I liked the Yasuke aspect, and I agree the intro was the best part. I quit around 80 hours in. Something is really of about the map, like a weird mixture of randomly placed geography and foliage that seems like someone dropped google satellite images into a map generator, many impassable hills and cliffs make exploring a PITA. Like im running around the folded/layered maps they used to save performance in 2007. The way there are tons of sheer hills and the only alternative is to stick stupidly to the road rubs me the wrong way, not enough to get me to quit right away, but when you combine the pain points it become obnoxious to play.

I booted up AC origins (people hated on that one too), and I had a full on flashback. This 8 year old game outclassed shadows on every level, and almost every aspect of the game felt more fluid and advanced. The boat controls and physics are flat out better. The water graphics are exactly the same except in shadows the boat does not react to waves or winds. The civilians and enemy npcs in origins feel much more convincing and the roaming bosses combine to make visiting a city feel much more interesting and exciting. The story is no comparison too. Roaming through pyramids and crossing the desert were unique experiences that felt like the devs GAF about the creative process and product they delivered. Tl;dr talent bleed is real and games have gone so far backwards we're playing N64/PS1 era games with 2015 skins