In 2017, the Assassin’s Creed franchise started its Action-RPG trilogy. Millions of fans were mad, but this also welcomed new players to the series. A question remains, was this move for the better?

All three games received mixed feedback from veterans and new players. Hardcore fans heavily felt that the Assassin’s Creed identity was slowly being diminished in favor of the combat-oriented playstyle, while new players enjoyed the familiarity it brought.

The Assassin’s Creed’s Action-RPG Trilogy resembled more modern open-world RPG and adventure games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Dragon Quest Inquisition.

As an Assassin’s Creed fan who took a long break after Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood was released, I could understand both sides.

However, I don’t think I can provide an objective and definitive answer to the question of whether or not they are good—yet. The least I could do would be to share some of my experiences and evaluate my feelings about them.

What I enjoyed.

Marie Kondo really helped me out with my Assassin’s Creed experience. While playing each game in the trilogy, I constantly asked myself in every few minutes: does this spark joy?

Well, sometimes it did but sometimes it didn’t. But first, let’s focus on the ones that did.

The Map is Very Pretty… and Scarily Big.

One of the promises Ubisoft perfectly delivered with this trilogy is the massive open-world map everyone got to explore.

Do you want to see the Pyramid of Giza? It is just a few minutes away using your trusty horse. Do you want to see the Parthenon? It is in the heart of the Akropolis Sanctuary on a mountain. Do you want to see the Stonehenge in England? Just find the grassy plain with huge standing stones nearby.

The biggest innovation they did in my eyes was the Discovery Tours which let you immerse yourself as a “tourist” discovering famous landmarks.

Assassin’s Creed Origins, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla nailed this one in my books.

Lots of Historical Figures.

Aside from the map, your journey in each Assassin’s Creed entry will have you meet and interact with some of the most famous historical figures in their respective timelines.

You will see Ptolemy and Cleopatra in Assassin’s Creed Origins, Sokrates and Pythagoras in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and Rollo and King Alfred the Great in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Reality is What You Make of It.

Another clever choice they did was to further integrate mythology with The First Civilization, also called the Isu.

While this has been shown in the stealth-action entries of the Assassin’s Creed series, the trilogy put this in the forefront, especially with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The Norse myths are just pagan interpretations of the incidents that occurred to the Isu.

Such “misunderstandings” of the truth have always been reflected in reality, especially when people cannot find an explanation for certain occurrences. In these times, people turn to religion or the supernatural as sources of truth.

Dressed to Kill.

Probably my favorite part in Assassin’s Creed games has been fashioning my assassin with the best and most fancy clothes. The Assassin’s Creed Action-RPG Trilogy let me do that; albeit to differing extents.

I guess my only gripe was that Assassin’s Creed Origins had the least amount of customization options, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey had tons of gladiator or knight-like armors and not enough assassin ones, while Assassin’s Creed Valhalla always made the armor gold at max upgrade rank which always bothered me.

Anyway, they were all enjoyable and it was very refreshing to be able to let Bayek, Kassandra/Alexios, and Eivor dress menacingly or fashionably—or both.

What I did not enjoy.

Now, I think that’s pretty much it. I can harp on how much trash there is in this game now.

The Map is Very Big… Too Big.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time wandering in Egypt for about 60 hours with Bayek, then another couple of hours rechecking areas for extra loot. Then I played Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. And then Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

It was enjoyable to explore different regions and areas but for the most part, there were only empty spaces and repetitive camps or dungeons to explore. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla put more variety and “enclosed” areas with more trees and foliage but the core problem remained the same.

Honestly, it might have been my fault. Playing all three games one after the other may have overexposed such an experience to me.

However, I think there is an argument against this. I played Metro Exodus, the Middle Earth Series, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, and Red Dead Redemption 2 one after the other just fine.

So, I think there is more to it than just the map size.

Level and Story Progression

I think what made the Assassin’s Creed Action-RPG Trilogy very tiresome was its structure (i.e., the level locking and forced “side quests”).

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey forced you to do three to four missions in a region before forwarding the main story while Assassin’s Creed Valhalla forced you to finish more than 11 regions across four maps: England, Norway, Vinland, and Jotunheim.

While my initial playthrough had me complaining about the level locking, the real problem was the level progression and level ramp-ups across regions that forced you to grind experience and materials for hours.

I speculate this is to encourage you to engage in microtransactions, and I hate it.

Too Many Characters

This has been an ongoing complaint for me since Assassin’s Creed Syndicate where they kept on throwing historical figures in every game just to; in my assumption, provide fan service to the community.

I don’t hate it that much, but it certainly irked me as I had a hard time following who’s who and who is important, and who is not.

Lackluster Protagonists

Bayek was the best one, and there is no argument to be made against it. His story was compelling and perfectly paired with the superb voice acting by Abubakar Salim.

Kassandra had good voice acting but I felt like the writing did not allow the voice actor to bring out her full potential. For the most part, she had to act like the “strong female lead” stereotype who would make snarky remarks now and then.

Alexios was even worse, but only as a protagonist. His voice acting and general tone fit the role of Deimos more than Kassandra. It was gruff, strong, and imposing as opposed to Kassandra’s voice.

Then there is Eivor who… well. I don’t know. Was there even any acting involved on his/her part?

Maybe I am being harsh, I even liked Eivor more than Kassandra and Alexios. But this is probably due to the Eivor having more space to show different emotions than Kassandra and Alexios had in their story.

Convoluted Story

Now, this is not necessarily bad. I understand the attempts made by Ubisoft’s writers to tie up all loose ends in the Assassin’s Creed story by supplementing the stories of the Isu.

This felt like a problem that built up from the years prior. The only problem I had with this is that it felt inconsistent even within the trilogy.

For example, Layla was told by various voice messages in Assassin’s Creed Origins to be able to change the past and future. But we never saw this and it gets seemingly dropped in the next entries.

The worst part of it all is probably its attempt to tell four storylines at the same time: Layla’s story, the Animus’ assassin’s story, the truth behind the Order (i.e. the Cult of Kosmos for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and the Order of the Ancients for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla), and then the Isu backstory.

The games already felt like a big chore in terms of content to complete and story length then there are the multiple storylines it was trying to tell. It was very hard to invest some emotions and attention in every storyline.

Are they Good Games?

So, are they good? Are Assassin’s Creed Origins, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla good games?

My answer is “Meh, they’re good enough.”

The game gives everything to satisfy Action RPG fans and to do this, they need to steer away from certain aspects that the original Action-Stealth Assassin’s Creed had.

However, it was tedious, grindy, mind-numbing, and soul-crushing for about 80 percent of each game’s playthrough.

There were many flaws in their implementation of game mechanics and story progression, but not all games geared toward a specific genre will truly satisfy their core audience. There is always room for improvement and different routes to take.

On my part, the biggest flaw might be that I got used to the Action-Stealth genre. In response to changing the core formula of Assassin’s Creed, some fans of the old entries will get pushed away.

I am looking forward to Assassin’s Creed Mirage and the series’ return to the Action-Stealth genre. As much as I harp on the convoluted and confusing story of Assassin’s Creed, the last Action-RPG entry tied up many knots so that the next entry has fewer loose ends to tie.