u/Aragonex

AC Shadows just feels painfully underwhelming. Ubisoft has been on a downward spiral for years now and this game somehow manages to make that even more obvious. I absolutely hated Mirage, but at least Mirage knew what kind of game it wanted to be. Shadows just feels confused. Last truly great Assassin’s Creed for me was Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Odyssey was everything I wanted from modern AC. Massive world, beautiful atmosphere, addictive exploration, naval combat, freedom to approach things however you wanted, and somehow hundreds of hours just disappeared while playing it. And after playing Ghost of Tsushima, Shadows feels even more underwhelming. Tsushima already perfected that cinematic samurai fantasy years ago. The combat felt clean, traversal felt fluid, the world had soul. Shadows constantly feels like it’s chasing that vibe without ever understanding why Tsushima worked in the first place. What hurts even more is how little actual Assassin lore is left now. The older AC games had mystery, conspiracy, tension between Assassins and Templars, the whole hidden war happening behind history. That was the identity of the franchise. Now it just feels like Ubisoft picks a historical setting first and then awkwardly stuffs the AC logo on top of it later. And Yasuke… man, playing as him was frustrating. They tried to force the mobility and stealth style of an assassin onto a massive armored samurai and it just never felt natural to me. The movement felt heavy in all the wrong ways. I genuinely only switched to him whenever the story forced me to. Every time I got control back, I immediately went back to Naoe because at least she actually felt like an Assassin’s Creed character. Ubisoft used to make games that felt ambitious. Now everything feels focus-tested, bloated and safe. Shadows isn’t terrible, which somehow makes it even more disappointing. It’s just another reminder of how far this franchise has drifted from what made people fall in love with it in the first place.

15,000 km into the Hyundai i20 N Line and I still look back at it every single time after parking. That feeling never really went away. There is something about this car that quietly grows on you the more you live with it. Not in a dramatic sports car way. More in the way it makes daily driving feel less exhausting and strangely enjoyable.

The driving experience is honestly the biggest reason I still love this car. It feels planted, eager, and surprisingly confident during overtakes. There is this smooth surge when you put your foot down on the highway, especially in rolling acceleration situations. It does not explode forward violently, but it gathers speed with enough urgency to make overtaking feel effortless and safe. For a city hatchback, it genuinely feels mature.

The interiors still feel special after all these kilometres. Hyundai absolutely nailed the cabin experience here. The red accents, the seats, the steering wheel, the overall layout, everything still feels premium every time I step inside. More importantly, nothing feels tired yet. No annoying rattles, no cheapness slowly revealing itself over time. The cabin insulation is also excellent. Shut the door and the outside world disappears better than you would expect from a hatchback in this segment.

And the music system deserves special mention. Combined with the cabin isolation, this car becomes a genuine treat for an audiophile like me. Late night drives with good music playing inside this cabin feel incredibly immersive. The sound feels clean, deep, and surprisingly rich for a car in this segment. There are moments during long drives where the outside traffic almost fades away completely and the cabin starts feeling like a small moving studio.

Service experience has also been surprisingly smooth so far. No horror stories, no endless arguments at service centres, no major reliability scares. Just routine maintenance and peace of mind, which honestly matters more than flashy features once you start living with a car long term.

But the tyres. God, the tyres.

The road noise is easily my biggest complaint with this car. On certain roads, especially rough Indian highways, the tyre noise starts creeping into the cabin far more than it should. Which is frustrating because the car itself actually has very good cabin isolation otherwise. You can tell Hyundai tried hard with NVH tuning, but the stock tyres almost undo part of that effort. At higher speeds on coarse roads, the tyre roar becomes impossible to ignore.

And then there is the throttle note. This is where my relationship with the car becomes confusing. Sometimes I absolutely love it. There are moments during quick acceleration where the exhaust and engine note add just enough character to make the car feel alive. But other times it sounds artificial and slightly overdone, almost like the car is trying too hard to convince you it is sporty. It sits somewhere between charming and gimmicky depending on the day.

Mileage is honestly pathetic, but that is also the reality of living with a small turbo petrol if you enjoy driving it properly. In city traffic, it mostly stays around 8 to 9 kmpl. The best I have managed so far was during a relaxed interstate highway drive where it touched around 14.5 kmpl. You do pay for the performance and responsiveness at the fuel pump. Whether that tradeoff feels worth it depends entirely on what you expect from the car.

Still, after 15,000 km, I genuinely enjoy driving this car. It is not perfect. It has flaws that become obvious once the honeymoon phase ends. But it also has personality, and that matters more than people admit. The i20 N Line somehow manages to make ordinary drives feel slightly less ordinary, and honestly, that is probably the biggest compliment I can give it.❤️

Been using the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro 4 with my S25 Ultra for a few weeks now and overall I’m genuinely happy with the purchase.

The integration with Samsung phones is honestly one of the best parts of the experience. Everything feels seamless and polished in a way you stop noticing after a while because it simply works. Pairing, switching devices, call quality, ANC, all of it feels very refined.Sound quality has been really good too. The tuning feels balanced without trying too hard to overwhelm you with bass. Vocals are clear, instrument separation is decent, and they work well across pretty much every genre I listen to. Are they the absolute best sounding earbuds I’ve ever used? Probably not. But they’re consistently enjoyable, which matters more to me in daily use.The only issue I’ve personally faced is some discomfort in my left ear during longer sessions. But honestly I think that’s more because of the shape of my ear than a problem with the buds themselves. My right ear feels completely fine, which makes me think the fit just isn’t perfectly suited for my left ear anatomy.

In terms of pure comfort, I’d still probably give the edge to the Sony WF 1000XM5 buds. Those disappear into my ears more naturally during long listening sessions. But the Buds Pro 4 definitely hold their own overall, especially if you’re already deep into the Samsung ecosystem.

These aren’t the kind of earbuds that try to impress you with one dramatic feature. They just quietly become reliable everyday companions, and honestly that’s probably the biggest compliment I can give them.