Contracts Are Optional In Assassin’s Creed Mirage But I’m Not Skipping Them

gameinformer.com:

During my cover story trip to Ubisoft Bordeaux in France, my hands-on time consisted of Baghdad exploration and contracts. The former was good fun – Baghdad feels almost like a 2023 spiritual reimagining of Jerusalem in 2007’s Assassin’s Creed, with plenty of rooftops and parkour paths to hit from objective to objective. But the latter was the highlight of my experience. 

I completed three contracts during my hands-on time, each at different levels of progression for protagonist Basim Ibn Is’haq. Contracts are essentially mini-missions that task you with eliminating a target, obtaining an item, or doing something like moving a boat to a specified location. You must scout an area out, find your target, determine the path of least resistance to them or it – Basim is all about stealth and speed, of course – and kill or obtain your mark. The first one I did, early in Basim’s journey, took no more than 10 minutes. But the late game one I completed took nearly half an hour. They feel like miniature assassination vignettes, almost like a smaller version of a level from IO Interactive’s World of Assassination Hitman trilogy. 

To complete a contract, you simply pick it up from a Hidden Ones bureau’s contract board and you’re off. Each is linked to a different faction within Baghdad, and completing them is essential to boosting your relationship with each. 

“Those factions will help you to gain rewards and also favors,” Mirage creative director Stephane Boudon tells me, noting you also gain special tokens used to bribe city speakers called Munadi, entertainers that can distract guards, and more. “Tokens are used as a sub-economic way to buy services and these services can also be very helpful inside your main quest and mission, so