“Yes. I used to be called the Eagler Bearer, but Ikaros is long gone.”










Oh boy where to start with this one.

This is definitely the most controversial and hated AC game and I completely understand and in parts agree with the sentiment. This is straight up not an AC game. It takes place in that universe and utilizes the established lore in some pretty cute ways even but at the end of the day there are no assassins or a creed to be found. Instead of the assassin fantasy you are a misthios, a Greek mercenary, who travels through Greece, kills cultists and has excessive amounts of gay sex.

There is definitely a hurdle to overcome here since this is one of those games you can write off on principle alone but you know I’ve come this far so I was very accepting of this diversion that I wish had stayed as a one off.






You can choose between playing as Alexios or Kassandra, with the opposite gendered sibling being used as a key character in the story similarly to something like the third and sixth Pokémon generations and their rival characters. For convenience’s sake I shall talk about Alexios as the MC since I played with him (he’s not the canon one tragically but he will forever be canon in my heart).

The best way to describe Odyssey’s narrative is cute and simple. Much like Syndicate, Ubi Quebec’s previous game, it can be pretty easily summarized as Alexios goes on an odyssey across Greece in order to find and reunite his disjointed family. This game is VERY similar to Syndicate in fact. The happy go lucky and whimsical tone that goes hand in hand with extreme violence and other horrible things to create this unhinged but very entertaining writing is very much still there and honestly better than ever since the setting of ancient Greece really fits that vibe of wonderland with a pinch of brutal way better than Victorian London did.
I was surprised by how much I liked Alexios. He has sprinkles of Jacob’s goofyness but he’s overall way more serious and dedicated which gives him that very charming sense of someone who’s not only nice and kind but also extremely brutal when needed. Michael Antonakos did a fantastic job voicing him. I really enjoyed Alexios’ odyssey and the way his story concludes is very unexpected and interesting, with the epilogue handling masterfully the way he has to cope with his newfound task and the mental fuckup that those events caused on him, gave me strong Arno from Dead Kings vibes. So yeah Alexios is shockingly kinda awesome I really really fuck with him.

The huge majority of the narrative is dedicated to the misadventures Alexios has to go through in other to find his family and destroy the Cult of Kosmos, yet another ancient rendition of the templars who in this game are pretty much cartoon evil guys so not much going on there. Due to the structure of this narrative and overall better pacing of its story beats, there was a great level of consistency achieved that I think Origins was kinda struggling to balance between its razor-sharp focused narrative and the gigantic open world necessities. The cast again just like Syndicate is very charming and likeable but always tries a bit too hard at times to remain superficial which results in a lot of characters never fully reaching their potential. The relationship Alexios had with his family was really nice tho with one of the scenes he shares with his mom and sister being particularly striking. Herodotos and Barnabas are great best buddies and the epilogue of the narrative really stood out to me with the way the bond between Alexios and those 2 was realized. Also loved the very prominent presence of the Athenian philosophers, the party scene in particular stood out as one of my favorite moments in the game, Sokrates my oomfie. The ending is very cool too and is pretty much the only scene in modern day that has compelled me since AC3.




Speaking of, man I completely forgot to mention the return of playable modern day in the Origins review because well, THERE WAS NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT. We have a new main character in modern day through Layla Hassan who is ok if not a bit cringey at times but absolutely nothing happens with her story in Origins and then in-between that and Odyssey there is a really big and weird amount of events that just happen off-screen and we never get to see them so once modern day starts in Odyssey it feels really disjointed and there are only like 4 short sections of it so it’s once again barely there.




Gameplay is definitely an improvement over Origins. The more aggressive combat is good and the addition of abilities finally gives more meat to it that helps with the feel of repetitiveness that crippled late game Origins. Ship combat is back and feels seamlessly untouched from the previous ship-based games which is pretty nice. The only downside to me was the mercenary system which starts out cute but very quickly reveals itself as an extreme annoyance that legit feels like the game harassing you whenever that inception sound goes BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOM and the mercenary Scrunky The Poop Shitter shows up to interrupt your missions. I have to mention tho that the cutscenes in this game are a step down and a step forward. There’s a lot of very simple shot and reverse shot conversations which to me are perfect for side quest dialogue since the way Origins handled those by just having the character literally standing in game and talking was awkward but the high demand of having one of those for every single convo definitely shows itself with the reduced amount of more cinematic cutscenes and the facial acting just not matching up to the quality of the previous games for the most part.

The world is fucking gorgeous, I loved this open world. It’s big but it never felt too big and I adore the way it felt like a Greek Black Flag that evolves the design of that game by making every single part of the map connected instead of locking the bigger cities behind a loading screen. It’s a great setting choice and Quebec nailed it. Also really appreciate that they managed to put mythological stuff in a way that made sense in lore so fighting the Minotaur and the Medusa was epic. The way they toyed with the fact that this is the most ancient setting in the series so far to utilize a lot more izu and mystic related shenanigans was nice.

Loved the music btw, the main theme “Legend of the eagle bearer” is visceral as fuck, I fuck with it a lot. Lot of it is very ambience based like a lot of the more recent games but it’s good stuff.




Overall…… Yeah, I did really like this game. Once you go in with the mindset that this is a little cute game that expands another side of the AC universe it’s a good ride and even the bloated duration didn’t make my experience miserable since the xp gain was fairer than in Origins to compensate. Gud time and Alexios is a certified badass seal of approval MC.

“We must continue the fight and defend the free will of the people. And no matter how small, our Brotherhood is the only hope and our kingdom needs no crowns. What we believe in, our values, our Creed, will unify us. And I promise, that for all the sons of Egypt I will be the father that I was not that day in Siwa.”



Here we are. Uncharted territory for me. The start of the infamous RPG trilogy, an attempt to take AC back to formula by literally diving deep into the origins of the series’ iconography with even a middle eastern setting to create that faint atmospheric tie to AC1.

To start the review off I guess I can talk a little bit about my history with this game. I was fully on board with a break after Syndicate given that I came out of it underwhelmed back then but the moment Origins was unveiled my interest in the series essentially completely died because I rejected this entirely on principle alone. I didn’t follow the development cycle and didn’t even become aware of the jump to rpg until way later.

What caused that rejection though? It’s pretty simple, I thought the idea of a game about the origins of the brotherhood was ultimately pointless and seemed desperate even. I had a strong feeling it would devolve into groan worthy iconography setups (which tbf I wasn’t entirely wrong) and a misguided narrative. Why should I care about the creation of the Creed? The Creed was painted as misguided and corrupt in AC1 with Altair having to reform its values entirely in order to secure that it would live on properly through the next generations. You literally kill the old man of the mountain in what’s essentially a history divergence moment that led to the Brotherhood not fading from existence like they did in real history. Any form of the assassins that came before Al Mualim should not matter, that was my view on Origins and I sticked to my guns for almost 5 years.

