Twenty years after the events of "Assassin's Creed Syndicate," dead prostitutes start turning up in the city of London and Whitechapel. Evie Frye has moved to India (presumably to start a life with Henry Green), and so Jacob Frye investigates. Who is responsible?
"Assassin's Creed Jack the Ripper" is a stand-alone expansion to "Syndicate" in the sense that skills, weapons and outfits don't carry over. Time spent leveling up the assassin siblings in the core game seems wasted when Evie returns to London; the ability to disappear when standing still is no longer in her arsenal. The upgrade that prevented Blighters from starting fights on the streets in "Syndicate" has no effect on the new gang. Apparently, the Rooks in London are unfamiliar with the reputation of the Frye duo.
After Jacob disappears, the story shifts focus to Evie, who must venture back into the belly of the beast to find out what happened to her brother.
Players get the opportunity to play as Jack himself, utilizing new FEAR tactics and tools to terrify his victims and anyone that stands in his way. Most of Jack's missions entail finding and killing someone while destroying evidence of his involvement and history, while Evie's missions typically require her to investigate the aftermath to find clues as to Jack's whereabouts and intentions. In the end, Jack's story goes much deeper than anticipated.
Along with the new FEAR tactics that both Jack and Evie can use, the introduction of brutal assassinations can also frighten nearby NPCs. To start a brutal assassination, players simply need to hold down the "assassinate" button and follow the on-screen quick time event. It is much simpler for Evie to pull off a brutal assassination, presumably because she is a master assassin, whereas Jack is not.
Along with the story of Jack the Ripper, new side missions are available. All of which step up the difficulty when compared to "Syndicate's."
In Brothel Attack, players must carefully eliminate the unwelcome Rooks in a brothel while freeing the prostitutes and protecting them from getting killed. If a Rook spots the player, he will start strangling the nearest call girl. If too many women of the night die, the mission is a failure. After freeing all the prostitutes, a gang leader will call out the player for one more fight before giving up the brothel.
Bounty Hunts return with the same concept: capture or kill a target and deliver them or their body to Inspector Abberline for a reward.
Carriage of Justice missions require players to help citizens that have been wrongly accused of being Jack the Ripper escape custody of the local authorities. The suspects are held in a carriage that players must steal and drive across town in a manner that will prevent any unwanted attention from the local gangs or other police. If completed without being detected, an extra sync bonus is applied to the score. The pace of these missions is extremely slow and not nearly as enjoyable as the other side quests.
Jack the Ripper's letters were given some attention in the campaign of the expansion when Evie scolded a local reporter for publishing the letters, solidifying Jack's status as a legendary killer. Apparently, the reporter learned his lesson and now wants Evie to help him make amends. These side missions have players track down Rooks that have forged these letters. After following them into dark alleys, players must frighten the Rook using whatever FEAR tactics they they wish to ensure they never write another of these letters.
Players that enjoyed working their way up the ranks in the fight clubs will get an extra challenge out of the new close the fight clubs quests. with more rounds and stronger fighters, players' mettle in hand-to-hand combat are put to the test.
Jack's Lieutenants was my personal favorite series of side missions. The task is simple: take down high-level Rooks working for Jack the Ripper. Doing so in unique ways, i.e. killing all of them from above, grants bonus XP.
Walk of Shame is the most difficult of the new side quests. Here, players have to rescue a prostitute from a Rook, kidnap the Rook, and walk him through crowds to shame him for the way he treats hookers. However, since other Rooks will step in and start a fight with Evie, it's difficult to deliver the aggressor to their destination. Expect to attempt these missions a few times before succeeding.
If completing side quests isn't our cup of tea, "Assassin's Creed Jack the Ripper" will be a rather shallow experience. There are only a handful of missions to the story and while interesting, can be completed in just a couple of hours. If you enjoy completing side quests and collecting helix glitches, there is plenty of new content to sink your knife into.
"Assassin's Creed Jack the Ripper" is the first title I'm going to give a numerical review. While the new content is interesting, fun, and more difficult, the lack of previous upgrades, weak dialogue and a limited map prevent it from getting a high score.
7.5/10
