After years of the Assassin's Creed Mirage looks to be a return to the franchise's roots. While the game is something of a prequel to Assassin's Creed Valhalla in that it features Basim as a playable character, its gameplay will reportedly be a significant departure from the series' recent RPG titles. Much of the news about Assassin's Creed Mirage will be exciting for fans who've been missing classic Assassin's Creed.
Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Assassin's Creed Valhalla.Assassin's Creed Mirage is a throwback to the original games in more ways than one. The first Assassin's Creed took place in what is now Palestine, Israel, and Syria, so the architecture and aesthetic of Assassin's Creed Mirage's Baghdad setting will likely be fairly similar to the original. In addition, the game won't feature RPG elements like skill trees or its recent predecessors' more action-oriented combat, instead placing a higher emphasis on parkour and social stealth mechanics. However, perhaps the most integral change in Assassin's Creed Mirage's formula is how its story will be structured.
Among its many signature features, the most infamous aspect of the Assassin's Creed series is arguably its meta-narrative. Presenting relatively accurate historical vistas alongside ancient humanoid species and highly advanced technology can make for an anachronistic tone, but it also detracts from the gameplay. While Assassin's Creed games mostly take place within the Animus, they also have sections set in the present day, which tend to kill the momentum of the main story. However, as reported by Assassin's Creed Mirage won't have present day story segments. This is a surprising shift away from one of the series' main pillars, but it makes sense. Basim became the series' new modern protagonist in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and he presumably wouldn't need to discover his own memories.
Assassin's Creed Is Leaving Its Modern Story Behind (For Now)
Without having to address a modern narrative, Assassin's Creed Mirage will be able to optimize players' experience in Basim's shoes. This experience will be much more similar to the series' original trilogy than its most recent games, as it will reportedly have a smaller scope and more focused direction. According to art director Jean-Luc Sala, Basim is inherently not as much of a tanky warrior as Bayek, Kassandra, or Eivor, so players will have to rely more heavily on stealth and strategy to succeed. In addition, Assassin's Creed Mirage will bring back classic parkour, boasting an evolution of recent games' traversal with an "improved, faster" parkour system.
While Assassin's Creed Mirage's departure from having a present day storyline is unlikely to be the series' new norm, it will be intriguing to see how the change affects AC Mirage's pacing and overall narrative. The confirmed details about AC Mirage's gameplay, setting, and scope indicate that it will be a refreshing change of pace from the massive action RPGs of late. By cutting Assassin's Creed's signature meta-narrative, Assassin's Creed Mirage could set a high bar as the most streamlined game in the series.
Source: GameSpot