#but at least that one revolves around an assassin/templar conflict the entire time

[love-fireflysong]

God, so I've been playing the Assassin's Creed Rogue remaster recently (mostly cause I haven't played it since I beat to original back in like 2016 lol) and I keep getting constantly reminded that while this one and Black Flag are nowhere near my fav AC games, they certainly did shine in one particular aspect for me: the modern day conflict that constantly runs in the background.

I know it's such a controversial opinion, but honestly one of my fav parts of the series has always been the modern day war between the Templar and Assassin orders. Like I love it so much you have no idea. I always get so excited in the older games when you got shunted out of the animus and got to wander around and talk to your companions and read emails or found little voice files that hint towards all the other shit that's taking place while you have your little adventure in the past. I'm obsessed with it frankly. It's why I love the comics so much but have read so little of the novelizations: the latter spends absolutely no time delving into that clusterfuck. (The game novelizations that is, the novels based in the AC world are another thing entirely and I've enjoyed each of them immensely).

Like I need you to understand, I was fucking *devastated* when they removed it almost entirely from Unity and Syndicate, it was only the fact that I still got *some* hints from the databases and whatever video footage they showed that placated me. And yeah I know they made an extremely minor return in Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, but only being able to explore like two or three time with basically no new information honestly means that I wonder why they were even included sometimes. That coupled with the fact that they removed the database entries *entirely* was pretty much a kick in the teeth for me. Sure they have the discovery tours now but that's really not the same thing. The history nerd in me loved loved LOVED anytime I went somewhere new and I got that ping of a new entry to read.

But I digress.

And I get it. I really do. Some people absolutely *hated* the modern day story line while the select few like me adore every scrap of information we can get for it. Hell, fucking Ubisoft's even come out and said that it's literally impossible for them to please everyone. One side will complain about being outside of the animus for a even a single moment while my camp will complain about there not being nearly enough of it. There is legitimately no middle ground to reach for our two camps. And I get that. That's why they made the choice that they're starting to move all of the modern conflict to online so those of us who do love it can seek it out on our own time, while the other can ignore it entirely.

It just sucks for me that while the newer games have a much more polished gameplay and are admittedly funner to play, it's the older ones that have, in my opinion, the best overarching story lines and beats.