Oh, they absolutely made combat easier in this game. Aside from the easier hidden blade counter window, kill streaks let you instantly kill all the enemies that you can’t normally counter. It’s possible to get over a thousand kills in the flawless virtual training mode simply because the enemies have no opportunity to hit you between your counters and kill streaks. Revelations dials it back by making the janissaries impossible to instantly kill in combat, which ends your kill streaks and forces you to actually fight them.