Assassin's Creed

I'd be surprised if they didn't go further down the Valhalla route, isn't it the most popular one? Anyway, a revert back to basics, stealth focus, maybe reduce the size of the game world in exchange for more detail, cut out the bloat and make the campaign 20-30hrs and I'll be all over it. I dont think they will but they should do away with their attempt at Souls combat too. Was able to defeat end game bosses with the ability that shoots 2 arrows, deleted about 50% of their life bar with every hit. It just doesn't feel great, like that's emblematic of how little it's thought through.

I still maintain that simply walking the streets from the top end of the map to the bottom in Syndicate is a fantastic experience. A lot of love and detail went in to making a lot of unique interactions and events on the street level that made it feel authentic. You just don't get that in Valhalla or Odyssey with its empty fields and sparse population. Hoping they go back to that kind of attention to detail.

Overall, it's probably one of my favourite series. I like the pacing, the ability to just wander about (even in the first one) and get into combat when you choose, rather than a series of hectic set pieces appeals to me. Paris (Unity) is probably the best environment for me, followed by Rome (Brotherhood).

That said, the combat in the earlier ones is far too easy (ridiculously so in some of them) and then in the later ones, where they've tried to add weightiness to them, the stealth possibilities have suffered. They tried to balance that in Valhalla and we got a dull, boring storyline instead. Boring Vikings. Fancy that.

I'm interested in this (per the above), but I'm already wary of Basim being the protagonist, because he's crap. It'll still be an icon fest, though. They won't be able to help themselves. But if you can wander aimlessly about and occasionally murder someone for trivial reasons, I'm in.

Brotherhood also had those combat and parkour challenges with local and global leader boards which I was weirdly obsessed with. Think if you're going away from the Souls combat and back to form, you could try an attempt of something like Sifu's combat.

Not looking forward to Basim tho, nothing about him screamed main character

The climbing was way more fun in the Ezio games too. In that you actually had to actively do something. Now it's just hold down X and press forward to clamber up any surface like an amphetamine fueled spider monkey.

After getting the board game (which is ace, by the way), I decided to go on a replay rampage and go through the series. Skipped 1 as it’s nearly unplayable nowadays, 2 still holds up but forgot how much grind and filler there is towards the end, even though it’s still the most linear of the games. About 4 hours into Brotherhood now, and aside from the random lack of cloud saves on PC meaning I can’t easily switch from desktop to deck, I’m having a good old time of it.

Might skip Rogue and Freedom Cry if I make it there. I’m thoroughly expecting to burn out somewhere around Revelations.

Brotherhood really is one of the better ones. Top 3 for sure.
Revelations had a cool setting, but the little tower defense sections and weird animus platforming ruined it for me.

I may be the only person in the world who really liked all the meta story stuff and real world moments. I know they have little bits of it here with Layla, but I kind of wish they’d go back to a deeper Desmond/Subject 16 type storyline that ties things together better instead of feeling like disconnected experiences.

What I like about Brotherhood is that there is a good variety of stuff that breaks up the core gameplay.

The dungeons were varied and really felt like some Tomb Raider stuff. The Da Vinci war machines were great (and I would have enjoyed more). The glyph puzzles were great too, I thought, really built up all the conspiracy stuff. Then you had the VR missions too!

I know that some of those appeared in 2, too.

Revelations was largely a step back, Constantinople was good, but not as good as Rome. And there was a lack of puzzles I think. The Tower Defence stuff was gash, and I actually liked the DLC animus platforming as it did some interesting stuff visually, but the levels in the base game weren't all that good.

However Revelations did have the old Altaïr missions which were cool, if very linear.


I also like the meta story more than most.

I've not played one since Black Flag as they're absolutely massive now.

Would love to get back into the series (Ezio's games were quality) but the amount of things to do is too overwhelming for me nowadays.

I *think* the AC1 remake was rumoured to be part of a season pass...

FWIW much of the bloat is optional camps and minor collectibles, it's (usually) feasible to just tag the story and some of the major collectibles/sidequests and still have a perfectly good time.

I don't remember that reaction of the og AC being 'so bad' as you put it. I think you may have misremembered. It got quite good reviews actually, at the very least a 7/10.

Yeah, it was well regarded but also criticized for its repetitiveness. Some people found Altaïr bland, but those two are the extent of its criticisms. I like the Ezio games, Brotherhood the most of all, but I do remember not understanding the later praise of II vs the then complaints of I, when II was equally repetitive with its side content. The character and story was maybe more interesting, that's subjective. But it was a lot of the same pickpocketing, roof races, flag/feather finding, chasing down couriers.

The tombs were cool though.

I always just assumed that the main reason was that you were the only person for miles wearing a really distinctive hooded robe, sash and weapons.

"We work in the shadows by wearing clothes that you can spot in any crowd because they look like a fucking Daz advert".

Yuh.