An UBIsoft game which dares to not lead the player by the hand all the time? Do like!
They've been doing this for a couple years now. Turned Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Assassin's Creed Odyssey & Valhalla into pretty memorable games for me where I started to actually learn the regions and navigating using landmarks etc.
Oh man, I played some of the recent AC titles at least 15-20 hours, and it saddened me so. Granted, there are many turn-off/on marker options in the menus, which definitely is a step in the right direction. However, to create an actual semi-explorative experience out of Odyssey or the previous Egyptian installment was a thing of several hours worth of modding and testing for me. That's because many options led to half-baked or outright infuriating solutions such as—I only vaguely recall now, so please don't nitpick me—turning off the quest markers also turned off the hawk's ability to spot items, turning off some compass parts also turned off some combat indicators, things like that. Even so, I must admit that it was possible to create an environment with little to no leading by the hand.
However, talking about where that happened, the adventure, the exploration, etc.
The game features, places, skirmishes, fort raids, the caves/dungeons/buildings/lairs designs, several ways of loot storing and positioning, etc., all being similar to each other to a fault. That is supplemented with a diablo-like "yay, another +0,0025 dmg weapon but it looks so new and cooool" loot, HP-sponge enemies, horrible level-scalling, and no character attributes to level up (only skills). All in a project that poses for an open-world RPG.
I salute you for finding fun in going from one person to another or from one place to another without markers, navigating only by your instincts and hinted landmarks. I myself couldn't cope with the fact that this first part of exploration never led to the second, most important part: an adventurous experience stemming from a sort of a solving an approach. Being stimulated by hints, places, items, and other features original to at least many, if not every such 'solving'. After the several initial hours of 'wow, there are so many things to do' it started to feel as a walking simulator with rince and repeat occasions and a mash button combat.
Despite this bitter tone, I recognize AC's great portrayal of the days of yore, some imaginative, funny or witty writing, pretty good main story, the (paradoxically) lively places, and the overall look and atmospheric feel (albeit the latter always turned into an empty promise as explained above).
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And just when I was thinking maybe I try it after all, I watched that WaB video and okay BIG NO THANK YOU after seeing some of that horrible dialogue. And of course all the regular open world Ubishite in addition.
