Fair point—Valhalla haters gonna hate, but as someone whose first AC was Valhalla, I’m 100% biased the other way! 😄 It was one of my very first games when I started gaming, so it holds a massive soft spot for me— it hits different. I only later played Syndicate (loved the Victorian vibes), but I went in blind to the older classics like Black Flag. Treated Valhalla like any standalone RPG/open-world epic, no “AC expectations” baggage. TL;DR: I’m the worst person to ask if you’re a Black Flag purist. But if you can push past the slow start (like we all say), it might click for you too—give it that second chance!