I posted a while back about how I discovered the series back in 2020, resolved to play every game and have been working my way towards Unity ever since. (I still find it puzzling that I received no replies to that post, but maybe that was because I marked the whole post as a spoiler, ensuring that nobody saw it, or maybe it was just way too long.)

Anyway, since I last posted I have finally started playing Unity. And what a game! I have literally waited for years to play it, forcing myself to finish all its predecessors in order.

It runs well on my Steam Deck, after the usual fight with the dreadful Ubisoft Connect, at a locked 40 fps frame rate and medium to high settings.

The graphics are fantastic, compared to the previous generation. It's even easy to compare directly -- I don't think it's a spoiler to note that Rogue ended where Unity begins, and the difference is night and day. Besides some pop-in, I don't think that Red Dead Redemption 2 looks markedly better, and that's a beautiful, and much newer, game.

The map is fantastic! I have spent 25 hours so far in the game, and I have spent most of that time just exploring and taking in the city. I especially enjoy "visiting" the same landmarks through Google Earth and making comparisons. Yes, Les Halles are mostly gone today -- replaced by a park and an underground shopping center, it seems -- but that church with only one tower looks exactly the same. And so on.

I also really enjoy the database this time around. The database made a fairly strong showing in II, I feel, became really dull in Brotherhood, got a bit better in Revelations and then became really interesting in III (I feel that way possibly because I really enjoy the time period). When Shaun's voice in the database was replaced by that of faceless Abstergo employees in IV and Rogue, I feel that it got worse. I just found it boring in both games. But now, in Unity, I'm looking forward to every entry, and chat with ChatGPT about what I've just learned and consult Wikipedia, so that's fun.

I've never been much for the modern day storyline, but at least the Animus gave Ubisoft an excuse to model parts of Paris at the end of the 1800s too, and that was just pure enjoyment. I've only completed one of those missions so far, in "Belle Epoque" Paris, but I'm already looking forward to more.

And yet, Unity is also disappointing. I absolutely hated having to renovate building in the Ezio trilogy -- it just seemed like pointless busywork, so that I could spend all my money somewhere, and then get even more. (Remember that you could also buy landmarks? Yuck.)

And in Unity, it appears to be back! Now, you have to head to the Paris version of Monteriggioni and collect your income. What pointless busywork.

I breathed a sigh of relief in III when I finally could stop seeing doctors, buying "medicine," and keeping my eyes peeled on my health meter during fights. III gained auto-generating health, and was all the better for it. And now, of course, having to buy "medicine" is back in Unity, which feels like a giant step backwards.

Also, there's a lot of filler. I wish there was a way to hide all those "one-diamond" missions, where you just need to assassinate someone or steal money. They're low-effort missions I'd prefer not to spend my time with -- but they're there on the map, and I want to get rid of the icons, so I complete them.

I actually enjoy all the collectibles, because it gives me an excuse to see Paris. I would, though, prefer if all of them were "Animus" collectibles (like the cockades). It's just silly to see these unlocked chests, there for the taking, and they are supposedly part of this world, full of criminals and revolutionaries, and nobody's helping themselves to their contents but me.

Oh, and don't get me started on all the immersion-breaking there is in Unity. I'm an assassin, and my mission is to preserve free will in the world. I probably count myself as one of the good guys -- and yet, as part of the core gameplay loop, I enter people's private dwellings and help myself to their belongings. And most of the time, they don't even complain.

When I walk down the street, more often that not, there's a thief making off with something he stole, and I can tackle him. Fair enough (but why does he just walk away after I tackle him?) But what about all the "criminals," dressed in red? Is there a voice inside my head telling me that these people have broken laws and therefore deserve to die, right there, in the street? How do I know they're criminals, aside from their unfortunate wardrobe choices? Would a person harassed by these people actually profess his gratitude, after watching me murder the thugs in cold blood in the street, while everybody else just turns a blind eye and continues going about their business?

So Unity is both breathtaking, and deeply frustrating. In a perfect world -- well, my perfect world, anyway -- the AC games would be more like Red Dead Redemption 2. No contrived modern day story and no immersion-breaking (well, less of it) and great writing.

And yet, Rockstar can't hold a candle to what makes AC fantastic -- the fact that I get to explore real-world locations.

(If this post gets no replies, I'll know for sure that my posts are way, way too long.)