I’m a different man nowadays tho so it’s time for me to face my demons. And I have to say, Origins is pretty sweet.




Since this plays completely different from the games that came before we gotta talk about that gameplay extensively.

It’s fine. I think movement is a severe downgrade (the new “parkour” is bad, fuck BOTW dawg) and the world is clearly not designed for an actual Assassin’s Creed game which sucks because I know that’s not changing for 2 more games. Having that botw esque climb on anything mechanic is useful and definitely something I feel like the more open older AC games like Black Flag and Rogue seemed to lack sometimes but having absolutely no control over stuff like sprinting or a proper parkour system is just a terrible call. Combat is decent, it’s fun in short bursts but gets repetitive with time. I played this shit on hard so I definitely had the hardest time out of any game so far due to the get hit twice and die nature of it all. Stealth is really simple and also just kinda functional. That’s pretty much how every facet of gameplay goes. It’s all decently fun but I definitely vastly prefer the old formula to this rpg take.

Progression is definitely where this was losing me the most. I think Unity and Syndicate both had great implementations of a leveling system and this game basically went the boring and dull route instead of having any ounce of creativity. You only really get xp when doing side quests so you’re artificially forced to grind some side content in-between main missions in order to keep Bayek properly leveled for the campaign. It’s lame and since the campaign has a hefty chunk in the middle where it becomes a series of isolated subplots that don’t move the grander narrative at all, it really makes that issue even worse.



Now let’s talk about that narrative and ho boy, there are some slips here and there but I definitely think that overall it delivers.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way, Bayek of Siwa is immaculate. He makes this game work. He’s essentially classic Kratos in Assassin’s Creed and much like that character, there’s a beauty to the simplicity and raw emotion that drives him forward. Abubakar Salim is EASILY the best voice actor to ever work in the series, his portrayal of Bayek is actually next fucking level. This game’s narrative is the most no-nonsense revenge story that I’ve seen in a while. It’s refreshing really in an era so in love with stories about breaking the cycle of violence to witness Bayek’s brutal and straight up primal quest to avenge Khenut and free his soul to the afterlife. I love how the one moment he hesitates to kill his target it’s not because he didn’t want to continue the cycle of violence but because he didn’t want to let go of his son and move on. Beautiful shit honestly.
I was initially disappointed by the lack of philosophy in this story since if you wanna go back to basics that was the core of AC1. Upon further reflection though, I feel like having the Brotherhood be born from such a raw human emotion and leaving all the philosophical “You either cum on the sink or you sink in the cum” stuff to Altair works really well and completely kills my big gripe I had with this game since its announcement.
I like Aya a lot, I wish she was in it more but I guess you guys really wanted to empower the misogynistic producer. Great job Ubisoft.
The way the Brotherhood is conceived is pretty cool but this game also had a lot of what I like to call “Solo: A Star Wars Story” prequel writing that definitely had me groaning at times. Stuff like the origin of “May the father of understanding guide us” and Aya fucking saying Requiescat in Pace had me howling but other stuff like the ring finger ritual, the symbol of the brotherhood and the origin of the “Stay your blade from the flesh of the innocent.” tenet (I played the Hidden Ones dlc yeah it was dope as hell) were pretty good.
The worst part of the narrative is definitely that middle chunk with the 4 targets that was clearly there just to pad out the gigantic open world design philosophy because the main quests were essentially one-off subplots that didn’t really contribute towards the main narrative. They were fun on their own but by the last target I was getting tired of it. The 3rd act of the narrative delivered doe.
It’s a very heartfelt story with some incredible moments (that opening scene is a violent hook).

The setting is incredible even if I do not think the whole big spacey open world philosophy fits Assassin’s Creed. I still gotta credit how beautiful Egypt is.

The OST is fucking great too, Sarah Schachner knocked it out of the fucking park. Bayek’s theme accentuating his core scenes and creeping in many of the other tracks is so good and the way it compliments the Ezio’s Family remix is immaculate. Other great tracks like “I Walk on Your Water” also really stand out.




Overall, I had a pretty good time. The bloated runtime with its pacing issues (I cleared Syndicate’s map 100% and finished with 26 hours while this game took me 48 and I still had a few regions unexplored) definitely were souring me for a bit but the strong characters and especially really REALLY strong MC make this a very hard to forget ride when it peaks. Not in love with the RPG Assassin’s Creed concept at all but this was definitely a story worth telling.

“What’s this Greenie, Assassin Christmas?”





At last, I have arrived at the final AC game that I played, Mr. Syndicate.

Was really meh on this one when it came out and honestly, I think the circumstances surrounding me at the time really affected how I perceived it. It’s pretty cute and harmless, definitely like it more than Unity which is quite shocking since for years I been putting Unity over it.

This is gonna be a quick one because I really don’t have that much to say.

Syndicate is a pretty big departure from previous AC games, mainly in tone. It’s really goofy, whimsical and over the top which is the main issue most hardcore AC fans have with it. I’m perfectly fine with the different tone but I wish the more philosophical aspects of the series weren’t mostly absent since this is a setting and story that’d definitely benefit from having way more of that but it’s fine.

The plot is really REALLY simple and easy to follow which again I was fine with because the characters that move it are really charming and charismatic. The actual story if you break it down is literally just “Frye twins go to London and kill every single evil templar that rules the city”. The meat is the colorful cast of characters and I do think that meat is pretty well seasoned. I really like Jacob which is a controversial opinion in the fanbase I guess but he’s funni moments and I like it. Evie is cool too although her constant yapping about the piece of eden does get a bit annoying at times. The dynamic between them and the dual protagonist gimmick works pretty well, they bounce off each other nicely. The supporting cast is really strong with Henry and Abberline being probably my favorites. The templars are also pretty fun, lot of charisma and great performances, especially from Pearl and Roth. The main villain Crawford Starrick is a fucking goofball so he’s charming for that, literal fucking moustache twirling tea sipper british man.

London is a fantastic open world, really well designed and gorgeous to traverse. Lots of stuff to do with a pretty satisfying progression system.

Gameplay is a weird case. They basically brought back the movement from Unity but for some insane reason took out the jump button which effectively makes Parkour 300% times worse, really bad call. The grappling hook basically takes away any need for climbing which is definitely not a good idea to pull in your ASSASSIN’S CREED GAME but alas, at least the zipline is fun. The combat is fine. It’s Batman Arkham. Definitely a less interesting system than Unity’s but it works. Everything feels faster than in Unity which I appreciate but overall, pretty good gameplay but a mixed bag when it comes to the stuff that was changed from last game.

