I’ve been revisiting anno 2205, infamously the ugly duckling of the Anno series of RTS games. I don’t mind so much the fact that it’s different, lacks customisation and random map generation - I’m bothered because the game is so slow to progress through on challenge settings, and it feels like a game designed just to artificially waste your time; in other anno games, you can always pull tricks to dig yourself out of economic crisis - selling off assets and surplus goods, completing quests for other parties, or taking loans. 2205 is very very confined in terms of what you can do to financially recover in the early game and forces you into a lot of military events.
I am currently paying through Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and I have a love/hate relationship with it. On the one hand the story, the acting, the visuals, … are all top notch. However, they also made it impossible to play as assassin - even more so than in Origins. The protagonist constantly reminds the player to stay hidden, but then none of the bigger targets are killable in one hit. Having to use an assassination hit once, and then hide until they forget you, is no fun. Especially if you need to do that 5+ times for one enemy. Some of the later game skills help, but it’s still more fighting than assassinating. In an AC game. It sucks.
Even worse, there are a ton of scripted fights, where you simply cannot do assassinations. Open a door in a cut scene and immediately get jumped by five guys. Kill a whole camp and sneak up to the boss, only to start a cut scene where you brazenly and openly challenge him. It sucks.
But then there’s an emotional reunion or a cool side quest, and it’s all good again. Until the next fight.