– We have nothing to hide, if you want to see something, ask for it –the art director Jean-Luc Sala insisted again and again.
We were only able to try a mission of about 30 minutes of Assassin’s Creed Mirage during our visit to the Ubisoft Bordeaux offices. Furthermore, it corresponded to a non-final version of the game. But once my objectives were met – finding some medicine in a makeshift pharmacy in Baghdad – I was able to escape to the walled city and explore freely. There were two developers watching me play, but they only gave me quality of life advice and never interrupted my progress. I wasn’t playing a demo, the city of Badgad opened before me and no one stood in my way.
This confidence is not common in a test prior to the launch of the game or, at least, prior to a finished version, even if it is behind closed doors. As he climbed the brown buildings of this virtual Baghdad – co-star of the new Assassin’s Creed Mirage – he thought about Jean-Luc and the confidence he showed towards his work.
– You can be very proud of what you have achieved, I feel like playing with Ezio and Altair – I responded to Jean-Luc.
In fact, this has been the main objective of Ubisoft Bordeaux since the beginning of development, a very young studio made up of industry veterans. They started with 37 in 2017 and now there are almost 400 people. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is their first major title and also the first in which they lead development. From the beginning they were clear that this new Assassin’s Creed had to be a “return to the roots” of the franchise. A return to stealth, small but dense cities, and the classic story of a wayward young man rising through the ranks of the Brotherhood.
The protagonist of this adventure is Basim – who already had a more or less secondary role in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – and the context is the city of Baghdad during the 9th century. This circular city served as the capital for the empire of the Abbasid Caliphate, which extended from the African coasts of the Atlantic to the foothills of the Himalayas. In this capital of commerce and culture, where you could find everything from Chinese ceramics to Siberian furs, the adventure of Basim takes place, a young thief with a pure and brilliant look.
The mission that we were able to play took place with the plot a little more advanced and near the outer walls of the circular city. Our objective was to enter a kind of pharmacy undetected to steal some medicines. The game offered two different approaches: talk to the pharmacist to find out where he hides the medicines or try the “I’m going to be lucky” and explore directly for the objectives.
The compound was a restricted area, so the guards would attack at the slightest sign of intrusion. I led Basim crouching to some tall grass and whistled to attract the first guard. I killed the second and third with throwing knives. And so I continued my search, cleaning every inch and searching the vessels.
I opted for stealth for two reasons: first because the secondary objective of the mission was to finish it without being detected – I didn’t succeed – and second because Assassin’s Creed Mirage tries very hard to be a stealth game. The notoriety system, a classic from the first titles in the franchise, returns and becomes a central part of the mechanical loop. Whether on a mission or exploring the city, if someone sees you commit a crime, your notoriety increases.
Being a known criminal makes it difficult to get around Baghdad. The authorities fill the streets with posters with Basim’s portrait and passersby point their fingers at each other while calling for the guard. So, if you want to return to anonymity and normality, you have to lower your notoriety either by paying the right person or tearing down the posters that are stuck on the walls. I’m pretty sure that, at this point, anyone who has played the original Assassin’s Creed will know exactly what I’m talking about. Basim must do what Ezio and Altair already did at the time.
The little more than half an hour I was able to play didn’t give me the opportunity to explore much further, but it left me wanting to keep jumping and running through the streets of Baghdad. Assassin’s Creed Mirage seems to be very close to what it promised to be. I don’t know if Basim will be on par with Ezio and Altair, but after this first contact I am clear that I want to continue discovering his story. Although, for this, we will have to wait until next week.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage will arrive on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC and cloud gaming platforms next Thursday, October 5.