Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Syndicate takes place in London circa 1886, right at the height of the Industrial Revolution. You play as one of two main characters: the charismatic Jacob Frye or his fiery twin sister, Evie Frye. The two are working to gain power among the various gangs of London and take over the city's seven districts.

In the brief demo that I played at E3 2015, I was tasked with making my way to a gang territory within one of the districts and assassinate a target. I was able to use the new rope launcher, which is an unlimited use weapon that lets you shoot a rope to quickly climb up ledges or zip line across locations. This opens up numerous gameplay opportunities, from using it to more quickly navigate the world to creating new places in the air from which to assassinate people. Enemies can now climb up to you as well, so once you've been spotted, rooftops are no longer quite as safe as they used to be.

Once I reached my mark, he began to flee on a horse-drawn carriage, so I hijacked a similar one and gave chase. As I navigated the streets of London to catch my target, carriages rode alongside that I could smash into, and enemies leapt on my carriage roof. At that point, I got on the carriage roof to fight the new hitchhiker while the horse and carriage continued to barrel down the road. Once I finally caught up with my target, I didn't get to see what ensued. Instead, I was able to play a different part of the game where my gang and I were fighting 10 enemy gang members in a good old-fashioned (and murderous) brawl.

Combat in Syndicate feels quite similar to the other games in the series. The weaponry that the Fryes can access is different, and none more so than the cane-sword. The cane's handle has a sharp hooked edge that's great for lodging into people's necks, and the sword can be unsheathed for far more brutal potential. If you are stealthy, there are additional opportunities, such as throwing knives into areas to make a sound that attracts guards to that position. You can also shoot the game's equivalent of berserk darts into fire pits, so instead of affecting just one target, you affect all in the blast radius.

As much as I loved Assassins Creed: Black Flag for being so different from the series' norm, I love the setting of Assassin's Creed: Syndicate. You can play as either protagonist throughout the game, though some missions directly pertain to just one or the other character. Regardless, I'm sure that we'll be hearing more about the game as it approaches its Oct. 23 release date.