When Assassin's Creed Mirage was announced along with an entire slew of other AC projects, it was essentially touted as a return to form for the series. Mirage promised to be a more stealth focused and linear tale, like the AC titles of old. It was created by a smaller team and smaller budget. If you opt to play it on PC through Ubisoft Connect, you can snag it for about $15.
From the get go, Mirage feels like an old-school Assassin's Creed affair complete with all the usual tropes. You'll hide in bushes, do some parkour free running, and track down an assortment of assassination targets. Since it primarily takes place in Bagdad you won't be jet-setting across a ridcuiolously huge open world, or deal with any open world bloat that has defined the last few RPG-heavy entires, Assassin's Creed Ragnarok in particular. For those looking for that nastoltic Assassin's Creed 2 flavor, this might hit the spot.
With a solid-- albeit basic premise, it has all the ear marks of a classic AC tale, which comes with it a certain amount of baggage. Voice acting is a bit of a mixed bag. Some of performances are stellar-- like Shohreh Aghdashloo's Roshan. Her smokey delivery is the perfect mix of mystery and uncertain dread. Lee Majdoob, the voice of Basam is serviceable, but could have easily also been on of the games many NPCs. Not a huge deal, but in the era of Balders' Gate 3 and Cyberpunk, it stands out. Visually speaking, Assassin's Creed Mirage is nothing to write home about. It's not bad by any means, but if you're looking for a true next-gen experience, you won't find it here.
Your adventure starts playing as street-wise thief for hire Based, who is technically a character from AC Creed Valhalla, although that connection is pretty inconcesequental, at least in the early hours. He comes across like he could have fallen straight out of a Prince of Persia game, complete with enemies calling him a "street rat." The stakes are risen after a failed heist for The Hidden Ones (aka the Assassins) leads to the murder of Basem's band of fellow thieves.
I found myself struck by a sense of nostalgia while jumping through the streets of Bagdad, and while I wasn't blown away by Basim as a character, I was emotionally invested pretty quickly in this early tale in the Assassin's Creed cannon. I curious to see exactly how Basum would don his hood and hidden blade.
In its early hours its pretty formulaic, but considering it is a shorter campain that might be to its benefit. Most missions will give you many infiltration options, usually inovling the games in game currency to unlock how exactly how you proceed. Its not quite on the level of Hitman, but its clear that this is what people have been asking for -- for better or worse. If you are looking for a new AC adventure that won't awollen weeks of your life a trip to Bagdad might be just what you are searching for.
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