Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

This game has features that I think are the best in the franchise but its story and characters ultimately crumble in the end making it a pretty well polished game with some brilliant aspects.

First off I played this for the first time in 2023 on Xbox Series X.

Here are the positives:

• Best stealth in any AC game.

• Graphics look great even in 2023.

• The map! Industrial London in the fall is beautiful. The lighting is stellar and the city feels alive. Steam boats constantly move down the thames that you can run across, cranes move barrels and cargo, dozens of buggies and people darting everywhere constantly. It feels very lived in and well realized. Maybe the best world design of any AC game. Super immersive.

• The capstone assassination mission design. The sequence ending assassination missions are all stellar (except the last which I am mixed on). They have multiple objectives many different routes and ways to unlock special cinematic assassinations through exploration. Easily the best set piece/level design in the series.

• Jacob and Evie's relationship is fun.

• Descent humor.

• A good amount of side content, not too much not too little.

• Carriage driving and carriage chase sequences are sick!

• I like the villain.

Negatives:

• Poor range of weapons and upgrades.

• Lame perk tree.

• the ending mission is way too linear and offers no freedom. The final boss has good mechanics and is very cinematic but aesthetically feels the same as unity's final boss.

• Repetitive side content.

• Story progression locked behind side content.

-Jacob and Evie while entertaining leads are deep as a puddle. There is something's interesting their with their parents but it never goes further than "you sound like father!" Or "Father would have done it that way." The relationship dynamic and history is NEVER unpacked. They are entertaining leads but not interesting leads.

• Story feels disjointed.

• Modern narrative is completely pointless and boring (worse than usual).

• the gang mechanics are rarely useful and often the mission sub objectives deter you from wanting to use gang members.

• A crappy romance.

The game is good, and has some content that is the best the series has had, but the story and shallow characters bring it down for me.