Assassin's Creed Mirage Review

A nod to the original.

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Platform: PS4/5 Xbox X|S PC

Reviewed on: PC

Developer: Ubisoft Bordeaux

Publisher: Ubisoft

Release: Oct 5, 2023

Time Played: 18 hours

Genre: Action-Adventure

ESRB: M

In Assassin’s Creed Mirage, you are Basim, a cunning street thief with nightmarish visions seeking answers and justice.

Join an ancient organization and come to understand a new creed – one that will change Basim’s fate in ways he never could have imagined.

A POWERFUL COMING-OF-AGE STORY

Discover a narrative-driven action-adventure experience that follows the transformation of a defiant young man into a refined Master Assassin with a conflicted destiny. Meet an inspiring cast of characters who will shape Basim’s destiny and may be more than what they seem…

THE ULTIMATE ASSASSIN

Become the most versatile Assassin in franchise history. Parkour seamlessly through the city and leverage the largest assortment of tools to date. Get contracts at the Assassin’s bureaus, collect vital clues, and stealthily take down targets with more visceral assassinations than ever before.

AN IMMERSIVE, REACTIVE CITY

Explore a dense and vibrant city whose inhabitants react to your every move. Uncover the secrets of four unique districts, from the industrial Karkh to the lush gardens of the Round City. Discover surprising world events and interact with historical figures that shaped the Golden Age of Baghdad.

A TRIBUTE TO AN ORIGINAL

Experience a modern take on the features and gameplay that have defined a franchise for 15 years. Journey to Alamut, the legendary home of the Assassins who laid the foundations of the Creed in this heartfelt homage to the game that started it all.

Review-

Intro:

The Assassin’s Creed series has been around for almost sixteen years, consisting of many games and spin offs. The last few releases have changed the game up a bit with more open world and rpg aspects, but Assassin’s Creed Mirage is going back to the old formula. Depending on your own Assassin’s Creed experience, if any, this may be completely new to you, or a welcome break from the new norm, maybe even a disappointment if your not ready to go back. Either way, allow me to give you a nice overview of the gameplay, it might help you decide, and ultimately rate the game placing it on one of my shelves.

Where it Starts:

This game starts out following a young Basim, one of the main characters of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, growing up on the streets as a thief. Aware of the existence of the Hidden Ones, he wants so badly to join and make more of himself, bring a higher sense of being. In a rash choice for their attention, Basim attempts to steal something they want, when things don’t go as planned he is forced to leave town, with the Hidden Ones protection. With some training he’s ready to head back home, on a mission to save Baghdad.

Can the kids watch?:

Being a game focusing around the actions of assassins, you can imagine the game can get quite bloody and graphic. Most deaths aren’t simple either, when taking out an enemy there is a short animation of plunging a sword right into their chest, or a quick slice threw the neck. So yea, I would definitely think about the kids’ maturity level before watching this kind of gameplay.

Gameplay:

A Throwback

Mirage does feel a lot like the old Assassin’s Creed games did. No more character levels or giant open worlds to explore. The game takes place in one city, with some smaller towns surrounding it. You get main missions where you will need to investigate and find clues leading you to an evil individual using their power for ill gains. The investigations can get quite old, and boring with some action peppered in there. I found a lot of the missions to be boring and time consuming. It was mostly go check this place out, find a couple notes, check out another place, maybe assassinate someone, now we know who the big baddie is to assassinate, time to go find them. I think monotonous is a fitting word for the game.

Traversing Baghdad

The hidden ones have mastered the art of climbing and hiding. Moving throughout the city hunting down targets, Basim climb almost any wall or object to get him where he needs to go. Sometimes he needs to scope out an area from the tallest building, or sneak around the rafters for the perfect assassination, wherever it is, he can get there. The only thing holding him back is user error at times, it could be tough to tilt the stick in the exact spot needed to climb the right way.

Contracts

In between story missions there were side contracts that could be picked up and completed. The rewards for completing a contract would be some upgrading materials, skill points, and various faction tokens. Those would have a few different uses like opening some chests, getting discounts as shops, or convincing someone to help you out with something. Side contracts were straight forward, but if you want a greater reward you would have to adhere to the main request, being something like taking no damage or not being detected during the job.

Gear

There were only three pieces of gear that really mattered toward gameplay, the rest were just cosmetic related. You get a sword, dagger, and clothing. There were only a few different pieces throughout the whole game, each with their own unique advantage during combat. The gear can be upgraded at the correct vendor, that would involve the right amount of materials, and an upgrade schematic for that specific piece of gear. Upgraded equipment would increase damage output, and how much it helped your actions.

