I've played for about two hours now. The story is really not engaging, the acting and animations feel terrible. I haven't played that long nd I'm already skipping the dialogues, because they're boring. Graphics are nothing special or amazing and the game runs rather poorly. The combat system is terrible and not exciting at all. Hack and slash, hack and slash and always the same 3 executions so far. I got to admit I'm rather disappointed. I'll keep playing and hope things will become more engaging at some point.

@tar-naugrim Well if your a dialogue skipper.. I doubt your little review refers to how I will enjoy the game in any way.

@tar-naugrim Cool, go make you're own game then if you're so (*&#ing amazing.

are there one handed swords?

@madness3v3 I've seen enemies wield them ,but have not gotten one myself.

@tar-naugrim god I hope they’re in there. My dream from the beginning was an ax sword combo, as seen in the announcement trailer

i prefered combat system of odyssey. it suck that its the one of origin i shouldve not buy the game

@tar-naugrim I love how people get so defensive about a game they have no skin in. I’m not making posts for others I’m posting for Ubisoft to read and hopefully do something about the pile of they’ve made.

@deeznutz3832 Maybe if you knew what constructive criticism is ..Maybe they might take you seriously.

@deeznutz3832 Agreed. I am trying to like the game. The longboat across the river is fun. Exploration is fun, but the combat...hard as I try, I just can't like it. Eivor's and enemy movements are so unrealistic... Parrying is very weird, the limited stun executions get boring fast... I really hope they can fix it with a couple of patches.

@tar-naugrim You seriously have only played the basic combat in this game. . You learn abilites slowly. Plus you probably have not even found any of the Special Abililty books yet. There is a lot to combat. A real lot. There is nothing to fix..

@dbgager I have found four books so far, the abilities are fun. I just wish Eivor did not flail his weapon like a mad man, but instead did it with a bit more skill and also wish there were more executions. If I'm not mistaken in black Flag you had about 3-4 (might be more) executions per weapon type. The forum would not let me change my title and what I wrote earlier. The game is slowly getting better, but the story has not managed to capture me yet. I've explored all of Mercia and it's fun. I've cleared a few fortresses solo which was also fun, but the combat needs improvement as sometimes it's very clunky and unresponsive. Sometimes when you press to attack Eivor would hit to the left or right, instead of straight ahead (mainly when trying to break boxes). The game is starting to grow on me slowly.

Also I'd love if we could kill civilians without getting desynchronized, at least while raiding. (just a personal preference here)

Looks like troll post to me.
Actually story is quite good and much better than Odissey. And fighting is much advanced from previous AC games that's why I believe it could be too complicated for some basic players
We have seperated operation for left and right hand, and both have light and heavy attacks which are different for every weapon type, than we have block, dodge, roll, .... Than we have stamina attack, than we have adrenaline attacks, and so on. Could be quite overwhelming for some players.
And I must say that Bow which was not very usable in Odyssey, this time it is quite good and must to use.

@i-z-i Ha - ha - ha...just because you have light and heavy attacks, dodge and stamina does not make the combat advanced....The combat feels wooden, the movement animations are not the best and the lack of executions make for a quickly losing interest in combat. If you want good and rewarding combat try playing Sekiro and then come back and tell me that this feels "realistic" and smooth. If your idea for an engaging combat is...mix up light and heavy attacks untill the npc dies, I'm sorry for you.
Also they can use the combat from For Honor, which is light years away and much better than all AC so far, but I wonder why they don't want to.
NPC never block you, which is moronic, all your attacks hit them, which does not feel realistic.

@tar-naugrim I think generally the combat from For Honor is too niche to apply to AC but I get what you mean. I'm loving the combat so far, I prefer this slower approach to it and haven't had issues with clunkiness or anything. You just can't go into it the same way you would with Odyssey's combat.
That said, I do agree that the limited stun attacks and executions are tiring. Seems weird that they have so little too considering Odyssey had a few for each weapon type.

@tar-naugrim
How can you complain about the story, when you're skipping the dialogues. That's like saying a book is bad based on it's cover.

I agree on the combat system, though. Imo, it's probably the worst in the series so far.

@netspook Fair point, I did not phrase myself properly in the first comment and I haven't been able to change it for some reason. I meant that I personally cannot get engaged by the story, not sure if it's the acting or the animations...but it just doesn't grab me. The only emotion I felt from the characters so far is when Eivor's mother was shouting at his father to pick up his axe. That was beautiful, everything else just feels emotionless. It get's slightly better when you get to England, but I've been mainly raiding fortresses and exploring. I stopped skipping dialogues, I didn't to skip them fully, but once I read the subtitles I skip it, because it's just boring to listen to them (again personal preference). I haven't skipped anything since I'm in England and it feels better reading the notes left around, they have more emotion.

@i-z-i Just for you. Tell me where is "advanced" fighting?

@tar-naugrim I can relate to everything the OP puts down here. Combat is horrible, it more a street brawn than combat, story is all over the shop, cut scenes are pretty bad, the graphics are dull and boring, and the game runs like a 3 legged turkey. You can tell straight off the bat this was not made by the same team that made Odyssey. Odyssey is still the boss in my Uplay library.