Assassin’s Creed Shadows has convinced me that Ubisoft will never make a good RPG

Assassin’s Creed made the jump from sneaky action sandboxes to full-fledged RPGs a long time ago, and at first the novelty of all the loot, skill trees, dialogue choices and quests were enough to make it seem like Ubisoft had been successful in its pivot. But the more of these RPGs it makes, the more the gaps become obvious.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is chock-full of RPG systems—possibly more than any other Assassin’s Creed—but their lack of depth reveals a fundamental problem that, at this point, I doubt the series will ever overcome: Assassin’s Creed is an action series cosplaying an RPG.

It goes through the checklist of RPG traits, furiously ticking away: an absurd array of weapons and outfits, extensive skill trees for both protagonists, frequent dialogue choices, romantic relationships and more quests than any reasonable person has time for. How could this be anything other than an RPG?