With the past few games in the series it's felt like Assassin’s Creed has lost a little bit of what made it so special back when it launched in the late 2000’s. Don’t get me wrong: Odyssey and Valhalla were extremely solid RPGs that offered a vast and unique setting and a definite bang for your buck in the runtime department, but there’s something about those games that didn’t necessarily feel necessarily “Assassin’s Creed” due to their hefty open-world settings and heavy RPG gameplay mechanics. Thankfully, the next installment in the franchise is Mirage, and based on my playtime with it so far, it manages to capture what made the series so special and brings the social stealth history simulator back to its roots in the best way possible.

Gone are the vast vistas of England, the oceanic traversal of Greece, and pyramid-scaling of Egypt in favor of a dense and populated Baghdad full of life and vibrancy. That’s not to say Mirage ever felt small, but from the few hours I played I regularly found myself exploring and getting lost in the latest Creed’s hyper-detailed and fully realized big city playground. The City of Baghdad is, as it should be in an AC game, its own character this time around. From its dangerous and often crowded city streets, to its dense Bazaar and connected rooftops, it was never a chore getting from point A to B.
Due to Mirage’s revamped notoriety system, it’s not as easy to run through a group of guards undetected this time around. The more trouble you cause, the more enemies MIrage throws at you, such as archers and overpowered heavy guards. Civilians will react to your presence and point you out in a crowd if you're not blending in, and guards notify each other while giving chase and doing everything in their power to stop you. Bribery and vandalism were the easiest ways to lower my notoriety meter, and moving between the high ground and city streets helped me lose packs of enemies that were surprisingly difficult to fight in groups of more than two. In short, getting chased by guards in Assassin’s Creed Mirage felt more like a fun challenge than an annoyance – and in some ways helped bring back that classic Creed feel to the series.
Getting chased by guards in Assassin’s Creed Mirage felt more like a fun challenge than an annoyance.
Combat in Mirage, meanwhile, feels as tight and fun as it has in the series of late. The general combat mechanics from Odyssey and Valhalla are here, though enemy levels and damage numbers have been removed in favor of health bars, countering, and dodge rolls. While this may look like a step back into the older games’ often too easy and simple combat style, Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s combat felt significantly more challenging and reactive. If I didn't try to single out my enemies I found myself quickly becoming overwhelmed by groups of as little as three guards. While dodging and properly timed counter attacks can lead to some pretty sweet kills, it’s nowhere as easy of an experience as it was in some of the older entries – and for the first time in a long time, I found the combat in an Assassin’s Creed game not only challenging, but also fun.

To that end, Stealth combat is where Assassin’s Creed Mirage truly shines. Moving around the shadows and hiding in plain sight feels more rewarding and engaging this time around, and I quickly found myself trying to stay as hidden as possible as often as I could, even if it was in a busy street among crowds or hidden in the shadows. For the first time in a long time, Assassin’s Creed feels like a proper stealth adventure again, similar to the series’ early days.

To put it bluntly, Assassin’s Creed Mirage seems set to bring the series back to its roots in the best way possible. The story and gameplay feel more like what made AC so popular in the first place, and its new setting and social stealth-heavy gameplay mechanics feel like the series has finally realized what was promised back in 2007. While some may not be too happy with the scaled-back RPG elements, Mirage’s focused setting, intuitive controls and fun stealth gameplay has me excited to dive back into the franchise.

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