I remebered enjoying this game quite a bit as a teen but I never finished it. So I decided to finish what I started, but I just couldn't get into it. I realized something about the Ubisoft open-world formula and why I just don't tolerate it anymore (most of the time). It really only appeals to two kinds of people.

People with too much free-time. Whether you're simply a kid who only has school to worry about or someone who chooses not to worry, Ubisoft gives you a massive checklist to spend hours finishing. The other kind of person is someone who doesn't have too much free-time and the dollar to playtime ratio trumps all qualities of a game.

If you enjoy Ubisoft open-worlds then more power to you, but I just find them bland and boring. I just don't want to spend dozens of hours on something so creatively bankrupt.

Unrelated, I'm not sure if this has been fixed, but the game doesn't work properly on PS5. It will boot up and run, but the lighting loses its mind. I'm not susceptible to epilepsy but this was genuinely painful on the eyes. If you are susceptible to epilepsy then do your research to find out if this has been fixed or not.

Bom, acredito que esse peca em retratar os dois lados da mesma moeda entre Assassinos e Templários. Quer dizer, nem toca nesse assunto, pois está decidido qual lado é o vilão e qual o herói... uma abordagem bem preguiçosa.
Eu particularmente gosto bastante quando algum jogo da série mexe com tal tema, até porque temos alguns exemplos, como: AC 3, AC 4, AC Rogue (esse foi o qual eu questionava as ações de cada lado) e Unity. À partir daqui não lembro de mais nenhum; Talvez fazer com que alguns dos gêmeos tivessem alguma relação com algum(a) Templário(a) da trama pudesse, talvez, elevar o nosso apreço pelos personagens... mas, né?

A época escolhida, Revolução Industrial, considero uma das melhores. Pensem bem, foi até recente na história da humanidade, tipo quase 200 anos apenas. É bizarro.
O objetivo é o seguinte: Os gêmeos Frye vão até a cidade de Londres para resolverem a influência dos Templários. Até aí nada fora do padrão. A diferença entre os irmãos é bem notável, enquanto Jacob é baseado em brutalidade e não se importa com peças do Éden, Evie é baseada em curiosidade e honra.
Particularmente eu gostei mais do Jacob. Motivos:

- Ele não se importa em querer ser perfeito, afinal, ninguém é;
- Ele se importa muito com a sua irmã, pois é a única família dele. Só que a mesma está tão ocupada com a missão de querer seguir o legado do pai e ser perfeita que ela simplesmente não percebe que seu irmão está precisando de ajuda emocional, menosprezando o Jacob por cometer vários erros ao longo do jogo;
- Ele, em determinado momento da estória, dá um choque de realidade para sua irmã e para si mesmo dizendo que eles não devem serem iguais a alguém (no caso o pai deles), pois cada um é diferente e precisam encontrar um lugar no mundo;

Ao lerem isso devem achar que Jacob então é um personagem bem desenvolvido, não é? Assim... até que dá pra perceber o que a Ubisoft queria fazer com o personagem, tipo, como que uma pessoa bissexual iria encontrar um lugar seguro no mundo naquela época? Se bem que não teve tanto avanço nos dias de hoje para considerarmos seguro. Mas acredito que poderiam terem caprichado mais nesse desfecho.

A relação entre os dois irmãos, quando não estão se xingando, é muito boa, engraçada, brigam bastante e depois brincam. Pra mim não tem algo mais característico entre irmãos e irmãs do que essa relação de amor e ódio.

O combate é bem acelerado, às vezes até sobre-humano. Em muitas ocasiões eu optei em ser furtivo para não vir meia dúzia de inimigos batendo de todos os lados. Não que seja difícil, é até bem fácil, é que eu gosto da mecânica de stealth.

O parkour/exploração achei um passo pra trás. Enquanto em Paris (Unity) era mais orgânico, no Syndicate é bem monótono. Temos o gancho que ajuda bastante na movimentação para escalarmos prédios e rotas complicadas.

Conclusão: É bonito e com ótimos personagens principais, contudo os vilões e estória são bem esquecíveis. De verdade, não lembro de nenhum que tenha sido memorável. Talvez, só talvez, se fosse lançado antes de Unity (no qual foi um descaso com a saga) poderia ter sido mais bem recebido, mas acabou apenas sendo ofuscado pelo fracasso de seu antecessor e tendo um certo reconhecimento anos depois.

E pra que tantos objetos coletáveis, UBISOFT?! ME DIGA!

