A perfectly fine Metroidvania that I felt was held back by an overbearing focus on a pretty boring plot and set of characters. The gameplay was pretty fun, especially the boss fights, but despite all the praise I felt it was still a pretty janky experience with a pretty unmemorable map.

Some of the upgrades were unique, like the shadow of Simurgh, but a lot of the smaller secrets and collectibles were completely useless. Most rewards for exploration were just currency which never felt valuable because you often got more simply from fighting enemies.

My main gripe I guess is the map. I felt like they could've done so much more with it yet most areas were just a variation on the same city or ruin themes. I really liked the sea area, but there was nothing else like that throughout the rest of the game.

I still had fun with it, but I don't feel like it comes anywhere close to Metroid Dread for recent Metroidvanias in terms of fluidity. I like short, polished Metroidvanias that gives you the gameplay you want in 8-10 hours. Longer-form games like Hollow Knight have worked for me, but almost always because they've had an interesting and varied world and an extra level of polish and care that this didn't really hit for me.

Still Ubisoft's best game since the PS3 generation in my opinion though.