This game still slaps, had a real good time with it. Story was actually better then I remembered and kept me interested throughout.

This is as close you're going to get to a proper pirate adventure game, it has a lot of great elements that make it stand out. The loop of completing tasks, gaining more money, stronger weapons and upgrading your ship is excellent. Slowly taking over the map and getting rid of all enemy factions is another satisfying process which will take awhile. Something as simple as sailing the open seas, listening to your crew belt out various songs gives this game such character and atmosphere,

It still has some of the failings of the AC franchise however, melee combat is very simplistic and doesn't ever really challenge you. It's fun to take down endless amount of enemies with various moves but it does get tedious after a while, especially when you get stronger weapons. Still find the tailing missions not that fun, and they haven't changed that much since the first AC from 2007. Also did not enjoy the diving sections, found the swimming controls very off putting and it just made them very annoying to play through.

Ship combat is a blast (no pun intended), as it is chaotic and tense at times, especially if you risk taking on ships that are much more powerful than you for higher rewards. Swinging your way onto enemy ships, killing and looting is just such a thrill.

Highly recommend this game even if it has some of that AC jank that has stuck around for so many games. It's still a great package that offers a lot of exhilarating gameplay.