Assassin’s Creed Mirage Review: Nostalgia Hits So Good

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Not to be harsh, but I was never fond of Assassin's Creed's little detour into the endless open world meta in recent years. A series that was once lauded for its clinical stealth-based killings had slowly morphed into a reckless RPG with greater emphasis on quest hoarding, gear system, and heavy-handed combat. The new Assassin Creed games carried such little resemblance to the early titles in the franchise that if Ubisoft were to strategically rebrand it, no one would raise questions. Sure, they fared well commercially, but with time, the formula got stale and a desperate need for a refresh was never more apparent. And so, the studio's solution is to revisit its glory days and create a familiar Assassin's Creed experience that caters to loyalists by turning a once-destined AC Valhalla DLC into a standalone experience — a throwback set in the dusty but vibrant locale of ninth-century Baghdad.

Assassin's Creed Mirage spares no time in establishing its stakes, with a quick introduction of its lead Basim Ibn Ishaq, an expert street thief who aspires to become a hooded assassin and work from the shadows. Growing up an orphan in the streets, his desperate attempt to get noticed by a bigger calling often comes across as pathetic, presenting his talents in the brashest fashion with a childish lack of care for his life. That's until he's faced with a predicament early on when a palace robbery goes wrong with brutal consequences. At the palace, Basim runs into the Order of the Ancients, an enigmatic and dangerous masked cult that preceded the Templars, and manages to steal an Isu artifact, putting him on the same path as the Hidden Ones clan. Despite the heavy personal cost and a bounty on his head, Basim gets what he had long