A fresh setting does a lot to elevate this AA game into something special, despite its flaws. Yes, the combat is basic and gets repetitive after a while. Yes, the levels feel a bit empty on stuff to do other than collect resources and health upgrades/readables. But this is an AA game, and we must treat it as such. The visual style and music are lovingly crafted and make the game ooze with charm. The story, while perhaps somewhat simple, overflows with various nods to Southern folklore. When I picked this game up, I expected a fun and pretty romp through the various magical myths and tales inspired by the American South, and that is exactly what I got. Anything else was a bonus. I'd happily play any DLC to spend more time in this magical world. For me, the game's strengths more than make up for its flaws.

A promising and visually stunning setting with a decent story and two enjoyable protagonists at its core. However, the game does feature Ubisoft's standard 'quantity over quality' mindset, featuring a map that's too large, filled with too many repeatable activities. It's less pronounced than previous games, but still exhausting. The side-quests are uninspired, usually involving 'kill 100 of these' or 'collect 19 of these across the whole map'. The game also throws so many assassination targets at you that it's hard to keep track of who you're killing and why, made worse by the absence of a quest journal, replaced by an 'objective board' which offers more visual clutter than is needed. The game has a solid foundation and core, but would have been far better if they cut at least 35-40% of the content and doubled down on making the content which remained better and more intriguing. A step in the right direction, but we have a way to go, still.