On the occasion of the 15e anniversary of the Assassin’s Creed series (2022), Ubisoft had lifted the veil on the Mirage episode for which we are promised a return to basics. A sequence of illustrations, a cinematic of almost 4 minutes: the least we can say is that this first presentation left us hungry. Fortunately, ahead of the Ubisoft Forward which has just ended, the French publisher invited us to an online showcase during which we finally got to see Basim, the hero of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, in action.
As Benjamin Potts (animation director) reminded us, the game will revolve around three key elements: parkour, infiltration and assassination. In other words, the fundamentals from which the series has gradually moved away and with which Ubisoft Bordeaux wishes to reconnect. ” But this return to the sources goes beyond the simple framework of the gameplay since the game will take place in the Middle East, where it all began. “, he explained, specifying that in terms of size, the city of Baghdad would be comparable to Paris or Constantinople. He also pointed out that the level design would make it possible to act in the shadows, including when it comes to shooting down a target. It is true that in the last games, we often had to expose ourselves to eliminate it, which could be frustrating. Naturally, the developers wanted to treat the story of Assassin’s Creed Mirage where corruption and arbitrary justice will lead the inhabitants to rise up against the Abbasids. In this chaos, Basim can count on the help of Nehal, a childhood friend with whom he made the 400 blows when he was still just a simple thief. On the side of the Brotherhood, in addition to his mentor Roshan (voiced by the Iranian-American actress Shohreh Aghdashloo), he will have the support of Fulhad, of which nothing is known at the moment. Historical figures will not be outdone, this second meeting with Mirage having revealed the presence of Ali Ibn Muhammad, a Persian revolutionary known for having led the Zanj rebellion.
As Benjamin Potts (animation director) reminded us, the game will revolve around three key elements: parkour, infiltration and assassination. In other words, the fundamentals from which the series has gradually moved away and with which Ubisoft Bordeaux wishes to reconnect.
Going from an ordinary life to that of Assassin will have a psychological impact on Basim to the point that he will be plagued by nightmarish hallucinations, as the announcement trailer revealed last year suggested. However, if Assassin’s Creed Mirage will indeed address Arab mythology, do not expect the jinn to occupy a prominent place in the scenario; this is what Sarah Beaulieu (director of narration) has already made clear. On the gameplay side, the Bordeaux studio has endeavored to make Parkour as accessible as possible in order to encourage players to exploit each element of the decor. Even if it was only a sequence necessarily selected with meticulousness by the developers, it is true that everything looks much denser and within reach (the narrowness of the streets is not there for nothing), which makes Basim link acrobatics with a rather exhilarating fluidity. The same attention was paid to infiltration. The short demo was an opportunity to confirm that Enkidu (our imperial eagle) will be threatened by shooters. It will then be necessary to initially take care of the “snipers” before being able to fly over the place. Basim’s arsenal will contain items (smoke bomb, soporific dart, throwing knife, trap among others) to neutralize enemies without having to uncover. ” In total, he will have access to five items, each of which can be upgraded “, underlined Benjamin Potts. It changes from the excessive loot to which we had accustomed the last episodes. FYI, Abu Jafar Muhammad (at the Assassins’ Bureau) will be one of the artillery experts you’ll need to talk to to unlock new gadgets and improve them.
EAGLE EYE DARLING
” In Assassin’s Creed Mirage, engaging in combat should only be the last resort when a covert approach has failedsaid the animation director. Although Basim is primarily an Assassin, he also proves to be a skilled and agile fighter thanks to his effective attacks. The Ubisoft Bordeaux teams have created new animations in order to give more impact to combos, finish moves and counters. It will be interesting to see if once surrounded by enemies, the game will encourage us to flee or if being confronted with a horde of opponents will not scare the hero. Still with regard to the combat system, the interface revealed a gauge with which Basim was able to trigger a special skill. Concretely, after having marked three opponents, he deleted them with lightning speed. This ability is reminiscent of Rush Assassination from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. The difference is that where Kassandra and Alexios had to retarget an enemy on pain of breaking the chain, Bassim can a priori tag all of them before executing them, each additional guard obviously reducing the said gauge.
In tense moments, instead of going through the weapon wheel, there will be a way to use shortcuts (LT, Y, X, A in the version presented to us) which, obviously, will be customizable. According to the leaks, the level system has disappeared, which should make progress much less laborious. At the bottom right of the screen, we also saw indicators that seemed to correspond to the level of alert of the adversaries. For lack of available interlocutor, perhaps we will learn more on the subject in the weeks to come. In the meantime, it’s hard not to be seduced by the oriental atmosphere and the warm colors of Assassin’s Creed Mirage. The few melodies that we could hear accurately accompanied each action of the hero, and the accent in VO always hits the mark. Moreover, Ubisoft announced a few days ago that the game would be entitled to a dubbing in Arabic, with in particular the actor Eyad Nassar in the role of Basim. Excellent. Benjamin Potts promised that the AI’s reactions to a threat have been overhauled, which, to be fair, wasn’t obvious in the demo. It felt more like the prince’s palace was a big mill filled with lax guards. We hope that the challenge will be much higher in the final version of the game, even if we imagine that the goal was above all to show that Basim can infiltrate any place without being seen.
Finally, special mention at the end of the demo where we see Basim disappear into the crowd like Altaïr did before him in the trailer released at E3 2006. As if to remind one last time that this is of a real return to the sources.
On this subject, as it has already been announced in the past, mechanics will make their return; we think in particular of corner swing, the possibility of executing a guard from a bench, or even being able to slip through the crowd to disappear before the eyes of opponents (factions that can be bribed in exchange for tokens). The Assassin will also be able to use a mast to move from rooftop to rooftop. As often in Assassin’s Creed, the quests will allow you to recover a whole bunch of rewards (dirham, steel ingot, materials for example) which, we assume, will be of interest to certain acquaintances. The optional objectives (kill no one, suffer no damage, etc.) will be part of the game, as well as the contracts of the Office (recover a precious object, assassinate a target, protect a person). Finally, special mention at the end of the demo where we see Basim disappear into the crowd like Altaïr did before him in the trailer released at E3 2006. As if to remind one last time that this is of a real return to the sources.