This is a preview of Assassin’s Creed Mirage. We’re currently conducting our own investigations and taking a closer look at this absolutely gorgeous slice of history. It’s a little confusing for us, as well, and we thought our impressions would be best served by contextualising them alongside the giant Ubisoft E3 showcase from May.
In May, we watched a 10-minute live demo and saw glimpses of Baghdad’s bustling streets and Basim’s traditional robes. We also saw a demo of the game in which the main character has to complete an assassination contract on a guy surrounded by guards.
From our own first impressions of playing a demo at E3, Assassin’s Creed Mirage seems to be a classic Assassin’s Creed game with stabby, stealthy, and sometimes clunky glory. We started out in a town square with a handful of guards patrolling. It’s been a while since we’ve had a game where sneaking up behind someone, choking them, and putting them on their knees to kill them is the quicker stealth option. It’s wonderful.
On top of that, we saw a bunch of new toys for Basim to play with. He has very specific weapons and tools that seem to come from the mind of a child who’s been reading too many grandad’s war comics. A handy torch, throwing knives, blowdarts, smoke bombs, traps, and noisemakers should let you plan out very specific ways to kill folk.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: Basim and his new weapons
Older Assassin’s Creed games have had two approaches to combat: ranged weapons and melee weapons. It was generally harder to hit someone with a throwing knife than it was to attack them in close combat with a sword, for example. Basim has new weapons, but instead of ranged and melee weapons, instead he has specific ones with specific purposes.
In the live demo we saw from May, Basim used a blowdart to put an enemy in a drugged sleep. Our demo instead had Basim using a torch to burn someone. So far, it seems there are many specific weapons, but these all serve the same purpose. It’s nice to have a specific tool to douse someone with water, for example, but it’s not as if you always have to use the water weapon to put someone out before you stab them.
We also saw Basim’s crazy new teleporting kill ability. It hasn’t been clear how the new combat mechanics work, if they work in tandem with older systems, or if they completely replace them. During the E3 demo, the context of the combat is unclear, but it seems he can teleport behind someone, deliver a blow, and teleport away again to repeat the process until the enemy is dead.
Finally, we also got to see a bit of the blowdart. In the May demo, we watch as Basim puts his target to sleep, thanks to some well-placed dart action. At E3, the context is unclear, but it seems like he is able to put someone to sleep using a blowdart.