Hey, so, it’s been three years since a new Assassin’s Creed game launched. Can you believe it? Well, the wait for a new entry is almost over. On October 12, the assassination sim returns with Assassin’s Creed Mirage, featuring Valhalla’s Basim Ibn Ishaq and set in Baghdad.
Having first premiered in 2007, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has gone through many twists and turns over the years. Recent entries featured more expansive maps and denser RPG systems than earlier games. But now, Assassin’s Creed Mirage promises more of a back-to-basics experience, with a smaller map and a more “character-driven story, focused on the core pillars of the first ACs,” according to Mirage’s creative director Stéphane Boudo. And at today’s Ubisoft Forward event, we saw some more of what we’ll be playing in just a few short months. Today’s trailer is seven minutes of focused gameplay.
From first impressions alone, Mirage has a style reminiscent of the very first Assassin’s Creed, which was set in various locations in the Middle East and focused more on specific assassination missions than exploring massive worlds. Today, two trailers arrived, one for the narrative and one featuring a nice gameplay walkthrough, and boy does it look like the original.
While Assassin’s Creed Mirage is smaller in scope than previous entries, it’s also smaller in price, demanding only $50 for entry on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
But while a slimmer price is always more welcome, it definitely raises more than a few concerns for how else the game might be monetized, as recent entries in the series have offered microtransactions for various cosmetic items that some fans found outrageous in their pricing. It would be great if Mirage represents not just a return to the series’ earlier design sensibilities, but also to the days when shelling out cash to buy a game meant it didn’t also come packed with ways to get even more of your money.
Reportedly, Mirage started life out as an expansion for the already very expanded Assassin’s Creed Valhalla but was then spun off into its own thing.
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