Assassin’s Creed has been one of the flagship franchises of Ubisoft since the first game launched all those years ago in 2007. Featuring an open world with – at the time – inventive and innovative stealth gameplay the series understandably won award after award… until it stagnated. What was once a yearly release stopped, and Ubisoft took a break to develop something different and new, which is when we got the latest trilogy, starting with Assassin’s Creed: Origins and ending in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.
Now these three games were fantastic in their own right, there’s no doubt about that, but long time fans of the franchise were understandably annoyed with the shift from stealth-based assassinations to a more expansive RPG style. Thankfully, Ubisoft seem to have heard these critiques and look to placate those fans, however temporarily, with the release of Assassin’s Creed: Mirage.
Assassin’s Creed: Mirage – A Return to Form?
Fans of Assassin’s Creed can rejoice now, with gameplay of the upcoming stealth-based action adventure game being seen for the first time at Ubisoft Forward. Anyone that has played Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla will recognise the main character of Assassin’s Creed: Mirage as Basim, the side-character heavily featured during Eivor’s tale.
Unlike the previous three entries, gameplay suggests that the developers have done away with the level based damage, instead opting for the original and much-loved assassination-based gameplay. If you can sneak up on someone, you can kill them. The trailer also shows off the franchise’s famous blending mechanic, as well as some streamlined abilities and tools again, rather than the frankly overwhelming skill tree players were presented with in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.
Assassin’s Creed: Mirage is touted as a smaller, tighter tale with a less expansive map and a return to what made the franchise great in the first place. Players won’t have hundreds of hours of content to try and complete like the previous entries, but rather a more concise story that’ll respect our time a little more. Anyone who has played the very first game in the franchise will certainly see that inspiration in this latest release, with the parkour of this one looking more streamlined and accessible. It won’t be Assassin’s Creed though if we’re not thrown aimlessly from a tall building at some point, completely against where we were aiming.
Combat looks much more streamlined, with simple assassinations the order of the day, and the unlockable tools including a trust blowdart, which no doubt will come with different darts to poison, knock unconscious or send crazy.
Assassin’s Creed: Mirage also looks to feature the regular return of a bird-ally, although it does look like players won’t always be able to use them, as the trailer shows our latest feathered ally retreating due to a marksmen in the area. Quickly dispatched though and he was back and used to locate our target, highlighted in the customary gold, and red for lesser enemies.
The trailer makes sure we’re aware this is a work in progress, and with the game due to launch on October 12th, the team will be working to the wire to make Assassin’s Creed: Mirage another hit, especially with the total lack of releases the studio has has in the previous twelve months. However, with the upcoming releases of Assassin’s Creed: Code Red, touted as a Valhalla size entry into China, and the little-known-about Assassin’s Creed: Rift, it does beg the question… what happens if fans flock to this? Will we get more smaller tales? Or will this be a flash in the pan and normal RPG service will resume?
Are you going to be buying Assassin’s Creed: Mirage? Did you enjoy the more original look of the game, compared to more recent entries at least? Let us know in the comments.
