Here are my thoughts. I like the game, but...
Disclaimer: this is coming from a fan who likes the modern-day lore, "Animus stuff" and even liked the movie. A bit.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate was the last Assassin's Creed. What Ubisoft is serving now is an action game and the only connection to Assassin's Creed is... I don't really know what. You don't feels like an assassin anymore when, after carefully planned sneaking efforts, all you get is lowering HP bar by half. What happened with the mind blowing pushing through the crowd, showcased in that amazing Assassin's Creed 1 trailer in 2011?
In search for the broadest possible market share Assassin's Creed Odyssey has completely lost its identity. Origin was a good indicator that this is happening, but Odyssey pushes even further. (If you look closely, you can notice that the same thing happened to Far Cry after Far Cry 3). This is not an Assassin's Creed game, but a set of question marks to put a checkmark below. I'd say this game has sometimes more in common with Viscera Cleanup Detail than Assassin's Creed Syndicate.
Don't you guys miss the older days, when climbing one of the amazing landmark historical building was almost like a mini-puzzle and you had to find the right path? All you have to do now is press Shift. Shit, you can even press Z, lean back and watch as the character auto-climbs everything. Synchronizing used to be an event. Now you have 80 points to synchronize, but 40 of them are trees over some ledge, 30 are the same temple roof, and only a handful are actually somewhat interesting. Where are the cool parkour-only challenge tombs? The only challenge when visiting a tomb in Odyssey are snakes placed here and there.
AC1 was heavily criticized for the repetition in boss fights, but now the Cult menu is somehow the most amazing addition? The only difference is that AC1 was a 12 hours game, so it was more painful than in 100+ hours Odyssey, where you literally just kill random NPCs on the streets. The only fight with any twist in the entire game is
. No planning, sneaking, assassination. This series has lost all of it.
Calling this game an RPG must be a cruel joke. Yes, the main storyline is quite interesting with the family stuff and all, but 90% of the quest (and the whole level-gating) serves only one purpose: to send you somewhere you haven't been, to checkmark more question marks. And I swear that every cave entrance looks exactly the same in Odyssey. Notice the small things where the game shines the most: it has amazing facial animations and proper cutscenes for missions. These are things that had to be touched by human hand, not another copy-pasted enemy camp.
I could go on. The new combat system is great and is easily the best thing in the game, but where are the crazy finishing animations that Evie could pull? We used to criticize Ubisoft for having to climb towers in every game. Since then they replaced any kind of soul from both Assassin's Creed and Far Cry and no one bats an eye. People criticized Dragon Age Inquision for being an MMO in single-player skin, while this is exactly what Assassin's Creed Odyssey is.
Anyway, rant over. I hope Assassin's Creed will make a comeback.
PS. Did you guys noticed how lazy the AI work is in this game? Barely any guards move and when you kill a guard from one position, almost immediately some other dude moves to take the same position. If you're patient and hide the body, you can eliminate half of a fort from one set of three bushes. It's almost like they're programmed to always occupy set spots, not move along routes, like in proper stealth games. Weird.
Disclaimer: this is coming from a fan who likes the modern-day lore, "Animus stuff" and even liked the movie. A bit.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate was the last Assassin's Creed. What Ubisoft is serving now is an action game and the only connection to Assassin's Creed is... I don't really know what. You don't feels like an assassin anymore when, after carefully planned sneaking efforts, all you get is lowering HP bar by half. What happened with the mind blowing pushing through the crowd, showcased in that amazing Assassin's Creed 1 trailer in 2011?
In search for the broadest possible market share Assassin's Creed Odyssey has completely lost its identity. Origin was a good indicator that this is happening, but Odyssey pushes even further. (If you look closely, you can notice that the same thing happened to Far Cry after Far Cry 3). This is not an Assassin's Creed game, but a set of question marks to put a checkmark below. I'd say this game has sometimes more in common with Viscera Cleanup Detail than Assassin's Creed Syndicate.
Don't you guys miss the older days, when climbing one of the amazing landmark historical building was almost like a mini-puzzle and you had to find the right path? All you have to do now is press Shift. Shit, you can even press Z, lean back and watch as the character auto-climbs everything. Synchronizing used to be an event. Now you have 80 points to synchronize, but 40 of them are trees over some ledge, 30 are the same temple roof, and only a handful are actually somewhat interesting. Where are the cool parkour-only challenge tombs? The only challenge when visiting a tomb in Odyssey are snakes placed here and there.
AC1 was heavily criticized for the repetition in boss fights, but now the Cult menu is somehow the most amazing addition? The only difference is that AC1 was a 12 hours game, so it was more painful than in 100+ hours Odyssey, where you literally just kill random NPCs on the streets. The only fight with any twist in the entire game is
a god damn boar that farts
Calling this game an RPG must be a cruel joke. Yes, the main storyline is quite interesting with the family stuff and all, but 90% of the quest (and the whole level-gating) serves only one purpose: to send you somewhere you haven't been, to checkmark more question marks. And I swear that every cave entrance looks exactly the same in Odyssey. Notice the small things where the game shines the most: it has amazing facial animations and proper cutscenes for missions. These are things that had to be touched by human hand, not another copy-pasted enemy camp.
I could go on. The new combat system is great and is easily the best thing in the game, but where are the crazy finishing animations that Evie could pull? We used to criticize Ubisoft for having to climb towers in every game. Since then they replaced any kind of soul from both Assassin's Creed and Far Cry and no one bats an eye. People criticized Dragon Age Inquision for being an MMO in single-player skin, while this is exactly what Assassin's Creed Odyssey is.
Anyway, rant over. I hope Assassin's Creed will make a comeback.
PS. Did you guys noticed how lazy the AI work is in this game? Barely any guards move and when you kill a guard from one position, almost immediately some other dude moves to take the same position. If you're patient and hide the body, you can eliminate half of a fort from one set of three bushes. It's almost like they're programmed to always occupy set spots, not move along routes, like in proper stealth games. Weird.