The OST is terrific, lot of it is ambience but that shit sounds immaculate and really sells the whole whimsical vibe of the game.


Overall... yeah, kinda don’t have much to say. Game is gud and I like it, that's the review. Fun time even if that classic AC depth is missing. A very distinct game in the series that gets criticized unfairly a lot just for trying to do its own thing.

“In the end, only we ourselves can guard against our obsessions. Only we can decide whether the road we walk carries too high a toll. We believe ourselves redeemers, avengers, saviors. We make war on those who oppose us, and they in turn make war on us. We dream of leaving our stamp upon the world... even as we give our lives in a conflict that will be recorded in no history book. All that we do, all that we are, begins and ends with ourselves.”










Ho boy there’s a lot to go through with this one.

The first next gen AC game, easily the most infamous title in the series (at least in the eyes of the mainstream audience). I was so fucking hyped for this game and I played the shit out of it back in the day and LOVED IT. I thought the campaign was meh but the gameplay and content more than made up for it.

It’s been almost 8 fucking years tho (holy shit I feel old) so it was time to pass judgement upon France and decide if young me was foolish or not.

He was kinda spittin tbh.

I like this game a lot but the amount of stuff I have to complain about requires way more In depth discussion so although I’m positive on it I’m gonna have to let the negatives take the majority of this review. So, let’s start with the good stuff.

The gameplay. That’s it. That’s what makes or breaks if you like this game or not. It is so fucking good man holy shit.
The parkour feels actually heavenly, they perfected the art of climbing shit nicely while lookin sick to the maximum output. Free running down is a godlike addition and Arno’s movements are insanely smooth. Everything just feels super nice. We didn’t lose vaulting which is great but we did lose ledge grabbing which is definitely the one nitpick I have with this parkour system. Outside of that though God damn is it fucking incredible.
The combat is probably my favorite in the series. It doesn’t have the crazy amount of useless but stylish tools and options as the Kenway games had but it makes up for it by being the first actually challenging and skill-based combat in the series. Instead of counter killing we now only have access to parrying or rolling from incoming attacks which is just exactly what AC combat needed. Everything is really weighty which makes the combat flow super nicely, even if the clunkyness of Unity’s engine shows itself from time to time.
Stealth is also one of the biggest improvements. Instead of being only able to hide in stalking zones, Arno has access to a crouch and cover system that makes infiltration that much more functional and satisfying. Social stealth kinda takes a back seat with the gimmicky aspects but it’s still in there full force whenever crowds are involved (which is essentially a constant in Paris).

The world design is insanely good. The recreation of Paris is so on point that it’s honestly scary to think the amount of work and effort that went into designing every facet of it. Buildings are tall and wide while the streets are narrow and crowded, creating essentially 2 planes of the world that the player can choose to traverse through. Building aren’t just there for showing and can actually be accessed at least 85% of the time which not only facilitates traversal but also helps to breathe even more life into the city due to how beautifully decorated and modeled the interiors are.

Single player side-content is p good. Lots of things to do ranging from building your Café-Theatre to taking part In Paris stories, very simple missions mechanically but they sport unique story scenarios featuring various historical figures and events that definitely got the kicks out of my nerdy ass. The crime investigations stand out a lot and they’re really fun and creative.

The multiplayer stuff I can only speak for my experiences from when Unity came out because I played that shit Day 1 and I had tons of friends on it to do everything. The raids were insanely hard to pull off properly with 4 dumbasses doing shit with no sense of coordination but were still a really fun time. The story coop missions are excellent and are basically the only cutscene story-based side missions you get so they’re definitely not something to miss.
For this replay I played Unity entirely alone (who the fuck trynna play this game in 2022 dawg LMFAOOO) which gave me a fresh experience and perspective. I was not aware of how scarce the money gain in this game was (Dead Kings is more generous but that’s essentially post game) since when I played it back then I basically did most of the coop stuff before I was even done with the campaign so I was drippin legendary fits real quick. When you’re alone tho it’s way harder to get to that level but it’s not a necessary thing to get through the main campaign. I did it just fine with very simple loadouts.

The progression in this game is quite unique because Arno is fully customizable from his equipment to the first skill learning mechanic in the series. It’s pretty good, I really like it. There’s a sense of constant improvement that’s very remarkable and customizing the look of Arno and his weapons is really fun and varied.

The presentation is immaculate like this game still looks graphically insane all these years later.

The OST is good. It can be somewhat forgettable honestly because a lot of the tunes although well composed feel more like background noise for you to get immersed in the period. It works for that but few compositions stand out on their own. The main theme in particular is pretty good but it feels like they play it in every single major scene which makes it like the only track that’s actively trying to be memorable. The one track that I really fw that stands out a lot is “Chase by Chase Basis”, it’s quite a banger.

Aight. That was all gameplay stuff because this game was a massive overhaul so there were a ton of things to be addressed. How’s the story though.

Well, the best way I can describe it is disappointing.
Unity takes place during the French Revolution, a time period marked by the fall of the monarchy, having their control stripped away by the people in the name of “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity”.

Yeah, I don’t think I need to explain why that’s one of the most perfect periods to set an Assassin’s Creed story in. Beyond the sheer visual potential this time period has, it’s something that had the duty to explore the philosophical aspects of the series and give a creative spin to history.

Well, unfortunately they mostly failed.

Unity is way too superficial with its themes and messages and many of its concepts are presented initially as super interesting but never developed at all. The French Revolution barely has any effect on the actual story and serves more as a cool looking background conflict more than anything.

