General Gaming Assassin's Creed Mirage (PC/Xbox/PlayStation) - update: Digital Foundry PS5/Xbox Series Technical Review

[Bloodporne]

Remember when Assassin's Creed was gonna be like an evolution of Prince of Persia? That's the game I'd love to see now.

[Mercury33]

1 hour ago, Xbob42 said:

If it's shorter and more focused, that's not returning "back to the basics," also who does making it shorter serve? The stories in these games are always serviceable but nothing special. We all excited to get to the "oh... that was kinda weird" twist at the end? For me the entire point of AC is to like endlessly explore for a couple hours at a time. Maybe Infinite IS for me.

Ehh I would disagree with that take in regards to the first 3/4 games. I found the out of Animus story and mystery in AC1 to be genuinely compelling. When that game

ended I couldn’t wait to find out what it all meant. 
 

Ezio’s trilogy the out of animus story got way more convoluted but I never stopped being invested in Desmond’s story and the potential of where it could go. Obviously I didn’t know they’d take a huge steaming pile of shit all over the ending but I enjoyed the ride haha. In those three games Ezio’s story became much more interesting as well. Everything with the Borgia’s was great.
 

Were these games a master class in story telling? Hell no but I don’t think they can be dismissed as pure nothing. 
 

For me I don’t interpret “back to basics” as purely literal. I think they’ll 100% improve on the mechanics and gameplay of those early games. To me it means getting back to the assassinations being the focal point. More verticality and staying vertical in the platforming, environmental puzzles, less of an emphasis on being a total badass. I’m def looking forward to what a much more experienced AC team can do by going back to a “simpler” formula for the games. 

[best3444]

8 minutes ago, Mercury33 said:

For me I don’t interpret “back to basics” as purely literal. I think they’ll 100% improve on the mechanics and gameplay of those early games. To me it means getting back to the assassinations being the focal point. More verticality and staying vertical in the platforming, environmental puzzles, less of an emphasis on being a total badass. I’m def looking forward to what a much more experienced AC team can do by going back to a “simpler” formula for the games. 

 

Fantastic post. You said everything I wanted to say but it's past my bed time and I'm too tired to write all that. Plus, you explained it better than I could. 

[Phaseknox]

13 hours ago, Dre801 said:

Hopefully it's a shorter more focused game.  We don't need another seemingly endless AssCreed.  Wishful thinking, I know.

Valhalla did drag on a bit IMO, but that’s because its story was long-winded, its core gameplay lacked pick up and play fun factor and its setting didn’t allow for a lot of visual variety. Odyssey was pretty much the opposite, its story was a little on the short side, its gameplay was fast, snappy and fun and it had a varied looking world. I would love an Odyssey II, but I know that we’ll probably never get one.

[Bloodporne]

I actually recently broke out the SNES version of Prince of Persia, that game still rules. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Ubisoft to Reveal Several New Assassin's Creed Titles at Ubisoft Forward - Try Hard Guides

TRYHARDGUIDES.COM

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According to our sources, Ubisoft will be revealing multiple Assassin's Creed projects at Ubisoft Forward.

 

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Ubisoft will be revealing several new Assassin’s Creed games this weekend at Ubisoft Forward.

 

The first game is an extensive “deep dive” into Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which was leaked late last week on social media. Assassin’s Creed Mirage will take players to Baghdad to play as a young Basim.

 

Two other games, which will be a part of Assassin’s Creed Infinity are also set to be revealed. Assassin’s Creed Project Red and Assassin’s Creed Project Hexe.

 

Project Red will take players to Japan. Early concept arts depict a female samurai-like assassin, but players are likely to be able to play as both male and female.

 

Project Hexe (recently changed from Project Neo), understood to be in development at Ubisoft Montreal will take players in the darkest Assassin’s Creed game ever. It’s understood that Project Hexe is set during the witch hunt era in 16th century Europe.

 

 

[stepee]

All three sound good to me actually lol.

 

I’m just a little skeptical of this whole Infinity thing and how much whatever weird service stuff is part of that will hamper me just playing single player AC as usual.

 

I like the sound of those campaigns though.

[Brick]

Three games?! This sounds like too much at once. 

[skillzdadirecta]

10 minutes ago, Brick said:

Three games?! This sounds like too much at once. 

Well, if they take the size of one the last three AC games and divide by three it should work out right. Still need to finish Odyssey and never even booted up Valhalla. These games just got TOO big.

