Assassin’s Creed Chronicles is a compilation containing:
- Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China
- Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India
- Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China is the first game of three in the Chronicles spin-off series based on the main Assassin’s Creed franchise. It is a 2.5D platform game similar to the earlier Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery. The game is set in China in 1526 with Shao Jun as the protagonist, a character that was earlier introduced in the short film Assassin’s Creed: Embers. Set two years after the events of the film, Shao Jun is one of the few remaining Assassins of the Chinese Brotherhood. Her brotherhood was wiped out by Zhang Yong, the leader of a group of eunuchs known as the Tigers, which are in fact Templars controlling the emperor as a puppet. Her new leader Wang Yangming calls her back to China to push back the Templar influence. She brings along the Precursor artifact given to her by Ezio Auditore. At the start of the game she lets herself be captured to infiltrate a former Assassins stronghold now controlled by the Tigers.
The game has a linear side-scrolling design, but with a lot of vertical movement. At times it is possible to move to a plane in the background and Jun can hide in alcoves or pass unnoticed by hanging from ledges. The game brings over the parkour movement of the main series with jumping, crouching, vaulting, sliding, sprinting, platform sections and more. Although a combat approach is possible, the game encourages the use of stealth. Each level is split up into multiple sections and based on the stealth performance (times seen, times alerted, assassinations and combat kills) one of three Shadow Style ratings is awarded along with a number of points that act as experience to access upgrades such as increased health.
Enemies have a visible awareness cone based on line of sight. Next to white that shows the reach of their sight, there is a yellow state where guards investigate and a red state where they alert others and attack. Jun has a large amount of abilities to wield stealth. She can take cover in alcoves and assassinate from there and assassinate from ledges. Guards spot bodies so these need to be hidden in alcoves or green chests. Enemies can be distracted with a dog whistle, triggering a yellow awareness state and the player can determine the position, reach and strength. There are sometimes dogs that need to be avoided as the barking will draw guards. The game has minor puzzle elements to progress with levers and objects that can be interacted with. In complex situations with multiple guards their patrol paths need to be taken into account. The game brings over the eagle vision feature from the main series where paths become visible through bright colours.
Jun can assassinate with a hidden shoe blade, but she can also engage in regular combat with a sword using mechanics to perform two types of attacks, block and roll over. It is also possible to block backwards and dodge bullets. Various gadgets are unlocked gradually, such as daggers to trigger wind chimes or attack from a distance, noise darts, firecrackers that stun, a grappling hook etc. Additional abilities such as dashing between hiding places become available gradually. After each level a number of upgrades can be unlocked. There are also secondary objectives and optional hidden collectibles. Just like the main games it is presented as an Animus simulation so Jun cannot die, but desynchronizes. Also carried over from the main games is the Animus database where descriptions about people and locations are stored as they are encountered. Next to the normal mode a plus and plus hard mode can be unlocked. Existing abilities and upgrades are carried over, but in plus hard for instance Jun has only a single health bar and enemies react faster.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India is the second game in the Assassin’s Creed Chronicles trilogy, a spin-off of based on the main Assassin’s Creed franchise. After China as a new setting in the first game, this title takes place in India in 1841 during the time the Sikh Empire was at war with the East India Company. The protagonist is the Assassin Arbaaz Mir who is in love with the princess Pyara Kaur. He has stolen the Koh-I-Noor diamond from the Maharajah’s palace and his mentor Hamid believes it is a powerful item. The British troops strengthen their influence in the region, steered by infiltrated Templar agents and they also want the diamond back. Mir not only has to fight the Templars, but also needs to protect his master, the diamond and his lover.
