Adam Lisser

How did I spend 140hrs playing a 3-star game? Yasuke. The voice actor is marvelous, and if you’re able to suspend disbelief it’s pretty awesome to run around as a giant African samurai. Just about everything else is not very good. The other voice actors are generally awful (so many growling men), the love interests are not compelling, and the story is formulaic and incomplete. Side missions are pretty run-of-the-mill fetch quests, combat has a steep learning curve before revealing itself to be pretty boring, and it’s a crime this game was allowed to reach the public without a mechanic to pass the time of day. “Why is there a giant man crouching in that hedge?” “I don’t know, he’s been there for hours.” The environment was very pretty, and there were definitely times atop a building, looking down at the folds of tree-covered hills where I thought about how lovely it would be to visit Japan. Then I would try to walk through one of those tree-covered hillsides and quickly find myself muttering through a clenched jaw. Seriously, don’t leave the roads. It will give you heartburn. There were also some real question marks within the environment. Like, why is that family standing next to a dead horse, weeping? More importantly, why can’t Yasuke help? Like, “Here are 20 suits of armor, lady. Sell them and buy a team of horses. I certainly don’t need the money, and these things are just thick on the ground. Want a katana too? How about 30?? Where are you going?!?” So yeah, one of the characters is fun and Japan is pretty, but if I’m really being honest the only reason this game devoured so many hours of my life is because I miss Ghost of Tsushima and can’t wait for their next game. Skip this one. If you really need an Assassin’s Creed fix, play Odyssey again. That game was terrific.