Review: Assassin’s Creed Syndicate: Jack the Ripper

Whodunnit?

The tale of Jack the Ripper is one of mankind’s great enigmas. More than 100 years ago, someone savagely murdered at least five women in the Whitechapel district of London. He maimed his victims so unthinkably that his legend lives on as more of a boogeyman than as an actual human. Jack’s identity was never found out, lending further credibility to the theory that it’d take something supernatural to be capable of such brutality.

While Jack the Ripper is ripe for fictional works, it’s a tough one to do justice. So much of the story is rooted in the uncertain and the inexplicable. Given that much freedom, it’s easy to stray from the ideas that make Jack the Ripper fascinating in the first place.

Ubisoft’s first major add-on to Assassin’s Creed Syndicate both succeeds and fails in this sense. The developer really leans into the whole “brutal, ruthless murderer” thing, a wise choice that feels as if it captures the inhumane spirit of Jack the Ripper. However, many of the liberties taken with the character land insincere because of the insistence on forcing Jack’s story into an already-existing framework — that of the Assassin order.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate: Jack the Ripper (PC, PS4, Xbox One [reviewed])
Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Publisher: Ubisoft
MSRP: $14.99
Released: December 15, 2015 (PS4, Xbox One), December 22, 2015 (PC)

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate: Jack the Ripper takes place 20 years after the main game ends. In that time, Evie has traveled to India and learned and perfected a non-lethal fear technique. With it, she’s able to send her enemies into a panic, often causing them to flee in terror. Predictably, that’s the main gameplay allure in this DLC.

Both Jack the Ripper (he’s playable) and Evie share this fear mechanic. The add-on nicely juxtaposes the two characters in alternating sequences. In one, Jack will callously and barbarically kill anyone in his way, sending those who see him running scared for their lives. In the next, Evie will use these same fear methods to mostly skirt combat in a completely different, yet equally effective, manner.

Jack’s sections are easily the most interesting this expansion has to offer. In them, haunting visual prompts pop up like “kill them all” and “leave no witnesses,” as if they’re coming straight from Jack’s twisted mind. As he continues on his homicidal bent, the screen will briefly distort, adding another troubling layer of visual tension to the already disturbing scene.

Evie, on the other hand, spends most of her time trying to unravel the mystery of Jack the Ripper, but always one step behind. Much of her focus is on crime scene investigation and pursuit. Like in Syndicate proper, Evie’s tendencies are rooted in stealth and cunning. It’s here that we learn most about The Ripper through examining his actions.

This is where Jack the Ripper falls flat. Even though Ubisoft doesn’t go too crazy in divulging his story, what is told feels contrived. Again, Jack the Ripper is best as a faceless boogeyman. It would’ve worked if Ubisoft simply sent Evie to protect London from Jack. Instead, he’s unnecessarily shoehorned into Assassin’s Creed lore, and the expansion is worse off for the artificiality of it all.

Unlike main Assassin’s Creed installments, Jack the Ripper benefits tremendously from a streamlined approach. The add-on quickly ushers the player from mission to mission, with little dillydallying in between. Ubisoft couldn’t resist the urge to pad the expansion with some trademark side events, but they’re not pressing, not in-your-face, and ultimately not really important. It’s just three hours of mostly quality main story content.

Jack the Ripper can’t aspire to reach the heights that Syndicate did. But, it also doesn’t suffer the same setbacks. In a game where open-world strain can become a serious problem, this add-on is a mostly-focused reprieve. Sure, there are some fumbling moments, but there are also some elegantly-handled ones. Given the difficult source material and the obvious danger of stumbling, Jack the Ripper mostly doesn’t, and that feels like a best-case outcome.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}