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That sounds good to me then. I do enjoy the older press a button to counter an enemy and then press another button to take out the next enemy mechanic of the earlier games just because it was so ridiculous but perfectly happy for that to not exist for a return of good stealth. Also much more interested in a shorter game. As I say Valhalla started to drag and so did RDR2 when I played that over winter, just want something with a bit of character but is also succinct.
ric_a5-
I do enjoy the older press a button to counter an enemy and then press another button to take out the next enemy mechanic of the earlier games just because it was so ridiculous but perfectly happy for that to not exist
They did bring back something like that, but it requires more skill. If you time a parry properly, then, on the easier difficulty levels, you get a one shot-kill riposte (again, if timed well). On the hard level, you have to wear your opponent down more (two perfect parries in a short space would do it) and the timing is stricter.
The stealth really is a big improvement. The environment and missions are designed to reward it, and you can break up a group of guards by becoming briefly visible to just one of them (if your timing and position are good), enough to make them curious and come over to investigate. Enemy AI isn't much improved, though.
just want something with a bit of character but is also succinct.
A lot of AC fans found Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West to be good AC substitutes during the long ARPG years. Stealth, sneak attacks, religions based on ancient tech, messages from the past... you can even hang from a ledge and pull an enemy to their death.
itsbruce
In atmosphere, absolutely. In mechanics, well, stealth is probably the best in the series (stop laughing, MGS fans) and the missions are designed to reward stealth and severely punish "charge in and kill everybody". Parkour purists weren't so happy - there's a limit to how much a small studio could change the Valhalla codebase - but the city design is the best since Unity's Paris, which makes up for that. And you're an assassin again, with many shout outs to AC 1 and a few to other games in the series.
The OG fans who were most disappointed were the ones who actually loved the way that old-style AC combat was so trival that you could slaughter whole armies with a few button presses as they lined up to be killed one by one. You die quickly and often if you try that in Mirage. Combat is possible but most survivable if you use stealth and traps/bombs to mix things up and to isolate and confuse the soldiers.
Another way it'sdifferent from Valhalla is that you can speed run it in under 15 hours, if that's your thing. I finished it in just under 40, mixing in all the side missions and most of the collectables just to explore Baghdad as much as I could. Might have spend half an hour or so paying street musicians so I could listen to them play.
Where they go from here is hard to say. After 8 years of nothing but huge (and popular) ARPGs, they now have a fragmented player base with widely different (and mostly incompatible) expectations.