I want to play AC Shadows, but I'm more broken than Ubisoft

If the distinct lack of updates wasn't an indicator, then let this be your clue: I haven't been able to play anything new lately. My limited game time have been split between Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries, and Star Citizen (4.1 is out, and while everybody is out murderhoboing each other with the new content, I'm over here in Pyro enjoying T0 item recovery and doing bounties in my best armor). That's because those games can be played with my VKB HOSAS sticks, which are much easier for me to operate on bad pain days (of which there have been a lot).

Assassin's Creed: Shadows is an AC title I've been wanting to play for a long, long time.. And now that it's finally out, I've only been able to spend about an hour in-game (just the Yasuke intro), because my hands are only functional enough for this style of game in the early mornings.. And even then, a virgin must be sacrificed and a specific kind of flower has to bloom inside a shit-caked toilet over at Asmongold's house (meaning it happens, but not often).

I guess you could call this a first impressions of my first impressions, so let me talk about it just briefly.

Visually, the game is impressive. Ubisoft has always been pretty good at visual storytelling relative to it's peers (although MGS and Cyberpunk 2077 do kick ass harder in that regard), and this has just worked.

Voice acting is a little hit-and-miss; I'm playing with English audio because my eyes also don't work like they used to, so reading subtitles while also drinking in the visuals can be a challenge. I hear the subtitled version is more immersive (much like Ghost of Tsushima, which this gets compared to a lot), but I don't really plan on delving much into that just because I need English VOs nowadays (and sometimes even both the English VO and subtitles, because I'm a 40-something in a 70-something's body).

Gameplay is.. Well, it's actually really good, what little I've experienced.

I expected to spend my time playing as Naoe once I got both unlocked (and I probably still will), but Yasuke's combat is not bad at all. It's fluid, and not punishing for someone who's dexterity is more reminiscent of a panda that keeps falling off a small ledge it's trying to climb. Keep in mind this is with all the difficulty settings left at the default "normal". While some folks will want more of a challenge, I was worried I wouldn't even be able to play normal anymore, so this is a welcome surprise.

There is a lot of granularity here, by the way.. In both difficulty and accessibility.

AbleToPlay gave AC: Shadows a 96 score for me, and I'd agree with that. Ubisoft tends to rock the accessibility stuff, and they did well here.

I'm hoping I'll be able to play more this weekend, but.. We'll see. I'm not getting my hopes up.