time period Rogue is set in before playing it. The French and English were still fighting over the Eastern coast of the United States and the Northern Atlantic.
This game takes place before Assassin’s Creed III. Conner Kenway is not mentioned at all as he is still a baby if one references looks at the dates in this game.
Rogue took the sailing elements from Black Flag and just plonked it down in a colder environment. Gone were the inviting seas of the Caribbean, now was the time for the icy cold waves of the Northern Atlantic.
Shay Cormac
I feel sorry for Shay. He really got the wrong end of the stick. Without going into spoilers, I can say the entire reason why he went rogue was due to poor leadership in the Assassin’s brotherhood and a misunderstanding.
The story is a prime example of how dangerous the inability to communicate can be. The Assassin’s were vilified in this game to try add gameplay opportunities, but that felt out of place to me.
Shay’s reasons for turning were understandable and it didn’t help that the Templars basically manipulated him after his fallout with the Assassin’s.
Rogue has been hard to write about mostly because the entire essence of the game is shrouded in spoilers. And, this is not a game I want to spoil. Though I will say that it was nice seeing familiar areas and characters from Assassin’s Creed III.
Rogue was a solid close to the Americas era of Assassin’s Creed.