[Keyser_Soze]

40 minutes ago, Brick said:

Three games?! This sounds like too much at once. 

 

It's the only game they have!

[TwinIon]

It's interesting to me that they describe two of the games as being part of AC Infinity. The two games are in completely different time periods and being made by different studios. I'm curious to see what exactly unites them under the Infinity badge, and why a third game wouldn't be under that umbrella if the structure supports games that are more or less stand alone.

 

I didn't make it very far through valhalla, but I'm still interested in the future of the series. I'm getting a bit excited to see what they have in store.

[Mercury33]

On 9/7/2022 at 11:21 AM, TwinIon said:

It's interesting to me that they describe two of the games as being part of AC Infinity. The two games are in completely different time periods and being made by different studios. I'm curious to see what exactly unites them under the Infinity badge, and why a third game wouldn't be under that umbrella if the structure supports games that are more or less stand alone.

 

I didn't make it very far through valhalla, but I'm still interested in the future of the series. I'm getting a bit excited to see what they have in store.

Complete guess. But I’m assuming Infinity has some kind of main modern day hub that you access the different campaigns from. I’m sure there will be some insane thing to connect them. 
 

If I understand correctly the Infinity campaigns will continue to expand on bigger more RPG style of the last few games. Whereas the seperate middle eastern game will be smaller in scale and will drop the RPG elements in favor of being more in the spirit of AC1-Ezio trilogy. Trying to appeal to both sides of their fan base. 
 

I don’t know any of that for sure, it’s just what I’m assuming. 

[TwinIon]

6 hours ago, Mercury33 said:

Complete guess. But I’m assuming Infinity has some kind of main modern day hub that you access the different campaigns from. I’m sure there will be some insane thing to connect them. 
 

If I understand correctly the Infinity campaigns will continue to expand on bigger more RPG style of the last few games. Whereas the seperate middle eastern game will be smaller in scale and will drop the RPG elements in favor of being more in the spirit of AC1-Ezio trilogy. Trying to appeal to both sides of their fan base. 
 

I don’t know any of that for sure, it’s just what I’m assuming. 

 

I agree about the hub, but I'm curious what they could bring between games that would enable the whole live service concept. Cosmetics are a huge money maker for the genre, but seem difficult to do across games with such varied locations. Seems odd to bring that Japanese armor set to 16th century Europe.

 

I feel like the natural thing for an AC live service game would be to make your present day character the persistent element between games, and somehow give them a much more integral role than we've seen in the recent big RPGs. Multiplayer also seems pretty key to live service games, but we've seen very little of that in AC.

[Fizzzzle]

I'm down for whatever. Not for nothing, AC Odyssey is easily one of my top 10 games of the last decade. I don't really care that they completely abandoned stealth gameplay and just made a straight up souls-clone/Mass Effect mashup. It's fine by me.

[stepee]

No or very little boat shit and I’m down for whatever! I’ve liked all the the AC games besides that stuff.

[Phaseknox]

1 hour ago, Fizzzzle said:

AC Odyssey is easily one of my top 10 games of the last decade.

It’s easily one of my top 10 games of all-time.

 

1 hour ago, stepee said:

No or very little boat shit and I’m down for whatever! I’ve liked all the the AC games besides that stuff.

The boat shit is good in Odyssey, but it’s the only Assassin’s Creed game that I like it in.

[Fizzzzle]

2 hours ago, stepee said:

No or very little boat shit and I’m down for whatever! I’ve liked all the the AC games besides that stuff.

Yeah, I was down for it in Black Flag, since it was it was, y'know... a pirate game and still pretty fresh, but ever since then it's just felt like a chore

[stepee]

1 hour ago, Phaseknox said:

It’s easily one of my top 10 games of all-time.

 

The boat shit is good in Odyssey, but it’s the only Assassin’s Creed game that I like it in.

 

More or less boat shit than Origins?

[stepee]

23 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said:

Yeah, I was down for it in Black Flag, since it was it was, y'know... a pirate game and still pretty fresh, but ever since then it's just felt like a chore

 

I hated it in AC3 and so I was turned off already in Black Flag which just didn’t seem like an AC game to me. If they brander that game different maybe I would have given it a more fair shot.

