I'm beginning to feel like a damn video game hipster after reading this thread. I'm not too far into the game, but so far I'm kinda disappointed. I've always liked the stories in AC games, but this is possibly the least interesting one imo, which makes sense coming from the black flag team since I didn't like black flag's story (I loved that game, didn't care for the story much). Like in black flag, I don't feel much of a desire to push forward and learn more. I think the gameplay tweaks, while an improvement, are the wrong direction for the franchise, and while the environments are beautiful, I find the big cities more cumbersome to navigate than in previous games. Like most Ubisoft games from the past few years, this game feels like it lacks an identity of its own. It's a mishmash of design pulled from other successful games, and is worse at everything it borrows compared to the source. If you are looking for a NEW experience, this game is an easy skip, don't let the incredibly beautiful visuals fool you. However, if you want something that feels like the witcher 3 + dark souls + older ac games + mgs5, jump right on in. It's not a bad game, you just aren't missing out by skipping it imo.