Guide: Eight London Liberating Tips for Assassin's Creed Syndicate on PS4

Assassin's Creed Syndicate may be more of the same, but it's a dignified step forward from the flaky Assassin's Creed Unity. A traditional English Frye up with an extra helping of tower climbing, this open world outing sees you stealing back Victorian London from the grips of moustachioed mad man, Crawford Starrick. While many of the gameplay systems from previous instalments return, liberating one of the world's most iconic cities isn't going to be easy. Fortunately, we've compiled eight or so tips that should turn you into a master assassin in no time.

• Read our Assassin's Creed Syndicate review through here

Select the right Frye

In truth, there's very little difference between siblings Jacob and Evie Frye, but they do have independent advantages and disadvantages. The mutton chopped male character is particularly brutal in hand combat, while his freckled female co-star fares better at stealth. Both have exclusive abilities built around these attributes, but you're not going to unlock those until much later in the game. As such, we'd recommend playing with whichever personality you prefer – we spent most of our time with Evie – but when it comes to combat-heavy objectives like Gang Wars, it may be worth ensuring that you're in Jacob's battered shoes. Any skill points that you unlock will immediately become available to the opposite Frye, so you're free to chop and change as you please.

Your stance will enhance your performance

A feature that was added in Assassin's Creed Unity and has returned in Assassin's Creed Syndicate, the stance mechanic is your best friend. You can tap X at any time to pull up your hood and go undercover, allowing you to mute your steps and move much faster. Adopting the stealth stance will also bring up a detection ring, enabling you to easily identify when you've been spotted and from which direction. It's a great but subtle little addition, which helps you to distinguish between general open world action and undercover infiltration.

Don't forget to whistle

Smoke bombs and hook shots are all well and good, but an assassin must not forget their base abilities. If you find yourself needing to slip past a particular enemy, the whistle may just be your best friend. While in the stealth stance you'll automatically take cover, and a tap of the down button on the d-pad will lure guards towards your position. When they turn red, tap the square button to whip them around the corner and slit their throat, clearing the path in front of you without alerting anyone to your position.

Be skilful with your skill points

You'll gather XP for completing various actions and missions in Assassin's Creed Syndicate, which will contribute towards a metre on the game's HUD. For every 1,000 XP that you earn, you'll acquire a skill point. These can be spent in the Options menu, and are an essential means of augmenting both Jacob and Evie Frye with new abilities. To begin, we'd recommend purchasing the Loot Assassination and Scavenger skills, as you're going to want to maximise your resources income as early as possible. Then focus on combat abilities for Jacob and stealth abilities for Evie, as each character's individual missions are designed around these attributes. It's also worth remembering that you should craft and equip new gear each time that you level up in order to maximise each hero's statistics.

Make the right move with the Rooks

A few hours into the game, you'll unlock the Gang Upgrades area in the Options menu. This allows you to purchase game changing upgrades, which can make your fight for London that little bit easier. From the off we'd recommend investing in as many Swindler unlocks as possible, especially those that maximise the currency available at your train base. This will ensure that you always have a steady supply of cash, allowing you to invest heavily in the Rooks later on. Remember that you can recruit Rooks to fight with you by pressing R1, and bringing them into missions can be a way of helping you to complete objectives unscathed.

Get it off your chest

There are over 700 collectibles in Assassin's Creed Syndicate, which is about 650 too many as far as we're concerned. While you're not required to open chests for the Platinum Trophy, though, they do have a gameplay purpose. As you upgrade the Rooks, you'll need materials such as leather and metal. These can be gathered by hijacking carriages and the like, but are also stashed inside chests. We're not recommending that you go out of your way to unlock all of these, but if you happen to be passing one by, it's worth cracking open while you've got the chance. When you're flush with finances, it may also be worth picking up a map for these from the local merchant, as it'll save you time searching for the sizzling sound that they make.

The hook shot offers an easy escape

Stealth in Assassin's Creed Syndicate has never been easier – primarily because the new hook shot almost breaks the game. One trick that we've been "exploiting" is the ability to draw enemies out of an area. Simply get their attention by running around like a loon, then force them to follow you into the nearby streets. Turn a corner and hook shot up the nearest building, and the goons will rarely have a clue where you've gone. You're now free to do your infiltration business while the brain dead Blighters search for you – but be aware: they will return.

Eagle Vision is your friend

Another mechanic that's somewhat overpowered in Assassin's Creed Syndicate is Eagle Vision – especially when you've popped a few skill points into it to upgrade its radius. While you can't sprint with this active, you can walk pretty fast in stealth stance with it enabled. And it's an important feature, because it'll auto-tag any nearby enemies when you have it live, allowing you to see their level, status, health bar, and position. A lot of this information will remain on the screen should you switch it off, but for the best view of your surroundings, we'd actually recommend keeping it switched on as much as possible – particularly if you're on an infiltration mission.

Do you have any other tips to share for Assassin's Creed Syndicate? Which of our suggestions will you be using in your play through? Travel down the Thames and into the comments section below.