As a fan of the Assassin's Creed series (and the AC: Chronicles spin-offs, to a lesser extent), I really wanted to like this game. I enjoyed the previous games in the series despite the occasionally brutal learning curve and segments that could get a little unfair, but AC: Russia is easily the worst of the bunch.

There are tons of gameplay sections where pixel perfect timing is required to advance, and I ended up having to replay some of these sections 15-20 times in order to get past them. The amount of trial and error that is required to complete the game really begs the question whether or not it's even worth playing at all; which is an absolute shame because ACC: Russia undoubtedly has the best story in the entire trilogy. For the first time in Assassin's Creed history, we get a straightforward and consistently-engaging narrative with no unecessary filler along the way.

Nikolai and Anastasia's story is genuinely gripping--and most importantly, it foregoes the common AC trope of sending you after a set number of assassination targets in a linear fashion until the inevitable confrontation with another generic evil villian. Their story revolves around both characters trying to escape Russia, but there's lots of unexpected twists along the way, and it even boldly frames the Templars and the Assassins as two sides of the same coin; both willing to commit grave injustices to accomplish their goals.

I was also very surprised to see the level of ambition and creativity on display during the set-piece sequences. The entire game takes place on a 2.5D plane, and the devs took full advantage of it in order to deliver some genuine "wow" moments that wouldn't seem out of place in some of Ubisoft's bigger AAA titles.

Unfortunately, those are the only compliments I can give. For every mildy enjoyable gameplay section, there is another frustrating (and borderline unfair) race-against-the-clock challenge right around the corner. No amount of preperation or skill can save you from replaying them over and again, effectively destroying any semblance of forward momentum (or fun) that you may have been having. I truly thought about ending my playthough on multiple occasions thanks to these poorly-designed levels.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia effectively undoes anything good that it brings to the table with some bafflingly incompetent game design. I'm torn, because it really had the potential to be the definitive game in the series, and one that might've pulled in more people than just the AC die-hards if only it had been polished a bit more, if only they'd spent more time. It pains me to know that it will be written off as just another forgettable entry in a spin-off series that could've been so much more.

As a fan of the Assassin's Creed series (and the AC: Chronicles spin-offs, to a lesser extent), I really wanted to like this game. I enjoyed the previous games in the series despite the occasionally brutal learning curve and segments that could get a little unfair, but AC: Russia is easily the worst of the bunch. There are tons of gameplay sections where pixel perfect timing is required to advance, and I ended up having to replay some of these sections 15-20 times in order to get past them. The amount of trial and error that is required to complete the game really begs the question whether or not it's even worth playing at all; which is an absolute shame because ACC: Russia undoubtedly has the best story in the entire trilogy. For the first time in Assassin's Creed history, we get a straightforward and consistently-engaging narrative with no unecessary filler along the way. Nikolai and Anastasia's story is genuinely gripping--and most importantly, it foregoes the common AC trope of sending you after a set number of assassination targets in a linear fashion until the inevitable confrontation with another generic evil villian. Their story revolves around both characters trying to escape Russia, but there's lots of unexpected twists along the way, and it even boldly frames the Templars and the Assassins as two sides of the same coin; both willing to commit grave injustices to accomplish their goals. I was also very surprised to see the level of ambition and creativity on display during the set-piece sequences. The entire game takes place on a 2.5D plane, and the devs took full advantage of it in order to deliver some genuine "wow" moments that wouldn't seem out of place in some of Ubisoft's bigger AAA titles. Unfortunately, those are the only compliments I can give. For every mildy enjoyable gameplay section, there is another frustrating (and borderline unfair) race-against-the-clock challenge right around the corner. No amount of preperation or skill can save you from replaying them over and again, effectively destroying any semblance of forward momentum (or fun) that you may have been having. I truly thought about ending my playthough on multiple occasions thanks to these poorly-designed levels. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia effectively undoes anything good that it brings to the table with some bafflingly incompetent game design. I'm torn, because it really had the potential to be the definitive game in the series, and one that might've pulled in more people than just the AC die-hards if only it had been polished a bit more, if only they'd spent more time. It pains me to know that it will be written off as just another forgettable entry in a spin-off series that could've been so much more.