The main character Arno Victor Dorian was the son of an Assassin who after his father’s death, was adopted by the Templar Grandmaster who chose to raise him properly and never attempt indoctrination, choosing instead to leave the boy out of that world. It’s a parallel and the complete opposite of what happened to Haytham in AC3 and yet this aspect of Arno’s life is not utilized at all and only mentioned in the story ONCE. His drive is merely to make up for what he did to Elise, hiding it behind a facade of justice and redemption. It’s such a waste of potential and it’s only one of the many wasted aspects of Arno’s character.
Next up is his characterization. Arno is introduced as a smartass jovial horny goofball who’s really charming and likeable but once he becomes an assassin, he literally just becomes another person for no reason. His entire personality is gone and he’s now stoic and cold, only giving straight comments and looking pissed 24/7 (WHICH MAKES NO SENSE HE WAS AN EXPRESSIVE IDIOT AT THE START). Sparks of his old personality show up from time to time, usually when he needs to have a big character moment like his drunk descent before the third act which is handled pretty well even if rushed, but these instances are really rare and inconsistent (at least until Dead Kings).
The last and final nail in the coffin to establish Arno as the weakest MC in the series so far is Elise, his love interest. She fucking sucks and he literally has nothing else going on inside his head during the main campaign that doesn’t concern this woman. Their relationship is sold as a cool forbidden romance because he’s an assassin and she’s a templar but Unity’s superficiality strikes again since that conflict only amounts to “you’re not in my boy band so I can’t fuck with you fully”. Elise is also a really terrible templar figure because she literally has no templar conflicts or ideals on display at all, the whole story she literally just wants revenge and being a part of the templars is just an inconsequential detail. There’s not a single scene where Arno and Elise explore that dichotomy they’re being faced with, not a single fucking scene where they have any sort of ideological debate. It’s such a waste of time and honestly Arno doesn’t act like an assassin either (until Dead Kings but again WE’LL GET THERE). The Paris bureau is a court of idiots who only command Arno to be their delivery boy which to me goes completely against the sheer concept of the Creed and yet they banish Arno from the Brotherhood because he was thinking for himself (even if himself was mostly his dick but y’know).

As you can gather it’s a mess and there’s still more.

The cast of characters is the worst in the series maybe to date. The only side characters I kinda enjoyed were Napoleon, Sade and Bellec and those 3 are barely in the narrative. The templars SUUUUUUUCK. We’re back to going through a narrative that’s just a hitlist of random templar goons that sport neat designs but have no personality or actual character at all and the only exposure we get as to who they are is when Arno murks them (which btw in this game instead of the classic confessions we get this bizarre and horrible replacement where Arno somehow telepathically sees important memories of his targets the moment he kills them???) so yeah, the villains stink. The main antagonist Germain is alright, I’d even say he’s kinda neat due to a few pretty good scenes he gets. He’s still really undercooked though but his good design, voice acting and presence make him a solid antagonist. I enjoy his connection with De Molay a lot I think it’s a neat idea that’s executed nicely enough.

The ending is REALLY weird because on its own I think it’s really good and legit way better than this campaign deserved but a lot of its elements feel unearned (Arno’s final monologue is fantastic but I can’t say I witnessed the man reaching that level of understanding throughout the game) while others weirdly address the weak parts of the script like Arno’s obsession and the way Elise pays the price for her selfishness. It’s a good ending tho, the final scene with Germain is dope as hell, like it a lot.

So, after the campaign there’s Dead Kings, the story DLC that Ubisoft gave for free due to the launch disaster. Fortunately, I can report that Dead Kings is excellent in all of its aspects.

It’s more of Unity’s brilliance as a game but with a good script to back it up. We reunite with Arno sometime after the ending of the campaign, now a disillusioned and depressed man towards France who wants nothing but to leave that dreadful country (relatable). Dead Kings in line with Unity’s ending begins to weaponize the script’s issues into something that actually works ("Sometimes love is a prison" is a line uttered that perfectly encapsulates this story). Arno is now stoic and brooding like he was before but he has an emotional reason to be that way and yet his proper personality still shines through here more than in the campaign once he meets Leon. He goes through a really nice character arc that gives him closure and a really nice send off to this game’s narrative. It’s just really good stuff and the city of Franciade is awesome.




This is my longest review so far by far and it honestly still feels like I either omitted certain details or simplified others which I think tells everything about how complex my feelings towards this game’s writing are. But even with all those fallings I still don’t think it’s a horrible story, it’s more of a mediocre one that has VERY short-lived sparks of something special. What Unity lacks in the writing department to me it more than makes up for with its game aspect. The gameplay is wonderful and the world is incredible, it’s deservedly the black sheep of the franchise to most but it’s still something I can find a lot of appreciation for even through some of its mistakes.

"Stay my blade from the flesh of the innocent. Hide in plain sight. Never compromise the Assassin Brotherhood. These are the tenets of the Creed. The principles I used to live by. I was a young man then. The Seven Years War was about to begin. I could not have imagined what the future had in store for me... Nor the cost I would choose to bear... My name is Shay Patrick Cormac. This is my story."



Rogue is definitely one of the most fascinating AC games. It's regarded as underrated by certain parts of the fanbase while other more vocal members vehemently despise it. The truth to me lies somewhere in the middle. There are aspects that are certainly extremely underrated while others are quite lackluster.

I think Rogue is pretty good but I don’t really have very complex feelings towards it so I think this one is gonna briefer than usual.

Let’s get gameplay out of the way. It’s Black Flag on ice with a satisfying amount of touch ups and improvements. Shay has a very cool toolset (sucks that his weapon is almost the same as Edward’s tho) and the Morrigan definitely has a more balanced and fun arsenal of weapons. There are a good number of additions that make the naval world more tangible like random events, getting boarded by the enemy, using icebergs to your advantage and stuff like that. Even minor stuff like the anchor hud symbol whenever you stop by an island with a contact point (which 4 lacked) are much appreciated. It’s all very fun and very good.

The world design is excellent. I love the setting of the Atlantic North with its frigid beauty and River Valley is very unique to traverse. NY feels distinct enough from AC3 as well so also cool. There’s a sense of verticality in all of these places that stood out as different from 4’s very ground level design. This game is like the one game in the series with a good PC port which is great because I could appreciate the beautiful visuals without unavoidable crashes and dumb shit like most of the previous ones. One knock against the world tho is that this game’s side content consists pretty much exclusively of fetch quests which is definitely due to the restrained development time. I’m biased with this one but playing the game is a blast so even with the WAAAAY too bloated spreading of collectibles (they got like 4 different armor sets like vro chill), it’s still a fun time if you’re up for it.

Story wise I think this game is very cute. There are certainly very controversial narrative decisions but by the end I think it all comes together very nicely. Shay is a really endearing protagonist, love him and his dumb cheesy catchphrase a lot. Honestly to me the biggest narrative blunder is the story’s length because I desperately needed more time with Mr. Cormac, learning more about his past and what led him to follow Liam into the Brotherhood, with a way beefier section working with the templars before he joins their cool kids club to boot. It’s all done way too fast which softens the impact of the narrative considerably but the key moments are always done EXCEDINGLY well which is why I think so many people leave this game with such a strong impression. Rogue starts strong and ends strong and I think that’s a really good breakdown of how most of its plot developments go, the setup is fantastic and the pay off is perfect but the middle chunk is always either messy or way too fast.

