Introduction
Today we are once again going to look at an Assassin’s Creed game. Which one will it be this time? Simone has booted up the PlayStation 5 to play Assassin’s Creed Mirage that promises to take us back to the roots with more stealth. Simone is really good in stealth games. Thus, she was very keen to see what this game has to offer.
What did Simone think before playing Assassin's Creed Mirage?
We both knew this game was more stealth based, but we expected a less massive map compared to Origins. Simone was excited to see how they would go back to the roots, remembering Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, the combat was exciting, there was a lot of freedom. You could also handle plenty of enemies or hide to regenerate health. We both expected it to be in this vein, freedom but new gear would be unlocked in the main story, but you could pursue other goals without being punished. For more information, we did check the PlayStation page.
The PlayStation page
https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/assassins-creed-mirage/
We did not get much wiser from the page, it indeed mentioned an open world. We expect that they mean the freedom to explore the world on your own terms, like older Assassin’s Creed games. Not a lot more information was given, yes there is parkour and stealth. We shall have to find out on our own.
Rating
I rated Assassin’s Creed Mirage with a 7.3 before playing.
How bad could it be, right?
Story
The story follows a street thief who reminds us of Aladdin. All he needs is a genie, or a hidden assassin to train him. Of course, shit goes terribly wrong, and he has to escape the city. That is when he starts his training as an assassin.
Rating
I rate the story of Assassin’s Creed Mirage with a 6.8
While we did enjoy the story, the voice acting and graphical glitches take it down a notch. I will delve deeper into that in the sound and graphics section.
Gameplay
Now, the gameplay, I watched Simone play it and to be honest, we were both, shocked. This is a horrible game and I will explain why. The PlayStation page mentions an open world, while smaller scale that is fine. However, you cannot explore the open world, you are stuck to following the main quests. Not doing so will be punished by not being able to find keys to get new gear. Nor will you get crucial tools to continue in the game, and we are talking completing more than 3/4th of the game.
The combat is also extremely shabby, the combat in older Assassin’s Creed games is done better. Your opponent will turn into another color, and you can either parry or attack him. If you get hit, you will not get your health back over time like in older Assassin’s Creed games. You need elixirs to heal, these are scarce, but you can get more with skill points. Here comes another big problem. Oh, and while Basim is a trained assassin, he dies in two or three hits. Facing two opponents almost means certain death. I remember Edward taking on at least five enemies in the beginning, hurt? Hide and heal!
You have a skill tree but to get skill points you need to follow the main quests, not just to unlock special skills but to actually get the skill points. Killing enemies will not give you loot or experience points to level up. If you want to get stronger, you need to find blueprints before upgrading weapons, but for that, you are forced into the main quest, otherwise the key to chests will not spawn.
You might think, there has to be some kind of accessory for upgrades, right? Well, there are talismans, but they do absolutely nothing. If you want to upgrade your armor, you need to follow the main quest to find new blueprints. There are treasure hunts, but they give junk or talismans, not worth it either. The bird you use to spot enemies is not even worth investing in, it cannot even spot an enemy when you are focusing right on top of it. Furthermore, every kill adds a bounty on your head. To remove this, the strangest mechanic was added, just remove some posters and nobody knows you anymore…
I also want to elaborate on the parkour mechanics, they are absolutely worse than any other game I or Simone ever played. The jumps are based on buildings, Basim cannot make many jumps, a lot of buildings cannot be scaled, he staggers and falls to the ground many times. There is a heavy penalty on falling, this has you using a rare elixir to battle a strange mechanic. It should have been player focused jumps like in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, that one had better parkour mechanics. Yes, Edward made the sickest impossible jumps, but it looked cool, and it actually worked.
Rating
I rated the gameplay of Assassin’s Creed Mirage with a 2.7
Who the hell designed this game? Maybe they should have played the older games, or not force people into the main quest. Or just remove the skill tree or leveling mechanic. Just add weapons or gear you can buy with gold after exploring. Some new tools as you progress, that is fine, but don’t force people how they need to play a game. This game is extremely linear, unlike its promises.
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The game does have some great graphics, there are however many glitches. Items clipping into walls, soldiers rag dolling all over the place. Alright, scrap that, it looked funny. Every place you need to explore is a strange maze with no logical placing of items or soldiers. But when it works, it looks amazing.
Sound
The voice acting, that is what I want to talk about first. Most of the time, it sounds great, it has soul. Not so in Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Most of the characters sound as if they are just reading the script instead of trying to add the right emotion. It sounds hollow and empty. There are a few characters on which I did like the voice acting, for example the older lady that trains Basim. The soundtracks and sound effects were not great either.
Rating
I rated the sound and graphics of Assassin’s Creed Mirage with a 3.4
This felt rushed.
What did Simone think after playing Assassin's Creed Mirage?
She was very sad about how this game packed out. Simone had expected a fun jump back to the past of stealth games, we are mostly familiar with Assassin’s Creed 4 before the open world games began. They should have never advertised with going back to the roots. To me, as I watched the game unfold, it felt like it has many game mechanics who just don’t fit together. Simone is still deciding if she wants to finish the game complete, but it certainly will not be a game she would like to complete for 100%
The first thing she wanted to do was explore a prison she encountered. This did not pack out well as Basim cannot fight properly. Not even after his training. The assassinations feel odd and are almost all the same loop. She managed to explore the prison but was unable to get any loot or experience points since the game did not allow this to happen unless you have accepted a main quest. Gear chests are locked behind quests, and treasure hunts, unlike other games, just give junk.
Rating
I rated Assassin’s Creed Mirage with a 1.6 after playing.
Man, it sucks we bought the special edition.
Last Words
Pros
- The story and setting are good
Cons
- The voice acting is hollow
- Gear cannot be collected unless you play the main quest
- Talismans are cosmetic only
- The best weapons need to be bought with real money
- The parkour mechanics are bad, it also has high fall damage
- Your health does not slowly regenerate
- Removing your bounty uses a very strange mechanic
- You are not allowed to explore on your own, keys will not spawn
- Enemies do not give experience points, leveling up can only be done with the main quest
- Your eagle is very bad at spotting things
- The combat in this game is horrible
- Basim can not handle enemies properly despite just being trained in combat
- Gear can only be upgraded after getting blueprints from the main story
- There are many graphical glitches
While I wanted to give this game a lower rating, it does have a lot of promise if you don’t know about all this game has to offer. If you are interested in older Assassin’s Creed games, just replay any of the older games. Or wait for the remasters, or remakes, whatever they are planning to create.
The Final Rating
4.3
Please let me know what you think of Assassin’s Creed Mirage in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
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Wow, such a flop.
Yeah, too bad.
i havent expect too many cons