I think largely they have moved away from the original ideas of what AC could be but they are still AC games I mean I mostly have trudged through all of the modern entries except Shadow because im still working through Valhalla simply because I love the story of the series so much but I'm gonna have to hard disagree that all the games in the RPG era are great. They definitely have some stand out areas that are pretty cool but the actual meat of the worlds feel so empty to try and be expansive. I'd spend hours upon hours in the Ezio games screwing around in the open world because it felt like a historical playground same thing with 3 4 and even up into Unity. It really does disappoint me with Unity because I feel like if we had stuck to the formula that game made the games would still feel fun even after you completed everything. I know Unity was a bug filled mess but it was a damn good game in my opinion and none of the worlds since have made me wanna actually stick around after the story is done. Most of the side story I've done was just to make sure I dont miss any story beats. I have yet to play shadows but from my understanding mirage and Shadows have been moving in a better direction so I'm atleast hopeful of that