[UPDATE] The bugged side boss and treasure I faced are fixed with the latest update, there is no bugged mission/collectable remaining.
Hello guys!
I've been pouring so much time on AC Valhalla that took me around a month to finish. I know that Ubisoft is some kind of a villain to some, like EA and others, but they've did a wonderful job with Watch Dogs Legions, AC Valhalla, and now playing Immortals Fenyx Rising. I've opened every single chest in the game (I believe) except one in Norway (normal loot, not the main ones) and one that is locked because a side boss is glitched and can't fight him/her due to latest updated so can't collect his/her tool to open a secret entrance to special loot. Also there is another broken side mission in the new Yule update that I can't finish. 2 side quests broken.
I'll try to be as direct as possible, and no spoilers at all. This is a PS5, performance mode review:
Positives:
Combat: 8/10, combat is nice, not the best, but with great variety of weapons. Lacks a regular sword though which is strange.
Traversal: 10/10, great amount of fast travel points and fluid parkour gives the optimal satisfaction.
Loot: One of the biggest changes that I loved about this game is the uniqueness of the loot. I've spent most of my playthrough with specific weapons that fit my playstyle (first bearded axe then war hammer+light shield).
Exploration: 10/10, it's so addictive, and most of the maps are so well made and feel organic. Odyssey and Origins had problems with copy-paste caves, it's not the case anymore. At the edge of the map there are some signs of copy-paste rocks but it's an extremely tiny spot and probably due to deadline rush.
Side activities/missions: 9/10. The side missions are mostly short, and many of them are extremely cringy, but they don't drive you out of the region or so which is a great thing. Some of them are very good and give you nice rewards. But other quest that are tied to exploration most if not all of them are very enjoyable and have unique rewards, even your regular fortress as all loot are now unique. Legendary beasts, bosses, tricky caves exploration missions, standing stones challenges (one of the best!), glitches (side mission, puzzle that is engaging the Animus "Layla"), and many other great missions. Hunting down Order members is satisfying as well, and looking for intel.
Puzzles: 10/10, one of the best things about this game. Not talking about glitch missions alone or caves, even the very ordinary things of finding your way into a house to take the loot is rewarding! This makes exploration so satisfying.
Graphics: 9/10, they simply nailed HDR here, along with lighting being so great in most cases with some bad examples here and there, but overall it can get really photo-realistic in many occasions. Pop-ins are there though, it's not as smooth as Spiderman MM of course, no game on that level yet in LOD management. That's until we get rid of this shit LOD system 2-3 years from now in many games.
Story: 10/10, so wonderful and I successfully had the perfect ending due to carefully choosing my decisions. It's not very dramatic, but it's more of a series. Every region has some unique feel of it with a unique plot and twist. They really made a great job here.
Multi-maps: Won't say more, but the game feels like a base game+DLC's. Devs been pretty generous, and they deserve credit here.
Music: 9/10, the OST of this game is just gorgeous. Odyssey has better/perfect OST but this one is so close to it!
Negatives:
Screen tearing: Although it happens in very few occasions, or tied to some cities, it's an immersion killer and would take frame drops instead. Although performance seems solid at 60fps.
Difficulty: It starts as decent, but enemies are so slow, so dumb for the hardest difficulty setup. Enemies should be attacking instead of being so observant and so much hard attack sounds/visuals that makes things even easier. At level 190 I've killed a legendary beast at 400! I don't like RPG BS overall and think they did a good job with that, but the hardest difficulty is "normal" at best, or easy. Would have loved it if enemies keep upgrading with me like on Odyssey (it was optional). 51-levels gap isn't good enough. So I never use stealth like 1%, although I love stealth a lot, I just go to a fortress running and crushing them like superman. I love to be forced to use stealth.
Broken levels: Had one mission broken in this latest Yule Festival update that I can't finish, and another side mythical boss that now after the update I can't fight to collect his sword out of 3 to open a secret vault for special loot. Once they drop the next update I'll check again.
Arrow capacity bug: After the latest update, all arrow capacity upgrades are not applied so you only have basic capacity for all bows.
Verdict:
My opinion on the game overall: 9/10 (deserves 10/10 if not for the technical issues, easy difficulty). This game is indeed one of my best games ever, and it's my 3rd best game of 2020 after Ghost of Tsushima and TLOU2. It's now sold for ~$41 on PS Store, if I would give it a price I think the base game alone deserves $100! Getting the season pass later indeed! WD:L is so much fun as well, it's so much fun that after buying the game for only ~$41 bought the season pass, and give it 9/10 although it's much more solid technically vs AC Valhalla. Now playing Immortals: Fenyx Rising and bought the gold edition for $66.9 during current discount on PSN (until 9th of January).
Anyway, the game is fucking massive and I might have forgot things, might update it later. I really think the game deserves more credit. Note that the game starts slow and was like 7/10 to me but it gets better and better the more you continue and the story starts maturing. I've collected every possible stuff in the game, except the glitched one and one minor chest in Norway that I will collect later!