Just Locus
Educated
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I don't think the servers in YouTube HQ could handle a video that long.
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Assassins Creed Mirage - standalone Valhalla spinoff set in medieval Baghdad
- Thread starter Modron
- Start date
It's more than that. The engine used here reminds me of the Total War situation. Stuff now feel much more floaty and arcady compared to the old engine, which had a more simulation approach.
Lovely Feather Pillow
Educated
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Forest Dweller
Smoking Dicks
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Correct_Carlo
Arcane
It looks like a bunch of reused assets from Origns and Odyssey to me.
Here is my review of Mirage. You can read it here, or down below if interested!
In short, it felt okay but really phoned in, in places. Also, the story doesn't mean much at all.
The only reason I got this game was the promise of the franchise going back to its roots. While that remains true to a certain degree, it’s not the long-lost promise land of Grandpa’s old-school Assassin’s Creed gameplay. It’s mostly a mix between the original games in the series, and the RPG take on it that started with Assassins Creed Origin. I mostly blame this half-hearted attempt on the engine itself, since Assassin’s Creed Mirage shares that with Origin, Odyssey, and Valhalla. It looks pretty, there is no denying that, but everything that involves the player, as in parkour and the combat feels very floaty, just like in those titles. It has much less of a “simulation” approach than the former games which leads to the setting feeling less grounded and realistic. More on that down below.
Arabian Nights
You play as Basim, a poor and down-on-his-luck thief, roaming medieval Baghdad for easy pickings for survival. As it is with all these origin stories, his lawless ways eventually end up with him in a very sticky situation that leads him into the arms of the Assassin Brotherhood. They are however called The Hidden Ones at this point in time. Time goes on, and Basim trains to become an assassin, and from here on out the usual stuff begins – aka, with you at the helm murdering corrupt people in a brutal fashion to uncover an entangled mess of conspiracies.
I thought the story served its purpose, but I can’t exactly say it was exciting, until the last hour or two. You do uncover more and more of Baghdad’s hidden plots. However, it never reaches a point of great intrigue. There is a lot of talk about the who and the why some of Baghdad’s leaders are evil, but it never feels very personal. Eventually, the assassinations become routine, not providing any mental stimulation, much like grabbing a snack in the fridge. The game never takes any deep plunges into any of Mirage’s characters. The protagonists nor the antagonists get enough time in the spotlight to make them interesting. There is no constant asshole that torments you, or anything similar to that – it’s just the non-descript “The Masked Ones” that apparently is bad for everyone in Baghdad, including you.
The best part of Mirage was the relationship between Basim and Nehal, but the problem here, much like the main story, is that their friendship is put to the side until you reach the later parts of the game. This can be explained by the narrative somewhat. I will not go into why since I don’t want to spoil anything. Yet, I must talk a bit of the ending, because it will leave you utterly confused (as it did me) if you have not played Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. It has an ending that I think is sufficient, but it only has the intended impact if you have meta-knowledge about the series. Unfortunately, this makes the whole experience pointless past the self-contained tale of Mirage. In other words – the prequel curse strikes once again, especially since it doesn’t move the story of the franchise forward at all.
Another interesting facet of the narrative is the inner struggle Basim faces during the game. A jinni hunts his dream whilst he sleeps. This happens a few times across Mirage, but the majority of its implications are also left for the ending. Sadly, all the interesting and cool story points are left for the crescendo, which means that twenty-one hours of the twenty-two I spent in-game were lacking when it came to stakes and anticipation of where the story would take me. It’s a major missed opportunity since this could have been made to be much more personal, as it’s already a smaller game compared to the rest. Imagine if it focused on the mass killing these guys do – what a toll that would take on one’s mind. I guess that would be too deep for the current year.
Other than the main missions, and contracts that you can pick up from the Assassin hideouts, there isn’t much to do in the city. Nothing surprising ever happens while traversing from objective to objective, as dynamic events seem to be totally devoid in Mirage. It’s much like going to buy milk for your cereals, and while that is appreciated in real life, it’s boring as hell in a fictive world. Beyond these quests, there are also a lot of different collectibles to collect, if you like that sort of thing. From what I got by doing some of these (thanks to my gaming OCD), the narrative reward is minimal. The money, tokens, or whatever else you get from these tasks don’t matter much because Mirage does not require any grind to get ahead. I would say that is mostly a good thing, however, it also means that the game overall is very easy, requiring very little effort and preparation from you.
