Assassin's Creed Mirage is a return to the series' roots in a sense, bringing players to 9th Century Baghdad. But how does it stack up so far compared to the recent series entries?
Assassin's Creede Mirage is a prequel of sorts to the last entry in the Ubisoft series, Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Following Hidden One agent Basim Ibn Is'Haq, who was introduced during Valhalla, Mirage takes players back to his origins in 9th Century Baghdad. It's a more contained adventure compared to the recent entries in the series. While Assassin's Creed Odyssey had players set sail all across the Adriatic and explore Greece proper, while Valhalla took Eivor all over Viking-era England and into Norway, Mirage is focused on the city of Baghdad and its immediate surroundings.
Assassin's Creed Mirage, instead, zooms in on this one iconic and vastly important location for Basim, as it was here the Hidden One was brought up. This is the story of Basim himself and the early days of the Baghdad Assassin's Bureau, and while the stakes are still on a global scale with the Order of the Ancients a threat, centering everything in Basim's backyard makes some sense.
Back To Its Roots
One major criticism that has been levied at the Assassin's Creed franchise in the last few entries is its departure from its stealth gameplay roots. While stealth has always been present in Assassin's Creed, its importance was diminished in favor of more complicated RPG systems and level-gating content.
As a result, much of the progression of recent entries was down to leveling up skills and the characters themselves rather than focusing on what makes the Hidden Ones so intriguing: their ability to hide in plain sight and strike from the shadows.
Mirage brings the gameplay back to this era of Assassin's Creed. There is still something of a level gate where Mirage warns you that some sections of the city are better explored when a more advanced Assassin, but it's not nearly as harsh as it was in Origins or Valhalla - instead, skill can still win out the day versus just being underpowered.
Basim is a true Hidden One in every sense of the phrase. It feels a lot like playing as Altair again, if I'm honest, where getting into a street brawl was less ideal versus biding my time and striking at the right moment. Blending in with a crowd to hide from the guards, dropping from a height and pulling a guard into the bushes next to them, only to off them at the last moment - it's all so satisfying.
I'm historically bad at stealth games, as my friends will attest, but Assassin's Creed has always been that stealth fantasy I've loved since the first. It reminds me of the older days of trying to play Thief and failing miserably - Assassin's Creed was the first stealth-focused game I actually got, so it's refreshing to play a modern title with this same focus on slower, methodical gameplay.
That isn't to say you can't go in swords-blazing. Basim, while he definitely is more at home in the shadows, can still hold his own in a sword fight. But Basim is more prone to react than to strike, even in hand-to-hand combat. Basim can parry most incoming attacks, opening up enemies to a counterattack (or, if they are weak enough, an instant kill), though if he gets parried, devastating damage will be incoming. Basim is also very nimble, able to dodge out of the way of most attacks, and so combat becomes an intricate dance, weaving between unblockable attacks, striking when possible, and parrying where not.
One aspect that helps keep me from going in hot at every encounter is the notoriety system. If people witness a crime, Basim's notoriety raises levels, from just being recognized to having the elite guard of the Caliphate hunting Basim down at every turn.
So many times, I failed a pickpocketing minigame only to have to go and flee immediately from the scene, lest the guards hunt me for the attempt. During some missions, I needed to assassinate a guard, only to fumble in the attempt to do so without any witnesses, sparking a city-wide manhunt for me. I love this system as it adds such an incredible layer of tension back into Assassin's Creed, which felt missing in recent entries.
One thing I'm not a fan of is the Favor tokens, a currency used in Baghdad with some NPCs. These tokens are given as rewards to contracts, but it's just a layer of friction Mirage doesn't need. The tokens are used to help bribe NPCs to help, whether it's lowering notoriety or paying some mercenaries to distract the guards. I wish I could just, you know, pay them with the money I'm earning and pickpocketing. Instead, this forced me to seek out missions that gave me certain tokens to complete them rather than picking the ones I found most interesting at the time.
Basim himself doesn't have the myriad skill tree found in games like Valhalla and Mirage. Instead the unlocks are smaller, yet more meaningful, such as a dual assassination skill or simply rolling over the top of an enemy as Basim weaves out of trouble in fights. Basim can also upgrade his tools to make them much more useful as the adventure goes on, but at its core, Mirage focuses squarely on that stealth assassin fantasy - nothing that Basim earns over the course of Mirage takes from that core concept here, which I adore in the end.
A More Focused Tale
By focusing on Basim himself, his journey and his story, Assassin's Creed Mirage feels a bit more linear, but intimate compared to the sprawling epics that were Odyssey and Valhalla. Mirage is driven more by its characters rather than the events surrounding them, each of them influencing the world in their own way.
Basim and his exploits drive forward Assassin's Creed Mirage, and it's awesome to watch this character who was introduced in a previous game begin his journey in the Order, rising from a petty street thief in Anbar to master assassin prowling the rooftops of the great city of Baghdad. Basim's story in Valhalla is intriguing as it unfolds, and it's fun to be put right into the shoes of one of Assassin's Creed's more formidable characters as well.