Gear chests

Scattered throughout the game will be gear chests, usually difficult to get to and held within restricted areas. You could find them by scanning the area from synchronization points or using your eagle’s eyes to locate them. Some of the chests will give you new equipment to wear, but most of them will contain a schematic needed to upgrade a piece of gear. After finding the gear I liked to use they were very easy to ignore.

Restricted areas

A lot of places around Baghdad will have restricted access, and be crawling with guards. Most of the restricted areas will be involved in the story of the game. When you first arrive you can scout the area for various entrances or a small group of people that could help you in, for a price. While in a restricted area you cannot be seen by the guards or they will immediately attack. Basim can hold his own in a fight, but sometimes you might be better off to run away and try again. Combat wasn’t difficult to understand, attack, parry, and dodge. If you want to fight everything that is completely doable, but it feels more rewarding to sneak around and get what needs done without being noticed, even if it takes a little longer to do that.

Notoriety

If you happen to be noticed doing something illegal, you will gain a little notoriety. There were three levels to go through, with guards increasing perception and abilities with each level. At the highest-level elite guards will start to spawn and let me tell you they are damn mean. They can’t be taken out with a single assassination, and they hit hard. If you don’t want to deal with that, you can lower the notoriety in a couple different ways, tearing down wanted posters decreasing a level with each one, or paying off a town crier with a token, taking away all notoriety.

Skill Tree

Basim does have a skill tree to fill out while playing. With three main branches dealing with a specific area of gameplay. Skill points were earned through main missions and some contracts so there weren’t any grinding areas to cap out the tree early on. Thankfully the skill tree can be redone whenever you like, most of it anyway. There were a couple of skills that increased Basim’s tool belt, points that I put in there could never be taken out again. It was pretty annoying considering I only ever used a couple tools and those points could have been better spent somewhere else.

Collectibles

If you feel like story missions and side contracts aren’t enough to keep you entertained you’re in luck because there were a lot of things to hunt down in every area of the game. From pickpocketing select NPCs to solving minor puzzles for collectibles, you’ll have your work cut out for you, that is if you want to collect it all. Some collectibles will give you some fun facts about the area or could be turned into special individuals for rewards like upgrading materials. They will have a marker on the map too if you find enough synchronization points, so it’s not a nightmare to find it all.

Conclusion:

I did know this was going to be like the originals when I got the game, but I was surprised to find it so boring. I did prefer sneaking to fighting so there wasn’t as much action, but I remember how much I loved sneaking into an area, taking guards out quietly, and slipping away into the darkness. I don’t know maybe I’m just more impatient now than I was at a younger age. But the game overall did seem simplified. Combat was basic, gear and collectibles were basically handed to me it didn’t feel challenging, just kind of a job. For the final half of the game I just really wanted to finish so I ignored everything except the main story, and it still took me around eighteen hours to finish the entire game. So, let’s get it rated and placed on a shelf.

As with most Assassin’s Creed games Mirage does not slack when it comes to the scenery. For the most part, historically accurate and beautiful, especially when viewing the surrounding areas from a sync point. The only downfall being the characters, they didn’t feel finished, but it’s still getting a four.

The story wasn’t completely cliché, but close enough to recognize what’s going on and how things were going to go. It didn’t grab tightly, but was entertaining enough, let’s go with a three

The gameplay did take me back, sneaking and climbing everywhere, even the accidental climbing of some random object in a different direction. I will say it felt like combat was just kind of thrown together quickly, not being the main objective of the game, I’m giving it another three.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage was a nice familiar taste of what things used to be, but not good enough to come back for seconds, I don’t see myself wanted to touch the game again after beating it once. That’s a one

I did enjoy the sneaking around, not as much as I used to, but it was still satisfying to pile up a lot of guards in the same spot as they came to checkout what was going on. I did find myself bored through a lot of the game getting to the next point in the story, so I’m going middle of the road with another three.

Giving Assassin’s Creed Mirage an average score of two point eight. Almost can’t go more down the middle than that, giving it a cozy spot right there on the midshelf.

If you’re a die hard Assassin’s Creed fan you would definitely enjoy this game, hell you probably already have it, if you’ve never played an Assassin’s Creed, I would recommend trying one of the older games first, this does not feel like a good intro into the series.