Just like the first game it is a 2.5D side-scrolling platform title that heavily encourages stealth, but does not force it as combat is also often an option. There are sections where small 3D moments come into play, for instance by hanging from windows where guards pass in hallways, paths and ziplines that lead to other layers in the background, and walls and hiding places that can be climbed or used in multiple directions. Combat is done with a sword with various moves to dash, slide, block, dodge bullets, roll and strike with a light or heavy attack. There is only a small amount of health and Mir is quickly overwhelmed. While sneaking enemies can be distracted using noise bombs, smoke bombs, chakrams as a throwing weapon, for instance to slice ropes from a distance, or by whistling. Sneaking is usually done based on line of sight, shown as a cone, but certain sections also have noisy floors where only slow movement is allowed. It is possible to hide in alcoves and steal from enemies if they are not watching. Loot provides additional ammo, keys or documents. Enemies can be choked with a non-lethal takedown and the bodies can be dragged to a different location. Mir can also use a grappling hook to hoist himself up. Tigers and birds play an important role as they can alert many guards at once. Once detected a timer counts down before every guard involved returns from a ‘panicked/alerted’ to an ‘investigative’ state, providing a small amount of time for Mir to find a safe spot.
Just like the first game the player is rated based on how well stealth is applied. The level score combined with style bonuses unlocks perks and new abilities. Optionally chests with items can be opened and Animus shards can be collected. Next to the main game, divided into multiple levels with checkpoints and story sequences in between, there are separate missions in the Challenge Room section, based on three types: Assassinations, Collect and Contracts.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia is the third game in the Assassin’s Creed Chronicles trilogy, a spin-off of based on the main Assassin’s Creed franchise. After China and India as settings in the previous games, this one is set in Russia in 1918. Nikolaï Orelov is tasked by the Brotherhood to retrieve a mysterious box from the family of the Tsar, who are held captive by the Bolsheviks. During his mission, he saves the young Duchess Anastasia, who reveals surprising and mysterious powers. Nikolaï realizes that the Duchesses life will be sacrificed if delivered to his own order. He must choose between protecting the innocent life of a surrogate daughter, becoming the marked man by both the Templars and the Assassins, or getting his hands dirty for the greater good.
Just like the previous titles it is a 2.5D side-scrolling game that mixes a stealth approach with combat, solving small environmental puzzles along the way and using a variety of gadgets and weapons. Unlike in the previous two games, Orelov relies on his rifle with a mounted bayonet instead of a sword, but the effect is the same as he can perform a stealth kill, strike with it, jump kill, and additionally he can fire at the enemy which doesn’t require of him to carry throwing knives or chakram as assassins from earlier ear. Bullets, as well as other gadgets and ammo that needs to be resupplied can be found in containers or by looting an enemy guard. New equipment for Orelov includes a winch which lets him pry open various locks and gates by firing a grappling hook at it and pulling it quickly a few times. Additionally, the winch can send an electrical discharge to deactivate electrical traps. Hiding behind covers or in alcoves, using smoke bombs for distraction, performing map synchronization in places from which a leap of faith can be performed in order to display the location of secret items on the map, and general movement in all six directions is done in almost the same way as in previous two games. And just as before, as the story progresses, different, more elite types of soldiers will enter the scene. They will be able to perform different kinds of attacks as well as defend against certain types of Orelov’s moves, for example soldiers wearing gas masks cannot be affected by smoke bombs, or soldiers wearing armor cannot be harmed by bullets. Weapons and warfare are shaped to fit the timeline and as such there may be new obstacles to encounter, such as land mines which are deactivated when a guard is crossing them, leaving you a close window to sneak past unnoticed, or kill the guard and just carry him on your back while crossing over the mine. The sniping which was briefly introduced near the end of the previous game, is heavily emphasized here and you can perform it using your own rifle at specified sniper nests. During sniping the game shifts to a 1st-person perspective and allows you to zoom in on your target. Sniping sequences doesn’t cost the player any bullets despite the use of the same rifle. Certain guards may be out of sight or in a group which makes it impossible to pass the level without distracting them first. This can be done by shooting anywhere near them in order to get them to investigate the place of the bullet ricochet.
After Orelov saves Anastasia, the game takes a turn unlike to that of its predecessors, giving the players two characters to control. Due to an unknown phenomenon which occurs when the mysterious box comes in touch with Orelov’s necklace, Anastasia occasionally gets possessed by Shao Jun, the protagonist from Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China which turns her into a deadly assassin and slowly starts to affect the real Anastasia by turning her from prey into a huntress. While the player cannot control the characters simultaneously or switch at will, both characters are interchangeably controllable throughout the story, often providing assistance and covering fire to one another.
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