Should You Buy Assassins Creed Mirage?

Assassin's Creed Mirage is the latest entry in a series that has long forgotten its roots but Ubisoft has assured fans that this time things will be different is that true has Assassin's Creed gone back to what made it successful in the first place or is this latest entry and other Ubisoft marketing Mirage before I get into the review I need to stress how while I won't be spoiling any major plot points there will be some minor gameplay spoilers such as what menus look like different enemies and different abilities but all of the footage will be from the first few hours of gameplay for context the preview build we saw from a few weeks ago took place about a third into the game while you don't need to play Assassin's Creed Valhalla to understand the story here I highly recommend you do once again before we begin I want to talk about honesty and credibility and if you don't care about that you can skip to this point in the video in my previous Mirage video where I discussed the preview build Ubisoft allowed me to play many noted that my attempts at honestly were fruitless because my opinion had already been tainted by receiving special treatment from Ubisoft I totally get where that sentiment comes from but I take a different approach to credibility basically there are plenty of things that can influence my opinion and instead of rejecting every special opportunity in front of me in the name of Internet points I think it's better to Express honesty through laying all my cards on the table I can't provide an objective review I don't believe any human being can but I can provide my thoughts and the context surrounding them so with that said here's what Ubisoft is kind enough to do for me they gave both myself and our lovely editor Sean codes to play the game early to get this review out on time I was also able to see different parts of Mirage early and provide feedback on what I saw and finally I was able to take a trip to Montreal to tour their Studio but they didn't pay for the flight and only covered part of the hotel so if you think a two thousand dollar bill is special treatment then so be it with that said this review's objective is to explain if I think the game is good worth picking up and if you should get it keep the context in mind and let's begin visually Mirage is up to the Sanders that Ubisoft has said in the past will it blow you away no does it suffice yes the environments are designed expertly as always and Baghdad from certain angles looks downright Heavenly but other aspects of the game take a nosedive into The Nether back from Valhalla are the conversations that look stiff and unfitting for the characters and the lip syncing is consistently dodgy not always noticeable and when the game shoots for a full-fledged cutscene things do look great but it's worth mentioning that the many cutscenes that take place suffer from the same talking head syndrome that plagued the Arkham Series where Assassin's Creed and Arkham continue to parallels in the soundtracks the Arabic instrumentals had a company your journey are played well and I greatly appreciate this game opting not to overuse the hell out of Ezio's family it's a good song an iconic song but I'm sick of it Baghdad is an excellent looking City with an overwhelming amount of people Flora markets buildings boats camels in the works it's a busy City and it lends itself to the social stuff that has a greater Focus here no Skyline is without a tall perch begging to be leapt from or a post that connects your path across a roof there's a wide variety of color here and the contrast of an oasis against the harsh grains of surrounding sand are as much of a size as the detailed fortresses and towers that watch over the low Rising buildings and awnings that glaze over the streets it feels familiar in a setting sense to the series Roots but also in terms of iconography there's multiple bureaus this time around and we spend a majority of the game cloaked in white attacks and jumps have the proper impact or lack thereof if you're landing on a soft surface and bassam's voice actor does a fantastic job here as does the voice actor for rashan whose raspy near constant growl is just mesmerizing Rashawn also has by far one of the best assassin designs in a while easily clearing any of the outfits from the last three entries ambassum's different outfits look great too I appreciated the variety here in both heavy armor and Nimble robes I can't show them all but I think most will be satisfied with what's on display here what's further on display is the animations of which most are overhauled there are some animations like those when sprinting where it still feels like we're playing as abor which is a problem because the two characters can be more different A4 is Broad brooding and prefers a head-on approach while Bassam is sneakier and more agile and yet he runs with the same wide strides that seem Fit For A Viking parkour sees bathroom taking a flow to your descent which many noted in the preview build while some like it and others don't I fell on the side of liking it it reinforces how light and quick this character is couple this with his upbringing as a thief and the other bathroom related information revealed in Valhalla and we have animations that to me fit the character combat looks solid enough for the takedown's range from feeling impactful and brutal to limp the specific issue is that the swords can cut through these enemies and their armor like butter as if there's no resistance maybe Bassam is just putting all of his Force into it but previous entries had greater sound and valhalla's animation saw avor occasionally having to take a literal second stab which went miles for immersion and entertainment outside of this nitpick there's finesse to be found in every corner of the combat and the South takedowns instead take a more traditional approach which after how long it's been since we've had a traditional entry is fine by me finally the UI looks slick but it's the biggest reminder of this game being rooted in Valhalla I mentioned this in my first impressions video that the DNA of Valhalla is very much here Mirage was initially developed as an expansion for Valhalla and while there is an overwhelming amount of identity here to separate it from Norway and England understanding its foundations will explain the issues that plagued the game even if it won't excuse them visuals alone can't carry a game even if they do look quite good in this case and when people think of Assassin's Creed returning to its roots the gameplay is the first thing to come to mind notably the way they move movement is I'm sorry I really wish I could come on here and say that the movement is fixed guys it's like Unity or it's like the Xeo games and I'm sorry it's not I consider myself a fan of the RPG games I enjoyed Origins Odyssey and while I initially disliked about how I have come to appreciate