Well, I took the plunge and after it refusing to load from start up - apparently, MSI afterburner is the issue at launch but not when you load the game and then run it after that, so WTF - and after some tedious UPlay or whatever, the game is actually very, very fun. Like, REALLY fun. I have no idea how the map works which is annoying me because this is my first AC and I'm sure it is ingrained in not-new-to-series-players but I've got zero idea where to go and the indicators are awful.
Also took me a while to realise that the reason I can't jump is because I can go up vertically. This is SO much fun and unexpected. Oh, see thing in distance? Just climb all of those things and go there! So liberating.
Graphics are good, character (Kass) is great so far, lip-synch is meh, sense of scale is large. For anyone else on the cusp like I was earlier, dive in