Assassin’s Creed: Locus is a short 4 part comic which acts as a tie-in for 2015’s Syndicate between the main game and Jack The Ripper DLC. Like most entries in the franchise, this comic is a mixed bag. Over its 4 issues, there’s a good few moments sprinkled throughout such as fantastic action that perfectly encapsulated the games own combat, a couple of decent laughs and a fair bit of fan service which if you enjoyed Syndicate you’ll appreciate. That being said there are also some major issues I had with the comic which whilst annoying thankfully don’t affect the wider Assassin’s Creed universe and are for the most part self-contained. Spoilers ahead.
Story
Locus’ story is about as standard as you can get in the Assassin’s Creed universe. The Templars are after yet another artifact of Eden, this time the “Prongs of Eden”, which sounds more like something my mum would have in her kitchen rather than some all-powerful ancient Isu artifact, and American Pinkerton agent Tommy Greyling must stop them with the help of master Assassin’s Evie Frye and Henry Green. Locus’ major strength is its use of characters rather than its over-arching story which unfortunately fell flat, especially due to an underwhelming conclusion that didn’t even show off those almighty “Prongs of Eden”. It had real potential but didn’t take any chances and played it very safe which resulted in a rather boring tale which only peaked in its few short fight sequences which more than lived up to Syndicates own action. Running parallel to Evie and Tommy’s story is the modern day storyline which, surprisingly was better overall compared to its historical counterpart. Seeing Abstergo use and abuse innocent people in their quest for power, simply because of the person’s ancestors was really interesting and it helped highlight the heartless corporate side of Abstergo. Ultimately Assassin’s Creed: Locus doesn’t have a terrible story, just a boring one which is more of the same when instead it could have been a mysterious and intriguing tale to help fill in the gaps between Syndicate and its only expansion.
Characters
What Locus lacks in its story it makes up for in its characters, both new and old. Let’s start with the returning characters, Evie, Henry, and Aberline. The writer’s absolutely nailed all 3 of these characters but out of the three Aberline is easily the best. His nieve and rash attitude combined with a slightly more mature feel to his detective work skills perfectly places him between where we see him in the base game and where we see him in the Ripper DLC. Evie and Henry’s relationship is fleshed out a little more which I really appreciated and seeing them back to back taking down what remains of the Blighters was very cool. Again the writers really nailed the overall feel of both assassins.
As for the newcomers, the 2 stars were easily Tommy and the Templar agent Alice. Tommy felt extremely relatable seen as he was an outsider to the Templar and Assassin war, and his honorable nature and disdain for corruption made him instantly likable. As for Alice, seeing a Templar agent that was just as deadly as Evie or Henry themselves was a nice change of pace from the generic ‘puppet master’ type villain we see in AC games. She reminded me of Shay in many ways and her ending remark about how it’s all “a matter of perspective” evoked some fairly powerful ideas about why the Templars choose to fight for their cause.
In terms of the modern day story, the only real character I connected with was Sean and that was because of his reason for volunteering for the project. Using the Animus to literally walk in his ancestor’s footsteps to feel normal because of the loss of his legs was a really unique angle that I haven’t seen anywhere else in Assassin’s Creed and it gave the entire comic that extra layer of emotional depth.
Artwork
locus’ art style is certainly cartoonish rather than realistic but it still captures the darker and gritty look and feel of Victorian London. The various action scenes including a carriage chase, a shoot out and seeing the Assassins take on an entire gang by themselves looked incredible and felt like they’d been ripped straight out of the game. It captured the brutality of Syndicate’s general combat but never went too far and that balance made every fight the highlight of each issue.
Overall Assassin’s Creed: locus is an enjoyable enough addition to 2015’s Assassin Creed: Syndicate and despite having some story issues it did a pretty good job of expanding on current characters and introducing new and interesting ones as well. Its modern-day storyline, which thanks to the help of Sean was better than most AC games since Desmond Mile’s story, should also be commended. Some story adjustments and a short cameo from Jacob wouldn’t have gone amiss but nevertheless, Locus is a story most fans of the franchise will find enjoyment in especially if they enjoyed Syndicate.
