Assassin's Creed Mirage

Adventurous stealth-action from a third-person perspective Assassin's Creed Mirage takes the franchise to the Middle East, in Baghdad of the 9th century. The main character is a young Basim ibn Ishaq, a street thief with a hot heart and nimble hands, seeking justice. Thanks to a mysterious ancient organization known as the "Hidden Ones," he becomes a deadly master assassin and changes his fate in ways he could never have imagined.

Plot-wise, Mirage is a spin-off prequel about the character Assassin's Creed Valhalla Basim, showing his development and self-discovery. In terms of gameplay, it attempts to please the desires of old fans and return the former spirit of the Assassin's Creed series. A single-player project without grinding, on a small map, focusing on the story and the necessary minimum of side quests.

Mirage starts in 861 AD — 20 years before the beginning of Valhalla, 900 years after the finale of Assassin's Creed: Origins and 338 years before the original Assassin's Creed. The era of the flourishing Abbasid Caliphate, embodying the setting of "Arabian Nights," turns the capital — Baghdad and its surroundings — into the epicenter of the struggle between assassins and templars, spiced with authentic atmosphere and historical figures.

Immersion is provided by a detailed and meticulously crafted vast eastern city with characteristic architecture. Buildings seem to be stacked one on top of the other. Narrow streets shaded by palm trees and crowds of NPCs going about their business. Markets filled with merchants selling a variety of goods. Wide squares with fountains near the caliph's palace. High city walls and narrow banks of the Tigris. The urban noise, sounds of animals, the buzz of the crowd, and the cries of merchants merge into a general cacophony of an eastern tale.

Above all this is a separate world of spacious roofs and beautiful terraces, with ledges and paths on the walls, stretched ropes, thrown logs, dropped ropes, and arranged platforms, as if inviting to parkour. The outskirts of Baghdad are less picturesque — in the middle of the desert, there is a water oasis with palm trees, vegetation, and wildlife, several villages, and suburbs.

The ambitious young man Basim and his friend Nihal live in the town of Anbar near Baghdad. Besides stealing and doing dirty work for the "Hidden Ones," he struggles with a terrifying djinn that haunts him in his dreams. Who this Djinn is and what it wants is the main intrigue of the plot, indicated at the beginning but forgotten until the very end, with a sharp revelation in the finale.

The main plot is connected with eliminating local members of the Order of Ancients to free Baghdad from their influence. After undergoing initiation in the iconic fortress of Alamut for Assassin's Creed and establishing himself in the "Hidden Ones" cell in Baghdad, Basim needs to gather evidence, communicate a lot, and investigate each of the Order's figures. Future templars are digging around Baghdad for artifacts of the ancient race of the Isu, which cannot help but cause concern for the future assassins.

Knowing where everything will lead, the Ubisoft writers did not attempt to systematically develop the story. The plot of Mirage is a chronologically arranged set of events, rather than a work of art, devoid of emotions, drama, and the themes of free will characteristic of the original trilogy. Understanding the ending will require extensive knowledge of the lore, which leaves its meaning hidden from most players.

The narrative appeals through typical techniques. Engine-driven cutscenes quickly explain the problem, and stereotypical evil villains are revealed through brief exposition. Relationships with literally five main characters in the plot are also superficial. The dialogue system has been cut. There is no characteristic storyline for the franchise in the present.

Mirage repeats the mechanics of Valhalla in a simplified form, but the gameplay focuses on stealth and fierce quick duels, instead of long "battles" with crowds of enemies. The protagonist is fragile, not particularly resilient or durable, and uses one set of weapons (a sword and a dagger). In combat, he combines light and heavy strikes, and for defense, he blocks, parries with a counterattack, or dodges with a follow-up attack. He is not trained to perform special attacks from previous games in the series, and he still needs to hit narrow windows for parrying.

Despite the sparse roster of enemies (6 types) and the absence of serious bosses, they deal increased damage and attack simultaneously, often making it impossible to parry their strikes; fleeing from a fight in Mirage is not uncommon for Basim. Enemies have had levels and auto-leveling removed, so when the protagonist levels up enough, he can chop his attackers to bits.

At the beginning, however, one must master stealth. The hidden blade always kills enemies in one hit, and the ability "assassin's focus" allows for discreetly dealing with even a group of Ancient Order soldiers. Smoke bombs, throwing knives, noisemakers, sleeping darts, and other tools (Basim crafts them from available materials) distract enemies or simplify the task of eliminating groups.

Parkour in Mirage is abundant and significantly affects movement and, through it, gameplay. You can "grab on the fly" to ledges, grab ropes, run on wires, and jump on static and dynamic platforms, squeezing through any gaps. Parkour still lacks micro-control and depth development of mechanics as the game progresses, while the animations lack smoothness.

A new mechanic — a hero's wanted level system akin to GTA — directly limits aggressiveness. If the protagonist attacks unsuccessfully or is spotted while stealing, he receives a wanted star, and the higher the number of such stars, the harder the game becomes. Regular enemies become tougher and more vigilant, moving more actively through the streets, and strong fighters come to their aid at the slightest provocation. Posters featuring Basim are hung around the city, which ordinary NPCs easily recognize and immediately call the guards. The wanted level can be reduced by tearing down posters or bribing the poster maker.

The gameplay of Mirage, like in the origins of the franchise, is connected with searching for towers and capturing outposts, completing missions to eliminate ordinary henchmen and important targets in the hierarchy of the Order of Ancients. The latter, in terms of mechanics, is similar to BlackBox missions Assassin's Creed: Unity and includes a chain of investigations. You need to interact with NPCs, steal keys and letters, search homes for compromising materials, and gather other information about the target and ways to approach it.

Next, Basim must stealthily enter a guarded area, a well-thought-out and complex location reminiscent of Hitman Trilogy. This can be done independently by finding the best entry point; pretending to be someone else, gaining the support of mercenaries; learning the password by eavesdropping on conversations. The goal is to quietly kill the target with a hidden blade, but there are alternatives in some places: setting up an accident, luring the target out of the guarded zone through a workers' revolt, or stealing important goods. There are minimal independent side quests.

The equipment has been simplified: a suit, outfit, sword, blade, and talisman. Suits have individual properties that shape the character's build, while outfits change the appearance of the suit while retaining its properties. Talismans only affect appearance. Variations of the sword and blade are related to combat skills. There is no universal attire; each has useful but not dominating characteristics. Each piece of equipment provides passive bonuses and has three levels of upgrades.

There are also gathering elements, where you can find both materials for crafting and items and upgrades for them (in chests). Some chests require solving puzzles or finding keys. The game highlights chests when capturing another tower.

Experience is awarded for all main activities, which accumulates into levels that grant skill points. Mirage features three short talent branches: "Phantom" (simplifies kills), "Thief" (improves stealth), and "Predator" (additional abilities like "Eagle Vision"). All skills are useful, and some significantly change gameplay and simplify task completion. To succeed, you need to maintain a balance between completing story missions and gathering to upgrade both skills and tools.