2023-10-22 14:00:03
Game news Assassin’s Creed Mirage is full of qualities, including that of making me replay these masterpieces of infiltration
Published on 10/22/2023 at 4:00 p.m.
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With Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Ubisoft returns to the roots of its flagship series: those of emphasizing infiltration in a more restricted open world. Despite the good will of the Bordeaux teams and the many qualities of his baby, the game did not succeed in immersing me in the life of a real assassin. For the worst but especially the best, it made me want to play these two infiltration masterpieces released in 2012 and 2016.
Personal opinion
This article is an opinion post: it is therefore by nature subjective. It therefore corresponds to the author’s vision on the subject and does not represent the opinion of the JV editorial staff.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: a return to basics
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a game full of qualities. It perpetuates the tradition of the series: that of taking the framework of its games from history books in a very careful manner. For Mirage, it is the ninth century and more specifically the golden age of Islam in Baghdad. The player plays Bassim Ibn Ishaq, a young resident in the Iraqi capital. He must steal to survive and the bad turn of a robbery forces him to leave town. It is in this context that the protagonist joins the Assassins’ guild, then called Those We Do Not See. The hero then undergoes intensive training, in which he perfects his shadow blade art: parkour, use of throwing knives, neutralization from behind… His tutor, Rashan, even teaches him how to beat like in a real situation. She herself says that it is sometimes a situation of “last resort”.
From the start, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage opens the door to an approach other than infiltration through its tutorial. However, open combat in this way quickly breaks the immersion. If we agree that the end of the game allows us to better identify with a real assassin, there is still the feeling of a distinct separation between the role that the game wants to give to the character and the tools that it gives him given. In just a few deaths, Ubisoft Bordeaux’s latest production really doesn’t force the player to strictly wear the assassin’s hood. Something that can be observed on several levels.
And be careful, I’m not saying it’s not good to do that. Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, by offering less punitive gameplay, opens the door to players wanting a truly immersive experience in the world of infiltration. And personally, a lot of things in this game reminded me of Arkane Studio’s Dishonored. Infiltration masterpieces that still play out exquisitely today.
A gap between the tools given and the story told
We can never be too careful so we will insist again: the Dishonored games are quite far from Assassin’s Creed Mirage and the latest Assassin’s Creed games in general. Sequenced levels versus open world, FPS versus TPS… In short, the differences are numerous and major but that does not prevent the latter from calling upon the former.
It is in the historical context that the two licenses come together. Since the beginning of the Assassin’s Creed series, Ubisoft has tried to set an important historical period for its main games. With Mirage, it is the golden age of Islam (861 AD) which serves as context. For Dishonored, we are launched in the fictional town of Dunwall. The latter was inspired by London and Edinburgh from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. The player, however, remains anchored in reality: the context of the plague, social inequalities or even the regime of terror imposed following the assassination of the empress.
The numerous empty bottles will be valuable allies in your escape from prison.
A context designed to live in a climate of tension as an assassin since everyone is on guard. Especially since as a former bodyguard of the Empress, it is you who are accused of her murder. A manipulation consisting of silencing you and causing your future execution. It is therefore in Dunwall prison that you, Corvo, begin your investigation. What’s better than taking your first steps as an assassin in a penitentiary from which you have to escape?
Little-rewarded discretion
Possible difficulty modulation in Dishonored 2.
An already arduous challenge, even in normal mode. The artificial intelligence has nothing to do with that of Assassin’s Creed Mirage since it spots you much more consistently. In this sense, it is also adjusted according to the difficulty: the greater the difficulty, the more easily the guards spot you. Something slightly different in Mirage since it is the speed of perception which is improved depending on the difficulty and not the field of vision of the guards which is enlarged. However, we find in both games a greater robustness of the enemies, even if it does not really have a place in an infiltration game: a real assassin kills in one hit without being spotted.
As mentioned above, Mirage does not force the player to immerse themselves in the role or even reward them for stealth. There are secondary contract objectives that highlight different ways of playing; and it’s very refreshing! But we can just as easily kill the guards one by one in the open by sowing discord. If the guards flock, you can always leave quickly and return a few seconds later incognito. Enough to get a bad reputation which doesn’t really have any consequences on your game. An aspect which really breaks the immersion in Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Rewarding the player for their discretion would also have been nice in the main quest!
As you might expect, such behavior is borderline impractical in Dishonored. Certain power synergies allow this, it is indirectly contraindicated by the game during the first games. Each mission reminds the player of his behavior (ghost mode; the number of civilians killed, the chaos generated, etc.) encouraging him to be extra vigilant… when certain optional quests push him to change his approach. And that’s probably what changes the two experiences considerably: their structures. One in open world in third person view, the other in first person view in sequenced levels.
Baghdad through the eyes of an assassin and not an assassin in Baghdad
Assassin’s Creed: Mirage then emphasizes the extremely detailed framework of its story. It’s not about playing an assassin in 9th century Baghdad, but about seeing 9th century Baghdad through the eyes of an assassin. These are two relatively different things which, in my opinion, succeed in symbolizing the proposition made by Ubisoft Bordeaux through this game. Conversely for Dishonored, it is clearly its tailor-made structure which speaks for it: it exudes infiltration on the tips of our nails and each second spent playing Corvo transforms us a little more each time into a seasoned assassin.
With Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, this “back to basics” from Ubisoft to the first recipe of its flagship saga is done in a very beautiful way. The Bordeaux team succeeds in applying its know-how to put infiltration back in the spotlight. Their production is akin to a mille-feuille to the tasty whole giving a taste of this genre without making it completely exhilarating. A completely logical choice given their DNA, which has the merit of giving Dishonored a place on the street: masterpieces of their category.
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