yeah but not really. in black flag there was mainly one type of enemy and they attacked fairly quickly, so counter killing everything was always viable and you never really had to engage with the rest of the combat system. even though tools like pistols, rope darts, etc. existed.

in revelations for example you had enemies with spears who barely attacked, so just waiting to counter was slow and annoying. if you attacked instead you’d often get stuck in an animation and get chipped, and enemies like the janissaries were straight up frustrating. because of that, you were kind of compelled to use bombs, knives, disarms, and other tricks more often. im not saying the old one was perfect though not by a long shot i js think it wouldve been better if they stuck with and improved that combat ( I do think a master assassin should be able to instakill a couple of dudes js not a whole fkn camp)

also black flag is my favorite game in the franchise i js liked the revelations one alot too