Assassin’s Creed Mirage preview – Sometimes you gotta get back under the hood

Assassin’s Creed is certainly a world-wide phenomenon. After the original was released in 2007, along with the follow up in Assassin’s Creed 2, the fervent fan base has been insatiable for anything involving the franchise. Because of how hungry the fans have been, the games have grown, with Assassin’s Creed’s Valhalla clocking in at 60-140 hours. Sure, you can blame the RPG makeover we’ve been enjoying since Origins, but the series has always had an upward trajectory in terms of length.

Most recently, people have been craving a move back to Assassin’s Creeds roots, and with the upcoming release of Mirage, we’re heading back. Not only that, but the return will happen in more ways than one. We were able to sit down for a hands-off demo of the game, and it was pretty easy to see what Ubisoft Bordeaux is up to.

Our demo began and I almost thought I’d gone back through time. Basim was sitting on a wooden ledge jutting over a market, in a crouched position surveying the unaware citizens below. He moved along the ropes and windowsills for a moment, before dropping down onto a target for a quick assassination. Closeby patrons of the market screamed and scattered, leading to the guards running in Basim’s direction. In a flash, he dropped a red smoke bomb, allowing him to quickly get out of the line of sight of his pursuers. There will also be other things like blowguns and throwing knives to use, but a red smoke bomb would suffice for today.

There were still a couple of close calls, despite Basim’s evasion skill, but his parkour helped him slip away. Not only has Ubisoft Bordeaux been at work perfecting and smoothing out the parkour, but classic animations have been brought back from the original, evoking those wonderful memories of times past. All of Basim’s movements seem a bit heavy, but Ubisoft Bordeaux assured us he’s quick and agile, and I’d assume it’ll feel more that way once it’s in our hands. What isn’t in question is how deliberate each footfall is, with a precision that suggests we won’t be accidentally running up the wrong wall or grabbing the wrong ledges – a relic happily left in the past.

Once Basim was in a safe place, it was time to go to the bureau – the Hidden One’s hub where you’ll engage with the other assassin’s to further the story, upgrade your arsenal (it’s smaller now, just the hidden blade along with your trusty sword and dagger), and take on contracts. Those will let you do different missions, like assassinations or acquisitions for example, with optional objectives that will give you that little extra boost. After getting set with the weapon’s master, Basim jumped into a high value target mission, which was the main objective for the demo. From there he called a mount (something a bit new in this type of Assassin’s Creed game — the horse was mere transportation between cities in the first game), and it was off on the camel to figure out how to kill our target.

Let me be clear, if you aren’t into the older Assassin’s Creed titles, this one may not be for you, but let me assure you it’s really satisfying. Stealth is back to being the number one priority. It’s not that you can’t take on a few soldiers, but you’ll usually have an easier time in Madinat-Al-Salam (the city) if you take things slow. Calculating your next move is important, as NPC detection and AI reactions have been improved. One wrong move can set you back a lot in this series, and your notoriety level will rise if you’re too brash. You can lower it by ripping down wanted posters or paying off heralds, but it’s better to save coin where you can.

As we watched, Basim found a position outside of the palace-like structure and called in Enkidu, your bird. Using his vantage point is important, but quickly he was chased from the sky with arrows. There’s a new archer archetype that will be on the lookout, so Basim had to take him out first. This was only going to be accomplished by getting inside, so moving to a group outside the compound and initiating a button press that caused Basim to follow them inside made for an easy entry.

After that, lots of “assassin-ey” things happened. Basim stabbed one guy in tall flowers, distracted another with a firecracker noisemaker, and did several walk-by stabs straight out of the original trilogy. Where things got really good was the final blow on our target, with a few new elements coming into play. There’s a chain assassination, with Basim dropping onto one guard and throwing a knife to kill another, then there’s the “assassin’s focus”. This reminded me of Splinter Cell Conviction, marking targets and watching as Basim did an almost magical teleportation between each enemy, stabbing them dead before taking out the target and absconding on a boat. Thankfully you can still swim, unlike the one that started it all.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is the right kind of dip into the past. It takes cues from what’s come before, but gives the franchise a new gaming in a new setting and timeline. Basim also looks to have a real internal struggle, being a street thief rescued by the assassin’s but still struggling with his purpose. That, along with visions of a haunting nature, with a nasty creature terrorizing his mind. What we will find out there will be interesting, but we know for a fact after this demo that the gameplay is in good hands.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is coming to PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S consoles, PC, and Amazon Luna on October 12th. You can pre-order the Deluxe Edition and receive a special Prince of Persia themed collection to customize Basim and his equipment.

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