About 30hrs in and the first thing you need to do when you buy the game is turn the difficulty up. You are given two settings, combat difficulty and stealth. I turned the combat 2nd to the highest and put the stealth at the very hardest. With these settings, the game is far more punishing and feels like more realistic. Outright more fun and rewarding.
My overall opinion of the game is that ACV is another improvement to the series. Stealth games get stale way too fast, ACV like ACOD, lets you choose your approach, both being equally hard and enjoyable with the appropriate difficulty setting.
Is it worth the money? Yes.