Assassin’s Creed Mirage looks like an excellent return to form

Many have felt the Assassin’s Creed burnout. It’s only natural when a series puts out twelve games in sixteen years. However, hear me out. Assassin’s Creed Mirage looks to cure that fatigue and revitalise the series once again. Turns out all it takes is to return the series back to its roots and lower the scope.

As you might know, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is set in 9th-century Baghdad, in the midst of what is known as the Islamic Golden Age in the Abbasid Caliphate. Players control Bassim, a character introduced in the prior entry Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and a thief turned assassin. It’s been said to be smaller in open-world scale and narrative length, opting out of the franchise blat that has been existing recently.

What players might not know is just what some of these attempts at revitalisation are. More focus on cityscapes becomes apparent in the recent gameplay look. While you are exploring surrounding desert areas throughout Baghdad, high-density city areas are back as they should be.

As far as what you’ll be doing in Assassin’s Creed Mirage, combat included, Ubisoft looks to be taking the best of both worlds, using old and new. You’re hunting down targets from The Order, heavily reminiscent of the bounties you’re following in recent titles such as Odyssey and Valhalla. Tools such as smoke bombs for distracting or losing yourself from guards and blow darts to quietly knock out foes and the like.

What piqued my interest the most is the ability for group assassinations that can somewhat be planned out in advance. It’s still a little early to understand just how this works in motion. Players seem to be able to freeze the world, clicking on one target, then another, and then a third before confirming the action, watching as time unfreezes and the slaying glory plays out in real time.

It’s limited gameplay that we got at this Ubisoft Forward and I might be trigger-happy but I’m actually optimistic about where the series is going with Assassin’s Creed Mirage. We don’t have much long to wait either as it releases on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S and PC.