If you haven't played this game, do not read this review or anything else about it. Hop in and play it blind.

I thought this game would mostly be about playing through different genres of games, albeit with a bit of meta stuff since I knew this was the same developer that made Pony Island. What I got was an interesting fourth-wall-breaking story. Playing through different genres that connected the characters together kept things fresh and interesting and I love how these seemingly separate characters had been weaved together to tell something much larger. The fourth wall breaks that begin more and more towards the end of the game really got me and Sado was an incredibly creepy antagonist. Revealing the player themselves as a character of their own to complete the hex in the game's true ending was brilliant. Beyond that, there are a lot of secrets to delve into and explore not only in the game but out of it. The cipher in the game files and in an entirely different game extends the story beyond the bounds of just the game. A wonderful gem that is worth the time played.

This is the last Assassin's Creed game I played on release before stopping the series. I never finished, and it has been 9 years since I played the original, so I can't comment on how different the remastered version was. Right off the bat though coming from playing the games before this in the series, the models for the present-day characters seemed ... off. I can't place it they just didn't look like their typical characters to me like Ubisoft did a slight redesign on everyone including Desmond. The early game was not very engaging to me and I didn't care for Haytham at all. However, once it switched to Ratonhnhaké:ton I did enjoy things more. Major pro to this game is being able to pet the animals, essential feature. I enjoyed playing through Ratonhnhaké:ton's life from childhood and it was a nice way to introduce the character. Hunting was fun and a great way to earn money early game. I also loved how big and exciting a lot of the battles and combat sequences felt. The simplified fast travel and assassin recruit missions were a nice quality of life improvement that saved a lot of time. The land convoy system at the homestead was bugged so badly for me that it was unusable. Most of the side missions weren't as fun to me as the other games however the homestead missions were a stand out for me and I really enjoyed them. Speaking of bugs, there were a lot more that I noticed in this game than in previous iterations. You'd think they would have fixed them in the remastered version but sadly it made the game unenjoyable at points. The captain kidd missions were fun but not as great platforming sections as the tombs in previous games. While the game's graphics looked wonderful, the new lighting in the remaster made some areas near impossible to navigate and should have been accounted for in certain areas that result in playing in complete darkness unable to see anything. The present-day story was pretty interesting getting to travel to different places and really utilize Desmond's skills, along with for the first time making me like Shaun Hastings. The ending though ... not much I can say about that. Along with this Ratonhnhaké:ton didn't really get a satisfying ending nor a story that really focused on him as a protagonist which coming after Ezio wasn't the best move. I appreciate that we at least got an epilogue for him though. I still really enjoyed the gameplay and the story, but it's hard to compete when the Ezio trilogy did so many things better.

In regards to the Tyranny of King Washington DLC, I had a lot of fun with all the different animal powers. The eagle flight ability was so incredibly satisfying to use and movement felt fluid. Again even in the DLC I was getting bugs. Pretty annoying HUD bugs kept plaguing the screen, and the ending cutscene looked like it wasn't rendered in the remastered graphics and was maybe the original but I'm honestly not sure what happened aside from it looking noticeably worse than the rest of the game. I actually did enjoy the story, but wish we had something that wasn't just an alternate universe. Regardless the gameplay was really fun and diverged itself from some of the typical Assassin's Creed formula.

Very clean and smooth user interface, very much felt like navigating around an actual phone. The soundtrack is a vibe, but I had it turned down or completely off most of the time since it's hard for me to read with music that has lyrics. This is something that can easily be toggled to your liking from the start of the game however so I would not consider it an issue. I think the game has some decent and realistic representation which is always nice. A lot of the end game content however read as being more of an educational moment which in some cases could be great depending on the audience playing the game. I think even despite being fairly educated on what is discussed it was still a nice read. I've talked very vaguely about everything thus far to avoid spoilers, so story wise overall I think it's thoughtful and a nice dip into someone else's perspective. The puzzles throughout weren't that challenging but I did cave and look some of them up because I didn't want to spend the time to put in random numbers after exhausting what I thought was logical but the hints are all completely there and nothing is too unsolvable. I really loved how the ending paints a full picture and brings all the bits you've learned about together into a more cohesive narrative.

The story wasn't as gripping as Assassin's Creed 2 for me, but I liked all of the new features. The assassin recruits and city renovations were something I spent a good bit of time on getting to 100%. I also really enjoyed the Da Vinci invention missions, the various machines you got to play with were always something to look forward to. One of my favorite parts was the Cristina missions, to the point that I grinded out some of the side quests to get above 75% completion before starting sequence 8 so I could finish them. The voicemail messages in the glyphs were a nice touch and I enjoyed the conspiracies found in them more this time around. When it comes to the DLC, I really enjoyed the Da Vinci Disappearance but I didn't care much for Copernicus Conspiracy,

First of all I think older Ezio looked great, absolute DILF. I liked going back and playing as Altair to see more of his story since we didn't get a ton of it in the main game series. There were a lot of really neat cinematic platforming moments. The cave city at the end was cool as well and I liked the really different environment. I wish there would have been more gameplay in the modern world as desmond like in the other games. As always, the music was incredible. I thought the plot wasn't as engaging until the end but I still love Ezio's story. Overall I think this was a nice end for Ezio. I didn't care much for the gameplay of the Desmond sections on Animus Island though I did like hearing more of his backstory. The same goes for the Lost Archive dlc since it was essentially the same gameplay. I could have watched a playthrough of it and got what I wanted and don't feel it's really worth paying for unless you enjoyed the puzzle platforming sections as Desmond in the main game.

An under-hyped Bioware game that deserves more attention. There are a lot of quality of life improvements like how the game jumps you back to places in quests instead of needing to mindlessly backtrack to the location. I enjoyed the combat though it may seem dated to some, there's a lot of flexibility in fighting how you want to fight. The world felt immersive and I genuinely cared about the lore. The companions were also wonderful and I really liked every single one of them. The story is fantastic with a lot of really epic moments and plot twists. The game does not overstay its welcome and had great pacing from beginning to end.

I really really enjoyed this game and it deserves more attention. It's really charming and cute and brought me a lot of genuine joy playing it. It reminds me of Katamari in a way or more recently Donut County in the style of gameplay and general vibe it brings. New mechanics were introduced gradually and never overwhelmed me. The game is funny and self-aware and packed with such neat little things to find. I loved how the home area grew the more you played from featuring a painting you make in the game above its fireplace or a full-blown playable DOOM clone arcade machine.