Time to assassinate
As I mentioned, Mirage was a promise of going back to its roots. The actual assassinations are part of this promise since now, successful ambushes guarantee a kill, so no more health-bloated enemies shrugging off a blade to the neck as if it was only an angry mosquito nibbling on them. This is good, and the added stealth mechanics to the game are great as it add flavor to the assassinations. Beyond that, the combat and general movement feel a major drag. The fighting was never hard in Assassin’s Creed. However, from the point the franchise went full RPG mode, I found the transformed gameplay tedious and very unrealistic thanks to the tanky enemies. While Mirage mitigates some of this, it’s sadly still a fundamental part of the game. It’s very floaty, and “hack & slash”. On the hard difficulty setting (which I played on), the enemies have plenty of health, which makes this aspect way worse considering this was not supposed to be.
Comparable to the older games, this is the opposite of what once was, and in addition to this, the combat is very limited. You can’t pick up enemy weapons, you can’t grab people and throw them off edges, and you can’t go pacifist mode using only your fists. Killing is the only way. You are also limited to using a sword in a combo with a dagger, so with that, you are forced to fight in a dual-wielding style, which personally to me is one of the combat styles I like the least in fantasy.
Another huge issue with Mirage is that the animations are not very smooth. This goes for both combat and parkour and on top of that, the freerunning feels awkward as hell as Basim will do whatever he wants at times. Occasionally, I even think that Basim might be suicidal with how often he throws himself off buildings when I only want him to climb. The climbing is just way too sticky, instead of feeling like a natural flow of movement. While this might work when running in a general direction on the rooftops, doing any kind of small adjustments like trying to go through a window can be a real pain in the behind. This is extra frustrating when you are being hunted, or having a huge fight as you will be forced into a two-front war against the spastic controls and the actual enemies wanting to take your head as a trophy. You would think after this many games, they would get the controls right…
Low IQ guards
If these problems weren’t enough, the guard AI might be the dumbest I have ever seen. They barely react to anything, and it seems they only have two states. Full assault, or whatever-I’m-not-paid-enough mode. This makes the stealth and assassinations very easy. If they discover a corpse, they will walk around for a bit looking for whoever has done it, but after a minute or two, they will go back to relaxing and having a casual smoke, chatting with their guard friends. They never enter any kind of heightened security state or anything like that. Not only will your immersion be killed, but the difficulty too – long dead and buried, with no chance of resurrection. They also give up very quickly when chasing you, so don’t expect any fun and cool hunts spanning over half the city’s rooftop, because apparently they all suffer from chronic asthma and will give up after fifty meters (falling over unconscious, I presume).
Bookshelf pushing
So, while the AI sucks, maybe the puzzles will be in a better state? Sorry to say, but that will be another big nope. Mirage has a few puzzles sprinkled about, however, they are very easy to solve, and they all involve pushing a bookshelf or something similar a few meters to unlock a “hidden” path. I’m not sure why, but everything just feels low effort and phoned in, like it’s a game made for Assassin’s Creed rejects that can’t think or plan for anything more than ten seconds into the future. It’s very disappointing and makes the gameplay feel very simple and generic, but set in a cool historical setting.
What is funny about this, and what validates my above statement, is that the default UI shows absolutely everything in the world. It guides you all the way – you even get x-ray vision as you will see enemies through walls as red silhouettes. Thankfully, you can turn most of these things off, but the intention is clear. The only thing I left on was the objective icons, as I didn’t feel like searching every nook and cranny to find out where to go – because many tasks will involve very specific activities, like finding a certain door that only can be opened by one specific key that only one certain guard carries. This repeats infinitely throughout Mirage.
Looking & sounding great
To no surprise, Mirage looks great. Baghdad has been made in tremendous detail, which makes traversing the city a joy from a tourist perspective. Textures and cutscene animations are also well done, if a bit boring cinematically, but overall, this part of the game is of pretty high quality. It’s a shame the gameplay feels so lacking, and the story mediocre – in the way that nothing really matters in the end. One feature that truly is fantastic though – is the music, with tunes that have a flavor of Arabian Nights mixed with beats of electronica. I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did. I will surely listen to it outside the game. To be honest, the soundtrack and the visuals are probably the best part of Mirage, but that alone doesn’t make a good title…
In conclusion, I can’t recommend Mirage. The point of it going back to the roots is only a half-truth, and if you haven’t played Assassin’s Creed Valhalla the story will make no real sense, nor matter that much. It feels like a big DLC, and from what I understand that was the initial plan for the title. Other than that, the open-world fatigue is not easy to leave behind – especially, if you are like me and are tired of these types of games in particular. It does not help when the world you are part of, is nothing more than a pretty backdrop with nothing more to offer.
