Assassin's Creed Chronicles will conclude February 9

Assassin's Creed Chronicles, Climax Studios' 2.5D Mark of the Ninja homage, has had a strange existence. The first entry in the three-part series, China, was first announced as part of the season pass for AC Unity, eventually releasing in April this year. Chronicles: India and Russia have been a long time coming, but it appears we'll be getting them less than a month apart in the new year: India on January 12; Russia on February 9.

India will land you in the middle of hostilities between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company of the 19th century. I'm willing to bet that the latter is chock-full of templars, but the focus looks to be more on protecting you and yours.

The synopsis of the third instalment reads like the Cliffsnotes of the Russian Revolution as written by Roger Murtaugh: returning character Nikolai Orelov is looking to retire from the assassination game, but the Creed has one last job for him—a job that will give him ringside seats at the massacre of Tsar Nicholas II's children.

Each will employ a different art style to China's oriental watercolours.

Our David Meikleham had all sorts of praise for the way that AC Chronicles: China stripped out Assassin's Creed's magical sci-fi fluff in favour of no-nonsense sneaking and stabbing, but struggled to see how it innovated on Mark of the Ninja's formula.