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Assassin’s Creed Mirage takes a step back to make a leap forward
C
Craig Pearson
As spectacular as the recent games are, there’s something to be said for returning to the original style, which Ubisoft was keen to highlight during a short demo of the upcoming game. Mirage is a world where a white-cloaked figure can dance across rooftops, snick a wrist knife out of a sleeve, and plunge it into the heart of a target.
This time, the cloak rests on the shoulders of Basim, the charming character from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla who introduced Eivor to the Hidden Ones. This is Basim 20 years before that meeting, a young man in 9th century Baghdad. Unrest is growing in the city, building to a revolution against the corruption and brutal “justice” of the rulers. Basim has found his purpose with the secretive order of assassins, who are in the right place at the right time to push the revolution on. He’ll receive contracts, upgrades, and target information from Hidden One bureaus throughout the city, setting him up for the perfect kill.
Baghdad is built to be explored. Parkour turns the crowded buildings into secret routes, and that old, familiar hop, step, and jump takes Basim across roofs, through scaffolding, over balconies, along ropes, up walls, and more. Ubisoft has focused on making parkour easy to learn and master, hoping that it becomes second nature as they play. Parkour should always be an option.
As should stealth. At moments in the demo, Basim sneaks through high grasses, sits on benches, and blends in with groups. For an easy kill, he drops down into a busy street, knife-point first, after tracking a target through the city. He escapes by knocking down shelves to block a path and vanishes with a few easy steps back onto the roofs from ground level. If you squint, you could be watching Altair or Ezio from the first games of the series. The movement and action are all geared towards swift kills and escaping. Combat should be a last resort.
During a larger mission, Basim has to liberate a spy from the Prince’s Palace and assassinate her captor. Basim plots his route from a nearby rooftop, sending his eagle Enkidu into the air to spy, but it’s immediately shot at by a marksman, forcing Basim down into the palace’s grounds without an overview. He still has the tools to get through, including a vision mode that highlights guards. Stealth in the palace is a mixture of social interaction, where Basim joins a group of gossiping civilians to blend in, sneaking through undergrowth, and using tools like a blowdart to knock out guards, and throwing knives to take down distant enemies.
This has a purpose. Basim finds the marksman that shot at his eagle and takes him down, getting revenge and allowing Enkidu to soar once again.
With the area scouted, Basim discovers the spy being beaten in a courtyard. The tall building surrounding the courtyard has a number of guards overlooking things, and it seems impossible to take them on without risking being caught, but Basim has something akin to a Mark and Execute power. He focuses on three guards, highlighting them before attacking like a wraith, invisibly moving between each one, leaving their corpses behind.
Now in position to plan the assassination, he drops a trap near an open doorway and leaps to strike the captain who’s beating the spy. This is classic Assassin’s Creed: a slow-motion drop from a balcony, landing knife first on the target, who never knew he was there. As he releases the spy from captivity, the trap blinds the guards at the door, allowing them to escape.
Everything builds around that one key moment of action, in a perfect homage to the series’ roots. Seeing Mirage in action is like using the Animus to take a step back in time.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is out Oct 12, 2023. Pre-purchase it today.