Total Game time (This will be updated with each game in the future)

Game time:

PC: Desmond (76.5) + Traversal through others Memories (86) + Layla Hassan, creator of the new Animus + Empty Modern Day (79) = ???
Xbox: Desmond (206) + Traversal through others Memories (106) + Layla Hassan, creator of the new Animus + Empty Modern Day (0) = ???

The Desmond Sacrifice

Section Play time

Game time:

PC: 11 (AC 1) + 18.5 (AC 2) + 18 (AC Brotherhood) + 12 (Revelations) + 17 (AC 3) = 76.5
Xbox: 206 (Multiple playthroughs with 100% completion)

Section Review

For this section, this was peak story and game play. They were able to weave the modern day with the ancient/historical day far better than they ever will be going forward. Desmond makes for a great character and having played these so quickly back to back, seeing the growth of the parkour and the fighting was fun to watch. They did start to introduce a mind-numbing back and forth across the map for quests, but it was a fun section of games to play through.

As a fun fact, I played AC 1 and II, skipping Brotherhood and Revelations because someone at GameStop told me they were basically just DLC for AC II. How wrong they were. I cannot believe I almost missed out on one of the most well received games of all time, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. It is this section of games that keeps me loyal to the series. Honestly, hoping they will find their way back to a good blend of modern and ancient, really just to finish the story and give me the bow saying it is finally done without tanking it.

Assassin's Creed

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

One of the best games you'll ever play, but will be very annoyed at the movement and simplistic fighting.

///NOTE About Mods///YOU MUST INSTALL MODS ON PC. Specifically, the Assassin's Creed Remastered (Community Edition) mod (Which is really 4 mods in 1) and the Assassin's Creed Lag Fix. Without these, this game is completely unplayable. The lag and frame skips are horrendous, however, this game came out in 2007. It is almost 20 years old, and we know that "Ubisoft ain't gonna fix shit that old." They barely fix things that came out last week.

Review

In this game I really think that the modern day characters are outstanding. The internal struggle for the assassin's and then the science that is working to be identified. I have always felt that the Abstergo people in the modern day were more interested in the science in this game that they actually believed in the mission of the "Templars."

Actually, I should stay there. This whole assassin's vs. Templars is a quasi-real fight. It is so built into the history of the Crusades which if you have read some of my early reviews, you'd know that that is one of my favorite parts of history; reading books like Jack Whyte's Templar series. This being pushed throughout time is such a smart play.

Assassin's Creed II

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

Ezio makes his appearance and changes the face of Italy with a few quick kills, and a little a what the kids call "The Rizz."

//NOTE About Mods// - I played with the Ezio Trilogy Remaster Mod to help with some known issues and making it look a bit better.
One of the best parts about playing these games in quick order, you get to see the large changes in the movement between Assassin's Creed and this. It feels so much more fluid. The running is much more fluid.

Review

The story is good. You meet Ezio and his family and see the love they have and there are already some secrets being kept from some of them by the father. These secrets set the stage for the rest of this game, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, and Assassin's Creed Revelations. My biggest issue is the introduction of the second set of 4. It just feels like they needed to extend the game rather, and so they threw in another 4 people that were part of the Templars. There is also this guy who randomly shows up, and you are running around the start area again for some reason. It just feels very choppy in the ending and gives this feeling of it never ending.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

Ezio's efforts from Assassin's Creed II are taken from him with the invasion of the Borgia so he must rebuild the assassin's brotherhood while recovering the Peace of Eden.

//NOTE About Mods// - I played with the Ezio Trilogy Remaster Mod to help with some known issues and making it look a bit better. Also, the Leonardo missions will piss you off to no end, if you don't do some limitations. This has to be done out of the game with the Nvidia or AMD software to limit the FPS to 60. Anything outside of that and the turning in the vehicles will not work.

Review

The old time (?), Rome time frame, is outstanding. Even just playing straight storyline you will get so much story about the inspiration of the Lannister's in Game of Thrones, the Borgia's. They were a nasty piece of work family, which is why their rise to power and ultimate downfall plays such a large part in Italian history. Even a decent part of the history of the church.

Assassin's Creed Revelations

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

The short conclusion to the story of Ezio as he continues to be a conduit for the Precursors to Desmond.

///NOTE About Mods///
I did not install any mods for this. I started to, but the mods I was using previously only made my computer work extra hard for no visual benefit.

For Shahkulu Fight

i) Run AC: Revelations until you get to the main menu.
ii) Ctrl+Alt+Del to get Task Manager. Go to the 'Details' tab and right-click on ACRSP.exe, select "Set affinity".
iii) Uncheck all boxes except CPU 0.
iv) Load up your fight and finish it - with about 20% of your regular frame rate. Thanks, Ubisoft.

• Big thanks to Justin the Wabbajack for the fix

Review

Where I think the story feels the most important is the conduit messages from Ezio to Desmond. I think a lot of people, Ubisoft's writing in future being the main reason why, forget that the historical portion was meant to feed the modern day. They worked in tandem, not as opposing forces and this is the perfect game to explain that. Ezio knows that there is something bigger than himself between both talking to the Precursors and leaving messages to Ezio.

Assassin's Creed III

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

The finale of Desmond story is the start of the complicated beginning of the American Dream from a Native's point of view.

///Note About Mods// No mods were added to this. The only one that I almost added was for ultrawide support, but that made the aiming off center.

///Note about AC Liberation// This game was made for the Vita and the PC ports feels like it. The controls are terrible and are backwards to every previous game in the series so far to the point that it made no sense mechanically and the city layout was awful. I was unable to finish it, but I did want to mention it since it is part of the "Remastered" version of this game.

