Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia Reviews
The final episode of the Chronicles trilogy emerges with a muffled pop rather than a bang, but presents a satisfying adventure for anyone who enjoyed the last two.
Though it doesn't stand up to the franchise's grander releases, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia is a fun and thoughtful stealth experience, easily the best to bear the Chronicles name.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia Marx the end of the ill-fated Chronicles series, but instead of making a final stand, Climax's latest treads water. While the visual style is pleasant and the atmosphere is strong, attempts to inject the game with innovation fall flatter than the Berlin Wall in 1990, and the title hasn't really got much to offer to fans old or new in terms of stealth or combat. There are far better Assassin's Creed games and far better platformers, so this spin-off has nowhere else to go but the gulag.
With six challenges to do (just like India) and a New Game+ option, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia has plenty to offer for a bite-sized package, but it fails to live up to the bar set by its predecessors. The loud and powerful styles of China and India simply trump the final piece of the pie, which goes out with a muted rebel yell.
Clunky, frustrating and a world away from the series best efforts, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia limps over the finish line, completing a spin-off trilogy and closing the door on a concept that simply deserved better.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles features a generally solid game engine, nice storyline, and is for all intents and purposes a decent proposition. However, it's constantly prevented from shining by some dire level design and so many instant deaths that if you counted them, would probably see you reaching triple digits by the time you complete the game for the first time. There's some enjoyment to be had here, but it's frequently punctuated by massive bouts of frustration. If you want to try the series, you should grab China, since it remains the best of the three.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia disappoints on multiple levels, from a flat main character to unintuitive insta-fail stealth levels to clumsy combat and platforming. The few times it nails it with diorama-like puzzles and Helix powers only serve to make the rest of this side-scrolling spinoff look even worse by comparison.
Russia closes the Chronicles trilogy in worst possbile way, with a frustrating, broken game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia is the third and final installment in the Assassin's Creed 2.5D spin-off series, and it also happens to be the weakest entry yet.
Had 'Russia' stuck to some of the roots of the main AC series, this could have been an interesting departure from the 3D games. But making the main characters feel paper thin while stacking the deck with inconsistent stealth mechanics, fussy controls, and timed objectives starts to make 'Russia' feel like a weekend in Siberia.
A satisfying blend of action, stealth and Russian history, undone by a frustratingly stupid difficulty spike that makes it a red menace.
As the best game in the Chronicles trilogy, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia delivers some solid sections of stealth play set against a beautiful backdrop, but still falls flat with frustrating level design and uninspiring combat.
Sadly, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia fell below the bar that ACC: China set. The game definitely had some great potential, especially with the new gadgets, sniping, and bringing in a second character, but the execution ultimately collapsed in the end, unless you're willing to master each and every skill. The push for perfection is perhaps a speedrunner's dream, but it's not something that will sit well with most players.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia ends the trilogy on a higher note, managing to add a few new things and improvements over the last two installments. Unfortunately, it still falls of short of really impressing fans. The exploration is still a bit stiff, the combat is clunky while the timed sections are a pain to get through.
Shortcomings that haunt the entire series remain here, but more gameplay choices and a compelling narrative make Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia the strongest of the three Chronicles titles.
The best entry out of all 3, as the emphasis is more on stealth and there is more freedom, but it still suffers from weak combat and AI, and it's easy to fail missions making for a sometimes frustrating experience.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Whilst still being a very similar game to the first two instalments, our visit to Russia is definitely the most interesting of the three. Bringing in Ana as a second playable character makes the gameplay more interesting, allowing for sections where you switch between the two and help each other out. The overall look and feel of Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia is exactly the same as China and India; there isn't anything new in this game that makes it stand out from the other two, or from other games in the same genre. If you enjoyed the past two Chronicles games then you will most likely enjoy this one. Otherwise, this one won't be changing any opinions.
When an Assassin's Creed game has you swearing under your breath more than Super Meat Boy or Dark Souls, you know that something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. Where difficulty can be used to make a game more addictive or rewarding, here it manages to sap every ounce of fun out of the experience. Factor in the copious amount of idle waiting the stealth genre entails and what you have is a frustrating game that besmirches one of the industry's biggest franchises.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia tries its best to be cool and innovative, but in doing so the end result is a repetitive game that overly relies on stealth and a lackluster combat system.