[Phaseknox]

1 hour ago, Fizzzzle said:

Yeah, I was down for it in Black Flag, since it was it was, y'know... a pirate game and still pretty fresh, but ever since then it's just felt like a chore

The ship stuff was too much of a focus in Black Flag IMO, and part of why I stopped playing it because 50% of it was ship bullshit. I don’t play Assassin’s Creed games to spend 50% of my time sailing seas, and engaging in ship battles. The ship stuff was done much better in Odyssey where it was included primarily for sea traversal, and to add a little more variety to what you did in the game. It wasn’t a big focus of the game, and the ship battles were actually fun because they were more arcade-like compared to how they were in Black Flag. The ship stuff felt like a chore to me in Black Flag, but not in Odyssey.
 

1 hour ago, stepee said:

More or less boat shit than Origins?

I stopped playing Origins before reaching the ship stuff in it, I didn’t really care for Bayak as a character so I quit playing. However, I didn’t like the ship stuff in Assassin’s Creed III or Black Flag, but I liked it in Odyssey. It was primarily for sea traversal, but the few times that you did engage in ship battles they were fun IMO.

[Keyser_Soze]

4 hours ago, stepee said:

 

I hated it in AC3 and so I was turned off already in Black Flag which just didn’t seem like an AC game to me. If they brander that game different maybe I would have given it a more fair shot.

 

Boat shit in AC3 was one of the only good things about that game.

[Phaseknox]

2 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Boat shit in AC3 was one of the only good things about that game.

It was ok in Assassin’s Creed III, but I could have done without it. It needed to be scaled back in Black Flag as there was too much of an emphasis on it. It was just right in Odyssey, and added to the overall experience IMO.

[Keyser_Soze]

7 minutes ago, Phaseknox said:

It was ok in Assassin’s Creed III, but I could have done without it. It needed to be scaled back in Black Flag as there was too much of an emphasis on it. It was just right in Odyssey, and added to the overall experience IMO.

 

Black Flag was the last AC I played and never finished it. It was barely an Assassin's Creed game.

[Phaseknox]

14 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Black Flag was the last AC I played and never finished it. It was barely an Assassin's Creed game.

You might like Syndicate, it’s the best of the original style Assassin’s Creed games since Brotherhood IMO. It’s better than Revelations, Assassin’s Creed III, Black Flag, Rogue and Unity. At least I think so anyway. It’s one of my favorite games in the series.

[Keyser_Soze]

34 minutes ago, Phaseknox said:

You might like Syndicate, it’s the best of the original style Assassin’s Creed games since Brotherhood IMO. It’s better than Revelations, Assassin’s Creed III, Black Flag, Rogue and Unity. At least I think so anyway. It’s one of my favorite games in the series.

 

I might, I might not. I'm not really a fan of the "modern day" setting of Assassin's Creed. The game was most interesting to me the older the time period was. That being said I'm pretty sure I have it on Xbox so one day I might play it.

[Mercury33]

This is on now right?

[skillzdadirecta]

Yup. I t started it late and caught the tale end of Mario Rabbids. Hope I didn't miss anything.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bacon]

I enjoyed the fuck out of AC2 and BroHood. The third Ezio game was alright. 

 

Then I played AC3 and tossed the series in the trash. The Past 3 Witcher Creed game never entered realm of something I would be willing to play. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Some more information about Mirage:

 

Ubisoft talks Assassin's Creed Mirage, from Valhalla expansion to standalone franchise celebration

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

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Today's Ubisoft Forward event has revealed a first glimpse at Mirage, next year's new Assassin's Creed adventure - alth…

 

 

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Mirage is set in Baghdad and begins in the year 861, when the city enjoyed a golden age where it was a commercial and cultural crossroads. It was home to all manner of faces from all parts of the known world - a perfect cast for an Assassin's Creed game - and also, of course, future Master Assassin himself, Basim Ibn Ishaq. When the game begins, we meet Basim several decades before his journey to England and arrival in the story of 2020's Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Here, on the streets of Baghdad, Basim begins as a petty thief, who catches the eye of the Hidden Ones.

 

Details on Mirage's story remain thin on the ground, though we'll play as Basim as he rises through the ranks of the proto-Assassins, and crosses paths with the Order of the Ancients - the group which would, post-Valhalla, become the Templars. The city of Baghdad will offer a linear story over several distinct city districts - which all sounds like classic Assassin's Creed - but will also give way for trips to Alamut, a mountain fortress where Basim will train (inspired, I was told, very much by Masayaf from AC1). Here, surrounded by the upper echelons of the Hidden Ones, as well as those who support the group's free-will-inspired way of life, Basim will eventually be welcomed as one of the group's own.

