From the title card to the credits, I was immersed and dedicated to Ezio's journey.
The depiction of the Italian Renaissance in this game felt exactly how it would've felt if I just had a time machine. Desmond chose the perfect ancestor for what he was trying to achieve. Although I played the first Assassin's Creed game, it was nice to see how the player wouldn't have needed to play it to understand the context, while the game still honours the people who did.
I feel like this game is about your personal life vs your place in the world, and how growing up leads to so much responsibility. You choose who you are. If you go through trauma, it's up to you with what you want to do with it: be an Assassin, or a Templar. Or just be perfection: Leonardo da Vinci :)
[h1]Pros[/h1]
[list]
[*] MUSIC wow! It's so subtle it's actually perfect. You don't even realize it's there until you do, and it sets the mood perfectly. My favourite score was the one in Monteriggioni. It made it feel exactly what it was: the only safe place.
[*] The parkour is a major upgrade from AC1! I was so surprised by how fluid the motion was, and it was amazing to have a significantly less amount of times I'd run into a wall. Never impossible though, but that's honestly a skill issue.
[*] Soo many weapons to choose from, I enjoyed getting to choose between my personal preferences! Sure, sometimes the moment calls for using a heavy weapon, but boy oh boy do I love shooting from afar.
[*] I LOVE YOU LEONARDO DA VINCI YOU LOVELY LITTLE CINNAMON ROLL
[*] Having a home base was so nice! I wish more AC games did this. It's so lovely to have visual collections of your stuff, and be able to upgrade things.
[*] History history beautiful history! Oh my goodness, I loved the research Ubisoft put into this game, because it turned out amazingly. The characters and locations that are actually real are mind-blowing, I am a huge fan!
[*] I really liked the glyph puzzles! I love history so much, so solving puzzles and mysteries about it were the jam.
[*] Desmond Spoilers: [spoiler]I liked how he asked questions I was asking in my mind hehe! Why go to Ezio and not Altair? What happened with that female Templar he met that one time?[/spoiler]
[*] Altair Spoilers: [spoiler]This game truly honours him! They even did an Adha mention in the codex pages, which I really enjoyed reading. His reflections on life made me happy for him and how things turned out. Especially with Mariaaaaa hehe![/spoiler]
[*] Ezio Plot Spoilers: [spoiler]His character development... I want to hug him so bad. He went from frolicking on the rooftops with big bro to blood must be paid in blood to um hi my name is ezio thank you for helping me to killing you won't bring my family back AAH! PERFECT. 10/10 character arc no notes.[/spoiler]
[*] Major Ending Spoilers: [spoiler]WHEN MINERVA STARED INTO MY SOUL WOW yes hello miss! Poor Ezio LOL sorry this ain't about you![/spoiler]
[/list]
[h1]Cons[/h1]
[list]
[*] FLASHBANGS! Aah! I understand they were trying to go for a more "mm yes you are in the animus, cool high tech stuff yes yes" but at this point I have to start considering whether the Assassins are optometrist shareholders.
[*] I'm not asking for Slime Rancher level colour palettes, because that would kill the mood for this type of game, but the lighting felt pretty muted. This is the bold, striking Italian Renaissance!
[*] Not a big complaint, but the money system is so broken, it's way too easy to become rich in the first few hours of the game.
[*] 97.18. Do you know what that number means? If you know you know. And if you know then I understand your pain completely.
[*] Pre-Monteriggioni Spoilers: [spoiler]Why include the older brother in the tutorial and the title card, only to kill him off and hardly ever talk about him again? I don't even remember his name. The beginning of the game introduced a lot of characters who are so important to Ezio, and why he does what he does, yet they never get mentioned. I would've at least liked to have there be optional collectibles for flashbacks. Have Ezio lament on that woman he used to visit a lot in the start of the game as a lost love, maybe see her again but she's married now. Or when Caterina's children got captured, have Ezio mention he cared so much about it because they reminded him of his little brother.[/spoiler]
[/list]
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
Why should you play this game? Because [strike]of Leonardo da Vinci[/strike] there is so much AC lore packed into this that to truly understand the overall series, you just gotta. There's also a reason why Ezio is one of the most beloved Assassins in the franchise! Come find out for yourself just how wonderful he is.
