Easily the strongest game of the Ezio trilogy, I believe it has been made underrated due to everyone experiencing series fatigue at the time of release. This game is, in my opinion, clearly better than AC2 and Brotherhood.
Firstly Istanbul is awesome. Some great atmosphere and a city that is perfect for parkour. Combine this with a big ass hook blade, ziplines, lamps, and you've created what is honestly the best parkour in the series up to this point. Parkour in this game has the potential to be faster and more fluid than ever before, a stark contrast from brotherhoods boring reliance on horses for movement. Istanbul is the best city so far.
Onto the story, Altair is finally brought back and his story is actually continued in a meaningful way, every bit relating to Altair in this game is engaging to me. Ezio also gets a nice conclusion to his story, and I think he is at his most likable in this game. His goal in this game is also much more interesting than his previous two revenge stories. The side characters are also well written though a bit forgettable in the grand scheme of things, Yusuf should've gotten more to do.
In other game play aspects, most stuff stays the same. The assassin brotherhood mechanic is mostly the same but a little more involved, the renovation system is the same but a little less tedious, and combat is also mostly the same. I would've liked to see more advancement in these departments but it is what it is. The bomb crafting mechanic is pretty dumb and I almost entirely ignored it, as I did with most side content.
The side content is a lil more engaging than previous games but it is still completely skippable and not really worth the time sink.
Revelations is a very strong conclusion to an overall middling trilogy, I think it is clearly the high point of the trilogy. With finally bringing back ideology into the story and having satisfying character arcs, and the best map combined with the best parkour the series has seen up to this point, it's an easy recommendation.
If you wanna see my rankings as I go through the series, click here.
Firstly Istanbul is awesome. Some great atmosphere and a city that is perfect for parkour. Combine this with a big ass hook blade, ziplines, lamps, and you've created what is honestly the best parkour in the series up to this point. Parkour in this game has the potential to be faster and more fluid than ever before, a stark contrast from brotherhoods boring reliance on horses for movement. Istanbul is the best city so far.
Onto the story, Altair is finally brought back and his story is actually continued in a meaningful way, every bit relating to Altair in this game is engaging to me. Ezio also gets a nice conclusion to his story, and I think he is at his most likable in this game. His goal in this game is also much more interesting than his previous two revenge stories. The side characters are also well written though a bit forgettable in the grand scheme of things, Yusuf should've gotten more to do.
In other game play aspects, most stuff stays the same. The assassin brotherhood mechanic is mostly the same but a little more involved, the renovation system is the same but a little less tedious, and combat is also mostly the same. I would've liked to see more advancement in these departments but it is what it is. The bomb crafting mechanic is pretty dumb and I almost entirely ignored it, as I did with most side content.
The side content is a lil more engaging than previous games but it is still completely skippable and not really worth the time sink.
Revelations is a very strong conclusion to an overall middling trilogy, I think it is clearly the high point of the trilogy. With finally bringing back ideology into the story and having satisfying character arcs, and the best map combined with the best parkour the series has seen up to this point, it's an easy recommendation.
If you wanna see my rankings as I go through the series, click here.
9 Comments
@RedBackLoggd It's true he broke the first creed by accident, honestly the second creed is broken in the whole trilogy, and I don't believe he compromised the creed, I could be wrong though.
I'm not talking about that person's death, but the massive explosion he deliberately causes just to fish out one Templar.
You're not wrong about 2 being the most broken tenet, but Ezio is a Mentor in Revelations, making it borderline-inexcusable for him to commit the same mistakes as lower ranks.
Three is not compromising the Creed, it's compromising the Brotherhood, a major event in the game's last act more than indicates this occurring to the Turkish Brotherhood.
You're not wrong about 2 being the most broken tenet, but Ezio is a Mentor in Revelations, making it borderline-inexcusable for him to commit the same mistakes as lower ranks.
Three is not compromising the Creed, it's compromising the Brotherhood, a major event in the game's last act more than indicates this occurring to the Turkish Brotherhood.
