There are only two Assassin’s Creed games I’ve played, both part of that classic era of stealth-focused gameplay. The original I had claimed from Games With Gold in 2018, where I enjoyed what it offered and had considered trying more. That didn’t happen until 2020, where I bought The Rebel Collection on the Switch to experience the pirate-based stealth gameplay of Assassin’s Creed 4.

It’s clear that I have a familiarity for that stealth-focused gameplay, then. So, when Ubisoft announced that they were returning to the roots of the franchise with Assassin’s Creed Mirage, I had to buy it and give it a play. And what I’ve found is that all that talk has paid off. This is absolutely a classic Assassin’s Creed experience. Stealth is the order of the day, parkouring and keeping out of sight, and that is introduced right from the beginning.

Street thief Basim and his friend Nehal live in Anbar, doing what they can to survive. Going out into the city to pickpocket daily. But Basim has greater ambitions, wanting to be a part of the Hidden Ones, the group of assassins who he takes jobs for. And after a bit of pickpocketing, he sets out for the next job. This is where a bit of stealthing happens to ease players into the major gameplay loop. I do admit I was oblivious to the obvious here, failing to see the ladder to get me up to the person with the key. But it did allow me to get used to parkouring around, which I spent a bit of time messing around with.

With the job complete, Basim encounters the member of the Hidden Ones he is taking jobs from, and tries to get her to let him join. Snubbed, he takes matters into his own hands when hearing of something the Hidden Ones want within the Winter Palace. This is a larger stealth playground, and also a linear one, as Nehal takes you through the palace to where you need to be. The end result is a catastrophic failure of a success with the item collected, but the Caliph dead by Nehal’s hand when Basim gets distracted by visions from the thing he has taken.

Escaping the palace with the guards looking for Basim, a slaughter of known street thieves begins. Basim and Nehal part on bad terms, with Basim blaming the death of their friends on her. The Hidden Ones member – Roshan – he had previously encountered helps him escape having been impressed with the escapade despite the consequences. Away from Anbar and at the Hidden Ones’ mountain fortress, Basim begins training to be a Hidden One.

There are two points of his life among the Hidden Ones that are played. Early into his training, and during his initiation. That training introduces combat, which is easy enough to use. Attack, parry, and dodge, with skills adding a few combos to that moveset upon unlocking them with skill points. Stealth attacks are also introduced, with tools such as throwing knives providing ranged attacks and distractions beyond just calling a guard to you with a whistle.

On the day of Basim’s initiation, word comes back of the increasing influence of the Order of the Ancients. He, Roshan, and a few others head for Baghdad to investigate and put a stop to that influence. This is the point where the game fully opens, allowing the freedom of exploring and doing whatever you want. Investigations also offer a bit of freedom, with a number of clues to follow before getting to the assassination of that investigation.

But more importantly, being free to explore what this world has to offer. The city of Baghdad looks awesome, with a beauty in its simplicity. Its design allowing for great feats of fluid parkouring where the ground will sometimes never be touched. But this world is more than just the city of Baghdad, with Anbar just one of the cities and other communities of the wilderness that can be travelled to. When on the ground, the world is designed in such a way that those cities of the wilderness can’t be seen from the outer walls of Baghdad, with the dunes blocking sight of those to the north and the pine forest those of the south.

I balanced my time between doing various missions and exploring, starting the investigation missions then heading to the north wilderness for some peace. Then there’s also contracts, small missions that task you with an objective such as delivering something, sneaking into somewhere to steal an object, or even protecting someone. Complete these, and get rewarded with various helpful things such as money, outfits, or tokens. Those tokens play a role in stealth if you want to use them, being the currency merchants, musicians, and bandits accept to distract guards.

When it came to the assassination, there’s a linear structure to how the game wants you to draw out the target, but otherwise allows you to tackle operations how you want. With guards at the entrance and the area of play being a restricted zone, every move needs to be considered – including how to get into the area. Much like other Assassin’s Creed games, you have a literal birds-eye view with your eagle pal always flying through the skies ready to provide a different view of things. That includes highlighting things of interest, such as secret entrances. And with a few skill points applied, the routes that guards will take.

With that assassination done, it was back to exploring. Around Baghdad and down to the south wilderness. Where I started taking more interest in the various collectibles to be found. Chests with gear inside, special items to pickpocket, enigmas, lost books, and historical sites are scattered around Baghdad and the wilderness. Some easy to get and others hard, with most gear chests being within restricted areas. Along with those are the viewpoints, places high up that you need to climb. Most are within the walls of Baghdad, revealing a portion of the map when synchronised, though some are found in the wilderness.

For as great as the parkour is, there is some weakness that persists from what I remember in those classic Assassin’s Creed games. Namely that climbing large walls will sometimes be brought to a halt despite handholds being available to use. Stubbornly refusing to take that next leap despite being reachable. As proven when it eventually works. And sometimes, when trying to get it to work, Basim will instead just jump off the wall instead. Which is especially annoying on towers where he’ll treat it as a straight wall and leap into the open air.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a great celebration of the roots of the series. The stealth focus will likely bring series veterans back to the time of that original game, with it being a nostalgic return to a West Aisa setting. The gameplay is at the fore with this one, though the intrigue regarding Basim and what his nightmares represent is a nice hook to keep one interested in progressing the story. As is the events happening Baghdad and the mysteries surrounding the Order of the Ancients’ goals.

As the start of what I can only imagine will be a more experimental age for the series comes closer, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a nice reminder of the mechanics that kickstarted this series into success. It has been a lovely time stealthing around and occasionally messing up. I can easily give this one a recommendation just from that alone.

Images Taken From:
Assassin’s Creed Mirage | Xbox Series S