Outside of its stunning setting, Assassin's Creed Mirage doesn't have anything exciting or new to offer. It's a mixture of the worst parts of classic and modern Assassin's Creed, sacrificing both storytelling and exploration in an attempt to appease fans from both eras.

But Why Tho? - Jason Flatt - 8 / 10

There are some kinks in Assassin’s Creed Mirage that hold it back from perfection, but without a doubt, it is the sharpest, most succinct entry in the franchise yet. With the best elements brought together throughout the series’ many games, Mirage stands out as at once completely classic and fully modern.

Destructoid - Steven Mills - 7.5 / 10

For those looking for a pure return of form to the original Assassin’s Creed, you’re going to love Mirage. After all, the stealth, parkour, and accompanying systems are the best they’ve been. And Baghdad is one of the best cities we’ve explored in the series yet. But for me, I can’t help but wonder if the true mirage was thinking this return to the old formula was the right direction to take.

Easy Allies - Michael Huber - 8 / 10

Assassin's Creed Mirage is a strong return to the original identity of the series, with greater focus on stealth and a more manageable length, but Ubisoft continues to spin its wheels with where all of this is going.

Eurogamer - Christian Donlan - 4 / 5

Golden Age Baghdad, along with a return to a more focused, stealth-based design, makes for a rich and characterful adventure.

Eurogamer.pt - Bruno Galvão - Portuguese - 3 / 5

Assassin's Creed: Mirage is a game with moments of pure splendor, where you will find yourself standing still absorbing the scenes as if you wanted to breathe the city and the places where Basim passes. The classic gameplay, focused on the stealth element, simplified for immediate fun and without artificial elements to prolong longevity, conquers, but the enemy AI constantly breaks the immersion and removes satisfaction from your interaction, to the point of almost making it banal to play as Ubisoft intends you to play.

Game Informer - Matt Miller - 8 / 10

Concerns about the conclusion aside, I still had a wonderful time in Baghdad’s ancient alleys and palaces. Not everything is perfect, but the “less is more” design philosophy goes a long way to making this one of the most consistently engaging titles within the series for some time.

Game Rant - Joshua Duckworth - 4 / 5

Despite a few shortcomings, Assassin's Creed Mirage completes its mission of being a love letter to the earliest days of the franchise.

GameSpot - Jordan Ramée - 6 / 10

Assassin's Creed Mirage's focus on social stealth and detective work makes for a compelling dive into ninth-century Baghdad.

Gaming Nexus - Jason Dailey - 8 / 10

Mirage is the ultimate Assassin's Creed comfort food for those who've been longing for a return to the classic stealth formula. It's not going to blow you away, but it's well done, and the nostalgia you'll feel playing it will remind you of why you enjoy the series in the first place. Ultimately, Basim and Baghdad coalesce to create a tantalizing vision of what the future of Assassin's Creed could be – a reincarnation of what it once was.

God is a Geek - Mick Fraser - 7.5 / 10

Assassin's Creed Mirage is perfectly serviceable and will certainly scratch an itch for major fans - though it's arguably not a bad entry point for newcomers either.

IGN - Jarrett Green - 8 / 10

Assassin’s Creed Mirage's back-to-basics approach is a successful first step in returning to the stealthy style that launched this series.

Kotaku - Zack Zwiezen - Unscored

It’s nice, in 2023, to play a modern AAA open-world video game that doesn’t feel like a slog to work through. One which rewards stealth and non-lethal tactics, too. When I was finished with almost everything Mirage had to offer—after about 25 hours—I found myself hopeful that Ubisoft will continue making not just big “RPG” Assassin’s Creed games, but also smaller, stealthier entries, too.

Merlin'in Kazanı - Samet Basri Taşlı - Turkish - 75 / 100

Assassin's Creed Mirage brings the series back to the old ways. The game, which will please old fans of the series, may not please everyone with its bad artificial intelligence and old-school gameplay.

Metro GameCentral - GameCentral - 7 / 10

Assassin's Creed gets back-to-basics with a shorter, more focused – if slightly less polished -campaign, and a return to an impossibly beautiful looking early-era Middle East.

PC Gamer - Morgan Park - 77 / 100

Assassin's Creed Mirage isn't the triumphant return to glory that I hoped it'd be, but it's a good first stab.

PCGamesN - Nat Smith - 8 / 10

Assassin's Creed Mirage delivers a renewed focus that trims the fat from its predecessors to commemorate the very best bits of the series, but familiar parkour problems and anemic combat hold it back from true greatness.

PlayStation Universe - Michael Harradence - 9 / 10

Assassin's Creed Mirage is a fantastic return to form for the long-running franchise, and by leveraging the very best of the series' offerings and doubling down on the original game's design philosophy, Ubisoft has created the most authentic Assassin's Creed game in a decade.

Polygon - Tauriq Moosa - Unscored

Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s focus makes it one of the best games in the series

PowerUp! - Leo Stevenson - Liked

Overall, Assassin's Creed: Mirage is a decent game in the series, but a largely forgettable one. After the dizzying heights of Odyssey and Valhalla, Mirage takes too much of a step back and relies too much on gameplay the series has long moved on from.

Push Square - Robert Ramsey - 7 / 10

Assassin's Creed Mirage sets off in search of its roots, and it finds them - both for better and worse. Undeniably basic in its approach to stealth and combat, it feels oddly dated in terms of design, but it's also a refreshing reminder of series' original strengths. Ultimately, it's a solid sandbox title, and it successfully scratches the hidden blade itch that was so clearly absent in Odyssey and Valhalla.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Alice Bell - Unscored

Assassin's Creed Mirage takes some of the best bits from the whole series and puts them together in a smaller, more focused, stealthier package. This is how big companies can make better games.