A few other minor things that bummed me out was that the sci-fi aspect of Mirage is a minimal experience. This might be fine for some, but I loved that part of the series, at least from the first few games. The game also crashed a lot on me, but it seemed to be connected to the Ubisoft Connect launcher than the actual game. Half the time when I wanted to take a screenshot, the game stalled and crashed. Very weird, and with that, the review of Mirage comes to an end. Unfortunately, it’s nothing special, and for us who wanted something in the old style, instead got a weak compromise of the two – which in the end just feels like a letdown and a copout.
Thanks for reading.
Arabian Nights
You play as Basim, a poor and down-on-his-luck thief, roaming medieval Baghdad for easy pickings for survival. As it is with all these origin stories, his lawless ways eventually end up with him in a very sticky situation that leads him into the arms of the Assassin Brotherhood. They are however called The Hidden Ones at this point in time. Time goes on, and Basim trains to become an assassin, and from here on out the usual stuff begins – aka, with you at the helm murdering corrupt people in a brutal fashion to uncover an entangled mess of conspiracies.
I thought the story served its purpose, but I can’t exactly say it was exciting, until the last hour or two. You do uncover more and more of Baghdad’s hidden plots. However, it never reaches a point of great intrigue. There is a lot of talk about the who and the why some of Baghdad’s leaders are evil, but it never feels very personal. Eventually, the assassinations become routine, not providing any mental stimulation, much like grabbing a snack in the fridge. The game never takes any deep plunges into any of Mirage’s characters. The protagonists nor the antagonists get enough time in the spotlight to make them interesting. There is no constant asshole that torments you, or anything similar to that – it’s just the non-descript “The Masked Ones” that apparently is bad for everyone in Baghdad, including you.
The best part of Mirage was the relationship between Basim and Nehal, but the problem here, much like the main story, is that their friendship is put to the side until you reach the later parts of the game. This can be explained by the narrative somewhat. I will not go into why since I don’t want to spoil anything. Yet, I must talk a bit of the ending, because it will leave you utterly confused (as it did me) if you have not played Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. It has an ending that I think is sufficient, but it only has the intended impact if you have meta-knowledge about the series. Unfortunately, this makes the whole experience pointless past the self-contained tale of Mirage. In other words – the prequel curse strikes once again, especially since it doesn’t move the story of the franchise forward at all.
Other than the main missions, and contracts that you can pick up from the Assassin hideouts, there isn’t much to do in the city. Nothing surprising ever happens while traversing from objective to objective, as dynamic events seem to be totally devoid in Mirage. It’s much like going to buy milk for your cereals, and while that is appreciated in real life, it’s boring as hell in a fictive world. Beyond these quests, there are also a lot of different collectibles to collect, if you like that sort of thing. From what I got by doing some of these (thanks to my gaming OCD), the narrative reward is minimal. The money, tokens, or whatever else you get from these tasks don’t matter much because Mirage does not require any grind to get ahead. I would say that is mostly a good thing, however, it also means that the game overall is very easy, requiring very little effort and preparation from you.
Time to assassinate
As I mentioned, Mirage was a promise of going back to its roots. The actual assassinations are part of this promise since now, successful ambushes guarantee a kill, so no more health-bloated enemies shrugging off a blade to the neck as if it was only an angry mosquito nibbling on them. This is good, and the added stealth mechanics to the game are great as it add flavor to the assassinations. Beyond that, the combat and general movement feel a major drag. The fighting was never hard in Assassin’s Creed. However, from the point the franchise went full RPG mode, I found the transformed gameplay tedious and very unrealistic thanks to the tanky enemies. While Mirage mitigates some of this, it’s sadly still a fundamental part of the game. It’s very floaty, and “hack & slash”. On the hard difficulty setting (which I played on), the enemies have plenty of health, which makes this aspect way worse considering this was not supposed to be.
Another huge issue with Mirage is that the animations are not very smooth. This goes for both combat and parkour and on top of that, the freerunning feels awkward as hell as Basim will do whatever he wants at times. Occasionally, I even think that Basim might be suicidal with how often he throws himself off buildings when I only want him to climb. The climbing is just way too sticky, instead of feeling like a natural flow of movement. While this might work when running in a general direction on the rooftops, doing any kind of small adjustments like trying to go through a window can be a real pain in the behind. This is extra frustrating when you are being hunted, or having a huge fight as you will be forced into a two-front war against the spastic controls and the actual enemies wanting to take your head as a trophy. You would think after this many games, they would get the controls right…
Low IQ guards
If these problems weren’t enough, the guard AI might be the dumbest I have ever seen. They barely react to anything, and it seems they only have two states. Full assault, or whatever-I’m-not-paid-enough mode. This makes the stealth and assassinations very easy. If they discover a corpse, they will walk around for a bit looking for whoever has done it, but after a minute or two, they will go back to relaxing and having a casual smoke, chatting with their guard friends. They never enter any kind of heightened security state or anything like that. Not only will your immersion be killed, but the difficulty too – long dead and buried, with no chance of resurrection. They also give up very quickly when chasing you, so don’t expect any fun and cool hunts spanning over half the city’s rooftop, because apparently they all suffer from chronic asthma and will give up after fifty meters (falling over unconscious, I presume).