In summary, I think that this is one of the better Assassin's Creed games. For the most people this won't be their first game in the franchise so you probably know what you're getting into. The game is very repetitive, variety in level and enemy design is non-existent and combat is pretty bad, so there is an incentive for you to get stealthy. The stealthy part can be fun at times, but is still very much superficial in comparison to other stealth games. The virtual tourism through London is fantastic as always, but the game doesn't have anything to say about the many problems of that time, which is best seen as how child labour is relegated to a random side activity. I think what made this game work more for me is the character dynamic between the Frye Twins, which I quite enjoyed, and also the main enemies that were more interesting as assassination targets.

Not gonna give this one a proper long review because a) it's been too long since I played it so it's not fresh enough in my mind and b) I technically never finished it, but I did enjoy this one. The oppressive and mechanical atmosphere of London was amazing, I enjoyed the characters (very fond of Jacob's rogueish humour and I was genuinely interested in his little sub-plot with Maxwell Roth), and the gameplay was as fun as Assassin's Creed usually is; I could happily spend an hour just parkouring around the city as always. Also loved the concept of your base being in a moving train.

Said gameplay was more engaging than the main plot for me, which is probably why I never completed it - I'm more of a story-driven gamer than a gameplay-oriented one. Maybe I'll get back to it someday, but I'm not planning on it.

Favourite Male Character: Jacob
Favourite Female Character: Evie
First Character I Liked: Jacob
Favourite Character Design: Henry
Favourite OST: Bloodlines, Too Dreadful a Practice for This Open Air, Jokes Jokes Jokes, Family
Favourite Scene: The burning of the theater
Least Favourite Character: N/A

tbh i enjoyed this game a lot more than what i expected, gonnna try and write a decent review for this

story/characters-

the story felt a bit all over the place, probably due to the way the sequences are played out, but all of the different sequences didnt feel connected to each other at all storywise, apart from starricks little moments at the start of each one.

i really enjoyed the dynamic between the frye twins, they really felt like a genuine brother and sister duo, espically with the comedic undertone of the game, which i actually enjoyed compared to many people, i felt it helped with the relationship between the two protagonists

i really enjoyed meeting all the famous historical figures like alexander graham bell, charles dickens and queen victoria

gameplay-

felt rather stripped down and simple compared to its predecessor (unity), but was still fun nonethless, the combat was simple yet brutal, and the stealth was fun enough, but the parkour was not good at all compared to previous titles (yes i know its practically impossible to surpass unity in parkour but stil) and the grappling hook just made the traversal so much worse, it completely removed the need to climb up walls when you could just press L1 and youd be at the top in half the time, the grappling hook did have its uses tbf, ziplining across the stupidly wide streets of london was a good use, aswell as using it to get out of combat

open world/side activities-

london was a great setting for the game, but it really felt too large, far too big for an assassins creed game (known for their dense and packed environments), the side content with conquoring all the boroughs was exactly the type of shit i like, with the map being split into smaller portions and those smaller portions having activities to do to then capture/conquer those smaller parts of the map.

overall-

i really enjoyed this, probably more than i shouldve but oh well, i had a lot of fun, even though the story was a bit all over the place i still really enjoyed it. unity still better though

Assassin's Creed Syndicate should be a case study in underutilized potential. Many of the game’s strongest elements are not fully developed, as the game opts to play it safe. Syndicate notably introduced Evie Frye, the first female protagonist in a mainline Assassin’s Creed game. However, her inclusion feels underwhelming. Despite her role as the stealth-focused character, many missions, which reward stealth through sequence bonuses, are often played as Jacob, the brawler. This sidelining of Evie reflects Ubisoft's heinous stance that “women don’t sell.”
The dual-protagonist system also falls short of its potential. The final mission, where both characters are utilized, hints at what could have been a brilliant mechanic. It’s incredibly frustrating how cautiously the game implements its innovations. Syndicate's narrative attempts to subvert the usual Templar vs. Assassin dynamic by highlighting the unintended consequences of Jacob Frye's actions, but these themes are not adequately explored.
Syndicate introduces many novel mechanics but fully realizes none of them. The dual protagonists? Only one is playable per mission until the very end. The first female protagonist in a mainline game? Sidelined in the missions where she’d excel. The first brawler in the series? The combat remains the same old Assassin's Creed style. A grappling hook? While it sounds like a great addition to enhance movement, a core focus of the series, it is barely implemented and not carried over into subsequent games. Given the tight development schedules of yearly releases, it's baffling why Ubisoft doesn’t carry over and refine these innovations in future titles.
Overall, Assassin's Creed Syndicate is a treasure trove of untapped potential. It’s a good game, but not because it innovates or excels in any particular aspect. Rather, it succeeds because of the established Assassin's Creed formula of beautiful design, decent stealth, and parkour.