it more when replaying it in preparation for Mirage but in all of those games I took issue with the lack of freedom in the movement they simplified it to its core and Stripped Away all of the complexities and I assume an attempt to strip back its clunkiness too Assassin's Creed especially the further back you go have controls that were difficult to pick up once you figured them out they felt great and I personally wouldn't have changed them at all but there was a consistent sentiment among critics that the controls were clunky and honestly that was true but it was also true that the games provided a freedom unlike any other when the first three RPG games lack control it didn't bother me too much because it wasn't needed there were only so many ways you can scale a mountain so many ways you can climb a brick wall a pyramid or a long house but Mirage has a dense city that is begging to be explored so you really feel this lack of expression the issue isn't that I want to use side ejects or Walla Jacks so I can gatekeep fans who don't use them or that I can and say oh look at me look at how good I am I want them so I can have more control over my actions because at the end of the day control is expression and expression is fun I want to be allowed to fully engage with the environment use these rows of pillars and posts not as Pathways but as tools to help me build my own route the reason I'm harping on this so much here is because the level design is excellent and there's no room to utilize it there's still much to enjoy here in the chases across rooftops were still adrenaline filled which is elevated by The Game's great score the design of the world does a heavy lifting here but it can't stop me from constantly wanting more from the system I feel like the hardest part about designing good movement is providing ample area for the player to engage with it and in Mirage there's so much to climb in yet only one way to do so the hard part is done why not go all the way I understand that it is likely tied to valhalla's engine not being designed for it from the ground up but the point remains I wish it was here lastly I felt parkour was more inaccurate here which I didn't know during my preview session and I imagine this is due to me playing on the PS5 whereas I played the preview on PC and I just suck at aiming with the Dual sense 5 so I'll chalk this up to a skill issue I'll dive into this topic more when I eventually do my full critique of the game in a few months but for now know this if you were expecting parkour to be anything unlike the last three games then you will be disappointed with that said there's a lot to love about this game because the stealth and combat are truly a step forward for multiple reasons I cannot talk about combat himself individually because they support each other beautifully basem is a sneaky character he hides and slinks between sight lines naturally and thus is less equipped in combat every aspect of the game encourages you to stick to the shadows and for those that are interested there are no damage numbers and every assassination is a one shot stealth initially received some pushback because of the chain assassination which sees you teleporting from one enemy to another often over extremely unrealistic distances in a Flash to take them all out at first I assume this was a glitch in the Animus but now I don't know because the first time you use it Bassam properly reacts to what he did so maybe he just has super powers I don't know to me it doesn't really matter it's totally unrealistic but given what we know of Bassam it's fine and if it does bother you then you never have to use it outside of when you first get it any problem in the game can be solved by either using the chain assassination or by more tradition additional means like distractions or smoke bombs I personally used it plenty because it was fun but again if it's not for you then you don't need to the tools provided to you in the game were fun and useful in most cases specifically the smoke bombs and throwing knives came in handy most often though there are even more options here too what also makes a return as a crowd blending which marks the first seamless social stealth game we've gotten in a long time and it is properly used in the missions too which sees you tailing stalking and often pickpocketing from a crowd it's important to note the tools available because when stealth is encouraged the way it is here it needs to be deep and Mirage succeeds in providing that depth I had more fun striking from the Shadows than I've had in years and it made the tailing missions genuinely enjoyable which is another thing I haven't said in years I found most Paces that need to be cleared like their own puzzles where I had to plan out my attack and execute them quickly to avoid detection this time from AI that is more alert and detects you quickly I found myself having to properly Scout an area from a high point use my tools sparingly and when you inevitably mess up the combat is strong enough to prevent safe scumming most of the time I think the combat strikes a great balance between the RPG games of late and the older counter focus combat the biggest changes in difficulty as attacks come out fast and mistakes are punished hard not only does this make combat a more engaging process but it further encourages stealth as taking down an entire base from the Shadows is significantly easier than slaughtering them loud and this is doubly true when it feels as though when an enemy detects you a large portion of the base will too as guards start blowing their horns and screaming for backup I did think that the detection was a bit iffy for example I would get caught by a guard quickly kill them in yet a near minute later I would still be spotted instantly by a guard facing the opposite direction which was really frustrating either way the combat is good and counter focused enemies have either a red attack which means you need to dodge or a white attack which can be parried while the flashing lights are appreciated you will quickly discover that the flash comes out too late for you to react and thus you need to rely on other visual cues for example one-handed sword enemies can always be parried when they swing from their left side and you must Dodge when they swing from their right again I liked having to pay attention more and once their stagger bar is whittled down you can instant kill them with many enemies going down after just one or two counters I feel as though combat does a little to reinvent the wheel but I also feel it doesn't have to what is here is good because it pushes the player to stick to its greatest facet stealth level Design This Time Around has you flexing your skills in interesting ways you wear disguised as broad guards sneak into places through unorthodox means if your goal is to quietly leave a trail of bodies towards a Target that is doable and these extra options