I wasn't interested into the premise of this, and even though it has two playable characters I wasn't excited switching between Jacob and Evie. But I was looking forward to the setting. London here looks really good. The trains, the train stations, the water vehicles, there's a lot of construction sites, bars and markets. I like the scenery and the buildings here seem much taller and the roads are really wide. The thing that made me happy when I started playing this is when I got to use a carriage for free roaming. To me, it elevated the game and made it feel more different compare to Unity. The models of the carriages aren't all the same, and I love making destruction in the city with the cops chasing me. It felt like GTA in the 1800s. I liked the grappling and gliding, especially in the massive surroundings.
The first thing I prioritized here is getting all the collectibles that I can. What I loved about it was it rewarded me Xp points and I wanted Jacob/Evie to be leveled up so much before heading to the main missions. Out of the conquest activities, I liked the child liberation the most, since I could complete the side objective. Templar Hunts were easier and could be done in a minute but I always didn't get 100%. Bounty Hunter was my least favorite and I kinda avoided it early in the game because it was a bit tedious, chasing then kidnapping, then killing the enemies and trying to run away using the carriage. I also didn't like when the gang leaders managed to run away and I sucked here chasing someone using the carriage. The gang strongholds were okay too, I couldn't finish some of the objectives, like finding blueprints to burn, when I was already searching for like ten minutes. The fight clubs, races, carriage activities, train robberies and the boat activities are cool for extra xp and as extra activities. My favorite was sabotaging the blighters in their boats. The "London stories" aren't repetitive, there were some missions that I liked but they weren't really engaging. The World War I section was nice, and I finished all of its activities in 1 day.
I was really indifferent to the main story. Out of the 7 Ac games I've played, this has the least interesting story which is a shame given the setting and that there are two playable characters. Even the real life people that they have featured didn't make much difference to the experience. The only character I really liked was the little girl. The rest just left me indifferent. The present day story here is a lot more interesting than the other post-Desmond games, as it featured the older and newer present day characters interacting with each other. However, the present day stuff here were just all cutscenes.
Other things I didn't like: there's no new game option meaning I have to delete a save file from the storage just to start a game from the very beginning! It just seems such a step backwards decision for the franchise. The loading takes so long! This is second after Unity for having the hardest enemies and the thing is the health upgrades, didn't help much. I already got four health upgrades and got most of the combat and health skills. I had to repeat some of the side quests. Like Unity was more reliable when it came to upgrades because I really noticed the difference after I got the upgrades. Here in Syndicate not really. The game is also quite glitchy. I got the blue screen like five times and most of those times, I was in a mission. Then the most bizarre thing is in one cutscene, Henry was declaring his love to Evie and he was freaking invisible!!! my God, Evie was kissing a ghost, it was just so bizarre!
Technically, this is a good game. I liked the wide areas, getting the Xp points and assigning the skill points, the recruit system, the use of carriages and grapple gun and the ability to switch between two characters. I liked the stealth here, like this is the one game in the series that I actually tried stealthing and not hating it. There wasn't a mission that I had to repeat like five times, though not completing the side objectives was annoying at times, but the missions weren't frustrating compare to previous Ac games. However I wasn't drawn to the main story, and the London stories side missions weren't engaging, and they are the reasons why this game took me so long to finish.
Story: 6/10
Gameplay: 7.5/10
My completion percentages
ac2 62%
acb 69%
acr 82%
acbf 91%
acu 54%
acr 93%
acs 96%
