Recent reviews by gleipneare

I've put more than 50 hours in this game and managed to win twice. This game fascinates and frustrates me, and I love it, and I plan to check the dlcs at some point in the future. The sense of discovery, the atmosphere and the writing really do it for me. As a whole this makes it so much, so totally and completely "my kind of ♥♥♥♥", that I'm sitting here writihg this. Forgive the pretentiousness.
In escence this is a time and resouce management game that is set in a kinda Lovecraftian Victorian setting. Think "The King in Yellow", for example. It is Lovecraftian not in a sence of Old Gods and tentacles, though thay are aplenty, but in a subtle way it is all introduced, that there is something more out there and it is undescribably both horrible and enticing at the same time. Just to get the sense of what is it like, try and imagine something in between Darkest Dungeon, only without the dungeon crawling combat part, Papers Please and maybe Sunless Sea. 
The early game is simply brilliant. The sense of mystery, the bewilderment when you start to dig deeper, when your character slowly descends into the occult, the excitement of your first cult, your first follower, first adversary, the trepidation and awe when you first catch a glimpse of the Mansus. Here the absence of tutorial works, as you always find something unexpected at the turn of a card. I would totally recommend the game for this part alone. 
The mid and especially endgame can be frustrating, because you need to get certain items that you have to grind for, and with a random loot chance based system it is maddening. Honestly at this point I'm ready to dig myself the pretentious apologetic hole and say that it possibly adds to the whole game experience. In the beginning you have to carefully manage finances, status effects, etc, and closer to the end you start to slowly loose patience, which is reflected in your character growing apart from the in-game "real world" and gradually succumbing to their desire/temptation. As you almost see the end you play less carefully, your character starts to pay less and less attention to their work and dealing of authorities. Random people and even your own followers become a fodder for your characher's ambitions and for your (the player's) wish to just win already please.
This is probably the game that you either love and ready to forgive everything or it is just not for you, and you can just try it for 1,5 hours and refund it if your are in the second category.

This soundtrack is so good I had to go buy it again even after having bought the game two times already.

Still the best in the franchize. I can praise Altair and AC3's improved gameplay, Haytham and a terrific story to the end of time, but this - the origin of Ezio - it is the basis, the cornerstone of AC games. Want to try them - this is where you should start.

UPD 11/2017. Four new games were released since this review - nope, this one still beats them all.