Assassin’s Creed Mirage | Review

Initial Release Date: October 5, 2023

Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, iOS, Microsoft Windows

Genres: Stealth, Action-adventure, Fighting, Platform

Developers: Ubisoft, Ubisoft Bordeaux

Mode: Single-player video game

Composer: Brendan Angelides

Publishers: Ubisoft, OWO

SPOILERS THROUGHOUT!

Introduction

My experience involving the Assassin’s Creed video games dates back to the very beginning of 2007’s Assassin’s Creed featuring protagonist Altair. I fell in love with the whole “AC” universe fairly quickly. I thought the entirety of the Assassins versus Templars stories vying for alien artifacts of power over centuries carried limitless ideas.

As for Mirage it harkens back to the first game in map size and gameplay mechanics. At this point after playing through every mainline AC game I can see why Ubisoft decided to change it up a bit and make a “classic” Assassin’s Creed game once again. Check out my Assassin Creed Mirage Video Playlist.

Presentation

I wasn’t a fan of Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s presentation. I was surprised at how many bugs, glitches and hard crashes this game had playing on my Playstation 5. I understand Mirage was made by a newer Ubisoft developer but still disappointing nonetheless.

Aside from the negative technical issues structurally Mirage was much akin to Altair’s Assassin’s Creed 2007. The latter was a positive change up from Valhalla which was a great game but more of a open world action RPG. Mirage is much smaller, confined and linear focused within it’s story.

Story

Basim is Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s protagonist and tells the tale of him confronting a Jinni, a past demon within him. If you played through Assassin’s Creed Valhalla you know Basim’s fate. The “Mirage” in Assassin’s Creed Mirage is Nehal, a supportive character Basim interacts with who is actually him from a past life.

Basim starts the campaign as a young boy in Baghdad pickpocket thief. By the end of the campaign becomes a full assassin that fights his mentor Roshan, then leaves Baghdad behind for the “new world”. The story wasn’t special here due to me knowing Basim’s fate via my playthrough of Valhalla.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Assassin’s Creed is linear and basic compared to the open world AC games. Basim carries a sword and dagger. You can parry a group of enemies pretty easily to stagger one hit kill them all one by one. Basim has a few items for taking down his targets including a Blow Dart which I barely used.

Traps I used once. Smoke Bombs and Throwing Knives were the most useful to me for attacking, stealth and killing large enemies. You can upgrade and customize Basim’s gear including his outfit, tools and weapons.

For me the combat gameplay just boiled down to parrying and killing countless guards. It wasn’t much more then that for my playthrough. I had no fear of alerting the guards or getting caught.

If I did get caught I could just muscle my way out by parrying stagger killing all enemies by the end of the game. Basim does have a horse or camel to ride around Baghdad on. The map is small compared to recent games that you don’t really need them.

After going back and forth I do prefer the newer open world action RPG versions of Assassin’s Creed (never thought I type this). Now I’m not saying Assassin’s Creed Mirage was bad. It’s a great game for what it’s trying to pull off i.e. being smaller and more linear etc. Me? I just prefer the Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla formula more at this point.

Visuals/Graphics

Mixed bag here. While riding camel back outside Baghdad on the dunes during dusk the game looked really good on my Playstation 5. I did play in Quality mode and thought it gave the best experience compared to performance mode. Overall, however, Assassin’s Creed Mirage at times looked mid-tier last gen especially during in-game cutscenes.

Sound/Music

I really enjoyed the music here. Mirage had some nice tonal music that sounded like some new-age middle-eastern stuff. Since I am a fan of The Expanse I immediately recognized Shohreh Aghdashloo as Roshan. How can you not recognize that voice? So yea, overall good music and voice acting.

Final Thoughts/Score

Back in 2007 I fell in love with Assassin’s Creed. As time went by Ubisoft morphed the series into open world RPGs. I appreciate what Ubisoft did here harkening back to “classic” Assassin’s Creed with Mirage.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a solid game. It tells Basim’s story in a linear focused world with fewer gameplay mechanics and zero RPG elements. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is $49.99 compared to the average $69.99 video game. Factor that!

A buy or not all depends upon your funds and what type of AC fan you are. If you love the old school games buy. If you like the recent open world games pass. Thanks for reading – Jason