See The New Assassin’s Creed Mirage First Look
Ubisoft has released the first images from Assassin's Creed Mirage, including glimpses of a multi-leveled Baghdad.
Following a string of leaks, some of which we covered in our previous report, Ubisoft has finally revealed the next installment in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. As expected, the upcoming game is titled Assassin’s Creed Mirage, set in the 9th century Baghdad. The players will assume the role of Basim, whom they might remember from 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, some 20 years before the previous game, and embark on Basim’s journey of becoming an assassin.
As seen in the trailer, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is designed to mimic the original design template used for earlier Assassin’s Creed games. Ubisoft’s first-party development studio, Ubisoft Bordeaux, created the game using the same three design pillars that were used to create some of the best games in the series. Of course, we’re discussing earlier releases before the series took a turn from said thee pillars — stealth, parkour, and assassinations — and turned towards RPG elements and Tomb Raider style of gameplay.
Unfortunately, Ubisoft hasn’t complemented the reveal with the gameplay video, but the CGI does reveal an interesting story. It follows Basim on his rise from the petty street thief to a master assassin under the tutelage of Roshan — voiced by Emmy award-winning Shohreh Aghdashloo. From what Ubisoft disclosed about the duo, their narrative will likely include numerous historical figures and political leaders from 9th-century Baghdad. This means that Assassin’s Creed Mirage could potentially tackle the historical origin of the Order of Assassins.
As for the gameplay, besides going back to the franchise’s roots, Ubisoft Bordeaux also revealed a number of additional details. Assassin’s Creed Mirage will be set in a massively-scaled Baghdad, which is split into four different city districts. Besides the city, players could also visit Alamut, a gaming adaptation of the historical fortification used by the order of Assassins — though they’re named the Hidden Ones in Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s world is designed with both parkour and stealth in mind, which is quite refreshing for the franchise’s fandom. The parkour system has been updated, and freerunning is much faster and more fluid compared to previous releases. The developers also added more classic parkour moves and adapted the in-game world to facilitate more freerunning pathways. Stealth-wise, the detection system is now more intricate and introduces more detail in stealth encounters.
In short, the RPG elements present in the previous games have been removed from Assassin’s Creed Mirage. The game is expected to be much more linear, with a heavy focus on the story, which would be a refreshment, considering the current state of gaming. Most modern games now focus on diverse, overly complex gameplay elements for which developers had to implement hand-holding methods just to get the gamers tough first playthrough. This adversely impacts the overall quality of the narrative. Have you heard of the gaming market crash of 1983?
Older games had no such systems; they had fewer features but also less hand-holding, which made them feel more rewarding. Hopefully, Ubisoft will take Assassin’s Creed Mirage down that path, and having a story-focused game that doesn’t take 150 hours of half-meaningful content to complete is likely to sell well.
