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Assassin’s Creed Mirage reminds me why I fell in love with the series: being an assassin

10K View2023-10-11

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a strong return to form for a series that’s been through a lot of big changes lately. It has all the elements I want from an Assassin’s Creed game: beautiful environments, an evil order of Templars, attention to detail when it comes to the time period and locations, and of course, unique deadly methods to dispatch anyone who dared stand in my way.

The nostalgia factor is what really makes Assassin’s Creed Mirage feel so special to me, though. Gone are the extensive leveling and gear systems seen in recent titles like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. They’re replaced by a renewed focus on what made the series great in the first place: good old-fashioned stealth-based missions that take creativity, patience, and timing to pull off. I admit that I’ve suffered from open-world fatigue in recent years, but even if that wasn’t the case, Assassin’s Creed Mirage proves that a cohesive game with a rich experience can be just as satisfying as a sprawling, hundred-hour epic...or maybe even more satisfying.

The gameplay of Assassin’s Creed Mirage goes back to basics

Jumping into Assassin’s Creed Mirage was like getting back onto a bike after years. As soon as I started, I thought, “Oh right, this is how the series used to play.” And I loved it! It was incredibly satisfying launching from the shadows to assassinate an enemy and not worrying about their level. Before I knew it, I was running around docks, setting up traps, and dropping crates onto enemies’ heads. Tools like throwing knives became invaluable weapons for moving through heavily guarded areas without raising alarms.

As for the missions themselves, Mirage had me taking on contracts that ranged from escort missions to high-profile assassinations. These tasks rewarded me with reputation boosts with the various guilds around Baghdad and materials to upgrade my tools. It’s an excellent if familiar gameplay loop. But the biggest difference between Mirage and recent games in the series is how it once more made me feel more like a detective stalking the shadows than an overpowered warrior.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage vs. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Odyssey

In both Odyssey and Valhalla, I hacked my way through mission after mission and rarely ever used stealth. Why play it silent when I’d built my character into the ultimate Spartan warrior? As much as I enjoyed those games, I never felt like an assassin.

In Mirage, I had to investigate areas and speak with people to dig up information on my targets. Picking pockets was also essential to making discoveries. These tidbits would help me plan ahead for the big assassination missions, which was important, because I couldn’t just run in swinging my sword around and hope to survive. In the end, I actually felt like an assassin doing clandestine work in ninth-century Baghdad. Shouldn’t that be par for the course for a game called Assassin’s Creed?

The graphics of Assassin’s Creed Mirage bring history to life

And speaking of Baghdad, the visuals in Assassin’s Creed Mirage are absolutely stunning. Desert regions may not be as visually appealing or varied as the Mediterranean from Odyssey; after all, the color brown is a core part of almost every scene in Mirage. Nevertheless, the game is still a sight to behold, especially if you’re playing on next-gen hardware like the PlayStation 5.

Whether I was on horse or camelback, swimming, or scaling a building, everything looked vibrant and detailed. I felt truly pulled into this historical setting when I would walk down the streets of Baghdad and listen to people speaking Arabic. I’m far from a historian, but I was still impressed by Mirage’s authenticity and accuracy, and the way it subtly nudged me into learning new facts about this time period while I was playing a video game.

I loved discovering historical sites and reading in-game write-ups about them. At one point, I had to pull off a jailbreak at Damascus Gate, one of the gates to the city that also served as a prison. The escape itself was thrilling, but I also had the chance to read about the history of prisons in Baghdad at the time. I got to enjoy exciting gameplay while also genuinely learning about a place and time that Mirage brings to life.

The story and characters of Assassin’s Creed Mirage

While the gameplay might be a big step away from Valhalla, the plot of Assassin’s Creed Mirage ties into the last game more directly. Basim Ibn Ishaq, a mysterious character introduced in the previous game, returns in Mirage to take on the starring role. Basim serves his purpose as a street-thief-turned-hidden-one, but I have to admit that he’s a less compelling protagonist than some of the more memorable faces from the series’ past. He’s not as suave as Assassin’s Creed II’s Ezio Auditore nor as fun as Odyssey’s Kassandra; in fact, he just doesn’t have much of a personality at all.

It’s not just a protagonist problem either. Even the Templars who I was hunting down weren’t as interesting or complex of antagonists as the Borgia family from Assassin’s Creed II or Haythem Kenway from Assassin’s Creed III. Don’t get me wrong; learning that these scumbags kidnap people and force them into slavery was plenty of motivation to stick a blade in their throats. But there’s no way I will remember most of this game’s major players.

I say “most” because there’s one exception: Roshan bint-La’Ahad, another returning character from Valhalla, voiced expertly by Shohreh Aghdashloo. Roshan provides such a fantastic performance as Basim’s mentor that I found myself wishing I could play a game with her as the protagonist instead.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage final thoughts

Any fan of the Assassin’s Creed series will likely enjoy what Mirage offers, but it’s especially going to appeal to longtime followers who miss the way things used to be. The combat and scope may be simpler than the last few entries, but this change marks a return to what matters most in this franchise.

Mirage is certainly not the best Assassin’s Creed game Ubisoft has ever made—and they’ve made an awful lot of them, as this is the thirteenth mainline entry in the series. But it’s still a fantastic exploration of the bare-bones necessities of the assassin's business. After years of absurdly huge open worlds and never-ending main quests, it felt like a breath of fresh air to stick to the shadows, move briskly from mission to mission, learn the streets of a single large city, and finally not be totally overwhelmed with side missions and map icons. This may not be the formula Ubisoft sticks with for the future—next year’s Assassin’s Creed Codename Red will reportedly return to the open-world RPG style—but I’m glad Mirage took the time to look back on what really made this series all come together in the first place.

SCORE: 4 STARS OUT OF 5

PLAY IF YOU LIKE:

• Assassin’s Creed. This series has been going strong for over fifteen years now, with each entry taking players to a new region of the world or historical setting. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is the perfect entry if you’re just coming off of Valhalla, if you’ve ever been curious about ancient Baghdad, or if you’ve ever wondered when they’d return to the original format.

• Stealth games. There’s no warrior skill tree or level grinding so that you can hack and slash your way through the game. Mirage is about sticking to the shadows and using the environment to your advantage. If this is your thing, then this is the game for you.

• A streamlined experience. Mirage is around twenty hours’ worth of gameplay, and probably even less if you skip all the side missions and stick with the primary story. In other words, it’s much shorter and more approachable than the past few entries in the series. If you’re looking for something you can quickly pick up without investing your entire life, this is the game for you.

[Review written by TapTap editor StaggerLee.]

💬 Are you going to play Assassin’s Creed Mirage? And who is your favorite Assassin in the series? Let us know in the comments!