Review

This game is 14 years old, so I am not really spoiling anything from saying that this is the end of the Desmond modern day. It is also the most important modern day section we have since we get to play mission as Desmond. You also spend a lot of time getting those puzzle pieces from the Isu, a.k.a. Precursors, from the previous games that explain more about what is going on. There isn't as much exposition in the story telling. It is direct, making it easier to follow and easier to put the bow on that story piece. It also helps to explain more about the technology they had and how it was used by them, not just what was taken by the Humans. Furthermore, it is because of these interactions that I have always argued that the Modern day game was just as essential as the historical period.

The Traversal into Others Memories

Section Play time

Game time:

PC: 37 (BF) + 10 (Rogue) + 20 (Unity) + 22 (Syndicate) = 89 hours
Xbox: 48 (BF) + 18 (Rogue) + 15 (Unity) + 25 (Syndicate) = 106 hours

Section Review

Quick note here. The timeline for this section gets really murky in my mind. AC3's main section was in 1775, with the prequel section being the same time as Rogue. The ending of which is the direct beginning of Unity. Here is a very convoluted diagram to show what I mean.

I have a love hate feeling with this section of the games. I think the modern day took a huge hit and became useless and pointless because people wanted another Desmond. However, we got these faceless POV sections or videos from someone who just assumed we were doing things for them. It is my biggest frustration with the series and why most people think the modern day should be removed. I think we do see some great evolution in the game mechanics, but we get some really crappy story telling. In fact, we get this design that you don't have to be an assassin to play an Assassin's Creed game.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

Not the Assassin's Creed game we wanted, but the pirate game we deserved.

Review

This is where I am going to say a hot take that if you think about it, makes complete sense. The story sucks if you want an assassin's creed game. There are no if, ands, or buts, about it. This entire game is a pirate fantasy and if that is what you want, then it is epic. I mean if Sea of Thieves had spent 3 minutes looking at this game and coping the gameplay, it would be a hot game still. But if you want and Assassin's Creed game, this is not it. It is the beginning of the series thinking that characters that do not care of about the Creed are worthwhile characters to the story.

Assassin's Creed Rogue review

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

If the prequel section of the Star Wars Skywalker Movie Series was put into an Assassin's Creed game and told in roughly the same number of hours.

Review

If the Assassin's had listened to the brash trainee, Shay, and set aside their arrogance, they wouldn't have lost to the bad guys. Shay is right the whole way through. He tries constantly to help others make the right decisions and even attempts to spare the life of all of his former allies. He is disgusted with being asked to kill the old, and grieves at being responsible for catastrophe. However, once he is forced to do what he never wanted to do, he leans in. You also have the assassin's basically planning on killing innocent people for some reason, it isn't really spelled out so it could have been a dupe by the Templars. However, I don't think it was, I just think it wasn't explained well.

Assassin's Creed Unity

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

The actions of Assassin's Creed Rogue unfold into the French Revolution with a buggy fighting system that helps you die more than an accidental parkour movement.

Review

The parkour the changes from Assassin's Creed III and Assassin's Creed Black Flag and Assassin's Creed Rogue, which are all really based off the same system to unity is night and day different. You can move up and down with much more fluidity than you ever did, and you actually feel like the parkour system that you pictured from way back in the day. I did have one issue with going down where I would get stuck in the air if I didn't go down at the right way, and nothing I did could correct that.

What really hurts this game for me and what I think kind of started giving me the Assassin's Creed fatigue is the map. There’s a picture below that just shows how convoluted how much noise there is in the map. You can’t really figure out where you’re going you end up having to rely on the mini map to identify what direction your main mission is. Even then you’re having to do all this fiddling to find it on the map so that way you know which direction to head or how far away it is. Working to identify if you should fast travel there or if you should run there. It is just an overwhelming amount of information.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

A set of super annoying twins disregard their leader and remove the Templars from London, but ultimately lead them to the Shroud because plot.

Review

The fighting was a lot of fun. I think they also knew it was fun because they created these fighting pits and I just loved doing those trying to pull off these multi-kills. The mini cutscene they did for the multi-kills did get old quick when it happens a lot, but it was still cool to watch. Mainly I just appreciate that the environment you were in played a part. The different fighting styles between the twins was also fun. There is a brutality Jacob and a fluidity to Evie that makes them feel distinct.

This is a game where I wish I had a point value system. The game is so much more than worth a playthrough, but not a Get this game rating. I think in the 2nd section of AC games, it is the best story, and best fighting if you don’t count the remake of Assassin's Creed Black Flag. The characters are lackluster, with the story overall making up for it, but the gameplay is really fun.

Layla Hassan, creator of the new Animus

Assassin's Creed Origins

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Assassin's Creed Mirage

The Empty Modern Day

Game time:

PC: 79
Xbox: N/A

Assassin's Creed Shadows

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

Whether you are a terminator or a ninja, the gameplay and scenery are outstanding with either a gut punching or unfulfilled storyline.

As for the historical story, it follows a relatively truthful story with some additional elements. Yasuke is a real person and his story line in the game is my favorite part of the game. It felt real, like a man trying to find his place in the world when he has been a slave and is now a free-ish man. Naoe on the other hand just feels like she is stumbling into the right place at the right time. Starts on a revenge mission and at some point decides revenge isn't needed, but protection of the people is. She was never raised to be part of the creed and so a lot of that mission isn't pressed upon her so it feels like a forced plot point rather than a natural commentary of her person.

My Rating

/This will be updated at the end of the series/

Want to get a hold of me?
Email | [email protected]

None of the link provided are sponsored or affiliate links, unless otherwise notated.