@RedBackLoggd ah yeah, that was a pretty ridiculous bit that isn't really talked about. I will say it is an ongoing theme the assassins inadvertently cause a lot of civilian death, as they always cause chaos.
And yeah the breaking of 2 so frequently is inexcusable especially since Ezio is a master here, but I'd still wager that's more of a series problem than just a Revelations problem.
And idk if the Turkish Brotherhood is completely compromised, hurt likely but it was never Ezio's battle to begin with and I don't think he caused their downfall completely. I think the Turkish brotherhood was doomed from the start.
And yeah the breaking of 2 so frequently is inexcusable especially since Ezio is a master here, but I'd still wager that's more of a series problem than just a Revelations problem.
And idk if the Turkish Brotherhood is completely compromised, hurt likely but it was never Ezio's battle to begin with and I don't think he caused their downfall completely. I think the Turkish brotherhood was doomed from the start.
That's not even close to being a theme of the series lol. Only two games featured it (Rogue & Syndicate), and of those Rogue was the only one that explored it to an extent.
Again, you are completely right, but it's particularly compounded here in light of the other two tenets being broken.
My guy, you just beat the game- where were Yusuf and the others when the event happened? Under whose orders were they there? Answer both those questions and you'll see how much Ezio fucked up. Altair led the Templars back to Masyaf, Ezio did the same here.
Again, you are completely right, but it's particularly compounded here in light of the other two tenets being broken.
My guy, you just beat the game- where were Yusuf and the others when the event happened? Under whose orders were they there? Answer both those questions and you'll see how much Ezio fucked up. Altair led the Templars back to Masyaf, Ezio did the same here.
@RedBackLoggd My thoughts are templar's vs assassin's is order vs chaos, and I think the assassin's acts usually causes civilian death unintentionally or indirectly. I think the specific case in this game is pretty ridiculous and absolutely should've been recognized as so though.
They were at Sofia's bookstore, right? and not the brotherhood base or whatever it's called. Yusuf and the other assassins were tasked with defending her, and of course were killed which Ezio is responsible for.
So, I think you're right now lol. Perhaps Ezio breaking all the tenets is to show his internal conflict, and perhaps he was never fit to actually be a leader?
They were at Sofia's bookstore, right? and not the brotherhood base or whatever it's called. Yusuf and the other assassins were tasked with defending her, and of course were killed which Ezio is responsible for.
So, I think you're right now lol. Perhaps Ezio breaking all the tenets is to show his internal conflict, and perhaps he was never fit to actually be a leader?
If that was the intent of the game, then it failed. The idea of an assassin learning when to stop is certainly not a bad concept, but the political story was far more fleshed out than that.
It appears we're in agreement now, and I'll tell you the writer apparently regrets the gunpoweder decision given that he threw in this random semi-retcon in Valhalla where Desmond reveals Ezio felt immense regret over the action.
For the record, I do agree with a number of your other points- the climax is amazing, Altair's story is mostly good though a bit haphazardly integrated, and the parkour is the best in the trilogy.
But when the final entry in a character's story sabotages the previous their arc from before and turns them into a sociopath, it ruins the game for me.
It appears we're in agreement now, and I'll tell you the writer apparently regrets the gunpoweder decision given that he threw in this random semi-retcon in Valhalla where Desmond reveals Ezio felt immense regret over the action.
For the record, I do agree with a number of your other points- the climax is amazing, Altair's story is mostly good though a bit haphazardly integrated, and the parkour is the best in the trilogy.
But when the final entry in a character's story sabotages the previous their arc from before and turns them into a sociopath, it ruins the game for me.
@RedBackLoggd fair enough, it is very out of character, even for Ezio. I was really thinking they'd touch up on it more as they made the player control ezio through the entire town covered in smoke and everyone screaming in terror, but nope, just never mention it again lol.
Yeah, it's one of those cases where the devs wanted to create a major action set piece that thematically didn't make sense with the game.
RedBackLoggd
6 months ago