I used to be a big Assassin's Creed fan, but like many my interest waned post Black Flag for quite awhile until I jumped back in with Origins, which I enjoyed but the RPG system wasn't really what I wanted. As they went further and further in that direction I feared the series was done for me for good until this game got announced.

This isn't a perfect game by any stretch, but this is almost exactly what I wanted for many years. The stealth focus is back in a big way, I was able to play basically the entire game sneaking around assassinating from the shadows, utilizing multiple different tools to get the job done. The upgrades you got felt very useful and powerful also, by the end I was a true stealth assassin and felt like a badass. I really liked the investigation style of progression, where it just gives you a bunch of different directions you can go and you can tackle objectives in whatever order you want. While lots of the missions are pretty small scale there are also some big areas that allow you to find your own route to the objective which are really fun.

You can still see some of the RPG influence in this game, which isn't my favorite but honestly I was able to avoid it almost entirely. I played the game only upgrading my suit and weapons a few times each, so it does feel mostly like an addition if you want it. The story is totally fine, Basim was a solid protagonist but nothing really stood out to me in any strong way (I have no idea what is happening in the lore at this point so I was confused a few times but that ultimately didn't affect my enjoyment).

I think for me this is a great step back in the direction I would prefer for the series, I know the RPG games are well loved but I hope they continue to at least do spin offs in this style.