Saudi Gamer - عبد الله الباشان - Arabic - 6 / 10

Assassin's Creed went backwards (literally) with Mirage. Even though they have managed to capture Baghdad in a perfect way, yet they failed to deliver a good game on its own.

Siliconera - Cody Perez - 6 / 10

Assassin's Creed Mirage digs deep to return to its roots, but loses what made it so great in the process with messy climbing and an unnecessary story.

Sirus Gaming - Leif Rey Bornales - 9 / 10

Overall, Assassin's Creed: Mirage truly delivered an assassin simulator game that we all loved from the beginning. It is surprisingly a fast-paced game for a game that is known for its stealthy waiting. A game that is genuinely worth its price, a game that I will indeed be playing 'til I platinum it.

Skill Up - Ralph Panebianco - Unscored

Video Review - Quote not available

Slant Magazine - Aaron Riccio - 2.5 / 5

Mirage ought to have been more than the dim illusion of where the series has already traveled.

TheGamer - Joe Parlock - 3 / 5

Playing on nostalgia is only worthwhile if you’re making it better than what came before, but Assassin’s Creed Mirage is too busy fawning over the Ezio trilogy to notice just how aged it’s become.

TheSixthAxis - Gareth Chadwick - 7 / 10

Assassin's Creed Mirage will appeal to anyone who's been pining for a return to the old school open world stealth of the earlier games. It's pretty much exactly that with a few extra refinements and additions. Some of those additions are a bit distracting and immersion breaking, but nothing gets in the way of some good old fashioned assassinations.

VG247 - Dom Peppiatt - 4 / 5

Mirage represents the past, present, and future of everything Assassin’s Creed stands for – and you can feel it in the game’s bones.

WellPlayed - James Wood - 8 / 10

Assassin's Creed Mirage is a gorgeously crafted love letter to the memory of the franchise, establishing a vibrant new world but coming up a little short on ideas to match it.

Worth Playing - Chris "Atom" DeAngelus - 7 / 10

I'm not sure who's the target audience for Assassin's Creed: Mirage. It goes beyond returning to basics and is just basic. It's not terrible or unplayable, and if you enjoy the core Assassin's Creed gameplay or want a chance to run around Baghdad, it might scratch your itch. The problem is one that I've never had with an Assassin's Creed title before. They have problems, flaws, and issues aplenty, but each one felt like there was ambition behind it. Mirage feels unmemorable and bland and plays like a phoned-in Assassin's Creed title.

top 13 comments

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[–] Aielman15@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

Assassin's Creed Mirage doesn't have anything exciting or new to offer. It's a mixture of the worst parts of classic and modern Assassin's Creed

without a doubt, it is the sharpest, most succinct entry in the franchise yet. With the best elements brought together throughout the series’ many games

The duality of man.

[–] caut_R@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I always thought Assassin‘s Creed should be more like Hitman where you really wanna avoid conflict, find an opening, and, well, assassinate your target. The farther the series went, the more it felt like Brawler‘s Creed where you just butt heads with half a dozen guards all too frequently.

More focus on assassination, planning, conflict avoidance, gadget usage, stealth, and no run-off-the-mill guards that follow you up buildings like olympic athletes, all of this in a historical setting with some illuminati BS spice and I‘d be super happy. But it‘s a lot to ask. Just some random, tired thoughts on my experience with the series.

Honestly, even with the meh scores, this entry interests me the most since Unity from what I’ve been hearing this far.

[–] simple@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Despite having a pretty mediocre rating it seems like if you enjoyed the older assassin's creed games, this one is pretty close. Many reviewers argue that the old AC gameplay of following NPCs and blending in hasn't aged that well, though.

[–] a_fine_hound@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't say 76 is a mediocre score. Just looking at Opencritic of this year, the median score on PS5 is 73, so AC Mirage is at least better than the median. Now, I know game scores are skewed horrendously and barely any outlet uses full scale (more like half of it at most), but still 70 is probably closer to an idea of mediocre. It's all subjective though, but it is fun to try and make sense of it all

[–] lorty@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago

They tried to bring back the stealth and other elements of the old games but it doesn't really work in the mold of Valhalla, that's the big issue that brings this game down.

[–] TropicalMustafa@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do I need to play any other before? I've stopped on AC2 because I didn't like the direction the games were taking.

[–] obbelusk@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

If you thought the games went in the wrong direction after 2 I wouldn't think this game would be a good fit from what I've read. The story has become very complicated during the 16 years since the first one. Might be worth watching a recap on Valhalla to understand who Basim is. It's probably fine to jump in without it though.

[–] JonTheKnight@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

I was wondering how a DLC turned full-release would turn out for them. I haven't played an AC game since Black Flag, but I was hoping this might have gotten me interested again, especially with them returning to the classic style of the originals. Nothing I've seen from reviews or video gameplay feels compelling to me about it.

[–] thatsage@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I swear it looks like they straight up used the pre AC Unity engine, with upgrades...

[–] DeriHunter@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Never understood who play ac, these games are great for the first hour but then the games becomes so dull an repetitive, same missions same stories it becomes very tedious

[–] HerbalGamer@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I didn't really enjoy the older games but had a blast with odyssey and Valhalla. I wonder what this game does for me in that case.

[–] simple@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago

You probably won't like it then.

[–] hogunner@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Same. Unless I hear otherwise I’ll probably skip this one as, like you, I enjoyed the recent direction of the last 3 installments more than previous ones.