Assassin’s Creed Mirage needs to fix one of the franchise’s biggest recent problems
Bring back stealth
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Assassin’s Creed Miragelooks to be a throwback to the golden age of the series – something the franchise is in desperate need of. From shots of the confined Baghdad’s urban sprawl, the emphasis on social stealth and parkour, this upcoming entry looks to fix the modern Assassin’s Creed’s major flaw: its lack of mechanical identity.If you asked me a decade ago what my favorite game series was, I would have swiftly replied: Assassin’s Creed. When I first played the second game in the series,Assassin’s Creed 2in 2009, I was hooked. There was everything you could ever want in an open-world game: an excellent story, compelling characters, exciting gameplay, and effective stealth which learned from the playbook of the Hitman series.
For as much as I loved the Ezio trilogy (spanning fromAssassin’s Creed 2toRevelations), I found that the series had begun to lose its way by going bigger and bolder. The cracks began to show withAssassin’s Creed 3; an ambitious yet flawed title that was set during the American Revolution of 1754 to 1783. It attempted to do too much and buckled under the weight of its ambition with under-baked mechanics and an unfocused main narrative that was far from the franchise’s best.
While things were back on track withAssassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, a genuinely excellent pirate game but so-so assassination simulator, the franchise never quite hit the mark the same way ever again.Assassin’s Creed Miragecould change all that if the course correction can be done effectively and avoid repeating the same mistakes.
That’s because, in its current form, Assassin’s Creed bears little resemblance to its earlier incarnations. Following the disastrous launch ofAssassin’s Creed Unityin 2014, a title which itself acted as a streamlined throwback to the early days of the series, and the lukewarm efforts ofAssassin’s Creed Syndicate, Ubisoft took a year off mainline entries and went back to the drawing board. This meant the first break in annual releases since the two-year gap that separated the original and the sequel and changed the landscape of the franchise for years to come.
Back to the start
Assassin’s Creed Originsis an excellent RPG that features robust hit-box combat, one of the series’ best protagonists in Bayek of Siwa, and a truly gorgeous Ptolemaic Egypt starting from 49 BC. It was the furthest back in history that the franchise had gone up to that point, and detailed exactly how the ancient assassins came about around a thousand years before the rise of Al Mualim’s order in the originalAssassin’s Creed.
It made for a refreshing break from the modern missteps of the previous title,Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, with its button-mashing combat, reliance on guns, and disappointing story.Originsoffered a back-to-basics approach that was ultimately for the better, despite introducing a host of new issues that would continue to persist through its sequels.
WhileAssassin’s Creed Odysseyis a great action-adventure title, it gave up so much of the series’ core identity in pursuit of its Ancient Greek power fantasy. It swapped out the hidden blades and stealth for Kassandra (or Alexios if you’re one of those people) and her spear of Leonidas. I personally loved this game nearly as much, but I missed what had made Origins and the prior early titles so special; there was a de-emphasis on parkour, stealth seemed non-existent, and the intrigue built up in its predecessor simply wasn’t there. It’s something thatAssassin’s Creed Valhallaattempted to resurrect in its 2020 release. The latest entry in the saga attempted to appease series veterans and newer converts alike and ultimately came up short on both counts.
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Memories and mirages
From what I’ve seen ofAssassin’s Creed Mirage, it looks to be taking the series back to its roots, much like howOriginsandUnityhad before it. This means an emphasis on more intimate city environments, social and conventional stealth as well as the hidden blade’s triumphant return.
Assassin’s Creed is best when it stays true to its core premise. This boils down to methodically going through a hit list by creatively killing off your oppressors to achieve your ultimate goal. Whether that meant taking down Aloys la Touche from the gallows in revolutionary-era France or Bayek obliterating Berenike (The Crocodile) in the swamps of Eygpt, these moments had more impact than anything in the later sequels.
Player choice is the name of the game, and players ought to be able to approach assassination missions in a wide range of different ways.Assassin’s Creed Mirageneeds to remember to stay true to these fundamentals and deliver on the intimate hunter and prey set up that has made the series so beloved. That’s because it’s notWatchdogs,Ghost Recon,The Divisionor any other number of generic open worlds that the French publisher has pumped out in recent years, but the flagship line that put it on the map.
If anything,Mirageshould carry on the traditions borrowed for the latter Splinter Cell titles,ConvictionandBlacklist, just asUnityhad done before it. If theupcoming gamecan remember the assassinations and keep stealth a core component then the latest in the franchise could be one of the best yet.
Assassin’s Creed Mirageis expected later in 2023 forPS5,Xbox Series X, PC and previous generation consoles.
Aleksha McLoughlin is an experienced hardware writer. She was previously the Hardware Editor for TechRadar Gaming until September 2023. During this time, she looked after buying guides and wrote hardware reviews, news, and features. She has also contributed hardware content to the likes of PC Gamer, Trusted Reviews, Dexerto, Expert Reviews, and Android Central. When she isn’t working, you’ll often find her in mosh pits at metal gigs and festivals or listening to whatever new black and death metal has debuted that week.
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