IMO the open world was a bad shift for the AC games, I haven't enjoyed one since Unity. Hoping Mirage is solid, but they lost my trust so I won't pay full price either
AC has kinda been open world the whole time it's when they expanded it then changed every mechanic of the game. It became less about being a stealth assassin and more about brute strength. Large out in the open combat instead of death from the shadows.
That's fair, maybe I misattributed what I disliked about what changed. But I like what you said about it going from being a stealthy assassin to being an open combat game - feels like it lost the heart of the franchise to me. Another element for me is that they went after being a bit more of a Skyrim-scale open world, which is not my preferred game type (I find them too long, which for me dilutes the punch of the story)