Assassin's Creed Mirage Review (Bearsonal)
A Disappointing Return to the Roots
I finished Assassin's Creed Mirage on Ubisoft's launcher via a friend's account, and it was a big letdown. After Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which was their last great AAA game, Ubisoft's games have not been good. They keep putting out games with little to no effort, except for two amazing games such as Immortals Fenyx Rising and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. But most of their recent games, like Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Riders Republic, Ghost Recon, XDefiant, Skull and Bones, Far Cry 5 & 6, Motorfest, Avatar, and Star Wars Outlaws have all been really disappointing.
Sadly, Mirage is another one of these games. It feels sloppy and rushed, with not much to offer. Here's why:
Bad Storytelling
The story in Mirage is simply terrible. The cutscenes look cheap, the facial animations are stiff, the dialogue is boring, and the whole story is not interesting at all. The characters don’t have any originality, and the plot is too simple. It feels like Ubisoft didn't even bother to make the story good. Everything about it is lazy and soulless.
Disappointing Gameplay
The action in Mirage is shockingly bad. There are literally only two types of enemies in the game. The combat is very basic and bland. Upgrades, like gear and skill trees, are shallow. Combat is extremely repetitive, and it wears out in the first hour. The parkour is decent. The movement feels okay, but the animations are way dated. It’s nowhere near as good as it was in Unity. In fact, since Unity, no Assassin's Creed game has had parkour that felt as even closely satisfying.
A Gorgeous But Lifeless Open World
I have to give credit to Ubisoft for their environmental design. They are god-tier at creating beautiful cities. I have always loved exploring the different cities in each Assassin's Creed game; that’s literally the main reason I enjoy the series and that's the only reason I will be replaying Mirage. I love looking at the amazing job Ubisoft pulls with their worlds.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3350304324
In Mirage, needless to say; the city is stunning. Graphically, Mirage is very good, and the art and visual design elevate the experience. But the open world still feels bland and lifeless, like in most of the series. NPCs just walk around, and there’s nothing interesting to interact with. There’s no exploration value; the world feels empty. It’s really just there to place parkour paths for you to use. The world doesn’t feel alive or immersive, even though it looks very pretty.
Same Repetitive Game Design
The game design is the same thing Ubisoft has been doing since Far Cry 3. It’s full of repetitive tasks, side activities, and level design that they keep reusing. But unlike some older games, Mirage doesn’t do anything to make the repetitive design more enjoyable. The level design is okay, better than Valhalla, but still not that good. It works for stealth, but it doesn’t matter much because the AI is so dumb that there’s no real challenge.
Final Thoughts
Assassin's Creed Mirage is another disappointing game in the series. It is a quick cash grab, made to get money from the old Assassin's Creed fans who don’t like the new RPG style. Ubisoft had to release this game instead of waiting and making something good. It’s clear they didn’t want to go five years without a new Assassin's Creed game, so they put out a low-effort title to keep the series going, which is a shame.
To sum it up: The good parts of the game are the environmental design, which is still top-notch, the music, and the game length, which is about 15 hours. While this is short among the newer Assassin's Creed games, it feels just right after the long and torturous experience of 80 hours of Valhalla. I want to thank Ubisoft for at least bringing their games back to Steam on day one. That’s a good move, and I hope they keep doing it. But I also hope they start making more games like Immortals Fenyx Rising and Prince of Persia The Lost Crown. Those were really good and showed what Ubisoft can do when they try. I want their big AAA games to match the quality of those titles. Ubisoft still has time to bring their games back to what made them great, but they need to focus on quality, not just quantity.
BRONZE MEDAL
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