Assassin’s Creed Mirage hands-on — Back to the past

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I’m one of those Assassin’s Creed fans that enjoyed the older games in the series, back when it was more about, you know, assassinating. I don’t have the RPG trappings of recent games like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, but I preferred the more focused, stealthy approach of the original Assassin’s Creed and its first few sequels.

That’s why Assassin’s Creed Mirage has my attention. It comes out on October 5 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. I had a chance to play Mirage in a recent remote preview session, meaning I played on PC via cloud streaming. Although I’m usually skeptical of such technology, my demo ran smoothly.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage takes place in 9th-century Baghdad. Not only is the game a throwback to the franchise’s original mechanics, but the setting calls to mind the Middle-Eastern locations of the original. Maybe I’m just an easily nostalgic fellow (and, man, I can’t believe that Assassin’s Creed is now old enough for me to feel nostalgia for it), but it’s nice seeing this aesthetic again.

So, what do I mean when I say that Mirage’s mechanics feel more like the older Assassin’s Creed games? Well, instead of focusing on melee combat, cooldown abilities and open world exploration, Mirage centers on city navigation and stealth kills.

That means that if you sneak up on a person, you’re going to kill them. You don’t have to worry