Originally I was going to dock points for the game feeling a little derivative, "it's just Dark Souls again", but I quickly began to understand that was the point. The game is saying something about the constant cycle of Souls games and the yearning players have for the same thing over and over again. The game often resentful and angry at times but still indulgent, appreciative and reflective too and I think it's creatively pretty beautiful. It uses familiar places and iconography and uses is it not as an epic reference but a gut punch. So many of the bosses revolve around people reanimated, puppeteered around, not allowed to simply die. The game begins to fold in on itself, it becomes incompressible and to people who love writing up comprehensive lore guides on wiki pages, that must feel often frustrating, but that's the point. Documenting every single corner of the Souls world is missing the point, it's not about what is, it's about what it's trying to say. It's about the themes and use of characters, not their entire backstory chalked up on a web page. The game is often cynical in that regard but it doesn't let that warp how the game is designed, it's still a Dark Souls game, it's still a Miyazaki game, through and through. It's grand, it's gorgeous, it's designed to perfection and it weaves all it's messages and themes together with gameplay and level design that is some of the most refined in the industry.

I love this game, as a video game and as a piece of art with a deep rooted message, the message of course being to let go, to let things die, sometimes an ending is the point. But where one thing ends, another begins and that will never flourish, a new spark can never be lit, unless the old flame is allowed to extinguish.

Finished up my replay of the trilogy. Revelations is definitely the weakest overall game but my god it’s so special. What it lacks in its design or side content it makes up for in droves with its story. The character work, the theming, the philosophy, the conclusion of it all. I’m honestly still shocked an AC game with a story this good even exists. The fact they managed to tie up Ezio, Altair, 16 and answer so many questions while still having us on the edge of our seat for where it was going to go next is just so impressive, this game really is special.

Constantinople is also super immersive and well designed as a city to wander through. I think I believe in so many ways it’s the best city design since AC1. The tight streets, the dense environments, it makes a change from the often huge and empty piazzas and wide streets of Florence, Venice and especially Rome.