It’s so pretty (I’m running it on a fancy PC) and I’m just starved for mainline AC (Mirage wasn’t my deal) so I’m basically choosing to enjoy it perhaps beyond what it deserves. The solid reviews make me feel not too crazy to do so, too. They can’t all be God of War or Witcher 3, unfortunately.

I'm 25 hours in and I've enjoyed almost all of it. The story is kind of losing me though and there's frustrating parts. But I'm definitely going to play it to the end. Very enjoyable game to put on and just run around and explore and kill guys

Hell yeah to all that (similar time in but have stopped the main quest now that I have unlocked Yasuke to just, yeah, explore and kill and get skill points and gear. Love that they play differently enough that I’m like “I’ll wait till nightfall to send Naoe in for an assassination” or “hey let’s

have Yasuke just face roll this camp of bandits” (the bow is a bit overpowered and/or I need to up the difficulty). Good times, great oldies. Plus lol finally a massive unit of an AC character. “What if stabby stabby but big?” this game is brave enough to ask.

Yasuke is like the easy mode. When I've failed at clearing a castle with Naoe I go back in with Yasuke and just wreak havoc

Yeah, turns out size and armor and bigger/more effective weapons all actually help you kill and not die! Thankfully, new-and-improved stealth stuff with Naoe is very satisfying. I prioritize gear that ups assassination damage (eg at night, from air) for her so people stay down when she stabs them.

Normally I like games that slowly turn you into an omnicompetent demi-god (looking at you, AC Odyssey!) but it’s novel to be the sneaky stabby person who actually has to run away when shit goes sideways rather than just start dominating. Nice sense of, dunno, identity and variety.

That's like the ultimate open world game to me. When you start slow and actually turn into a kind of god. And I'm still far from the end in this one so maybe it will feel like that by the end

Same! A sign of a really great game is that if I get way way overpowered because of side questing, gear max-ing, etc and then I’m still excited to (basically face roll) the main quest/story. Like God of War Ragnarok (not really open world but close enough) had no problem keeping me psyched.

Right before AC Shadows, I was doing a replay of Cyberpunk 2077 with some mods and really enjoying slowly becoming THE TECHNOGOD OF DEATH AND INVISIBILITY AND ALL THINGS. And then sure it’s too easy but man is it fun getting there and then reveling in said godhood for a bit before getting bored.

I think it’s a lot of fun lol

Just stunning visually with all settings maxed out on PC too! Like, I periodically stop and stare at beautiful light coming through bamboo or reflecting off a stream. And I presume still very good looking on PS5s etc.

For me, it's the best one since Black Flag and it's genuinely a fantastic experience. I love the world variety and incredible stealth mechanics. Naoe is the best assassin.

I love all the same things you mentioned!

I loved Origins and Odyssey but I feel you re Black Flag of course. Funny and unsurprising that the first character *raised* to be a fucking shinobi took to being an assassin *rather* well. Never thought NINJAS would make great ASSASSINS

Best since Black Flag is enough recommendation for me. Can't wait to play it next year when it's patched up and all the DLC is out and on sale.

Gods, all the hate for Origins and Odyssey never ends. Valhalla I understand.

I thought they were fucking fantastic and they are like 2 of the only games I’ve ever 100 percent-ed. Maybe literally the only 2. (Helps that they didn’t have a hard level cap so you are still progressing forever. But not only that.)

Valhalla I did not remotely 100 percent the DLC and such so yeah, the fatigue got to *even* me. Don’t think I hundo’d even the base game but my parents are Irish immigrants so you better believe I fucked with the DLC!

As did I just last year. Origins, Odyssey, and Cyberpunk are the only games I did to 100 with thousands of hours on all my games on Steam. The first two I cleared every point on the maps.

those were my first two ACs and them and 3 are my top three bar none

3?! My god, we must slink away. (I had great fun with it actually but I’m supposed to be cool and not have liked it.) (The interior of my car has some AC leather work so…I might be an easy mark for these games. Mirage and AC1 are the only two I bailed on fairly early in each game.)

i'm the girl who liked aliens: colonial marines and saw the bones of a good game in duke nukem forever, i will fly my Liking The Wrong Things flag proudly

Fucking respect; you gotta love the shit you love (or like the shit you like) unabashedly and unapologetically. Or a bit abashedly, perhaps, if a thing is really terrible. But still own it There is some version of me on paper who is too cool to like superhero movies and AAA games…but that ain’t me

(Not all superhero movies and *definitely* not all AAA games but i ran into the character limit.)

In my defense, I just really like pirates and ninjas.

Vikings are also fun as a category of thing, divorced from reality as all fun-versions-of-old-things tend to be!

Ive been playing it on Xbox for 2 weeks and have had like 3 crashes and nothing else. Very smooth experience.

No bugs let alone crashes for me yet on PC. But I also get that reasoning (for DLC and other things as well).