If you enjoyed the vast territories to explore and the bloody battles of the last Assassin’s Creed, you will groan at the new opus, Mirage. Which would be a shame, because Ubisoft Bordeaux has succeeded in this shift, bringing discretion and a single city to the fore, Baghdad in the 9th century.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which will hit the shelves (so to speak) this Thursday, October 5, truly marks a return to basics after several warlike and vast opuses like Odyssey and Valhalla. This time, the possibilities for weapon upgrades are limited, the action takes place mainly in Baghdad and its desert surroundings, and investigation and infiltration are more rewarded than frontal attack and general massacre. In fact, we advise against adopting overtly aggressive tactics. Firstly because your character is not a very effective fighter, then because you will end up with a bad reputation which will harm your progress.
We could have started this review with the context, the new setting in which Mirage takes place, but it seemed important to us after some 18 hours of play to highlight the different mechanics of this new opus. Note that this is the first time, with the exception of Odyssey developed in Quebec, that Ubisoft Montreal is not one of the conductors of a main episode.
We are plunged into 861 in Baghdad, then one of the three largest cities in the world, capital of the new Arab empire and 11 years before the events recounted in Valhalla. The historical reconstruction is up to what Assassin’s Creed has accustomed players to since 2007. We wander with delight in this labyrinth city with alleys teeming with life, where passers-by call out to each other in Arabic while the muezzin sounds and the caliph’s soldiers are on the prowl. We feel all the care, almost the love that the developers have put into this video game setting, based on solid historical authenticity that can be consulted throughout the game.
We personify a small street thief with great ambitions, Basim, who will manage to join the ranks of Those We Do Not See, who will become the Assassins two centuries later. Instead of the classic level classification by numbers, he will graduate as his training progresses, from initiate to master. He must learn everything from the leap of faith to acrobatic leaps from point to point to mutilation to draw out his hidden blades in the legendary fortress of Alamut. No varied weapons here, only a sword and a dagger that can be slightly improved, with five “tools” to do your job as an assassin well.
We won’t surprise regulars by summarizing the essence of Basim’s quest: he must unmask and kill the leaders of the Order of the Ancients, the eternal enemy in Assassin’s Creed who will later become the Templars. Added here are the forces of the Caliph, manipulated by the Order, and sometimes friendly, sometimes unpredictable rebels.
The mission would be linear and could be completed in around thirty hours if dozens of ramifications, secondary missions and “contracts” did not come to flesh it out. And if we blame ourselves a little for spreading ourselves thin and spending many hours completing these missions, we must admit that they are part of the fun. They allow you to acquire valuable objects and skills which will then make your life easier.
As we have already clarified, few missions can be completed simply by rushing into the pile. Beyond three or four enemies, Basim is overwhelmed and gets killed. In addition, his “notoriety”, which we see displayed at the bottom of the screen, suffers. At the first level, the residents recognize him and call the guards for help. On the second floor, the soldiers try to intercept you as soon as they see you. By the third, you are actively wanted. The only solutions to launder your reputation: tear wanted posters off the walls, or pay street criers, the Munadi, in “power service tokens”.
These tokens, which are divided into three categories, are obtained by successfully completing certain missions. We also have to use Basim’s past skills in robbing people on the street. The method is funny: you not only have to launch the flight, but also click a second time at a specific moment. The more important the theft, for example for these “mysterious shards” which allow you to acquire new weapons, the more delicate the operation.
All this mechanics makes Assassin’s Creed Mirage a game where the hours pass without you seeing them pass. The new mechanics will not disorient regulars, who will find the quests, treasure harvesting, the eagle, parkours and leaps of faith that they know. They will also find some annoying flaws, starting with the multiplication of investigations and missions. However, we made an effort to limit them, we assure you at Ubisoft, to be able to complete the game in less than 30 hours. Which seems impossible to us if we have the mania, like many players, of wanting to discover everything.
Fans of narrative video games, those who like well-crafted scenarios with surprising plots and a unique tone, are not the target audience here. Too bad, because the first hours, those where Basim displays his teasing humor, are promising. The quest for the Order’s henchmen has a few surprises in store, but above all it is a support for deploying the game’s mechanics, which are of a high level, as Ubisoft knows how to do so well.
And we won’t complain too much, since this flaw allows you to complete missions that seem impossible: the enemies are sometimes really stupid. They will see one of their own dead and return as if nothing had happened around them. Well hidden, you can catch them one after the other without sounding the alarm.
But Assassin’s Creed Mirage remains a good vintage, no doubt, which manages to renew the genre a little without disrupting it. We found a good balance between discretion and combat, the quest is gripping enough to hook the player and the graphic quality is masterful. It will take hindsight to judge whether this is the best opus in the series, as some critics who briefly tried it last month have already decreed. The competition is strong for this title.