Great concept but I feel like I wasn't able to enjoy the game as much as I would have liked to due to bugs. I played on the Xbox Gamepass PC version so other platforms may have had fewer issues. There were several times when I had to put the game down and stop playing for some time until an update was released. The devs have really been listening to feedback and fixing things quickly though, so I would still recommend the game just maybe wait until more things get ironed out if you plan to play it through Gamepass.

(This review was copied over from howlongtobeat and represents my experience on my logged finishing date of Feb 5, 2022 so bugs may be fixed now)

Decided to try this on a whim thinking it wouldn't be my thing and I loved it way more than I thought I would. I was completely engrossed in the game and finished it in about a day and a half. Any game that makes me waiting to play more of it is a win in my book. The gameplay loop and combat were really enjoyable for me. I liked that nothing was too overwhelming or complicated and I loved getting used to all of the different weapon abilities to the point that I leveled up everyone to its max level. Whenever there was animation I was a huge fan of it - the transformation sequences were absolutely stellar and reminded me of magical girl style ones.

Something about this game just feels warm and charming. I haven't played the original in a long time so I can't compare how this version stands up to it but gosh is it fun. I wholeheartedly love this soundtrack and even if you don't plan on playing the game you should give it a listen. This game doesn't overstay its welcome but has replayability if that's something you're looking for. I love when games really make use of a player's time and I think this game did that down to letting you play the end credits.

Something about playing this game during a pandemic made it hit a little different I think. I liked the concept that killing citizens would make the game easier, it really put a mechanic to attempting to keep your morals in-game. Another stand-out was the sound design, it really fit the tone of the game and set the vibe well. There were certain points in the story that didn't make sense or felt like they came out of nowhere. In particular, what I feel was meant to be one of the most important parts of the game, Jonathan and Elisabeth's relationship had no build-up and sort of came out of nowhere so I never got invested in the connection between the characters. Regardless, I enjoyed the game a lot more than I thought I would.

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.

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.