Mirage Feels Like an Imitation of Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed Mirage is the first new game to be released since I started this channel, and I wish I could be kinder to it. I have had fun, but so much of its energy is spent on trying to twist Valhalla's mechanics into something familiar that it feels like an imitation of its own franchise rather than an evolution of it.

Contents:
00:00 Intro
01:55 Stealth
09:14 Traversal
15:56 Combat
21:04 Structure and Story
28:18 The Limits of Imitation

[D-Tox_]

You all thought that this was an Assassin's Creed ... but it was just a mirage.

[OnionCompanion]

I'm amazed by how quickly archers notice and shoot Enkidu while inobsevant of a huge, free-running and jumping target.

[ianAEF]

My favorite moment in AC1 was when Altair said “It’s creeding time” and started teleporting across the rooftops

[jermywormyy]

i think, more than anything, it’s important to know the context behind AC Mirage. That context being Mirage was originally supposed to be an expansion to Valhalla. That doesn’t excuse its faults, but it makes them make sense

[rocklight]

I can say that Mirage is a good game, but I wanna see this team make a game with a bigger budget and new Engine that they can go nuts with. I see Mirage as a "One foot in the door" type game.

[krypto_]

I think that’s exactly how I felt playing. It felt like a mod. I loved the game and it feels just like how it feels playing a mod made by passionate people.

[firered]

It's like starting back to zero. Yeah, it's a step in the right direction but it's behind where the previous games were. We essentially have to go backward to go forward. A problem that should not exist but is not the fault of Mirage.

[thanotos]

This is an incredibly fair commentary on the game. IMO, it takes a step in the right direction from Valhalla but it’s severely hampered by it…my only worry is that Ubi is going to take all the wrong lessons from Mirage because they want to. My guess is that they only allowed Bordeaux to spin this off as a hedge against Valhalla fatigue. In one fell swoop, they got to put the genuine passion of the team on full display for the marketing, spend almost nothing extra by only letting Bordeaux push as far past the frame of Valhalla as the tech would allow, partition the stores so Valhalla helix credits are non-transferable, charge $50 for it (bringing in more revenue per copy sold), and create multiple higher priced editions. For corporate, Mirage is a release of convenience that was never going to do as well as Valhalla commercially. This way, they increase revenues and critical reception as much as they reasonably can while baking in a justification for doubling down on Valhalla styled games. “See? We totally did what the ‘fans’ wanted and it wasn’t nearly as profitable as the $1b we milked out of Valhalla over 3 years.” I think Luke Stephens probably has the right idea about infinity, individual projects will now be tailored to differing audiences but the “traditional” fans are always just going to get a smaller release based on the skeletons of future RPG titles like Red. I HOPE things get better from mirage but I think this is as good as it’s going to get for a long while.

[ghastlyanarchy]

I feel this video as a whole is more honest than negative. There's a clear love and passion for this series and the frustration steams from that. I feel the same, I can only hope this lays the ground work for an Assassin's Creed 1 reimagining just touch up the combat and cutscenes.

[Kai]

I am here writing a comment just because at the end you asked for our opinions. What can I say? This is a great video. But that's not a surprise to me, because I follow you since your video on Valhalla and I know that all your vids are great. I like the way you write your scripts and the way you speak, not crying, not yelling, just calm and explaining what you feel with consistents opinions and even showing them with gameplay examples. I love this franchise but I don't know so many things as you do, and that's why I follow your channel. I have not played AC Mirage yet, but for what I have seen I think that my opinion will be more or less the same as yours. You deserve more subscribers and views, and I hope that you will have them someday. Keep the great work my friend, I will be here watching all your AC videos even if I do not comment (I never do). I am from Spain and my english is not very fluent... I hope you'll understand everything.

[gor]

The game is good and much better than the RPGs. It feels like it's slightly in chains though. Bordeaux was given two years to make it using Valhalla's mechanics and assets.

Would be cool to see Bordeaux given the freedom to build a game from the ground up.

[akhiltheerthala]

This video is on point. AC mirage as an individual product is nothing special. However, as a product that is an extension of Valhalla, it is a very good fix. However, the good news is that this has done very good in sales and hopefully this realigns the direction of changes that the franchise has gone from AC4. Thank you very much for the video.

[PsychoRavager]

It's a good game weighed down by mixing oil and water with how Valhalla's engine is used as a foundation to build an entry that relies on the classics as primary inspiration. You are, more and more, becoming one of my favorite YouTubers in terms of video essays regarding games as an art form.

[krypto_]

Imagine what Bordeaux could do with more time and recourses. It would be amazing

[runbaaL]

Considering this is what Ubisoft Bordeaux was able to make while being understaffed, underbudgeted, under strict two year time limit, and constrained by Valhalla's janky iteration of the AnvilNext 2.0 engine, I'm honestly pretty impressed. I hope they are given the opportunity in the future to do their own thing from the ground up with more time and resources.

My major downside with the game that I can't excuse is the story though. The non-linear story approach with Mirage was the same problem Valhalla had with its story, just on a smaller scale. It practically means major character progressions cannot happen outside of beginning and end of the story. The most interesting part of Valhalla's story was its intro and its endings, and same goes for Mirage. That's kind of a big issue... No matter how good an ending is, it's going to inevitably get bogged down if the journey to said ending isn't a memorable one.

[Ro_Morgen]

Your channel is simply astounding.
Your voice is so soothing and calm, and your analysis of the AC games are done with a respect that is extremely worth watching on youtube.

Keep up the great work.
Greetings from Argentina.

[dominicmorrone]

This was the first video I've ever watched from you, and I've gotta say, you hit the nail on the head. I'm only a few hours into Mirage and somehow you managed to turn my thoughts into words. Hopefully the next entry will step up to the plate and fully commit to this concept. Other than that, you've earned a sub as well, keep it up!

[JohnBeattie_]

Your content is amazing, glad I found this channel yesterday. The effort you put into your scripts are next level.

[utuberz]

This game sounds like its a good proof of concept for what assassins creed could be if it tried to be a follow up to the older games. Given the smaller team, maybe it was meant to gauge interest in that idea.

[birboartt]

I felt almost as this game was a financial viability test for the old AC formula and the bordeaux team as a whole. I wish this game does well given it´s AA budget and the passion that the devs had to do their best under those conditions ubi gave them. I Still enjoyed getting excited again for an AC game (moderate expectations of course) and not being a let down. The game has it´s limits but i had fun nonetheless.