I feel like a broken record talking about the OSTs because honestly all of these games have impeccable scores but damn Elitsa’s score for Rogue is STUNNING. The main theme is striking as fuck and tracks like “The Hunter”, “Cityscape”, “I am Shay Patrick Cormac”, “David and Goliath” and many others just fucking hit different. Also, this game has by far my favorite synchronization themes and the main theme motif carrying from those all the way to the naval battle victory are 10/10.



Rogue is Black Flag on Ice but with a narrative that makes this one a really hard recommendation for those not up to speed with the series. While AC4 stands on its own, this game serves as a really cool chapter to close off the Kenway saga while transitioning straight into Unity (God I love the ending). It’s good as hell but very flawed in a lot of areas.

"For years I've been rushing around, taking whatever I fancied, not giving a tinker's curse for those I hurt. Yet here I am... with riches and reputation, feeling no wiser than when I left home. Yet when I turn around, and look at the course I've run... there's not a man or woman that I love left standing beside me."







Happy new year everyone! Hope 2022 is good and we don’t get any more viruses roaming the streets soon enough.

To start off the year on a positive note, it’s pirate time.


Black Flag is just special, that’s the best way I can describe it. This game should not work as well as it does for multiple reasons but the fact it does is an astounding showcase of the talent Darby Mcdevitt’s team had. This and Revelations stand at the top of this franchise. I think they’re about equal in quality but even after giving both a fair replay with new eyes and a fresh perspective, I still have a softer spot for AC4. I think it’s easily the most unique game in the series and it nails everything it sets out to do.

An Assassin’s Creed game where you play as a pirate rather than an assassin is an incredibly bold move, especially considering where AC3 left off and the huge expectations that this game had to live up to in order to continue the narrative of this franchise. This entire game can be summarized as one big character study of its protagonist, Edward James Kenway.

Edward to me is the best character to ever grace this series that’s already so packed with so many incredible ones. His charisma entrances you and his development puts him up there as one of the greatest characters of all time. It’s just impossible to not like Edward, he’s an absolute gem. His journey from a greedy and irresponsible pirate to a wise and punished assassin, ready to finally start putting his mind before his blade is storytelling gold. Matt Ryan's performance as Edward needs that shoutout because it's so god damn good. When that man screams YOU FEEL THAT SHIT.

Darby’s love for the philosophical aspect of the franchise shines here as brightly as ever. Putting the templar vs assassin conflict amidst the golden age of piracy and its eventual downfall is probably the smartest choice for a setting in the series to this day. A period where the battle between liberty and control is at its all time peak and the way some pirates end up falling in line with the world’s view of the templars while others persist upon their anarchist ways, aligning themselves with the assassins, is simply genius. Characters don’t feel guided by a narrative, they feel and think for themselves, resulting in a tale that spans decades and you FEEL that time passing, people changing and finally deciding to stand up for their own beliefs. It’s Assassin’s CREED at its purest form, I love it.

The writing for this game is just 11/10. Darby nailed not only the setting but also the people that inhabit the Caribbean. Easily this franchise’s strongest supporting cast, even its smaller players end up leaving a mark on you or Edward. Mary, Anne, Adéwale, Hornigold, Roberts and Thatch stand out as my absolute favorites, they’re terrific and the immaculate voice acting makes their already excellent writing impress that much more. The templars continue the trend started in Revelations, being characterized in a way where there’s never a black and white conflict at play. Torres and Rogers have such a commanding presence whenever they’re on screen and their convictions are portrayed masterfully. The final act ties Edward’s journey so beautifully and that ending is just unmatched.

Gameplay wise it’s AC3 with expanded ship mechanics. The ship combat in ac3 honestly sucked due to the system still being undercooked and the restricting linear nature of the naval levels didn’t help. AC4 gives you the Jackdaw, a ship far better suited to combat and much smoother to sail. The naval combat is fantastic and a ton of fun, being just the right amount of challenging. On foot it still has probably the clunkiest feel out of the older AC games due to the Anvil Engine overhaul but once you get used to it it’s still a great time. Vaulting works perfectly, climbing is responsive even with its eventual hiccups, combat although way too easy has a ton of options for style (some of which are hidden and never taught by the game for some reason like the double killstreaks), stealth is solid and gameplay scenarios are diverse. There’s an overabundance of tailing missions in this game which I definitely agree could’ve been reworked but as is, they’re well designed so you can breeze through them pretty nicely.

The open world is fucking beautiful and masterfully designed. Sailing through the Caribbean is so much fun and the abundance of diverse side activities really puts this game’s world far above the previous endeavors of the series. From swimming through the depths of the ocean, to hunting whales, to participating in the great side stories of the Templar Hunts, it’s just fantastic.

The music by Brian Tyler takes heavy inspiration from that one pirate franchise with Dohnny Jepp which is perfectly fine by me, it’s a fantastic soundtrack with a ton of standout tracks like the main theme, “Stealing a Brig”, “The Fortune of Edward Kenway”, “The High Seas”, “Take What Is Ours” and many more. The Sea Shanties completely steal the show tho, they’re so fucking good (LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWLAAAANDSS, LOOOOWLAAAANDS AWAAAAYYYY ME JOOOHNNN).

Modern Day is fine. I think the concept of it is interesting and it’s used very sparingly so it’s cute enough for what it is. It’s a shame the whole Juno story that carries from this game all the way to Syndicate is essentially worthless nowadays since it had its conclusion sidelined to a comic but hey Desmond’s ending also sucked after games of development so not the first time it happens lmao. The most fascinating aspect is definitely the introduction of Abstergo Entertainment which is literally Ubisoft so the message the developers wanted to spread through that is definitely some good food for thought.


Honestly, I can’t write this in any way that doesn’t come off more as gushing rather than a review. I just fucking love this game and literally have no real issues with it, it’s weaker joints are still cute or decent enough to entertain me and its entire soul just resonates with me in a way few other pieces of media are able to. One of the greatest games of all time, the highest of recommendations.

“Compromise. That is what everyone has insisted upon, and so I have learned it, but differently than most, I think. I realize now that it will take time, that the road ahead is long and shrouded in darkness. It is a road that will not always take me where I wish to go, and I doubt I will live to see its end, but I will travel down it nonetheless. For at my side walks hope, in the face of all that insist I turn back, I carry on. This.... this is my compromise.”





Every AC game so far has been really easy to articulate my thoughts on but considering the direction the series takes, this is definitely the diverging point in multiple ways.

This is the first AC game where its premises start clashing and the overall package feels deeply torn when it comes to what it’s trying to be.

