My personal game of the year for 2023. All things considered, I actually prefer the mood of Breath of the Wild; I do love the citizens of Hyrule slowly knitting their society back together in this game, but that means it loses something of the mournful and desolate tone.

Having said that, mechanically it is an improvement, though slight in most cases. The simple addition of flying machines is probably the cementing factor that elevates it above its predecessor. The story, too, is a much more coherent and emotionally resonant tale, and the new dungeons are much more engaging experiences. All in all, it sought to improve and iterate on one of the greatest games of all time, and it succeeded. Bravo.

I think this genuinely falls into the "too much of a good thing" category for me. In so many ways it improves upon the Dark Souls series, which it is a spiritual successor to. And I would rather play Elden Ring again than go back to the Souls games at this point. But its truly massive size, for me, is just a bit tough to manage. It's probably mostly my fault; I feel compelled to root up every nook and cranny of a game, and so I deeply love Fromsoft's smaller experiences like Bloodborne and Sekiro. But applying that same play style here meant doing a lot of things that I just didn't want to do, and there were long segments (especially near the end) that felt like a slog. (Not in the poison swamp sense.)

Knocking off a star seems to harsh for all of that, though. It's my own fault that I can't seem to play this game in a way that would let me have the most fun with it. The way you want to have fun is in here, I guarantee it. Just do your best to find it and stick to it.

A fun little game! As far as I can tell, it shows you how to accomplish quite a few legit card sharp techniques, which is cool. The setting is neat, and the characters are all quite fun as well.
The one stumbling block is that it has the "Math Test" problem. That is, you are taught the basics of a technique, then under pressure have to reproduce them. This is fine at first, but then twists and variations are added which, in theory, are merely applications of what you already know. In practice, the game never gives you a good enough grounding to feel confident in these new techniques. And it's asking you to do them for the first time with a lot on the line. The second-to-last sequence is the only one where this is a big problem. I had to attempt it three times, failing and getting a game over each time. By the way, the game over screen is cute, but tedious in repetition.

That is a long paragraph for what is ultimately a small complaint. It's a fun game! Worthy of being checked out by anyone.

I was very excited when I heard about this game, a return to the more classic Assassin's Creed playstyle. In that, it totally delivers. Baghdad is a joyful experience to clamber around, pull off stylish kills, and disappear. After a trio of truly exhausting, bloated experiences, it's nice to see that gameplay-wise Ubisoft still has the flashy, fun playstyle of the past to draw on.
However, the story is still lacking due to their overreliance on their mysticial precursor race, the Isu. Now, don't get me wrong; it's the very bones of the series and it's fine to have their mystical and powerful artifacts play key roles. But they themselves are not interesting as characters. They work as a mystical, arcane force, like elder gods reaching beyond in inscrutable ways, so that the monsters of human history can twist and manipulate powers they do not understand into their own ends.
Whenever these powers get too explicit, when they wind themselves too deeply into our protagonist's lives, it just takes you out of the experience. And unfortunately this game has mystical bullshit more deeply tied to our protagonist than any other, to the detriment of the actual characters in the game, who mostly seem like afterthoughts. I had a lot of fun playing this game, but I just want a more grounded AC experience.

Very good game. Obviously the moment to moment dialogue is excellent. All the characters, big and small, feel totally human. Your daily jaunts through Possum Springs are full of fun moments and interactions that I always felt compelled to seek out, even though the movement through the town could feel a little slow and repetitive by the end of the game, when my list of social engagements was at its peak.

At the end of the day, that is a nitpick. All the scenes were a joy to play through, your friends are delightful whenever you see them, and the minigames are pretty good too!

The larger story is excellent. I was a bit worried at the midpoint, when the game seemed to be lapsing into mystical bullshit rather than the grounded, “you can’t go home again” plot beats of the beginning of the game. But, it gets sharply reeled back in by the end, with the true “subtlety is for cowards” denouement that I love. I won’t spoil it other than to say it speaks insightfully and clearly about the sickness that grips America, and by extension, the world.

Recommended to anyone who’s not lame. Do crimes.

I'm not gonna blow anyone's mind with this opinion but here it is anyway; the golf is not good. The large courses are intensely frustrating, with frequent pitfalls that condemn you to a dozen or more additional strokes if you misjudge. It's exacerbated by the fact that the strength feels far too weak, and you have no choice but to follow a slow and steady path back to the point where you screwed up and hope against hope you don't do it again.

The smaller courses tend to be much better tuned, but overall the golf just isn't fun, man. I can't make it be fun. I want to, because the visual presentation is nice (though i often hit things i thought were in the background) and the soundtrack is very good.