Assassin’s Creed Mirage: A Return to the Roots

Assassin’s Creed, the popular series of open-world action games developed by Ubisoft, has been around for 15 years. The series was once known for its distinct narrative depth, but over the years, it has spread thin. After the critically acclaimed and fan-favourite Ezio saga, subsequent titles saw a dip in quality. The game transformed into an interminable open-world RPG designed to maximise playtimes and retain players through never-ending content additions, DLCs, and repetitive checklist chores spread across massive maps.

Old-time fans of the series want an Assassin’s Creed game with a smaller scope and increased focus on what made the early games stand out. Ubisoft’s answer is Assassin’s Creed Mirage—a leaner, stealthier, and shorter game that attempts to recapture the essence of its ancestors.

The Return to the Roots

Assassin’s Creed Mirage started off as a DLC for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and soon became its own thing. Last month’s PlayStation Showcase gave us a look at its gameplay, and now, Ubisoft Forward, the publisher’s in-house showcase held late Monday, dives deeper into the next Assassin’s Creed.

The game follows the story of Basim Ibn Ishq, first seen as a crucial supporting character in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, charting his origins as a common street thief in 9th-century Baghdad. The game showcases his introduction to the Brotherhood and the ways of the assassins under his mentor Roshan, and his transformation into a master assassin.

Developers say that their goal was to pay homage to old Assassin’s Creed games, detailing the design philosophy driving the title. There is an increased focus on stealth mechanics, a departure from recent action-heavy titles that encouraged open combat. Free-running now receives special treatment in Assassin’s Creed Mirage with new animations and mechanics enabling smooth traversal through the rooftops of Baghdad.

In the game showcase, developers released a more story-focused trailer that dives into Basim’s conflicting emotions about the path of the Hidden Ones and what it means to be truly free. Basim is also haunted by nightmarish visions that may hold the key to larger truths he is yet to discover.

The gameplay walkthrough showcases Basim parkouring his way to his next assassination target, holed up inside a heavily secured fortress. You can now sit on a bench in the game and fast forward time to your liking; nighttime would likely provide more cover during a mission. Just like in previous games, Basim can scope out the area with the aid of his eagle. This time, however, enemies can also notice your avian companion, and can shoot and injure your scout, discouraging overuse.

Basim then blends in with the moving crowd, sneaks past some guards, and takes out others standing in his way. Once he infiltrates the base and has his target in his view, we see him utilise a new special ability that lets you mark targets and execute a simultaneous multiple-kill. This is very reminiscent of the mark-and-execute mechanic in Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell games. Basim then assassinates his main target and evades capture with the help of some smoke bombs and social stealth.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is set to release on October 12. From the gameplay snippet shown, Mirage seems to be walking the same road that the first game and the Ezio trilogy built. But in its atavistic approach, there is a lingering risk of playing it safe. Ubisoft’s next bet must also bring its own new ideas.

The showcase also featured two other games in the 2023 AC lineup. Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, already confirmed for late 2023, got a detailed pre-rendered trailer, showing off first-person VR parkour and combat. In it, you get to relive the memories of three assassins from the series. Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade, the upcoming mobile AC title, also received a lengthy gameplay trailer at the showcase. The game, built on Unreal Engine, follows the format of recent open-world RPG titles in the series and is set during the times of the Qin dynasty in China.