Theres no denying Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars Outlaws have underperformed commercially. Whether these titles underwhelm you or not, the developers open world games have unfortunately become poster children for cookie-cut experiences; a paint by numbers trawl through worlds, lusciously designed, but hampered by middling stories and box-checking grind. In many ways, the latest entry in the series Assassins Creed Shadows is make or break for the developer given the spate of redundancies affecting the industry since the pandemic. This feature isnt about the developers current state, of course, but its worth beginning with this context because arguably the developers downturn started with 2015s Assassins Creed Syndicate and then things started to go worse after Assassins Creed Origins and Odyssey.Arriving just twelve months after the much-maligned (although later redeemed) Assassins Creed Unity, Syndicate whisked players back to Victorian era London, a setting which holds up as one of the series most visceral but with gameplay which didnt reinvent the wheel over its predecessor. Still, Syndicate possessed enough distinction to sell well, but much like Frontiers of Pandora and Outlaws its commercial performance was lacking. The developer put this down to series fatigue too many AC games in too-short a time but even players who werent burned out swerved this one given Unitys insipidness.Looking back a decade, Assassins Creed Syndicate can be re-framed as an overlooked entry in the series. A game downgraded by reputation rather than reality. The aforesaid portrayal of London was sublime, but the experiences stealth was stellar, its main characters decent enough at getting you to care for them, its switch-up to period-correct weaponry excellent. In short: it was a blast to play. Because of its shortcomings, of which there are numerous, Assassins Creed Syndicate kickstarted the developers desire to reboot the series but blaming Syndicate for the series break, however, is unjust.Lets take a deeper look at 1868 London, a mix of heavy industry, smog-filled skylines, and muddy areas underpinning globally recognized landmarks. The Tower of London, Palace of Westminster, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, St Pauls Cathedral, these architectural jewels in the British Empires crown are wonderfully recreated here. This place feels like London, but these landmarks get the city closer to an exact replica than any other historical setting video games have visited before. And bustling are these streets too, although notably they arent as packed with pedestrians as Unitys Paris which, likely, was a decision made by developer to the minimize performance issues which plagued Syndicates predecessor. And a good decision it turned out to be for gameplay purposes too. The citys wide streets provide breathing room for the games freshest traversal gimmick the very Batman-esque grappling hook.See, whilst London is indeed an excellent setting for Assassins Creed, the design of its chimney-heavy rooftops doesnt exactly foster freewheeling parkour. The grappling hook, with associated zipline, proved essential in zapping between buildings, scooting above the chasm of wide London streets, maintaining free running so integral to the series in the finest way possible.The city plays playground to Syndicates brother-sister duo, twins Jacob and Evie Frye, the former being a brute force pragmatist hellbent on reclaiming Londons boroughs from Templar oppression whilst the latter is more nuanced, a true assassin of the shadows more calculated in her approach to tracking down the enemy. Both characters contrast very well in their approaches even though the game doesnt go far enough to distinguish each in terms of skills and attributes. Jacobs combat-centric combos and Evies stealth orientated invisibility cloak really the only defining features for a pair which function largely the same.Still, their opposing worldviews makes for an interesting narrative, a structure in which you spend more of your time chasing Jacobs goals of unifying his city, amassing a gang to take down small time Templars whore operating with impunity at street level. To be clear, the game is better for aligning more closely to Jacob. At times it feels as though Evie was an afterthought shoehorned in during mid-development. Clawing back fragments of the city as per Jacobs ideal whilst a tried-and-tested formula for video game activity seldom feels tedious or like busywork due to both protagonists, their sibling rivalry, and the meaningfulness behind reclaiming Londons streets.The developer opted to forgo swordplay in favor of street brawling combat in Syndicate but, alas, whilst they addressed Unitys numerous pitfalls combat unfortunately felt like a step down. There is still fun to be had, what with the aforementioned period-correct weaponry: brass knuckles, compact revolvers, cane-swords, and Nepalese-imported Kukri blades providing a unique spin to melee combat.There was also more variety in combat animations but the act of 13-combo-ing gangsters became a repetitive, button mashing affair; morphing enemies into hard-wearing punch bags wasnt the most fulfilling way to boost the challenge of Assassins Creeds combat a facet which had at times endured criticism for being too easy. Fact is, Assassins Creed Syndicates hand-to-hand-focused combat would have been better presented were there more weight behind every right hook. Still, eschewing blocking and parrying for dodging, the ability to line multiple opponents up to mix in multi-kill combos and execution animations was an enjoyable process providing your twin assassins were suitably levelled up.Plus, Syndicate excelled in stealth. Bread and butter for a series of action stealth games, for sure, but Jacob and Evies traipses through Victorian Londons criminal underworld was made all the more enjoyable by arguably the best stealth mechanics that had appeared in an Assassins Creed game to that point perhaps not including Black Flag though.What made stealth a blast here was the range of viable options for remaining undetected: crouching in cover before utilizing distracting whistles or tossing knives at unsuspecting guards faces or killing from cover altogether. Incapacitating voltaic bombs invented by NPC Alexander Graham Bell, no less were a useful tool for stunning enemies. A neat mechanic was the ability to kidnap opponents, to effectively use them as a cloaking device by moving around a populated area with your victim in tow, their immediate proximity to you rendering you invisible to other enemies thatre loitering the same area.Furthermore, bringing all these stealth skills to Syndicates excellent black box missions was a constant blast. Returning from Unity, these linear-in-nature missions whereby our protagonists are tasked with taking down a high value Templar target were expanded to greater effect than in Unity via multiple points of infiltration, ally and enemy locations, plus unique takedowns for each assassination target. Their design ensured them as some of the most rewarding missions in any Assassins Creed game, and whilst Jacobs brute force approach was seldom unenjoyable, playing these missions as the more calculating Evie if possible was the way to go.All in all, Assassins Creed Syndicate does suffer a negative reputation based upon what came immediately before it but re-assessing on its own merit a decade later reveals an entry in the stealth action series thats well worth revisiting due to an excellently realized setting, likeable protagonists, and some of the best stealth mechanics seen in any Assassins Creed game. Will the return of dual protagonists in the upcoming Assassins Creed Shadows herald a changing of the seasons for the the developers beleaguered reputation? Time will tell, but if Shadows adopts a bespoke, of the time approach to its weaponry and combat, plus harbors an intriguing relationship between its player-characters akin to Syndicate then the developer stands a good chance making Shadows successful.Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization