Assassin's Creed: Mirage

[Neon Ignition]

Assassin's Creed....

[Neon Ignition]

13 minutes of Mirage leak. Looks phenomenally bland.

[fallenangle]

I came to AC very late, I only played XB360 ACll GOTYE a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it although the added GOTYE elements felt like they were left over ie. didn't make the cut because they weren't good enough, level missions from one of the PoP games. But it was still an enjoyable game I spent a lot of time getting my money's worth from.

But the criticism of the original ACl game and some of the of the sequels have meant I've been wary of dipping by toes back into the AC water again. Reports about AC: Mirage have not enthused me much either.

However I've read recently about AC: Red which is to be set in feudal Japan, gives you a choice of characters you can use: a tank and a kunoichi and have 'Splinter Cell type' stealth elements.

Even the faintest hint of a Tenchu like stealth game gets my interest and the mere mention of Splinter Cell in the same context ticks practically every stealth gaming fantasy box for me. A big open Japanese historic world with the focus on stealth missions sounds like everything I've, genuinely, dreamed a modern Tenchu should be for decades. Tenchu meets Splinter Cell meets Hitman = gaming El Dorado for me.

The problem is that, historically, in AC the stealth is pretty pants and rarely creates the essential serious jeopardy stealth gameplay must have. A poorly observed or ill-thought out stealth attack plan needs to be punished but in AC that just doesn't happen. In short: it cannot be too easy and in AC it is. That is what is worrying me about AC: Red.

I was watching YT video of AClll yesterday and it was utterly absurd; the guy cleared a whole fort using 'stealth lite' wandering around killing about a dozen enemies without anyone really noticing before killing the remaining dozen with a sword/knife under the cover of a smoke bomb.

That sort of mission is straight out of Tenchu, in fact the PS2 game 'it is not Tenchu but actually is in all but name': Shinobido has something very like that in one level. If you were as casual in Shinobido as AClll you'd be sushi in under a minute.

Stealth is usually about patience and then heart pounding and perfect execution. Situational awareness, knowledge of the geography of the area is a huge part of the gameplay. You must have a retreat plan, know where the other guards are, their routines and have quick reactions to resolve mistakes eg. not noticing a sleeping guard dog or dealing with some other unexpected event.

Whether Ubisoft have the chops and courage to give us that sort of quality of stealth gameplay in AC: Red I doubt. But if there is even the chance they can I'll keep my hopes for AC: Red alive.

[fishbowlhead]

AC REALLY needed to be put to bed for 10 years after Valhalla, the teams need a break to work on something fresh then go back to AC next gen.

[Neon Ignition]

I enjoyed the AC series for what it was until they decided to just soullessly ape Witcher, after that I was out as it was just dialling the series worst excesses up to 11.

I wanted it to return to its earlier roots but Mirage looks so dated and by the numbers. The other problem is the plot which wasn't great to begin with but once you're out the loop you're pretty much out. They might have made that less essential to follow for all I know but that just means it's even less engaging if so.

To me, what I want from the Assassins Creed series is to take the ground work the old Assassin's Creed games had built of an open environment, a target and stealth approaches but instead of Witchering it stare very hard at what makes the Hitman games work instead. Traversal shouldn't be the focus, the assassinations should be you know... given it's in the name.

[Neon Ignition]

https://opencritic.com/game/15005/assassins-creed-mirage

Reviews are out. Sounds like after the initial novelty of jettisoning the RPG elements wears off you're left with a competent but generally by the numbers retread of old ground

[nonny]

I think I'll pick this up.... when it's £15

[Finsbury Girl]

Yep I'm still playing Odyssey which means I'll get around to it probably 2025

[Neon Ignition]

Just read on era that complaints are coming in because Ubisoft waited for all of the review scores to come in and then once they were done and the games scoring, performance etc all covered have quickly added Denuvo as a day one patch likely meaning a last minute performance hit not documented by publications

[fishbowlhead]

Just read on era that complaints are coming in because Ubisoft waited for all of the review scores to come in and then once they were done and the games scoring, performance etc all covered have quickly added Denuvo as a day one patch likely meaning a last minute performance hit not documented by publications

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. They just can’t help themselves can they, it’s laughable.