Assassin’s Creed 2 - Venice Sucks
I don’t know of this is a hot or warm take, but I don’t care, I just want to vent somewhere. If you genuinely enjoy navigating this cesspool of a city, literally stick yourself between the eyes with a hidden blade. Feels like this entire area was designed to piss the player off. Any sense of momentum you gain on street level is halted by mass crowds and a labyrinth city design. The roofs offer more freedom of movement, but guards are literally everywhere in this city! Can’t cross a street without pissing off 12 guards.
And as a wider critique of the entire series, why are guards on roofs a thing in these games at all? Only instance where having guards on every damn roof would make sense is if the narrative warranted it, like a city lockdown or something, or in restricted zones. Having guards on roofs 24/7 I assume is meant to add challenge to free running and make you take a different route, but it never feels like that, does it? It feels more like a constant hurdle between you and wherever you want to get that destroys efficiency and just makes the parkour experience not fun and halt momentum cause you have to constantly hide from guards with X-Ray vision. As an Assassin your advantage should be the rooftops, no? Why do I feel like I’m always on the back foot when I just want to free run in peace?
Have been doing everything in AC 2 so far — Races, Contracts, Feathers, Tombs. Venice is the one area thats made me want to pack it in.