There wasn't a big demand for Assassin’s Creed III on the Switch. That game is generally considered to be one of the weaker entries in the series, and while it’s not awful, it wasn't one of the Creeds that fans wanted on Nintendo’s handheld. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, on the other hand, is a perfect candidate for a Switch port. It’s arguably the best of the classic-style Assassin’s Creed games, introducing naval combat, tropical locales, and a main character who has a little of that Jack Sparrow swagger with none of that Johnny Depp baggage.
Assassin’s Creed: The Rebel Collection gives us two portable pirate adventures, which is a great value, even though one of them is Assassin’s Creed Rogue.
Treasure And Treachery
Both of the games included in The Rebel Collection are pirate-focused affairs with lots of ship battles and plundering. Black Flag’s story involves an opportunistic pirate named Edward Kenway who stumbles across the whole Assassins and Templars feud by random chance. He attempts to exploit the Templars for his own personal gain, but soon finds himself getting in way too deep within a massive, centuries-old conflict. It’s also the game that introduces the Abstergo Entertainment storyline, where Desmond Miles is long dead after the events of Assassin’s Creed III and his plot is mostly thrown in the trash. Now, the Aminus is a glorified VR helmet, and you’re essentially a game developer digging through Assassin memories for what you think is new material for future titles, but is really intel for the Templars.
The other game, Assassin’s Creed Rogue, is pretty much just a bonus game packed in with Black Flag. You play as a new Assassin named Shay Cormac, who over the course of the story becomes more involved with the Templars. We get to see things from the Templar point of view, and there are some interesting developments. However, Rogue, for the most part, feels like Ubisoft made a cheap and dirty pseudo-sequel to Black Flag meant for the last generation of consoles (which at the time meant Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3). It’s fine, and if you feel the need for more Assassin action after you’re done with Black Flag, then Rogue will certainly quench your thirst for bloodshed. Just watch out for some truly atrocious Irish accents.
You get these two games and the Black Flag DLC Freedom Cry in this collection, so if you wanted a big bundle of Assassin’s Creed on your Switch, I’d say this is more than likely to satisfy you. If Ubisoft had just released Black Flag on its own, that would have been enough. So, while Rogue isn’t amazing, it’s rather generous of them to throw it in.
Portable Plundering
If you’ve played any of the Assassin’s Creed games then you know what to expect from The Rebel Collection. These follow the formula to a tee. If you’re looking for that traditional Ubisoft collect-a-thon experience, you’ll get that and then some. Black Flag and Rogue have massive maps with multiple locations full of an intimidating amount of collectibles to gather. Side quests, sea shanties, those perches where you “synchronize” the map which reveals even more things to collect, it’s all here. There’s the traditional Assassin combat, where you stealth-kill oblivious Templars with your hidden blades, and swordfight enemies with various parries, counters, and backstabs. There's also the free-running traversal mechanics that allow you to leap and climb over all manner of building and structure.
Performance-wise, The Rebel Collection plays well on the Switch. Considering how big these games are, it’s impressive how smoothly they run when squeezed into this bite-sized format. There didn’t seem to be any significant loading or gameplay problems while playing, although I noticed that Black Flag seemed to perform better than Rogue, as the latter game was subject to the odd framerate dip. I did think that sailing the ships was a bit awkward on the Switch’s small screen since it turned large-scale sea battles into slightly more claustrophobic affairs, but that’s a trivial nitpick.
Black Flag looks great, although it’s obviously not as aesthetically pleasing when played in handheld mode. But even with downscaled graphics, it's still pretty gorgeous after all these years, and it's as lovely as ever when played in docked mode. Rogue, on the other hand, looks a little more shoddy in comparison, and it's obvious that more corners were cut when it came to its development. Black Flag has some slight graphical issues, but I noticed far more clipping and slow-to-load textures in Rogue. Still, when you realize these are games that came out six years ago on older hardware, they actually hold up pretty well visually.
Sailor's Delight
Assassin’s Creed: The Rebel Collection gives you plenty of bang for your swashbuckling buck. Black Flag would make for a great game for commutes or trips, and it's still a ton of fun to play. I wasn't so hot on Rogue, but that was probably because I played through Black Flag, which is obviously a better game. Rogue isn't terrible, it just feels more like Black Flag's little brother that will always be trapped in its shadow.
If you love Assassin's Creed and you have a Nintendo Switch, there's really no reason for you not to pick this up. Assassin's Creed: The Rebel Collection is a great way to sail the high seas anywhere you want.
A Nintendo Switch copy of Assassin's Creed: The Rebel Collection was provided to TheGamer for this review. Assassin's Creed: The Rebel Collection is available on Nintendo Switch.
Assassin's Creed: The Rebel Collection