First impressions:

Uplay is broken again.

The menus are virtually the same as Black Flag but are a much nicer color.

The music so far seems decent.

There doesn't appear to be a companion app for Rogue.

Okay, starting a new game.

Ironically enough, this game seems to be locked at 30. I'm probably wrong, but this opening scene is beautifully steady.

The graphics seem pretty great. At least as good as Black Flag(On PS3, anyway). I like the snowy environments.

Treasure maps are back, which makes having no convenient companion app even more disappointing.

The world map seems to be about half as big as Black Flag. And Black Flag was huge.

It seems one of the collectible types is some sort of Viking Sword. I unlock the treasure location after finding 15 pieces.

The lip-syncing is pretty hilariously bad. It looks like someone with no understanding of conversation mouthing along.

After obtaining a ship of my own, I was instructed to destroy an innocent iceberg. Little did we know, this Iceberg was the father to a power and vengeful Iceberg Son who would go on and get his revenge by sinking the Titanic.

After watching a cutscene and hearing a Shanty from Black Flag, I wake up in The Abstergo office in the modern day and I'm pretty sure I'm the same character from Black Flag. Neato.

That's about it for now. But the game seems super stable and I haven't even really gotten too deep yet, so anything can change. Make no mistake however: This IS Black Flag 1.5. Nothing I've seen thus far has given me any reason to suspect it will offer many big advances, but if you at least liked Black Flag this should be your kind of thing.

I'll probably keep posting more stuff about this game as I get into it.

EDIT: There's an "easter egg" picture of Splinter Cell Conviction, but it says "Blacklist" instead. It's funny because Conviction didn't come out on PS3, which is where I'm playing the game.

EDIT: Being boarded is really fun and challenging if you aren't quick in dismissing the enemies.

On that note, boarding enemy vessels can be difficult as Captains are now much more powerful and for instance, are capable of killing you in two attacks if you aren't quick in countering or parrying. The combat in Black Flag got monotonous after a while so the extra challenge here is welcome, I think.

In Black Flag you would go entire sequences without getting the next progressional upgrade for your ship, while in Rogue I've gotten three major weapons for my ship in just one mission.

When you talk about the graphics being good, are you comparing it to the XBOX360 and PS3 versions of Black Flag? Or are you saying it looks as good as the PS4/XBOX One version of that game? Because that would be pretty remarkable.

Ah yes I should have specified. I only played Black Flag on the PS3 and this game looks to be about the same as that. I certainly haven't noticed anything particularly "poor" looking so far but it seems to have about the same amount of visual polish as last-gen Black Flag.

Black Flag was amazing so having something that's pretty good to follow it up seems solid enough, bummer that there's no competitive multiplayer though.

Really digging the way that the story has been set up so far. It's a strong introduction that I hope they can keep going.

Otherwise this game seems... dense. There was a ton of ocean stuff from Black Flag now I'm in New York where I've been introduced to a ton of Brotherhood style takeover missions and there's still the huge river valley map that I didn't get much time to roam around in.

Sounds as expected. If I am itching for it ever sounds like a good Steal sale game.

@efesell: Sounds exciting. I just got done with my first series of computer hacking puzzles and am quite surprised. They went over a great deal of Al Mualim from the first Assassin's Creed and it gave me a general sense of where this story could be going.

There was also a "modern day" collectible where they discuss Unity and Arno Dorian(Unity's main character).

The modern day in Rogue seems to be the same as the one in Black Flag. You go around hacking computers and reading information about Assassin's and Templar's and then pick up a bunch of tablets laying around and reading information about other stuff. I mean, it's definitely Assassin's Creed.

Sounds like what I, and seems like most others, expected. Looking forward to playing it when it comes out on PC. I prefer the city based AC's over the 3 and 4, but I am still happy with a good collectible gathering game to listen to podcasts to.

I'm not far into it, just completed the first assassination, but like Unity it's a-ok.

