Mechanics

Rogue keeps six side activities running at once, and the sort that actually helps is not by what each one is called but by who is hunting whom. One of them is aimed squarely at Shay and begins when his old order decides it should. Two of them point at animals, although a whale or a bear will reverse that in a second. One points outward from the Morrigan's cannons, one runs away from you entirely on a timer, and the last points back inward, turning what the hunts produced into ammunition and capacity. That is the reading worth having here, because Shay is the one being stalked.

The ambush that is aimed at you

Every other system here starts when you decide it does. Assassin Interceptions start when your old order decides, and the first clue is a bird. The pigeons the Assassins send messages with are marked on the map under the Intercept icon, they sit high on the buildings, and they leave if you climb at them quickly, so the approach is slow and the capture is a prompt. Lose one and you can chase it to wherever it settles or come back later; catch it and you learn which target the attack is aimed at.

At the scene the killers are hidden in circles drawn around the victim. Two things give them away: Eagle Vision, and a yellow coat on somebody the mini-map was not showing before you used it. Kill a set number before the clock expires and you take a bonus and a thinner second phase, then the rest come off the roofs and down the street at once, so read the mini-map for the direction rather than the crowd. The victim does not last long, which is why shooting the roof line beats climbing up to it. Clear the set and Shay earns the Templar Enforcer armour, which stretches the range at which he can tag Stalkers, so the reward for surviving ambushes is seeing the next ones sooner.

On land Shay picks the moment, until something big closes in

Our hunting guide covers thirteen land species and five that live in the water. Hares and deer turn up almost anywhere, which makes them the filler kill. The black wolf is the opposite case, listed at Or-du-Nord and nowhere else, and that scarcity is exactly why buying its pelt costs so much. Foxes and arctic foxes are harmless but quick enough that a shot from range beats a chase on foot, while polar bears, black bears, arctic wolves, Canadian lynx and eastern elk all trigger a button struggle if you let them reach melee distance.

Geography does the sorting for you. Gray wolves and black bears sit inland at places like Sleepy Hollow and Otetiani in the River Valley, and the arctic set is strung along the North Atlantic, with arctic wolves at Gros Morne and arctic hares around Burgeo and Harbour Deep. Polar bears are the odd ones out, nesting at Fogo, the HMS Miranda wreck and the Sapphire, which puts one of the more dangerous land kills on the same rocks where other work takes you.

The hunt that hunts back

Sea hunts are the part of the wildlife list that can kill the hunter. Humpbacks in the north and south east of the North Atlantic are the honest starting point before harpoon work, and the whole fight is throwing on the surface and bracing while the whale drags the boat towards the ice. White whales are rare, deeper in health and angrier, but the pattern holds. Killer whales in the centre and south east do not tolerate poor gear: they come back at the boat, and the moment worth saving damage for is the charge, when the head is exposed. Narwhals in the north east carry a spike of their own and want a low aim in the water in front of Shay, and the first one you land is worth an achievement. Sharks in the south west are the cheapest kills once the harpoons are upgraded.

One weapon for each kind of problem

The Morrigan carries more guns than any fight needs at once, and the upgrade guide splits them by the job. Round shot is the default broadside and the thing worth improving first because it fires most often. Heavy shot swaps in automatically at knife range, and the tell is the aiming marker: when it disappears you are loaded with the heavy stuff, so ram, swing alongside and let go. Carronades at the bow carry a round that will not kill anything but slows a runner. Puckle guns pivot wherever you point them, which makes them the answer to an exposed weak point and to the tougher men on a deck you are boarding. Mortars hit hardest at range on their own reload window and hold few shells. Flaming oil goes out of the stern for anyone chasing you, and the ram doubles as the exit from a mortar barrage, with later tiers cutting ice and allowing travel speed mid fight.

Storage and crew work is less exciting and matters more: ammunition capacity decides how long you last against something large, and the crew quarters decide whether a boarding action actually sticks. Wood, metal, cloth and money come off the bigger hulls, which is what our ship locations guide is for, and the four legendary battles are where an unfinished Morrigan gets found out. The purely visual upgrades can wait.

The ships that go hunting without you

After Sequence 03 the Captain's Cabin opens a second map you never steer across. The fleet missions run to thirty three destinations, from Louisiana out to Manila, and each one is a ship, a timer and a result you collect later. Small hulls come home sooner, large ones take the dangerous routes at walking pace, and the offer list is rolled again every time you open the screen, so backing out and returning is a legitimate way to dodge a route you do not like. Payouts run from figureheads and sails to gear worth planning for, including the Admiral Outfit out of Malacca and the Spanish Sword out of Gibraltar. Any Man-o'-War you take at sea is worth adding to the fleet for this screen.

Crafting: where every pelt ends up

Crafting is the return path for all of it. Bones buy ammunition, one for a dart and five for a grenade. Pelts buy the two tier upgrades, and each second tier asks for two of every material it names where a first tier usually asks for one, which is where a casual hunter stalls. Four health steps add twenty five percent each, and four of the game's outfits are crafted rather than bought, including the Hunter coat that hides Shay from animals and the Whaler that pushes harpoon damage up.

Read the material lists and the sea hunt stops looking optional: killer whale skin is wanted by the third health upgrade, a narwhal tusk by the fourth and by the Arctic Explorer coat, humpback skin by the rope dart and shrapnel pouches, and shark skin by the Whaler. The advice splits by playstyle. Sneak and you want pouches and dart efficiency long before health; fight and you want health, bullets and the berserk and shrapnel grenades. If money is easier to come by than time, rare parts can be bought instead of stalked, and harpoon damage is the upgrade to buy first if the water is next on your list.

Collectible sets, weapon unlocks and every outfit these systems pay out are gathered in the collectibles and gear guide, and the rest of the game is laid out region by region on the Assassin's Creed Rogue guide hub.