Attempting to start an entire new animus storyline during the climax of the Desmond saga was a REALLY stupid move. If you ask me AC3 should’ve been a game taking place entirely during modern day, giving proper closure to Desmond’s arc and wrapping up his storyline in a satisfying manner which was a NECESSITY given the nature of how much build up each successive game had so far towards the conclusion of the modern-day plot.
As is we get a half baked and kinda awful Desmond storyline tacked on to a really cool new ancestor tale that connects very little to the modern-day scenario. The only connection really is how thematically in line Connor and Desmond are, both being forced to join the Assassins regardless of their own will and constantly arguing about the morality of such a thing when it’s fundamentally against the very Creed they follow.

AC3 is a mixed bag even if I do like it quite a lot. Its highs are REALLY high which is why I still personally put it above Brotherhood, it may have lower lows but it does strive for higher peaks instead of feeling satisfied with walking that middle ground. This game is ambitious and the shortcomings are genuine creative missteps.

Considering everything built up so far I’m pretty certain the original idea was to have a proper Desmond focused finale for this era of the series but AC had established itself as the “historical fantasy game” at this point so a solo modern-day Desmond entry was out of the question and with no Ezio to rely on they’d have to find a new time period to implement as the main draw. If a good excuse was presented, I’d be fine with it but it’s literally “Oh man Desmond we got to the final destination but the door is locked so we gotta fuck around for 10 hours and find a few mcguffins to open it later”. It’s not only lazy but a complete bore, the Desmond shit in this game is a pace breaker, Vidic is defeated in the lamest way, Daniel Cross is a joke (even with the far superior comic characterization to compliment him here) and the laughably unsatisfying finale does not help (I enjoy the moral dilemma Desmond has to face but the way everything is executed is so rushed that it really doesn’t matter much). Real wet fart of an ending and Desmond deserved a way better final go.

With all that negative criticism you might be wondering “Damn how do you even like this game?”.


Well, the animus storyline REALLY carries this one for me. It’s flawed but the ideas and overall storyline are SO GOOD.

This is the first game in the series that actually characterizes the templars in an interesting manner. AC1 attempted that but only succeeded with Al Mualim which I would argue is not a templar (at least not in the traditional sense). The main antagonists are set up wonderfully at the start, humanizing them in a way that makes you actually feel something when they inevitably become a target of Connor’s blade later. Their ideals are presented in a gray light and the ideological/ethical debates are stronger than ever. Calling Haytham in particular amazing is a whole ass free thinker behavior but yeah he’s fucking stellar.

A big issue people have is how long the tutorial chunk of the story is which I do agree with to some extent. It didn’t bother me much but having essentially 2 first acts is indeed wacky. The payoff for the Haytham set up is worth it tho.

I adore Connor Kenway. I think he’s one of the most misunderstood and fascinating characters in the series by far. I love his personal struggle against the destiny imposed towards him, his struggle to find a place in a war where no matter which side he fought for, he’s still fundamentally not in tune with his allies and his people will still suffer and be decimated. It’s all so tragic but the way he keeps going after so much pain and suffering is truly inspiring. This man fights a literal one-man war against an entire templar order that destroyed the previous assassin brotherhood and still succeeds through sheer force of will. His naive nature is constantly addressed and punished which just makes me so confused about the critiques thrown towards him. People who say Haytham just decimates him morally in particular are really stupid when THE GAME CLEARLY SHOWS HOW HAYTHAM’S WAYS ARE AWFUL IN THEIR OWN WAY AND CONNOR GETS TO CLAP BACK AT HIM FOR IT BUT NONONO HAHA “SOUR GRAPES AMIRITE”.

I do think sometimes the story feels contrived to follow certain historical events but overall, it’s a great time. I have no idea WHY THE FUCK they deleted Connor’s fucking stellar final monologue tho, if you’ve never heard it please do yourself a favor, it’s so fucking powerful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_PsZ7nig4c.

Characters are great. Connor and Haytham stand out the most but others like Achilles and all the homestead residents are fucking great too.

Speaking of, some of the side missions in this game are quite average but DAMN THE HOMESTEAD IS MAYBE THE BEST SIDE CONTENT IN THE WHOLE SERIES. THEY’RE SO GOOOOOOOD.

Gameplay had a big overhaul. Combat is a trillion times better than in the previous 4 but parkour is more mixed, some improvements are welcome but other changes feel like downgrades. Boat combat is introduced here and it honestly kinda sucks, the Aquila definitely doesn’t play nearly as well as the Jackdaw or the Morrigan. Hunting and crafting are straight up awful tho and idk how the hell that happened considering Ubi made Far Cry 3 the same year.

Tyranny of King Washington has some cute ideas and the premise is insane in a fun way but it’s disappointingly boring at times, the animal powers are sick but they don’t carry enough.

The OST is a banger, I twerk to “Trouble in Town” daily.

The setting is top notch as always, roaming through the frontier is wonderful and the nature aspect is so beautiful that I’d be stopping to contemplate the visuals all the time.



Assassin’s Creed III feels like the beginning of the end concerning what this series represents but as a die hard fan it’s hard for me to be mad about it. The way Desmond’s story wraps up will forever be lame but I adore Connor’s tale in a vacuum and it’s just a really fun game. Pondering on what this could’ve been will forever be intriguing but the final result is still very much a worthy entry.

This game pisses me off so fucking much.

It has good gameplay so I can't say it's bad but it was one of the main contributors to my dissociation with gaming around the mid 2010s.

Batmobile combat is boring, the story is a strong contender for worst batman narrative of all time, the finale is not earned and the amount of creativity and attention to detail that goes to waste on this vapid and atrocious script is quite literally baffling.

If Asylum didn't exist this would be the worst Arkham game by far.

“No books... No wisdom... Just you, fratello mio. Requiescat in pace, Altaïr.”










This was the Ezio game I anticipated to revisit the most. Revelations used to be my second favorite AC game growing up and I was very interested in seeing how it holds up.
Suffice to say that it did not disappoint in literally any area.

I usually open my positive reviews by getting the negatives out of the way first and believe me when I say I legit have 0 complaints about this game (other than the PC port fucking sucking as always). It literally improves on everything I criticized the previous games in the series for while striving to be its own beast in the grandest of ways.

Revelations is both the most introspective and the most action-packed game in the series so far, two essentially polar qualities that it manages to masterfully balance.

This game serves as the final chapter in Ezio’s journey, now a living legend who has to embark on a journey in search for knowledge, closure, and self-reflection. This is easily Ezio at his best, his personality still shines just as brightly as ever but now with a thick layer of wisdom and grandiose that conveys just how far his character has come. His travels lead him to Masyaf, a grand return to the setting of AC1, and a brilliant way to give Altaïr some much needed closure while intertwining his tale with Ezio’s in one of the most beautiful narratives ever.

