Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia

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Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia for better of for worse has brought nothing new to the table and is still mediocre as ever.

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.

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.

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.

The final entry in a clumsily executed spin-off to a series that prides itself on freedom and grace, the end product of Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia is one whose trajectory was largely foreshadowed by its equally uninspiring predecessors. 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. In a series where every...

What's most puzzling about Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia is who its target audience is. Anyone who didn't like the previous two games has no reason to play this, yet because of the carbon-copied formula, anyone who did like the previous two games has no reason to play it either, because it's quite literally same thing.

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. There are unlockable upgrades for those that can complete runs without being spotted and there's an intriguing story for fans of AC lore, but this one won't really call for more than one playthrough.

A lovely art style and occasional bouts of the fun that the past games had doesn't make up for Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia's many pitfalls.

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.

As we pointed out in our Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India review, the series began to show signs of improvement, but the issues in Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia are just too glaring to ignore. The clunky hand-to-hand combat remains, and is joined by punishingly difficult timed platforming challenges and some poorly designed stealth sequences. All those elements combined make it tough to recommend Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia, even to the most dedicated fans of the franchise.