You see: I've been a very loyal fan of the Assassin's Creed series since the first game. As underwhelming as AC III felt, I still looked forward to new games in the series very much. And AC III, with all its faults, at least had some really spectacular missions in the end that made me like it a fair bit after all. But this? I needed a year to finish its main storyline and having done that now I'm more underwhelmed than by any other game in recent memory. Throughout the game I never really felt like I was in control of Arno. He got stuck in places I didn't even know a human person could get stuck in. Which led to me not finishing some missions with all optional challenges (mostly the ones where the requirement was not to get into open conflict) because I just got too frustrated with the controls. That never happened before. In any other AC game I would fight my way through tough missions until the optional challenges were successfully dealt with... I just can't bring myself to do this here.

Now that the main story is behind me, I also can't motivate myself to play the countless side missions or collect the countless collectibles (again: I'm a completionist, something like this shouldn't happen to me, I always try to collect everything in games like this). But the map is so cluttered with symbols that I feel like it would be hours of busy-work even to just locate where the missions and collectibles are - and even more hours to finish them. And I honestly ask myself: Is that worth it? So if you remember any really solid "Paris Stories" mission, any memorable murder mystery or what have you it would be great if you could let me know. Unless a miracle happens I can't see myself diving into all those missions just out of curiosity. Which is a shame, really. I tried so hard. But this game just doesn't want me to like it.

So: Am I doing this wrong? I would never have thought that Unity would be my personal low point in the series, but here we are. Fortunately I'm already having much more fun with AC: Syndicate, so all is not lost for AC. I'll still give Dead Kings and its main storyline a go in Unity, but that might be where we part ways.

Unless you can convince me that some side missions are actually super fun and worth it. So if you can do that: Don't hesitate!

Have you read any review's for this game? Even if you ignore the technical issue's it has, it's still considered one of the bottom 3 games of the series.

I've also been a fan of the series (and sometimes even an apologist) since the first game too and felt Unity was just a big miss for me. I even did everything in the base game and Dead Kings and I curse my completionist streak at times cause I've could of been playing a better game after I saw the story through.

I would say either play through the main story beat of Dead Kings since it has a fairly cool setting and isn't very long, or just cut your ties now and stay with Syndicate. Not every AC game is created equal and Unity was one of the weakest, when the technical issues (and I played after a few patches mind) weren't getting in the way the core gameplay and mission structure was all very bland so even when it's at it's best is not even very impressive other than it's graphical prowess.

Even though it had issues of it's own, I would say the borderline expansion pack direct-to-dvd sequel Rogue was more fun then Unity. Looking forward to crack open Syndicate at some point myself, so at least we got a decent AC last year.

It's different strokes for different folks. Apart from the input lag I actually enjoyed the missions in Unity way more than anything you did outside of the boat in Blacj Flag - a game that is often heralded as a high point or at the least a return to form. The story in Unity is awful but the Hitman inspired assassination missions made me think on what this series started as with AC1 before it warped into what it is today. Similarly the controls felt great compared to past entries. The simple innovation of letting me choose to parkour up or down made traversal so much simpler and made me feel for the first time in ages to be in a moderate degree of control.

That said, despite all the patches I experienced some really rough input lag on the PS4 that made parrying perfectly to be nearly impossible and lock picking very frustrating. Dead Kings is cool in concept but it mostly takes place in these underground crypts full of poorly designed puzzles that I didn't really have the patience for. AC thrives on outdoor environments and ye claustrophobic nature of all the Dead Kings environments just served to highlight the fact that indoor areas are a weak link in the gameplay loop.