I don't know when I started this game (sometime last summer), but (for now) it concludes my binging of the assassin's creed series on the Xbox (and I can say that I am 'all caught up' - at least as far as video games go - yes I wrote this last summer and I didn't bother updating this initial text 😝).  The game starts off with the last of the Medjay -an elite group of warriors who were serving the pharaohs  in Egypt.  After tragedy befalls this last Medjay (by the name of Bayek), he sets off on a mission to avenge his dead son, and in the process discovering a web of corruption powered by ancient artefacts. At the end of the game, once everyone is killed, he and his wife (who takes on the name Amunet and relocated to Rome) form the 'hidden ones' who are the precursors of the assassin brotherhood.

The game is quite different in pacing from previous games.  Still open world, but the mechanics have taken on a much more RPG feel to them.  This seemed perfectly fine to me (regardless of the vitriol that this game seems to have gotten online), and I ended up finishing every mission in the main game and in the expansions. The only mission I haven't completed is the Trial of the Gods because one of the trials (the Trial of Sobek) has yet to spawn.  I did reach max level (55) and I've unlocked all skills except for 2 (need 6 more points!), which I can grind through the game to earn, but with the main story completed there is little motivation to do this.

Overall the mechanics were easy to get a hang of once I played for an hour or so. Having come from Syndicate, the button placement seemed rather weird, but you get used to it.  The game gas stunning visuals, and none are better (IMO) than those in the afterlife maps in the Curse of the Pharaohs expansion.  I did try the discovery mode, which places you on a virtual tour of Ancient Egypt, doing something that AC games have been doing since the first one: teaching you history. The guided museum tour was a nice touch, and the usability seemed good.  I wonder if they are going to do this for AC: Odyssey (update: as of today, it doesn't seem like it).

In terms of some game stats:

Gamerscore: 1015/1500
Achievements earned: 45
Time played: 4 days and 7.5 hours
Player level: 55
Players avenged: 25
Arena champions defeated: 9

Overall I loved this game! Definitely something to come back to once the pile of unplayed games (will this ever happen???) :-)