The story is absolutely fantastic, filled with incredibly memorable dialogue and deeply charismatic characters, all wrapped up in a perfectly paced script. Yusuf’s overdose of charisma, the refined and fascinating affairs with Suleiman, the beautiful and organic romance between Ezio and Sofia, everything is so damn good.

As the first mainline game written by Mcdevitt, he leaves an incredible first impression with the best script to grace the series so far (a script that would only be topped years later by his second go at it but I’m getting way ahead of myself, if you know you know). His writing manages to hit deep while keeping an endearing and engaging energy going full speed at all times. He brings back the philosophy to the conflict between assassins and templars, presenting the opposing faction for the first time since (partially) AC1 as human beings who strive to attain peace through their own beliefs and understading of the world. We get an insanely smaller amount of corridor sequences but every single one here hits thrice as hard as any attempt Brotherhood made. Ideological debates are presented and Ahmet establishes himself firmly as the best antagonist to grace the Ezio trilogy.

The setting of Constantinople is widely considered to be one of the weaker locations in the series.
I violently disagree.
This is one of the absolute best worlds AC has ever been graced with. The atmosphere is on point as always and the city is compact and beautiful. However, what stands out here is the level design. Complemented by this game’s mechanics this is easily the second-best designed city in the franchise (only standing behind Paris from Unity). The rooftops and overall geometry of the city make for an insanely fun playground to free run in, coupled with the fantastic addition of the ziplines and other traversal assistances scattered throughout the buildings, making parkouring through Constantinople a delight. This is where the addition of the hookblade shines, one of the best gameplay additions in the whole series that sadly didn’t stay. An extremely fun tool that makes traversal insanely better.

The Brotherhood and city management system from the previous game make a comeback pretty much intact but with a few tweaks. Templar dens replace the Borgia towers with the added gimmick of possible attacks, meaning you can take over a spot and have it be taken away from you by the templars once again, triggering a really cool tower defense style mission that is a great addition to the gameplay. The brotherhood now boasts a few hand-crafted recruit missions that were sorely needed in ACB, featuring a narrative showcasing how Ezio convinces his leaders to join the cause.

This game also clearly took some inspiration from Uncharted because it’s filled to the brim with crazy set-pieces that honestly put most of the action sequences in that series to shame. These utilize Revelations refined parkour system to its maximum potential while also boasting the occasional really fun puzzle that organically integrates the parkour to the challenges.

Another thing this game home runs is the tutorial segment. It fully trusts you to be up to speed at this point, not nerfing Ezio in stupid ways like Brotherhood did. You start off the game with next to no control hand holding and with a properly equipped Ezio, keeping his most useful tools from last game like the parachutes and the climb leap. Also, he has the best drip in the series by far in this game (fight me).

The OST is phenomenal. Lorne Balfe makes his debut alongside the return of Jesper Kyd and their work is fucking incredible. The cutscene tracks, the main theme and the theme that scores the streets of Constantinople are so damn good.

The modern-day segment is incredible. There isn’t much gameplay going on there but the Animus Island and Subject Sixteen are so intriguing and captivating. Easily one of the coolest parts of this story with a stellar integration of Desmond’s arc colliding with Ezio’s.
(UPDATE) I completed the Desmond's Journey missions a day after finishing the main game and holy FUCK. I am very glad I did not skip these because they're so fucking good. Easily my favorite segment with Desmond in the whole series.
Seeing his past from birth to the start of AC1 beautifully chronicled through this crazy introspective mind trip scenario that is expertly crafted not only through creative puzzles and fascinating visual storytelling but also by some of the most enthralling writing in the whole game. Desmond’s monologues go HARD and getting such an interesting deep dive and analysis of who he is as a person, his place in this world and how he feels about the situation he was forced into is absolutely incredible. It recontextualizes a lot of his presence during the first few games and why he’s so determined to see his role as an assassin being properly carried on. It’s the best shit ever and yet another incredible home run for this game.


All in all, this is one of the few games I’d dare to call perfect. I cannot fathom how Ubisoft was able to put this out in 8 months but it just goes to show how balls deep they were into this series back then. Pure art, a masterpiece in storytelling and game design.

Fantastic atmosphere with a really unique setting.

Wish it was a tad longer, the characters ended up a little bit undercooked (especially Mary who gets a criminally small amount of screen time unfortunately).

Pretty good tho, short and to the point with very creative puzzles.

"Che nessuno ricordi il tuo nome. (May no one remember your name.) Requiescat in pace. (Rest in peace.)"















My thoughts on this one are partially brief but a little bit "complex" too I guess?

Brotherhood is a lot of people's top 1 AC game and I can see why.

This game to me is both a gigantic step forward from AC2 and also a sizeable step back.

To start with the negatives, this game was the first annual AC and it definitely shows in certain areas.

It's quite buggy (ESPECIALLY on PC. I stumbled upon around 5 glitches that either forced me to reset the game or change certain configs after searching for solutions) and it can feel quite volatile gameplay wise from time to time.

The story is considerably weaker than AC2's. I hear the phrase "less is more" being thrown around in Brotherhood's defense a lot and honestly I just don't agree because:
1 - Brotherhood has more content and said content is actually better than AC2's in general.
2 - The main campaign is short but it is not as focused as it should be, meandering quite a bit during certain beats.

The Ezio trilogy structurally is quite perfect. We follow Ezio during his youth in AC2, his adulthood in Brotherhood and his final years as an assassin in Revelations. My issues with Brotherhood don’t relate to the trilogy’s structure because it definitely nails its purpose as the middle story. However, I’m not the biggest fan of AC stories where the Brotherhood gets big enough to essentially become a “gang” (games like AC1, Unity and Rogue very clearly show how that amount of power easily corrupts the creed’s fundamental purpose) so I take some issue with the way Brotherhood handles the Order. HOWEVER, I do love Ezio’s philosophy and the reasoning he has for “fighting fire with fire” so this is the one AC story I can forgive for doing that pet peeve of mine (for the most part at least). All the stuff concerning Ezio and how the supporting cast from AC2 gets expanded upon is fantastic, my problem lies with the story’s main antagonist. Mr. Cesare Borgia gets a stellar introduction, being presented as both intimidating and an incredible threat during the attack at monteriggioni but after that he essentially leaves the story until the very end where he comes back and becomes a joke. He’s characterized as a whiny brat and spends the entire climax of the game being a butt monkey who gets humiliated by Ezio non-stop. It’s quite a shame especially since much like AC2 the other templars in this suck a lot and Rodrigo is not in this story at all. The main narrative has its strong moments but the overall package is just decent.

