Assassin's Creed lll isn't short on dramatic set pieces. Escaping a dilapidated boat as it collapses into the sea or taking a stroll through a village under siege instantly come to mind, but funnily enough those weren't the highlights of the game for me. It wasn't the vast, fully-explorable cities or Frontier either. It wasn't even the huge, spit-take inducing shocker at the end of Sequence 3. No, what I liked best was perhaps the most unexciting thing in the game.

At first the idea of the Homestead sounds like a chore - why would anyone want to be building up a village while elsewhere a historical war was taking place? The talk of a "homestead economy" didn't really help to liven up the hype either, because I wasn't planning on buying the game to set up a business.

But I was wrong. Instead of wanting to go and take down some Templars, I found myself drawn to simply talking to the people back at the Homestead and helping them with their various problems. Each character had their own personality, background and aspirations and I felt like it was my responsibility to aid them in their respective endeavours. It's something that the previous Assassin's Creed games lacked - a break from the constant slaughter of nameless soldiers and a chance to really feel like I was part of a community. I could be assassinating a Templar general one minute, but then helping a hapless miner choose a present for his crush another. It was baffling. 

However, seeing my Homestead grow was a refreshing and rewarding experience, as the amount of missions I had to undertake to reach the peak was undoubtedly countless. Surprisingly, the less action-oriented ones turned out to be the ones that I ended up enjoying the most. Sure, chasing a thief down is all good fun, but attending a wedding that I helped make happen was a unique and satisfying gaming experience like no other. It wasn't all perfect however, as I cannot deny that herding a trio of obnoxious pigs into their pen was frustrating. At least hearing Connor's constant bouts of anger towards them told me I wasn't alone.

The Homestead missions could well have been a standalone game. In just a few hours worth of side missions, Ubisoft managed to make me feel a variety of emotions including immense sorrow at the finale, all with minimal murder. They were not what I expected when I bought the game, and therefore offered a huge bonus on top of what was already an incredibly immersive campaign.

The Homestead also offers something that you won't find anywhere else in the game: Connor actually smiles at a couple of points. A couple.