Most of us know that the annual Assassins Creed games were getting a little tired. Game sales had declined and Ubisoft who create the game had a rethink and rested the annual AAA releases. While the games graphically have always been amazing, they had become a little repetitive with gameplay and stale.
This latest game was released for Christmas 2023. Knowing that the price would drop, I deliberately held off and while a few different versions existed (different digital extras), the price came down to around the £40 mark quite quickly.
Currently, Ubisoft are running a trial of the game until 30-Apr and you can play up to a couple of hours before purchasing (details here). I tried this and enjoyed the game. Buying digitally is always more expensive and I opted to buy from Amazon Warehouse and was able to pick the game for £23 which is really good. Receiving the game last week, I have played a fair bit over the first weekend.
Graphically, it is amazing and looks almost photo realistic in parts. I understand that this game is smaller than many of the more recent AC games. Or at least, playing through more interesting main missions should allow initial completion of the story in a quicker timeframe.
Set in 9th-century Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age—in particular during the Anarchy at Samarra—the story follows Basim Ibn Ishaq (a character first introduced in Valhalla), a street thief who joins the Hidden Ones to fight for peace and liberty, against the Order of the Ancients, who desire peace through control.
From Wikipedia
While you still carry out tasks like searching for treasure chests, and destroying wanted posters, I found the main story missions really entertaining and enjoyable. Including stealth gameplay within restricted areas, avoiding guards or taking them down. At around 10 hours into the game, the mission areas tend to be Palace, docks and jail type environments. Good decent length missions. My favourite missions involving sneaking around, killing guards and rescuing prisoners.
While the gameplay is supposed to take the game back to its roots, in all honesty, I cannot really tell the difference but the missions do appear longer and more well thought out. So far, a great game and not too difficult. I am playing on the normal regular gameplay mode.
You’ll still be able to undertake sidequests, loot chests, nab collectibles, and more, but Assassin’s Creed Mirageis just that much more focused overall. Instead of a sprawling amorphous blob of a narrative, you’ll be focusing on tracking down members of the Templars (still simply known as The Order here, as the game predates that particular group.)
From Wikipedia
If you have played Assassins Creed in the past and have given it a break for a while, it is worth picking up again. Like me, you can easily pick up a second hand copy or when a sale is on, a cheap digital copy.
The game is very immersive and takes you to Baghdad in a realistic environment.
Incidentally, the game appears to support 3D sound via your TV monitor. A quick set up and the sound was definitely enhanced and improved.
I look forward to completing the story and will update this review once finished.
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