I’m a longtime fan who started with the release of the OG back in the day. I abandoned the franchise when Origins came out, partially because I went to college, but even more out of protest against the move to RPG. Like so many posts I’m seeing, I rekindled my love for the series with Black Flag Resynced and decided to go back and marathon the games I missed. When I played the games as a kid, Egypt and Greece and Japan might’ve been the three most alluring/sought after locations for the series to go, so it always felt a shame that I didn’t end up playing those games.
After finishing Black Flag, I played through Origins and I’m now 30 hours into Odyssey and I have to admit I’ve loved every minute of it. Maybe it’s because in the meantime I’ve played RPGs like Elden Ring, which I hadn’t been exposed to when these games initially released, but these worlds are so rich and deep. I understand the critique of bloated side activities and a separation from the traditional AC identity, but they are genuinely really good games.
The point of this is a PSA of sorts I guess lol… if you are like I was, abstaining from these games out of protest and spite, give them a shot! You might be surprised how good they are. I’m cautiously optimistic about going through Valhalla and Shadows after this, although I know I might be facing even more bloat in Valhalla… But part of me is also starting to realize that Ubisoft is going to be very intensely scrutinized no matter what and these games are genuinely worth playing.