This is worse then I remember it being. My first replay since its release in 2014 when this was the most excited I ever was for a game then. After Capcom shitted out two of the worse Resident Evil games and Konami killed Silent Hill for good(till now). Mikami's final game he would direct would not be the saving grace to the horror genre but instead a hodgepodge of half baked ideas in a derivative 7th gen AAA action horror game with unsatisfying combat, easy puzzles, boring linear designs, an underwhelming narrative and its paper thin characters. I love the games gory grindhouse hellish aesthetics and Ikumi Nakamuras near iconic work brought to life here but this game suffers from a lack of its own identity especially when the genre needed it then. The best sections are when it completely abandons being a stealth game, and a gonzo action fest with some of the late sections being entertaining. This could have been gaming's horror equivalent to having our own Paprika but instead it feels like another highlights reel of better games that came before it.

"There's always a lighthouse, a man, a city."

"Time... Time rots everything. Even hope"

Not the mind-blowing masterpiece I remember it was back when it released 10 years ago, certainly not the game it was famously advertised as either. I love a lot of this games ideas but it unfortunately never culminates into anything profound or meaningful like the game insists it is or comes together like the original Bioshock does. Its still a visually striking expierence even in 2023 with lots to admire on a presentation level and I do respect it for swinging for the fences. I guess now we know that Levine has a new game finally on the horizon that's seemed to have had quite a long tortured dev cycle like this game did. We can see what he's learned in a decades time since releasing Infinite and its DLC's. Will it end up like another Evil Within or Callisto Protocol? well your guess is as good as mine, but it will be interesting no doubt and I'll be there day one to see it regardless.

Bonus: that barbershop quartet beach boys cover was a nice touch though.

"621..... Feed the fire..... Let the last cinders burn"

The best game Fromsoft could have released post such a monumental moment in gaming history after Elden Ring last year with this latest AC title. Visceral fast action combat, a bombastic score, boss fights and missions with scale and immersion that put to shame FFXVI's bogged down Asuras Wrath QTE fights with fully realized set pieces that I'm sure more long time fans of the series only ever dreamed of. Fires of Rubicon might just be my GOTY at this moment as I let the fires burn and cinders fade.

"A New Beginning"

"...I Was Able To Keep Our Promise Today..."

"...Although Someone Else Had To Fill Your Shoes."

"Giuliano, Will You Forgive Me If I Have A Dream Again?"

"A Man Can Change, As Long As He Lives"

"I Want To Race With The Kid Again... Who Taught Me That"