What's Old Is New Again?

A review of Assassin's Creed Mirage.

Before reading this review, it should be noted that this game is rated M for mature. Although video games can often be enjoyed by younger players, this particular title contains certain elements that are not appropriate for children. I will try and keep this review as clean and family friendly as possible, since I want content on this blog to be enjoyed by everyone. Always check a game's rating before allowing children to play.

As it turns out, the phrase “back to basics” can be applied to video games.

When Assassin's Creed launched in 2007, few would have believed that it would become one of the most prominent gaming franchises. The first game was mostly well received, but some players complained that the mechanics were too simple and the game had a difficult time balancing challenge and unfair difficulty. Assassin’s Creed 2 made the necessary changes and became universally beloved. It is often considered one of the best titles in the series. As the franchise grew, it seemed to hold steady footing over the next few years with an occasional slight misstep.

But as time went on, it became clear that cracks were starting to form. The games started to feel repetitive, and it didn't really seem like anything new was being done. It didn't help that a new Assassin's Creed was being released every year and so newer titles felt more rushed and incomplete. An infamous example came in the form of Assassin's Creed Unity, which launched with so many glitches and bugs that it made the game unplayable for most players.

By the mid 2010s, Ubisoft finally realized they needed to do something before their golden goose was completely cooked. In an attempt to breathe new life into the franchise they took a completely different approach with Assassin's Creed Origins. Instead of being a stealth action game with historical elements, Origins was an open world RPG that focused on mythology and fantasy rather than science fiction. The change in direction definitely caught fans’ attention, and the title seemed to be favorably received. They then tried the same formula with their next title, Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Once again, most players seemed to enjoy it, but many lifelong fans felt as though it didn't seem like an Assassin's Creed game.

Instead of focusing on stealth and puzzle solving and being discreet in their actions, these new games encouraged open combat and were starting to feel generic considering the current gaming trends at the time. It all came to a head with Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Valhalla came at an interesting time. The world was in a global pandemic and many individuals were being encouraged to stay home as much as possible. This meant that people didn't mind sitting down and getting lost in a longer and more detailed game. The problem with Valhalla was that it was too long. Many players complained that the story seemed to drag and after a while it was no longer fun but tedious and exhausting.

All of this led to Assassin's Creed Mirage. Ubisoft initially announced Mirage as an expansion of Valhalla through additional downloadable content. As time went on, the simple story gained enough traction to become its own title. The game’s reveal trailer was released in fall of 2022 and the game was officially released in October of 2023.

I have a confession before this review continues-up until now, I hadn't really been all that invested in Assassin's Creed for several years. Assassin's Creed 2 was my introduction to the series, and I absolutely loved it. But after I played Assassin's Creed 3, the series just faded into the background for me. I picked up Odyssey and Origins sometime after their release and found that I wasn't really a fan of the RPG mechanics. Now I have played those types of games before and enjoyed them, but here it felt like the developers were trying to force a puzzle piece into a spot where it didn't fit. I actually quite enjoyed their educational mode where you could walk around the respective ancient cities and do virtual guided tours. I spent more time trying to learn actual history than playing the games themselves. But Mirage piqued my interest because the developers claimed they were “going back to their roots.”

For those who have never played Assassin's Creed let me briefly summarize the main conflict. The Assassins (also known as The Hidden Ones) are at war with the Templars (known in this title as The Order.) The Order seeks to maintain control through oppression and obedience. The Hidden Ones fight back from the shadows, taking out important targets to destabilize The Order.

In Mirage, we follow Basim, a street thief in 9th century Baghdad. After a heist goes terribly wrong, he is forced to flee and is thrust into the world of the Hidden Ones. Many years later Basim has become a Hidden One himself and returns to Baghdad to stop The Order and their nefarious schemes. Basim is also haunted by confusing dreams and visions that hint at something stranger. Ultimately, Basim is faced with the choice of defending the Creed that he knows or going against it to find his true destiny.