 

One such ally will be Basim's mentor, Roshan, a former Persian slave turned Master Assassin voiced by the unmistakable Shohreh Aghdashloo, who you may recognise from The Expanse, Arcane, Destiny and Mass Effect. But not all is as it seems. Today's reveal for the game teased characters who may be "more than what they seem", and anyone who has play Valhalla will know Basim himself holds big secrets - ones he may not yet be fully aware of as Mirage begins.

 

"I think the most accurate comparison would be Rogue or Revelations, in terms of scope," narrative director Sarah Beaulieu tells me when I ask what to expect from Mirage's runtime. "We also wanted to go back to what Assassin's Creed was in terms of story structure in the very early games, which means that it's linear. You have a beginning, you have an end, and it's a character's evolution." The news will likely come as a relief to some who never made it through Valhalla and Odyssey's lengthy campaigns, which encourage playtimes in the hundreds of hours.

 

 

 

Assassin's Creed Mirage is going back to the series' roots in 2023 for the 15th anniversary

WWW.ROCKPAPERSHOTGUN.COM

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The next Assassin's Creed game, Mirage, is a more compact, focussed and linear experience like the AC games used to be before the brave new open world.

 

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In general, though, you shouldn't go into Mirage expecting a huge open world that'll take you 120 hours to explore a la Valhalla. Mirage's structure is more linear, and according to Beaulieu, closer to the early games. It's condensed, with a clear start and end, following the progress of Valhalla's Basim from thief to apprentice to master assassin, under the mentorship of Roshan. She's a 50-year-old former Persian slave, and is voiced by Emmy award-winner Shohreh Aghdashloo (who has, in fairness, an instantly recognisable voice). A young, brash young man becoming a more measured veteran, you say? Sure does sound like Assassin's Creed.

 

Elsewhere there's yet more of what's old being new again. Mirage aims to focus in on the key AC pillars: you stalk your target, you kill them, you disappear into the wind. You can do stealth kills, but now you can do multiple stealth kills. You have an eagle best friend, but now there are archers to shoot down your eagle best friend. Maybe you'll want to spend time taking those archers out before you embark on your mission, or maybe you'll risk not having that aerial visual support. There's parkour, but it's faster, and Basim can pole vault over wider gaps. There are more places to run, jump and hide in around the city.

 

 

[best3444]

Mirage will be awesome no doubt. I can't wait to see what kind of visuals it has. 

[Phaseknox]

6 hours ago, Bacon said:

I enjoyed the fuck out of AC2 and BroHood. The third Ezio game was alright. 

 

The I played AC3 and tossed the series in the trash. The Past 3 Witcher Creed game never entered realm of something I would be willing to play. 

Assassin’s Creed II and Brotherhood are easily a couple of the best games in the series, but I didn’t really care for Revelations. I liked Assassin’s Creed III enough to finish it, but that was about it. Black Flag focused too much on ship shit which was a turnoff to me, and Unity was lackluster. Syndicate is really good, and the best of the older style Assassin’s Creed games since Brotherhood IMO. Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla go in a more big open world action RPG direction, but are still quite good especially Odyssey which is my favorite.
 

5 hours ago, best3444 said:

Mirage will be awesome no doubt.

I’m really only interested in Codename Red and Hexe myself, but I still might check out Mirage when it’s cheap if it turns out good.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

5 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

 

 

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Other players have dived deeper still, noting that the script used in that summoning circle is 'Magi', which was created by a 16th-century Swiss philosopher. A fan translation claims that the text simply reads 'We work in the dark to serve the light', but it's another valuable clue, especially as it's also noted in the announcement tweet above. 

 

Finally, that original comment also references the Malleus Maleficarum, a treatise written in the 15th century by a Catholic clergyman which equates witchcraft and sorcery with outright heresy. The book was responsible for the rise in brutal punishments for those accused of witchcraft throughout the Renaissance. 

 

Those clues, combined with the noise of angry dogs in the teaser trailer, suggest Hexe could be set during the Wurzburg Witch Trials. These took place between 1625 and 1631 in Central Germany, and while they weren't the only trials of their kind at the time, they were some of the biggest Witch Trials of the period.

 

 

[legend]

They're bringing back the Ezio's family theme, and I'm all for it.

 

 

[Brick]

Funny how they're FINALLY doing feudal Japan after Ghost of Tsushima was a huge success. I'm glad though. I need to catch up before it comes out.