My main issues right now are the somewhat dull writing and unstable framerate, it runs about "as well" as Black Flag did on PS3. Coming off the PS4 version of that game, it did take a while for my eyes to adjust, but it's certainly playable. No major problems here.

Sailing around and collecting random junk on the map is still as strangely addicting as ever. It does feel like the ship is easier to manuver this time as well, though I can't be certain.

It's basically AC3 with Black Flags gameplay. If you liked either one, you'll enjoy Rogue as well.

interesting, I'm more tempted with Rouge NOW then Unity.

@crithon: I really don't blame ya if you'd rather put on makeup than put up with Unity.

I hadn't heard the "rogue/rouge" mixup in so many years that I thought most people had figured out that one is some kind of fiendish swashbuckling guy, and the other is a lady's makeup. I'm suddenly hearing it SO frequently now that I almost wonder if people are doing it on purpose as some kind of AC inside joke. That... or well I guess Ubisoft's flagship series does have a really broad audience, almost to CoD levels.

I am also not far into it but it's definitely like playing Black Flag. It starts you out by tutorializing everything as if you've never played an Assassin's Creed, or Black Flag before. You learn how to assassinate, you learn how to shoot guns, you learn how to hunt and skin animals. The basics. You also get a taste for the huge amount of collectibles again because they are everywhere.

Interestingly, and I may be wrong on this, but it appears you can buy weapons straight from your ship now instead of going to stores. That could be handy but I've got no idea how or why, since fast-travel is so quick and effective.

I'm still an Assassin but I've seen Adawale and Achilles from AC3 and 4 so that's pretty exciting. Adewale is basically Big Boss at this point, old and tenured but still highly skilled and laying out fools all over the world. Achilles is young and learning and looks like a total badass. I'm gonna cut this post short and get back into it because I am excited to "break bad" and become a Templar.

There is one pretty notable difference in that the game is way more likely to punish you for running in blindly and thinking you can just chain-kill entire compounds. That's still totally doable and the combat isn't any more challenging, but now there are hidden assassins that just pop out of your own hiding places and can just shank you for a huge chunk of damage.

I should also point out for those who are much like myself, in the way that they hate the optional objectives that stand in the way of getting 100% on missions. The ones in Rogue are really easy, and most of the ones I've seen so far are things you'd usually do anyway, so you don't end up going out of your way. I really like this as I feel more rewarded for going after 100% instead of being punished for it.

Also: Being boarded is really intense and fun. These guys can cream your crew really quickly if you don't get on them ASAP.

telling me this is basically more Black Flag is about the best I could hope for

So I guess that's the AC game Im playing this year

Sounds good. I'll probably grab this once I finish up Black Flag.

Ubisoft thanks you for being a day one purchaser as do all other gaming distributors.

@belegorm: HAHA, I didn't noticed I typed that in. HA!

Are 90% of the missions "Tail this guy, eavesdrop, kill the guy" like in Black Flag?

Right after I recorded this a dog came up and started barking at me. Right before I recorded this, I saw a man perpetually blinking in and out of existence, but I decided not to record it for whatever reason. It was hilarious though.

Yup, this game sure is a B production of Black Flag. It's really strange though, at the very beginning of the game it feels like they're just jumping in with both feet almost like it's a DLC to Black Flag or something, but now I've played 8 hours of it and I still haven't gotten around to the part where I feel like the story really lets me free.

Also, I dunno if it's my PS3 getting too old or what, but I feel like there's something really strange going on with the framerate in the game. It feels very choppy, while at the same time looking very typical 30 smooth. It's especially noticable on the minimap, which I swear is not set to refresh at 30 fps. It's like the game isn't rendering at 30 fps, but it's putting out a 30 fps feed (if that makes sense?).

I'm enjoying myself for now though, although if I hadn't already replayed Black Flag earlier this year I'd probably much rather play that again over this. Now if only Ubi actually manages to branch off into a good pirate-themed franchise off of what they've done with these last few iterations of old-console AC, instead of letting it be lost and forgotten with the new engine, I'd be a really happy camper.

You can get boarded now? That's pretty cool.

