Ubisoft has made it very clear through trailers and developer interviews thatAssassin’s Creed Mirageis a game that is taking a lot of inspiration from the earlier entries in the franchise by stripping back a lot of the recently introduced RPG elements and instead placing a larger focus on tactical espionage and silent assassinations.
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That isn’t to suggest that the game isn’t also bringing with it a few brand new features, though, because it definitely is, many of which have the potential to completely switch up the classicAssassin’s Creedgame formula that many lifelong fans have become accustomed to.
A lot of the new mechanics being introduced almost feel like Ubisoft’s way of spraying a new coat of paint over the beloved early games in the franchise, making the gameplay much more tactical and strategic, which will no doubt result in one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences of the year.
8New Stealth Gadgets
While taking on either the main missions or one of the many side missions that can be found on the Contract Boards sprawled across Baghdad, Basim will have access to a wide array of tools to help his mission go as smoothly as it possibly can. While a few of these tools have been a mainstay for the series for many years, including the blowdart, which was first utilized by Aveline inAssassin’s Creed 3: Liberation, Basim also has a few brand new tricks up his sleeve.
The most powerful new addition is the Detection Mine, a weapon that can be used either offensively or defensively depending on the player’s situation. Once a guard approaches the mine, a cloud of smoke will obscure their vision and send them to the floor, so it’s undoubtedly going to be a must-have tool for the trickier assassination targets when the player needs a quick way to escape.
7Powerful Parries
In the last few RPG-centeredAssassin’s Creedgames, there has been a much tighter focus on the combat, which forced players to attack an enemy while also executing successful parries and blocks multiple times before they finally become staggered. Once staggered, the enemy could be killed with a final blow, but this did involve a lot of button mashing to even reach this point.
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However, recent gameplay trailers ofMiragehave shown that the Stagger meter is actually must easier to deplete in the newest game, only requiringone successful parryuntil the prompt to instantly kill them pops up. The combat, therefore, doesn’t seem to be returning to exactly how it was in early games, but it’s definitely much faster to eliminate enemies in open combat, which allows players to get back into the stealth gameplay as quickly as possible.
6Eagle Marksmen
Ever since Bayek began using hishelpful companion Senuto grant him a birdseye view inAssassin’s Creed Origins, eagles have become a core component of the new games and are the main way players scout out bases and camps to help them set up a plan of attack.
This time around, though, Enkidu isn’t quite as lucky as the previous eagles since he can actually be shot out of the sky by marksmen who must be killed by the player if they want to let Enkidu back into the area to help them. This is an extremely clever method by Ubisoft to bring back a familiar feature from the RPG games that has been received favorably by fans while also implementing the feeling of the classic games where the player had to go about nearly all of their mission completely solo.
5Enhanced AI Detection
Ubisoft has reworkedthe enemy AIinAssassin’s Creed Mirageto improve the detection system so that it’s a little more realistic and fair for the player. Fans of the early games will know very well how easy it can be for enemies to detect the player, with them usually giving chase as soon as they even suspect that someone might be hiding around the corner.
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In this game, enemies can spot Basim from further away, but they also won’t immediately recognize him and will instead enter an “Investigation” state, letting the player know that they need to plan their next move carefully. This new AI behavior opens up so many more avenues for stealth gameplay since players will now be able to safely lure enemies out of position much easier than before and can even place a trap around the corner to cause some real mayhem.
4Leap Of Faith Changes
Assassin’s Creedveterans are used to viewing aLeap of Faithas a sort of safe haven in the games. They act as a great way to escape and evade pursuing guards since the player’s leap will always be cushioned by a conveniently placed haystack, but this classic mechanic has actually been made a lot more unreliable thanks to the introduction of spearmen inAssassin’s Creed Mirage.
Every so often, the spearmen who patrol Baghdad will poke a haystack if they are near it, which will immediately cause Basim to leap out if he’s already inside. This small added feature makes a very big difference in how the stealth works, specifically because it forces players to re-consider the best ways to hide rather than always resorting to the haystack for each one of their missions.
3Nostalgic Visual Filter
If players really want to relive the memories of racing through Israel as Altair in the very firstAssassin’s Creedgame, the developers have included a"Nostalgic Visual Filter"inMiragethat desaturates the vibrant green and gold color palette of the new game, replacing it with a mixture of blue and gray that very much defined the look of the originalAssassin’s Creed.
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As of right now, it’s not clear whether this will be a setting that needs to be unlocked or if it will be available to players from the start, but it is nonetheless a very honorable love letter to the beloved 2007 classic title that birthed this fantastic series of games.
2Faster Parkour
The parkour has clearly been accelerated inAssassin’s Creed Mirage, with Basim almost seeming like he might haveEzio’s hookblade up his sleevewith how fast he is able to scale a building. While Baghdad does contain a few rivers and canals which separate many of the streets, Basim will be able to cross these gaps in little to no time by using a pole to vault over these bridges, with this being a brand new method players can use to explore thegigantic open world.
This ensures that the player always has a way to move forward, keeping the movement fluid and fun, and there are even a few fan-favorite animations from some past titles that have made a return, too, including the corner swing, which was first introduced inAssassin’s Creed 2as a handy way to navigate around the streets of Florence. In fact, in order to harken back to the rhythm-based movement that was present in the early games, Ubisoft has completely reworked the animations of Basim, which allows him to feel much faster than previous assassins, even when he’s simply walking.
1Chain Assassinations
When Basim is analyzing a few enemies at once with his Eagle Vision, he will be able to mark several of them at a time to initiate a brand new assassination technique that essentially works the same as the Mark and Execute feature found in another Ubisoft title,Splinter Cell Blacklist.
Once each enemy is marked, Basim will teleport between them, killing them off silently one after the other in quick succession. Considering how grounded and immersive of a gameAssassin’s Creed Mirageis trying to be, this strange ability was definitely the biggest announcement that surprised fans the most, but it’s very hard to argue that it doesn’t grant the player so much more freedom in their assassination strategies, especially since it seems like it will also be upgradeable.
Assassin’s Creed Mirageis set to release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and PC on October 12th, 2023.
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