While the narrative is more focused and, at times, can feel wholly linear, there are other opportunities to explore and take in the world around Basim. I really enjoy taking contracts in the Assassin's Bureau and hunting them down, whether it's assassinating a corrupt official, escorting a poet who decided to exercise freedom of speech and brought the wrath of the Caliph down on him, or just racing other Hidden Ones to the prize itself. There is a ton to do outside of the narrative, even though Assassin's Creed Mirage is less open and bloated than previous entries in the franchise.
Because the narrative is more focused than ever in Assassin's Creed Mirage, it makes for a much shorter, yet overall more enjoyable adventure at times. The main story takes about 15-20 hours to complete, which is refreshing compared to the hundred-plus hour slog that Valhalla became at times. While an argument can be made that a triple-A title like Assassin's Creed Mirage could stand to have a longer story, especially to justify the higher price tag compared to other games in the series, for me it's refreshing.
And much of that is because there just isn't the tremendous amount of bloat that the franchise has become known for. Sure, there are still the towers to unlock and icons on the map to hunt down, but even then Assassin's Creed Mirage feels reigned in to a degree. I never felt the need to go hunt down a gazillion items that might make me a little stronger, or collect a certain number of items to hit an achievement - I could just focus on the story and the city of Baghdad itself.
Basim doesn't have a quest log of sorts, but rather an investigation journal. It felt a bit like playing a detective, where I was hunting down clues and trying to prod my way towards the Order member I was on the hunt for, and I was all for it. Some of the investigations have branches that can be completed in any order really, lending well to the feeling that I'm writing Basim's narrative, not simply following a marker on the screen. Like most games nowadays too, if you want a more challenging experience, you can turn off parts of the HUD and really track down things on your own as well.
Basim as a character is a bit bland in this installment. The street urchin thief turned assassin is all well and good, but it's hard to reconcile the earnest and almost truly good character in Mirage with the character he becomes at the end of Valhalla. I do think, though, that there is plenty of room here in follow-up DLCs to expand on this and throw some twists and turns into Basim's story to truly help bring to life the struggles that turned him into the character I came to enjoy immensely by the end of Valhalla.
Personally, I'd love to see a DLC that takes us to Constantinople and play around there with Sigurd, eventually finding his way to Viking-era Britain.
Baghdad Reborn
If Basim is the heart of Assassin's Creed Mirage, then Baghdad is its soul. It's no easy feat to recreate a city as it existed before the Mongols destroyed it thoroughly, yet the team at Ubisoft Bourdeaux has done so beautifully. Baghdad is teeming with energy and detail at every turn of the camera.
While I do wish the crowd density was turned up a bit, though not nearly to Assassin's Creed Unity French Revolution levels, the streets are buzzing with life as I walk down each passageway. The studio has done a great job of making each district look and feel distinct as well. Harbiyah has a more industrial, down-to-earth feel compared to the Round City that makes up Baghdad's center - both physically and as the place where the power of the Caliphate congregates.
Moving throughout the city, stonewalled buildings sometimes give way to beautiful feats of architecture, such as the Damascus Gate, the beautiful blue-domed buildings of the Caliph's palace, as well as many an immaculate mosque. I also love that Ubisoft have dropped history markers throughout Baghdad as a way to peel back the layers of time and showcase the city, its culture and people through a historical lens as the city is explored.
My personal favorite place, though, has to be the Baghdad House of Wisdom. As someone who grew up reading stories of the Islamic Golden Age, and its subsequent death throes at the hands of the Mongols, it reminded me of what drew me to the Assassin's Creed franchise to begin with back in 2007: the ability to step foot in these ancient cities and explore them as if I were a citizen myself. Walking into the Baghdad House of Wisdom was incredible, its towering walls and open doors ready and willing to take in any who was willing to learn. I wish that each book in the House of Wisdom was available to read - but then, Assassin's Creed is an action genre, not a library simulator.
Conclusion
Assassin's Creed Mirage is, in the end, a great installment into the franchise. It benefits from the more focused and linear story, with a world devoid of the bloat that has come to define recent entries in the franchise. As a result, Mirage feels like a fitting entry in the series, and a great homage to the foundations of the franchise.
Baghdad itself is splendid to explore, its beauty and history coming alive with every well placed stone. The city is beautiful and the team have done an outstanding job reimagining one of the great cities of the Medieval world as a center of science, commerce and culture. I loved learning more about the history scattered around the city while I played, and seeing important and historical landmarks up close reminded me just why I fell in love with the Assassin's Creed franchise in the first place.
It's not perfect. Assassin's Creed Mirage's story isn't the best the series has to offer, and it's hindered by the fact that we know how Basim's journey turns out in the end. the supporting cast in Mirage is spectacular, though, highlighted by Shohreh Aghashloo's Master Roshan. I also enjoyed every time Basim got the twins wrong - moments like that stand out as I think back on my time with Mirage.
The biggest treat, though, is the return to a stealth-first Assassin's Creed. This was the ultimate historical stealth fantasy for me, and it's fantastic to get back to those roots in a meaningful way. Sure, I still found myself in the occasional sword fight, but picking my way through a stronghold, using stealth and patience, brought about some of the most memorable moments in Assassin's Creed for me in recent years.
In the end, Assassin's Creed Mirage is a great entry into the series, even with some of the baggage it inherits narratively from Valhalla. I can't wait to see how Ubisoft expands on Basim's journey in the entires to come.
Full Disclosure: A copy of this game was provided by PR for the purposes of this review.
