Assassin's Creed Mirage showcases new gameplay mechanics, including a returning one from Brotherhood

Ubisoft recently released a new trailer for Assassin's Creed Mirage, showcasing the game's key gameplay and customization elements. The trailer also gave fans a subtle idea of how Basim's journey from a nobody to a Hidden One (Assassin) is going to come to fruition. Apart from these aspects of the title, the developers also showcased the return of a highly-requested feature.

One of the key aspects of the game's marketing so far has been "a return to roots" experience, and with the most recent preview, it seems to be more than just a marketing buzzword. Despite being built on the same foundation as Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the upcoming title is nothing like the recent Assassin's Creed games.

Instead of relying on a surface-level addition of the classic "Assassin's Creed" elements (akin to the recent few AC games), Assassin's Creed Mirage is built from the ground up as an homage to the earlier titles in the series.

While the game's core is built using heavy inspiration from the classic AC games, it does feature a few modern elements, but nothing to the detriment of the "assassin fantasy."

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Assassin's Creed Mirage aims to marry modern gameplay elements with the classic "assassin fantasy"

Assassin's Creed Mirage started its journey as a concept to be used as a story expansion for AC Valhalla. However, in its current state as a standalone Assassin's Creed title, it's shaping up to be one of, if not the best entries in the series, perhaps since 2017's Assassin's Creed Origins. Ubisoft Bordeaux is very passionate about their game, and it shows.

While AC Valhalla was not a bad game per se, it was very far removed from the core ideologies of a quintessential "Asassin's Creed" experience. Fortunately, AC Mirage is finally bringing back the linear adventure, fueled with a stellar and flashy parkour system and a functional and engaging stealth gameplay loop.

Stealth is one of the core aspects of an "Assassin's Creed" title; however, it was surprisingly made a secondary (or even tertiary) gameplay feature in the recent few mainline titles in the series. Thankfully the upcoming title features the return of stealth as its core pillar, making it the central theme of its gameplay, with plenty of tools purpose-built to support a stealthy playstyle.

Although AC Mirage will feature combat, it isn't the main focus this time around and is only to be used as a last resort. The combat showcased in the recently released trailer seems quite similar to AC Valhalla, albeit a bit more flashy and fast. Basim does not have access to a wide range of weapon archetypes; instead, the only weapons players can acquire in the game are swords and daggers.

The developers at Ubisoft Bordeaux also confirmed that despite featuring a "level-based" progression system, Assassin's Creed Mirage is not an RPG. Rather, the levels will indicate Basim's proficiency as he ranks up and becomes a much more deadly and skilled assassin. The level system in AC Mirage is quite reminiscent of 2014's Assassin's Creed Unity.

The trailer also gave fans a glimpse at Basim's skill tree, which is significantly smaller than AC Valhalla's. The skill tree exclusively consists of active perks that Basim will earn organically as the story progresses. It is a far cry from the skills system present in the previous few Assassin's Creed titles.

And finally, the game also sees the return of one of the classic features from the earlier entries in the series, that is, being able to unlock different dyes for Basim's assassin's robes and outfits. The feature to recolor outfits was first introduced in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and has been a staple of the series up until 2015's Assassin's Creed Syndicate.

All in all, if the game's marketing is to be believed, Assassin's Creed Mirage might just turn out to be one of the best AC games since 2014's AC Unity, especially for fans of the classic Assassin's Creed games.

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Assassin's Creed Mirage is scheduled to be released on October 12, 2023, for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows PC.