That’s it for negatives. Now onward to the positives.

This game has STELLAR side content. The Cristina memories are fantastic, Leonardo’s machines are very fun, Leonardo’s disappearance although kinda sloppy at times for a DLC is still mostly a really good time with a great send off to the character, Copernico’s mission are really cool and the Rome take over mechanic is really well balanced with a fair economy system. I did not feel compelled to do none of the side activities like races in AC2 on this replay but Brotherhood’s world sucked me in hard.

On that note, it is shocking how Brotherhood was made in 1 year. I mentioned a few of the cons that come from that fact but this game is an insane step up from AC2. I think Rome is way better than any of AC2’s cities and I’m glad they went with the 1 focused city per game approach for most AC games after Brotherhood because it pays off greatly. Rome is a fantastic open world.

Graphically the jump from AC2 is quite insane. The models are monumentally improved and the color grading in particular pleasantly surprised me a lot.

The gameplay is mostly the same but the combat is reworked a bit. The kill streak system pretty much murders any challenge but since I was not into AC2’s combat I take that as a positive, less time on it is better. The crossbow was the best addition by far tho holy shit it's so useful.

Mission design is really great on this one except for the 1 TRILLION TAILING MISSIONS OH MY GODDDD (NAH I DONT GET HOW DIE HARD AC GOONS GET PISSED ABOUT BLACK FLAG'S TAILING BUT NEVER MENTION HOW MUCH OF THAT SHIT IS IN THIS ONE)

Game design problem I had tho was the start. When Ezio gets to Rome it's kind of a slog because he's nerfed back to 0 way too violently (taking away the climb leap in particular is extremely stupid) and the tutorial missions are really intrusive, teaching the player a lot of ac2 mechanics again but in a way less engaging manner (ac2 has a stellar tutorial segment and this game basically has the opposite).

Modern day stuff is great. It got even more engaging than last time with Desmond feeling just as good to control as Ezio. Lots of interesting twists and turns there and a weird ass twist abrupt ending as always.

Brotherhood is a really good game, it’s very easy to talk about it superficially since it’s just a good ass game so I had to kinda dive into certain “nitpicky specifics” for the problems I have with it and it shows. Many consider this to be the definitive AC experience and it's definitely up there for sure. At its peak it's all killer no filler but the somewhat passable story definitely lowers its impact on me. It’s a perfect sequel to AC2 and a great game on its own.

"There is no book or teacher to give you the answers, to show you the path. Choose your own way.
Do not follow me. Or anyone else."










I love that quote because I feel like it symbolizes Ezio's development just as much as it does AC2 itself.

AC1 was a weird ass game to general audiences. A story about a middle eastern asshole who spent his life hunting the soldiers of God during the Crusades isn't exactly your average triple A game material. It was a unique vision that was so in love with itself that for some that could be a turn off on its own.

Point being that AC1 never tried to prove anything. Assassin's Creed was just Assassin's Creed, nothing more, nothing less.

AC2 picks up exactly where AC1 (weirdly) left off, sparring no time to rest with an extremely intense opening section followed by one of the most iconic starts to any story.

Ezio Auditore da Firenze is born and in about 2 minutes of screen time every human being with a heart falls deeply in love with him.

AC2 was the game that put Assassin's Creed on the map full force and I'd argue the sole reason that happened was because of Ezio. His captivating personality and extremely compelling journey entranced everyone in a way that Altair's just couldn't.

A grand story through the beautiful Italian renaissance with one of the most iconic larger than life MCs of all time, how could anyone resist?

Weirdly enough though most people would assume such a move was deliberate to appease to a larger crowd but it never really comes across that way. Ezio is clearly written as a subversion of how Altair operated. We meet him during his youth, he's initially guided by his emotions and about 60% of the narrative is devoted to the connections he makes with the extremely charismatic cast. Mechanically the game operates about the same way AC1 did but supercharged with added depth. It’s a sequel that builds upon the previous game, respecting its legacy almost like a legend, while carving its own path.


I could go on and on about the impact AC2 has but this is a review so how is the game?

Well, it feels like being transported alongside Desmond by the animus.

The setting is gorgeous, the atmosphere is fantastic, the characters are so loveable and charismatic, Ezio is absolutely perfect and the gameplay feels about 10 times nicer than in AC1 (combat honestly feels a bit weaker at times but still sports big improvements overall). It’s a piece of art with an energy that very few other games have.

The soundtrack is absolutely stellar, Jesper Kyd’s best work by a longshot. Salvation of Forli (my personal favorite), Ezio’s family, Earth, Venice rooftops… so many fucking bangers. I’m a big fan of Kyd’s work for AC1 but AC2’s OST is just out of this world.

Voice acting is excelent as usual but Roger Craig Smith as Ezio really steals the show. Once you get past the goofy italian accent (which is a charm in its own right) it's impeccable how well he captures Ezio's emotions.

Outside of the Animus the improvements are HUGE. Desmond’s side of the story is way more interesting with way fewer obligatory interruptions, plus whenever you are forced to go back to the real world it’s way more engaging since he now actually gets to do some action with a proper control scheme instead of just slowly walking around an office.

The climax much like AC1 is really trippy and interesting with yet another abrupt but this time honestly hysterical ending.


I have a few issues with it, mostly minor aspects.

I’m not the biggest fan of the codex pages hunt since it’s a classic Ubisoft fetch quest that is mandatory for progression but it’s not THAT bad since the number of them is not high and you get an excuse to chill around the rooftops of Italy for a few more hours. Unlike AC1 this game features some missions where being undetected is mandatory and early AC’s stealth is just too poor so those can be really frustrating. A lot of story elements in this game get greatly improved by Brotherhood which leaves them a tad underused on their own here. Much like AC1 this game has a very clear loop (decide next target, go to location, meet new side character, help them for a few missions to be able to get their support, kill target with side character’s support) which also like AC1 has a cool little thematic tie later in sequence 11 that makes everything come together really well but still, it’s a repetitive cycle nonetheless and the templars in this game especially are honestly even more one note than the ones from AC1 (Rodrigo Borgia aside, he's cool).


In summary. AC2 is still just as magical as it was back in 2009. It’s a monumental game and respectably for some the peak of the series for a reason. A game that bleeds with passion and a unique vision few could compare at the time and ESPECIALLY nowadays. Not my favorite AC game but still one that I can whole heartedly say I absolutely love.