Calum Petrie reviews Assassin’s Creed: Templars #6…
Brand new arc! New characters! In this explosive opener to the brand new arc, the events that happened in Shanghai take on a whole new meaning as the Templars call on Juhani Otso Berg, legendary Sigma Team leader, to try and discover the truth about the mysterious last-known Black Cross…
The break from the adventures of Black Cross may have been short, but the return to character is delayed by the time spent outside of the Animus. The deception of the Templar order is used on a veteran soldier known as Mr Bolden, his personal life is disregarded for the quest for knowledge that is in his head.
The largest focus of this tale is not the adventure of Black Cross, but rather the story of Mr Bolden; his story seems to carry a large amount of weight. I do not know if this is a focus on the American culture and the value they place on soldiers that have fought in wars for their country.
The story has a more emotional connection to the Animus user at the beginning of this series, and there seems to be more focus on the character of present day rather than the historical characters. The Abstergo team trick the man into the facility by promising to help any form of PTSD that he may have, and that leads to our journey into the Animus.
The setting is the Mediterranean sea in the year 1805, on a voyage from Italy to Libya. Jan Ven Der Graff is in conversation with Black Cross trying to suss out the passengers’ back story; he is rather pressing and comes across rather nosy and pushy. The conversations between the characters do not actually lend any great depth to the story other than they’re both seek out the same person when they reach their destinations.
A short confrontation in the latter stages of the issue forces Black Hand to reveal more of his skill set than the man would wish anyone to see. Even with a makeshift disguise he is sussed out by Graff, and uses this moment as his access to Black Cross’ skill set.
The issue ends with Mr Bolden coming out of the Animus, and he realises his reason for being there was a lie. He exits the facility and is tracked down by Otso Berg; the two have a conversation and the truth is revealed to the reader that Bolden is not the ancestor of Black Cross but rather Graff, before the issue ends with someone tampering with the Animus back at Abstergo.
This issue was actually refreshing, as the story was not bogged down with the inner working of the Templar order and a drawn out speech. Instead the short bursts of conversation were filled by new characters, and the present day sections of the story were far more entertaining than the Animus adventure. I look forward very much to finding out where the adventures of Bolden, Graff and Black Cross end up once they reach the shores of Libya.
Rating: 7/10
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Originally published October 19, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
