133.4 hours played
Written 13 days ago
Completed 100% achievement with Normal difficulty+ Enemy level scaling turned on.
Recommended to buy Gold edition during steam sale.
The review is from my personal perspective-
Environment and visual: Astonishing. From top of pyramid to lighthouse of Alexandria, the visuals are breathtaking and wallpaper worthy. From details in day to day life style of Egyptians to wild life and their interactions, i spent hours just exploring here and there. Although, large open world map, may provide fatigue to the brain after a while. The photomode also enhances the visual experience.
Story: Personally, it was impactful. The action of Bayek Of Siwa is justified. The story that unfolds is not only about the protagonist, it is about whole egypt fighting against injustice intertwining historical events of cleopatra, caesar and ptolemy. Even after a certain event, I also felt vengeful to kill the enemies ruthlessly. The DLC hidden one provides closure to the story of main game with the ending of- "From this day, no hidden one will raise a sword against an innocent". What excels as a DLC is the curse of the pharaohs. Appearance of Pharaoh's shadow as you set foot on Thebes. The team really put effort to give us visual treat- experiencing field of reeds for first time, spent hours in it, roaming around, using photomode. The boss battles are batter than the main game. The music is also fitting and immersive.
Combat: I have mixed feeling about combat. It is relatively easy one to one, as you just have to defend with shield, dodge and attack, occasionally, breaking enemy defence to inflict damage. But when you are surrounded by multiple enemies, situation becomes messy. The camera angle also becomes terrible sometimes, specially during boss fight. The best way for me was to go for stealthy approach. The game provides variety of weapons, Bows and tools for suitable play style. Personally used long range predator bows and controlled the arrow in air to head-shot regular enemies to avoid conflict and assassinated target with hidden blade. Here, Senu helps you a lot. She saves your life, helps to scout enemies, distract them so you can kill easily. I will miss her a lot.
Grind: It is balanced. You don't have to grind too much, also you are not provided with excess resources. You reach a location. Complete side quests to level up. If enemy level scaling turned on, the defeated enemies drop good weapon as per your level. Pick weapon suitable for you, sell the rest, upgrade your main weapon and go for main quest. You can loot the soldier and bandit camps for raw materials to upgrade hidden blade (absolute necessary for assassination), pouch etc. For legendary stuffs, do some reda quest and you are all set.
The most problematic thing about this game is Ubisoft connect itself. It is annoying and sometimes fail to connect even having good internet. It is the Achiilles's heel of the game.
Now those who are determined to go for 100% achievement, a few suggestions-
1. Most of the achievements will automatically unlock as you progress through main game and DLC.
2.For defeating Phylakes, I used Senu to track Phylakes path (Unlocked the ability via skill tree), climbed a high spot near the path, used fire arrows and controlled it in air to headshot. Used fire arrows and fire bombs alternatively.
3. For road rage achievement, set your difficulty to easy.
4. For prison break achievement, turn enemy level scaling off.
Happy gaming.