Assassin's Creed Syndicate Hands-On Review: 9 Things We Learned

7. The Combat Is Tougher, And A Bit Better

Combat in previous Assassin's Creed games made the player as mundanely unstoppable as The Matrix's Neo. No matter how many enemies were around you, you could essentially fend them off using your counter-attack, then fly - or briskly climb - away on the rare occasion that things got too hairy. I admit that I approached Syndicate with a bit of complacency based on my past AC experiences. So when some knife-wielding wench backed up by a bald-headed brute yelled at me to "piss off" out of their territory, I decided in my Victorian role-playing mind that I'd batter them to next Tuesday. But it quickly became apparent that things were no longer as simple as counter-attacking everyone to death. These London street hoodlums were tougher than the pirates, British redcoats and medieval soldiers of ACs gone by, and it caught me off-guard. Suffice to say I ended up being lifted up with one hand and repeatedly cleaved in the kidneys; a nasty way to go, and a lesson learned. Combat in Syndicate forces you to be more aggressive. It rewards attacking rather than just holding your guard up and waiting for counter-attacking opportunities. To this end, kill streaks are back and pistols are quicker to fire, making combat feel more rugged - in a good way. It was actually quite satisfying to have to do a runner from a group of four thugs who roughed me up good 'n proper after I thought I could take them single-handedly. With all that said, the fighting doesn't feel as varied, cinematic or satisfying as in comparable games like Arkham Knight and Shadow of Mordor. I'm still holding out hope that the combat in Syndicate will improve as you start levelling up and earning abilities from the substantial-looking skill tree.