To start, I don’t care about the politics of this game. I don’t care that you can smash this, climb on that, because again, it’s a game. I don’t care if Yasuke was real, because it’s a game. What I do care about is gameplay because, you guessed it. It’s a game. And this game is boring. Perhaps if you haven't played any of the last three AC games, you’ll be drawn in. Those that have, will quickly start to see the new coat of paint peel away, revealing the Valhalla underneath. There is something inherently interesting when setting an AC game in Paris, England, Colonial America, etc…and something far less interesting when it is set in The Forest. Valhalla was 80% forest. It was not exciting. Shadows is the same. Small bits of what look like the place you just left, strewn about with hundreds of meters of Forrest between. In the beginning it is beautiful, but that paint, it’s weak. Combat will seem new at first as well. It also got the paint brush. But the results are the same. Parry>Attack has become Parry x3>Attack. You’ll still be watching for red and blue ques, swapping between light and heavy attacks, watching the same kill animation over, and over, and over. The story is not even worth a mention. It got no paint. Same old bits, dead person, revenge. It’s laughable at times with some pretty rough voice acting trying to do the heavy lifting. I suggest playing in Immersive Mode. I tried to push on, just like I did with Valhalla, but I hit a wall. I found myself procrastinating, doing anything other than boot up Shadows, even cardio. I kept thinking something would pop. Some new mechanic would draw me in. But sadly, it never happened. It is the game you’ve played before. So, before I was even allowed to post this review, I uninstalled the game and unsubbed from Ubi+. And for the first time, I don’t even care when it goes on discount because I’m simply not interested.
If you've played the game for 10 hours, then you've played all the game has to offer. 10 years of development have led to the shallowest Bethesda game I have ever played. The story had a chance to go deep, to be as memorable as Contact or Close Encounters. Instead, they went for Rick and Morty and Marvel. The side characters are abysmal. If it weren't for those 150 pounds thy could carry, I would never let them near me. They are one dimensional androids. "I'm a soldier", "I'm jolly", "I'm gruff and have a kid." By the way, can we keep the midlife crisis, I'm a good dad I swear, writers in therapy and not in our games? This is not a next gen game in any sense as Toddy H. would like you to believe. You can't explore a planet, you can't buzz around on your ship or any kind of lander to see where the best spot is. You pick a spot from space, probably based on an absolutely useless resource overlay that is in accurate as all hell, then you walk and walk until you find an acceptable spot or hit the glass wall that closes you inside your randomly generated square of land. Let's talk about those planets shall we. They are ALL THE SAME! Maybe a different color on the dirt, but resources dotted onto rocks with ZERO geographical features. Every asset is clearly stamped on top of the most generically generated terrain map possible. None of it looks believable. But wait, you may find a place you like and want to build an outpost. Lucky you, now you get to use the worst base building process ever committed to a video game. Have fun trying to place things as they snap to buildings you don't intend to or are unbuildable do to a terrain shift that wasn't an issue 5 seconds ago. It's never been more apparent to me that compartmentalized teams built a game and then glued it together at the finish line. Try it for 10 bucks on Gamepass. That's what I did. I haven't paid full price for a Bethesda game since Skyrim's first release, and at this point I never will again. It should also be noted that I currently have 2 quests that I cannot progress due to bugs and came really, really close to losing everything do to a bug in Sarah's quest. And No, I shouldn't have to keep 5 different save files current to counter act bad game design. Bethesda is doing Bethesda, toss out a half-baked, half developed idea. Then lean on modders to make their game a classic. And the modders will do it. This game will burn out faster than the suns that won't register on Radeon cards.
Path of Diablo 2 Resurected: Resurected I don't know what this game is, but it is not a Diablo title in anything other than name. I take that back. I know exactly what it is. A storefront posing as a beloved title. Do you enjoy ARPGs with good loot and an exciting, yet challenging gameplay loop? Well keep perusing the store shelves because this isn't it. Loot: One word. Abysmal. I can't count how "Big Bads" i've killed during the story and exploring that drop two measly pieces of loot that wouldn't even have been good 10 levels prior. Chest loot is not any better. Treasure Goblins need to be renamed to Trash Goblins. Everything looks the same and is littered with word salad to make you think it's good. But fear not. If you want great looking gear, all you have to do is open that wallet again and head on into the store. That's where the real effort went into gear design. Combat: Combat is fun for about the first 20 levels. And then the realization that you will be using the same few skills for 80 more levels comes crashing down on you. Most skills are boring to use and look at. Everything else are passives that add little to no value to your build. Enemies will stun lock you constantly as the only way the game can pose a challenge is to take control away from the player. I remember another game that tried a similar approach. Warhammer Online relied heavily on CC'ing the player. How's that game doing? Oh right, it shut down 2 years after launch. Good model to follow Blizz. Also, get used to fighting the exact same enemies over and over again regardless of zone. 20 hours in I was done with combat and just running from quest to quest. Dungeons: Remember the feeling of delving deep into a dungeon, each level taking you closer to Hell and giving you the feeling of impending doom? Well forget that and get to finding the two keys that unlock the boss door or untying 5 bodies from stakes. Why? Creative Bankruptcy. Now get to it. MMO BS: Collect 5 flowers, fill this flask, go get my dry cleaning. This crap has no place in an ARPG. It is useless filler created by the same creatively bankrupt people mentioned above. No new classes: If this isn't proof of the lack of creativity the D4 team possess, then I don't know what is. They couldn't even be bothered to create a new class. They literally ripped the classes from D2, renamed the Assassin and called it a day. I have no clue what they worked on for all these years when all they did was copy Brevik and Co's hard work. Although, I would put every cent to my name on them selling a new class. In short, I hate this game. I really, really hate it. It's the kind of game that comes out an makes me question gaming as a hobby all together. This game is a store first and a playable game 126th. TLDR: Why are you here if you don't want to read?
The Slog: New Boredom Combat: The Settlers is an overly easy RTS. This game literally requires zero thought in combat. It is pretty simple. Do you have more units than the enemy? Then you win. Amassing an army that can conquer the map is effortless. Gathering: Get used to the same buildings and roads over, and over, and over...Nothing upgrades, nothing can be made more powerful aside from assigning an extra resource to it. Everything is cheap to make, nothing takes effort. The Story: Is a joke. Who is writing these games for Ubisoft? Fire them. "Hey there, just us oppressed Settlers,, the good guys cause we said so. Now lets go to a new island, amass an army, and slaughter every living person on it. Poor us." Just laughable. Overall: It's another identity-less, watered down, Ubisoft product. Bad design. Contrivances that take the place of difficulty spikes. Boring attempt at and underdog story. Just bad at every level, especially a few hours in when you realize, this is it. This is all you are getting for the rest of the game. No Thanks.
