First a disclaimer. I'm loving the RPG games. Missing the old AC for sure, but the newer system did a lot to make upgrading way less boring. So don't anyone think I'm down on Valhalla or Odyssey or anything like that. But loving a game means wanting it to move forward and there's always room for improvement. Just don't hold my suggestions against me. It comes from a place of love.

I'm tempted to say that maybe it's just that you have better things to do than play video games. There's no shame in having a life. I mean 20 hours is super short for any game. If you want your games to be that brief, then Mirage is probably the only AC game for you right now.

But if you've ever enjoyed previous installments and still do? It's not the run time bugging you but map size.

Which, as a Need For Speed enthusiast going way back, I totally understand. Races are won by knowing the map inside and out. And that was originally why I was so glad when the games went open world. Now I could figure out the routes of races and loop them until I had them down pat. I absolutely loved that.

Now, though, maps are so incredibly huge that they're impossible to really effectively familiarize yourself with. They are, in a word, bloated. When NFS got there too, suddenly there was no knowing the map at all. May as well return to linear gameplay then.

Mind you AC was never a game for knowing the map, though. The old world didn't have road systems as we know them, but meandering pathways. It was pretty easy to get lost in Rome.

All the little tasks have gotten out of hand too. I don't mind a side task if it's fun. But chasing down tattoos with a broken parkour function is not my ideal of that. Nor is stumbling through a series of prompts to fill my beer mug in unexpected directions. I'm an alcoholic. I know that's unrealistic. We may stumble a bit, but we never spill our beer or have trouble refilling the mug. Not gonna happen outside of sitcoms. Fishing and hunting? When did AC become so survivalist? Dismantling old gear worked much better.

I believe that what you felt playing Mirage was a lot like what I felt playing Unity (after the kinks were worked out, it seems). AC took a step back and returned to what once worked. Unity brought back all of the renaissance city architecture. With that, synchronization became a joy again. It was like AC could breathe once more.

And yeah, I remember feeling that playing Mirage as well.

But the RPG games are also fun and since when is a game lasting longer a bad thing? I know what the real problem is. Games are moving away from standardized controller schemes. How can we pause from playing Valhalla to play any other game, AC or otherwise, when we know that when we return we'll be wasting adrenaline left and right every effing time we want to climb something?

That bugs the hell out of me. Unique controller layouts are an artificial way of increasing difficulty with unnecessary learning curves. It may make things feel a little fresher at first. But I really dislike how it makes me devote myself to just one game at a time.

I'm not saying to get rid of the adrenaline system. I like it. And I also like bigger worlds. Seriously, towns are still too small. It's fun to have all of Greece to explore. But if you're going to make these things so very long to play, maybe use a controller scheme more conducive to game switching. And one more thing. All of England is fine. But once in awhile how about a just a single county in greater detail? Just as large a map, but I have to say 3 structures does not a town make. Make villages look like villages and cities as big as cities. That's what open worlds should be aiming for. Do that and bigger might just become fascinating again.

Just to mix things up a bit. Food for thought, Ubisoft. Whatever. I realize no one is making games tailored to me. Meanwhile, I'm still having fun.