are both appreciated and seen at their best in the assassination missions the Black Box assassinations from unity in Syndicate make a return in spectacular fashion you have a ton of different options in infiltrating a target's location and even more ways of taking them down for example there was a Target that needed to be rescued from a prison so I bribed a merchant out front and pretended to be his assistant to get past the guards at the gate once inside I moved to a cell and helped him Escape through the roof an escape that was very loud mind you because we were spotted along the way for an assassination there is a businessman who I needed to draw out when I saw a merchant who could not get his Goods I decided to help him by stealing the goods that were inside so he could leave and announce his departure causing the target to investigate this was not the only way I could have gone about this and the options get even crazier as the game goes on but of course I can't show it here the point is there's a ton of freedom them here and how you do anything from assassinating high-ranking members of the order to how you take down two guards in front of you sometimes I use the chain assassination sometimes to smoke bomb and sometimes I use the throwing knife on one guard and then quickly assassinated the other up close you could hide bodies to prevent guards from noticing and you could also leave them in particular spots in order to trap them there was so much variety and the level design was frequently open-ended this applies to most of the game too you start rather linear as the game sets up the major characters but after about an hour or two the game opens wide up allowing you to tackle a few different threads however you like with all of them being of equal quality the mission I played in the demo is available early but it could be one of the last things you do depending on which threads Intrigue you the most every Mission here is framed around an investigation you have investigations surrounding the order members but you also have side investigations such as a character who needs some books returned and a really cool one that again I won't spoil there's plenty to do in the open world and the side quests are great they either provide fun gameplay or enhance the world while traveling to an objective I overheard a young boy saying he would jump from a tower I climbed up to find out more and I learned that he was trying to get the attention of the Hidden ones once I taught the boy roughly had to do a leap of faith he thanked me and said that once he's old enough he'll join the hidden ones it was a great Mission because of a particular reveal and with how it showed where the hidden ones stand in Baghdad being seen as vigilante-esque Heroes and most side content is like this another note about the choices is that there's no longer any major choices in the story outside of the normal dialogue choices When selecting menus from stores speaking of which there's an animus store here yippee when I played there was nothing here but Lord knows if this game is anything like Valhalla then they will be sure to keep the coolest looking outfits behind a nine dollar pay wall there's not much to say it just sucks finally the story here is well done and uploaded like the last few entries it focuses on the order of the Ancients having seat their Roots into Baghdad and our hidden ones including their new recruit basem having to figure out a way to identify the members stop their plans all while basm fights an inner demon that haunts his dreams basem is a particularly likable character this time around as is his lifelong friend nahal ambassum's Mentor rashan the story takes some interesting turns and there is a pretty impressive twist at the end too which was appreciated it felt well written took itself seriously while also still having some fun and while the open nature of the second act can make the story feel as though it's jumping around a bit which staggers the pacing I overall enjoyed it plenty I understand that I can't provide too many examples here but the best I can say is that I like the story more than Odyssey and Valhalla but not necessarily as much as Origins Mirage is a shorter game clocking in at around 12 hours for me to beat the main campaign and honestly I felt that was a perfect length it didn't oversay its welcome and in fact once I 100 completed which Full transparency I have not yet I still have some Collectibles missing I'll likely play the game again and try different gameplay choices a final note performance on the PS5 was pretty solid I played through the entire game in performance mode and very rarely experience frame drops and I imagine the game will run even better after a day one patch though Jedi Survivor taught me to not rely on it there were some visual glitches but nothing that got in the way of gameplay and nothing that isn't the usual Ubisoft fair at this point when I ended my hour-long Assassin's Creed Valhalla video I said this I think if Ubisoft takes the development time money and effort that they put into this game and put it into like a 20 or 30 hour adventure and scaled down the scope they could seriously have a masterpiece on their ends Mirage feels like Ubisoft saw this I know they didn't but the point is after years now this is a game that I've been looking for and while Mirage isn't a masterpiece I think it's plenty good so do I think you should get the game if you're a fan of the RPG games yes if you don't mind the last few entries yes but if you are a die-hard old school fan who particularly loves the parkour it may not be worth your money do keep in mind that this is retailing at a reduced price of 69.99 Canadian and 49.99 American and to answer the question is Assassin's Creed back not entirely but Mirage is a colossal leap in the right direction and if the next game has deeper movement with this same level of care within its combat stealth world and story I'd say we have a certified Masterwork on our hands as of right now keeping the recency bias in mind Mirage is one of the best Assassin's Creed games in a while and it's clear that Ubisoft Bordeaux know what they're doing Assassin's Creed Mirage releases on October 5th will you be getting it why or why not I want to thank you for watching this review and I cannot stress this enough make sure you look at other reviews so that you're making the most informed purchase possible games are [ __ ] expensive nowadays and it's not so easy to take a chance on a product anymore don't just listen to me thank you to our patrons for supporting this video thank you to Ubisoft for all they did for me and thank you to Ubisoft Bordeaux for creating an excellent game thank you for watching and take care

Channel: That Boy Aqua

Views: 137,713

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Id: IY9-JI4hyCo

Length: 15min 4sec (904 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 04 2023