How's the story been? Hearing that you meet up with Adewale and Achilles is interesting.

@n7: That's some good stuff.

@theht: Ye, it's sorta silly though, I was in combat with a ship that would've clearly beat me, but then it boarded me and I wiped out all their people and I ended up looting their ship instead.

As for the story, (spoilers if you haven't been following the previews at all).

@theht: So far I am not into the story at all. There's a moment where your character "leaves" the Assassin Order and I felt like it was written by a guy saying "OKAY, NOW FOR DRAMA, *STUFF* HAPPENS AND THAT'S THAT" because it's pretty weak and quite frankly goes against the some characters and their personalities. I didn't get that at all, but I'm at the point where I'm now doing bad guy stuff so we'll see how that goes.

I'll say that I loved Black Flag's story. The story of a selfish pirate being thrust into the real world and slowly realizing that it's not about money or fame, but making a difference. It was fantastic. The character of Edward Kenway was truly great. Shay on the other hand so far has been pretty bland and weak, as has the story.

Oh and here's that spooky ghost I mentioned earlier:

Are you still restricted to one type of weapon, dualwielding some type of swords? That may seem like a strange pet peave, but I really hated that part of Black Flag. Also how are the city traversel? Are there even any city's or is it mostly shantytowns like Black Flag?

There's New York, which is different from the AC3 version. It's still huge though. Then there's River Valley, which is sea-bound but filled with villages and buildings everywhere. It's pretty big too. Then there's the North Atlantic which is the main ocean area you'll be around.

And yeah, you're still limited to dual-wielding. This time instead of 2 swords it's 1 sword and 1 dagger. It changes nothing. I'm pretty sure the animations are the exact same from Black Flag. Super disappointing.

Honestly I had no idea they were making a game called Rogue. WHat is this exactly? Compared to Unity it is just like a short single player story or what? Is it a full game? Why has no one talked about this?

Unity seems like complete shit and I won't play it, I liked black flag though.

It is a full game for the last gen systems, and pc in early 2015. It appears to be essentially be what Revelations was to Brotherhood. There was some talk but since it is only for last gen systems for now and is practically the same game as Black Flag most of the attention was on Unity.

Which is by far the better game, so it was deserved. Unity that is.

Having seen the QL I think the story seems interesting enough, but the protagonist seems to have the "Connor" problem. Might buy it for 15 bucks some time or just watch an LP in a year or two.

I could just play ACIV again. Blackbeard man, Blackbeard.

The best thing about this game is you don't have to wear a stupid hood.

The hood is better than Shay's awful ponytail. If you aren't Dick Marcinko or a samurai then you have no business having a ponytail.

@fredchuckdave: I have gotten further into the story and it seems to be getting interesting. I'm not sure if this is a spoiler or not, but I'll mark it anyway. A lot of characters that were "total good guys" in the beginning seem to suffer from "Now the protagonist of the game has switched sides and we are the antagonists now, so we're suddenly huge dicks hellbent on murder and other evilllll things"

Yes, in fact Rogue has some of the best outfits in Assassin's Creed history. I don't want to spoil you or anything but there's totally viking armor in this game. It looks fucking gnarly. I can't wait to get it.

lol fair enough. Ubi does look like their pony tails. Did Connor have one too? Ezio and Arno for sure.

Ok, that's pretty cool.

In Unity there are some non-Assassiny hoods and I have been using those. One is a chain mail hood and it's not bad actually. At least it makes Arno not look like the most suspicious guy ever.

So uhm, this game is pretty short. Not short for your average game ofc, but for an AC game the campaign is pretty swift. It also plays heavily on having played 3 and 4 to have any real impact. Still plenty of decent side-stuff to get lost in though, but by the time I thought I was done with the full intro of the game I was already past the halfway point. It also leads to a situation where a lot of the side-stuff is never really introduced and a lot of the "stuff on the map" feels like it's just thrown in there for no real reason. Sure, there's always been an excess of stuff in these games, but the ratio here is probably close to something like 80-20.