I loved Assassin’s Creed II more than the average person should love a game. I completed all 3 related games to 100% and even then, found hours to run around Italy as Ezio Auditore. The scenery, the characters, the combat…everything about the game pulled me in and I had a blast sorting through the game. When Assassin’s Creed III was announced, I was so excited that I bought a Collector’s edition to get my statue and map. Unfortunately, I only was able to play through a few hours before my frustrations with the game led to me never booting it up again.

I gave up hope on Assassin’s Creed games. I watched as every year another was released with the same complaints. I was peeved when news stories shared that women were “too hard to animate” to be lead characters for the series (even though the French Revolution would’ve been the perfect time for a female playable character). I became numbed out to AC announcements and focused on other games. This year’s E3 found a way to pull me back in. As a lover of Greek mythology and history, I was excited about the setting of the game. And then of course, there’s Kassandra.

Image from rockpapershotgun.com — Katharine Castle

Kassandra as a character is wonderful and complex (and what’s great about this expansion is that Alexios is as well, depending on who you choose in the beginning). She is physically strong, mentally and emotionally tough, sarcastic, and the RPG choices fit fluidly into how I wanted to play this game and the character I wanted to be. I think the dialogue options are nuanced and I’m already experiencing (12 hours in) how different interactions have affected my gameplay and my relationships with other characters. Kassandra’s voice actress fits perfectly with the character, and I really have to commend Ubisoft on creating a character that feels very real.

The world of AC:O is vast and intricately designed. Most locations that you need to discover are a healthy walking/riding distance, and exploring the world didn’t ever feel annoying. The sailing part can definitely feel drawn out sometimes (you have quite a bit of exploring on your boat to locate all the different Greek islands), but once you land at each location you can synchronize to a city and use fast travel to get around.

The story of the game is exciting for me. I’ve felt drawn into the main quest line and really care about the different characters I’ve met. I usually have a problem in RPGs where I rush to complete the main quest before doing anything on the side, but AC:O has enough interesting places to explore that may assist me in my main journey that I’m okay with straying from the path sometimes.

Don’t get me wrong, the game isn’t perfect. As many other reviews have noted, the leveling process is long once you hit level 11 or so. You can purchase an XP boost through the Ubisoft store, but I’m cheap so I’ll just do some more side quests to keep up. The movement system can feel wonky and uncoordinated, and my character often runs up walls without me trying to (especially in cities and towns). On that note, the cities and towns could often feel ‘empty’ due to how many NPCs don’t have any interactions with you as a character. There’s a limit to the shops and opportunities in most towns, and I would’ve liked separate weapon salesmen, armor salesmen, etc in towns instead of these shops being lumped together. The combat is a bit one-dimensional and often can feel tedious, but it does really rely on parry and dodge mechanics, which I find breaks up the feeling of hacking away at enemies. For some reason my game crashes every hour to hour and a half, which has been pretty annoying but I’m too lazy to try and fix it (I just save the game often).

All in all, I think this game is worth it. Part of what makes it worth it to me is personal reasons…my love for Greek history and my joy at a female lead character to play. I can look beyond the buggy things I’ve experienced and the XP slowdown mid-game because the concepts I was excited about did live up to my expectations. If you’re looking at this game, that’s a personal decision you’ll have to make (especially with other large RPGs coming out this year, like Red Dead later this week).

I’m happy to have another open-world RPG to enjoy, and after I’m done writing this review I’m gonna boot back up my game to explore some more!

~ iLuffhomer