We played a few hours of Assassin’s Creed Mirage and were transported back to our 2007 glory days.
Ubisoft bills Assassin’s Creed Mirage, its upcoming stealth adventure launching this October, as a return to the franchise’s roots. Go back to the original Assassin’s Creed in 2007 and you’ll find something that looks entirely different from the massive open-world of Valhalla. It was a more focused experience with an emphasis on methodic and stealthy gameplay, all taking place in Jerusalem.
Each subsequent entry would expand that existing formula while switching settings and time periods: 13th-century Italy, the American Revolutionary War, and the Golden Age of Piracy. However, 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origin transitioned the series to a much larger open-world structure in Egypt, a trend that would balloon further with 2018’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and 2020’s massive Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
I’d get to see how different the newest entry felt in a lengthy four-hour demo. Based on my playtime so far, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a more streamlined experience, but one that retains the same open-ended world that the more recent entries had. It’s just not as littered with busy map icons as Valhalla is. What’s most exciting is that it’s putting the “Assassin” back in Assassin’s Creed – that includes some top-notch stealth systems and one criminally fun lockpicking minigame.Throwback to 2007
What immediately takes me back to the original Assassin’s Creed is Mirage’s aesthetics. The first games dressed their heroes in white robes with red sashes, an iconic image that gave the series an immediate identity. The protagonists of Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla all wear outfits corresponding to their time periods. Even though those outfits were timelier and more authentic, they just didn’t scream “Assassin’s Creed.” Mirage’s protagonist, Basim, changes that. He dons the classic Assassin’s Creed white robes. As soon as I see him, I feel like I’m transported back to 2007 when I played the first game on my Xbox 360.
Unlike recent heroes, Basim is more of a street rat just like older franchise heroes. He can even pickpocket random strangers on the streets of Baghdad, bringing back a classic series staple that’s fallen to the wayside. While not every single NPC roaming around can be robbed blind, it’s a more prominent mechanic than it has been in recent entries.