The core gameplay mechanics focus on running across rooftops and infiltrating buildings, fighting off guards to get to your main target. Although open conflict is a possibility if the player is not careful, the main focus involves sticking to the shadows and hiding places. This is a welcome change of pace from the previous installments, and I do feel that the stealth was done particularly well. Basim has a multitude of tools to avoid being caught including throwing knives, smoke bombs, and blow darts. However, some of the newer elements do carry over and it doesn't always work. For instance, you have an eagle companion that you are required to call upon to mark your main objective… which is often already marked on your compass at the top of the screen. Instead of being given your main targets directly you often have to track down other individuals to gain clues about the main target before you are allowed to confront them. It can become tedious knowing you have to take out this person to get to the next person to get to your main target which is only one of several main targets. I will admit that I genuinely enjoyed running across rooftops and finding new and innovative pathways. It felt fluid and was very reminiscent of the older titles.

There's something oddly satisfying about taking out an enemy from above.

When it was announced that the main story would take around 20 to 30 hours to complete, many gamers spoke up saying they felt it was too short. For me, it made sense considering that this game was originally supposed to be an expansion of a previous title. And quite honestly, there were times where it felt too long simply because of the direction and story choices that were made. Having to take out three or four additional people just to get to a single main target became exhausting after a while. I wanted to get to the meat of the story and was forced to run around and do extra side missions. In the original titles the main mission was clearly marked on the map and although there was an occasional side quest here and there, it seemed to fit well. Here, all the extra targets and assassinations felt like padding in a game that was already shorter than most.

The story itself didn't grip me in the way I expected. I found myself wishing for cutscenes to hurry up so that I could get back to running across rooftops. The writers were clearly going for an element of mystery, but I didn't feel the need to try and solve it. I just wanted to enjoy what Assassin's Creed was supposed to be.

I loved forging my own path. Sometimes I would simply stop and enjoy the view.

The visuals here are split right down the middle. The city backdrops and landscapes were stunning, and it was wonderful to climb up high and look around. The character models were a bit strange at times and in cutscenes they occasionally looked robotic. They weren't terrible, but I didn't feel a sense of realism or depth that I felt with other games.

Unfortunately, I have to address that I did find some glitches during my playthrough. With new releases, it's common that some glitches will be picked up by play testers and consumers within the first couple weeks of a game's release. Most of these are minor and can be patched fairly easily. In one particular moment a random bottle was following my character around as though it was glued to the air in front of his hand. A little silly but it was nothing compared to the other glitch I experienced. At one point, I was being told to look for some documents that would be highlighted and to piece together information. I did just that-and yet the game would not let me continue on. At first, I thought I had missed something but after 20 minutes of circling the small room I saw that nothing else had been highlighted and there were no secret passageways or other prompts for me to follow. I genuinely thought I had made a mistake, but then wondered if it could be a glitch since it was saying I was still missing at least one document. I ended up having to reload my save four times before the additional document was highlighted correctly. The prompt had never appeared before and so the game had been stuck in an endless loop. I hope the developers address it quickly, because while it was frustrating for me it could be game ending for some other players who consider the game broken and decide to stop playing.

I also have to say that I was disappointed by the limiting accessibility features available. There was a colorblind mode and an option for game menus to be read out loud, but otherwise nothing of note. Considering all the other games that I have played this year, having only these features feels like Ubisoft is just hitting the bare minimum when it comes to accessibility.

After all that, what are my final opinions on this title? Overall, it's fine-just fine. Not great or amazing or terrible but simply OK. It seems that deep down Ubisoft wanted to deliver something like the original series but couldn't quite let go of the changes they had made previously. I've definitely played worse games, and I might recommend this to someone if they want to play Assassin's Creed just for the core gameplay mechanics. But if you're looking for a compelling story or a world to get lost in, this probably isn't the title for you.

However, I would consider this a stepping stone back to the starting point. The fact that Ubisoft tried to focus on stealth shows me that they've somewhat listened to fans over the years. It just needed a little more polish to be something fantastic. If you haven't played Assassin's Creed in a while, go ahead and give this one a shot. It has some nostalgia behind it and there is fun to be had but don't go in expecting to be transported back completely to the early days of Assassin's Creed. Time will tell what Ubisoft will choose to do moving forward, but those days may be lost forever.

This post was written by Vanessa Hart, Creator of Deep Dive Gaming.