Ubisoft takes the franchise back to its tradition with the latest installment, Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
Assassin’s Creed has made a tremendous journey since its inception in 2007, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage became the thirteenth installment of the franchise three years after its predecessor, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. As we enter the month of highly anticipated games, Mirage becomes one of the first to release and kick off a memorable few weeks of gaming. Much talk has been about the release of Mirage, as Ubisoft promised to bring back the franchise’s core mechanism that initially made it famous.
Three years since Valhalla, and it’s fair to say that largely due to the gameplay, it was underwhelming, to say the least, and it certainly had fans losing faith in the franchise. Which is why Mirage needs to deliver in order to restore it. But was it able to, though?
Well, you’re going to be happy to know that not only have they managed to create a much superior successor and one that’ll be worth playing, but it’s also one of the best installments in the franchise. But what changes or additions were made for this to be the case? Well, sit back and grab some popcorn as I discuss what was done to make Assassin’s Creed Mirage a great addition to the franchise.
We should start things off by acknowledging that Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s setting is different, and it’s one that most fans will take a strong liking to, taking you to a refreshing Islamic Golden Age. You get to explore the ancient and exotic city of Baghdad in the ninth century. You are Basim, a charming street thief who’s on a high-risk mission to find answers and seek justice.
You’ve joined the organization called the Hidden Ones to train and develop into a master assassin. And as you play through, you’ll unravel the dark secrets of four unique districts that lie in the city. Ubisoft wasn’t kidding when they announced that Assassin’s Creed Mirage would have an astronomically shorter gameplay length than Valhalla. But sometimes, less is more.
However, having said that, Tim’s an interesting concept, but the execution didn’t match, not even close. The story is good, but it’s hardly one that’ll have you at the edge of your seat. It definitely could’ve been written a little better. Nonetheless, it kept me intrigued. And thankfully, the combat, missions, challenges, and much more hugely compensate for this.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is primarily stealth-based, and although Baghdad is a huge map, and it’s great roaming around the city on foot, horses, or camels, it still has linear gameplay and is focal on being a more story-based installment. It’s like the developer was taking us back to the much older days of Assassin’s Creed with Mirage, hence why there aren’t as many role-playing elements and side missions as previous games in recent years. By the way, speaking of camels, did you know they can run? Not many of you knew that, right?
The one thing that gave the Assassin’s Creed franchise its presence from day one is, of course, the stealth, and we’re welcomed back to the great art, and it’s better than ever. You’ll really get to sneak, strike, and vanish your way, and no one should be able to notice. And you can tell that they’ve placed much more emphasis on this in Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
As well as your trusted avian eagle friend named Enkidu that can do things such as unlock hidden areas – albeit, they can now be attacked by nearby marksmen, you also have the Black Box system where in missions, you scout specific locations and identify different ways to reach your targets and assassinate them without being caught.
Another example is the Notoriety system, where you become a wanted man if you’re caught committing crimes such as stealing and, of course, murdering people. If you think that’s bad, then you’ll realize how much more challenging life gets when you pretty much cannot go anywhere in public because civilians will alert the guards of your presence, especially if you fill in all three icons.
After removing enough wanted posters or paying someone to clear your name, you’ll go back to the shadows. There are other unique ways to distract guards. Which now includes having musicians playing harmonizing tracks on their instruments or getting a popular someone to clear your name. But these don’t come for free. You’ll have to pay a small fee for them to perform.
But there are two mechanics you must know about in Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and the ones you will love the most, which will take your stealth to the next level. One of them is the new and elevated pickpocketing system, where you first have to use the eagle vision to find people who possess pouches that you can loot.
Then, you’ll have to be right behind them and then press the required button to enter a quick-time event. In these quick time events, there is a large diamond-shaped icon and a smaller blue-shaped diamond bar inside the icon. It’s your job to make sure that you press the required button when the larger diamond is aligned with the inner diamond to pickpocket successfully. Obviously, if you fail to do this, your target will alert the guards, and you’ll need to make a quick getaway.
Now, it can get trickier because the size of the blue inner diamond changes in size depending on how aware your target is. For example, if your target has high awareness of their surroundings, the inner diamond will be much smaller, making it much harder for you to Rob them without being noticed. Also, after successfully pickpocketing someone, you’ll have to leave right away because the person you looted will find out they were robbed and, in many cases, will call for guards.
The other is the new ability that made its way into Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and that’s the “Assassin Focus”. This mechanic involves several different ways of eliminating multiple enemies at the same time, consisting of many different stealth execution animations to take your breath away (no pun intended).
When you’re using the focus in Assassin’s Creed Mirage, time will stop, and you’ll perform a chain of takedowns to the enemies in quick succession. Note that you can only mark up to five enemies, and the ability recharges when you perform stealth kills. This ability comes in handy in various situations, including multiple enemies in close proximity, and the only way to surpass them without being spotted is to perform the focus.
But with all the stealth talk, that doesn’t mean combat isn’t involved. In fact, it’s encouraged at times in some missions. And despite being a stealth-based title, Assassin’s Creed Mirage takes pride in itself with excellent combat that features several exciting slice-and-dice animations, especially after executing perfect parries. Moreover, Basim has a large arsenal of weapons, tools, and other resources. Swords, daggers, throwing knives, blow darts, smoke bombs, and much more give you a plentiful of ways to get one over your enemies, whether it’s during combat or stealth.
Plus, you can make them all-powerful by upgrading them with skill trees that enable you to apply different effects on them, as well as your and Enkidu’s personal skill trees that consist of new and upgraded abilities. And to give your assassin the great look you desire, you can customize his look by going through your inventory, which’s filled with gorgeous outfits, costumes, talismans, and more.
Valhalla is simply a thing of the past. Assassin’s Creed Mirage has brought the fine art of stealth back to the franchise in a great fashion. And with many exciting ways, including the brand-new focus mechanic, you have more than enough tools to accurately portray the ultimate assassin. Although the story isn’t perfect, besides that, the developer has done splendidly to take the franchise back to the top by moving to the more traditional side, and that’ll surely give the fans hope for projects in the future.