Bookshelf pushing
So, while the AI sucks, maybe the puzzles will be in a better state? Sorry to say, but that will be another big nope. Mirage has a few puzzles sprinkled about, however, they are very easy to solve, and they all involve pushing a bookshelf or something similar a few meters to unlock a “hidden” path. I’m not sure why, but everything just feels low effort and phoned in, like it’s a game made for Assassin’s Creed rejects that can’t think or plan for anything more than ten seconds into the future. It’s very disappointing and makes the gameplay feel very simple and generic, but set in a cool historical setting.
What is funny about this, and what validates my above statement, is that the default UI shows absolutely everything in the world. It guides you all the way – you even get x-ray vision as you will see enemies through walls as red silhouettes. Thankfully, you can turn most of these things off, but the intention is clear. The only thing I left on was the objective icons, as I didn’t feel like searching every nook and cranny to find out where to go – because many tasks will involve very specific activities, like finding a certain door that only can be opened by one specific key that only one certain guard carries. This repeats infinitely throughout Mirage.
Looking & sounding great
To no surprise, Mirage looks great. Baghdad has been made in tremendous detail, which makes traversing the city a joy from a tourist perspective. Textures and cutscene animations are also well done, if a bit boring cinematically, but overall, this part of the game is of pretty high quality. It’s a shame the gameplay feels so lacking, and the story mediocre – in the way that nothing really matters in the end. One feature that truly is fantastic though – is the music, with tunes that have a flavor of Arabian Nights mixed with beats of electronica. I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did. I will surely listen to it outside the game. To be honest, the soundtrack and the visuals are probably the best part of Mirage, but that alone doesn’t make a good title…
In conclusion, I can’t recommend Mirage. The point of it going back to the roots is only a half-truth, and if you haven’t played Assassin’s Creed Valhalla the story will make no real sense, nor matter that much. It feels like a big DLC, and from what I understand that was the initial plan for the title. Other than that, the open-world fatigue is not easy to leave behind – especially, if you are like me and are tired of these types of games in particular. It does not help when the world you are part of, is nothing more than a pretty backdrop with nothing more to offer.
A few other minor things that bummed me out was that the sci-fi aspect of Mirage is a minimal experience. This might be fine for some, but I loved that part of the series, at least from the first few games. The game also crashed a lot on me, but it seemed to be connected to the Ubisoft Connect launcher than the actual game. Half the time when I wanted to take a screenshot, the game stalled and crashed. Very weird, and with that, the review of Mirage comes to an end. Unfortunately, it’s nothing special, and for us who wanted something in the old style, instead got a weak compromise of the two – which in the end just feels like a letdown and a copout.
Thanks for reading.
In short, it felt okay but really phoned in, in places. Also, the story doesn't mean much at all.
deuxhero
Arcane
I was surprised when I saw Gamers Nexus pooling showed more people were interested in Alan Wake 2 than Mirage . That's really bad.
GrainWetski
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2012
- Messages
- 5,367
Pretending any of the Amerimutt garbage is actually about vikings is stupid. Especially the Assassin's Creed niggergame. Snow and axes = muh vikings regardless of anything else only in the eyes of utter fools and retards.
MadMaxHellfire
Arcane
so it's your average ass creep experience.
Yeah, I guess, if you go by the modern games. But the issue here is that it's a prequel that builds some backstory for a villain, that only players of Valhalla know. And it's such a minor thing in the grand scale of things, which makes it an utterly pointless story.
lycanwarrior
Scholar
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2021
- Messages
- 1,490
Assassin's Creed Mirage launch brings 18% player rise across AC series
https://www.truetrophies.com/n24392/assassins-creed-mirage-player-count
cretin
Arcane
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2019
- Messages
- 1,498
It is, in a sense, impressive that ubisoft can serve up the same reheated shit every couple of years and retards actually get excited for more of it. This isn't even a new game, it was literally developed as a DLC for ACV and they just had the chutzpah to release it as a full priced game.
Even I, a rabid AC fan avoided this one. I'm really amazed that it sold this well, in a time that crowded many AAA games also.
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2017
- Messages
- 31,832
Some of those people even post here, it's disturbing.
MadMaxHellfire
Arcane
you can also have unprotected sex and catch aids for free.
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