It’s not often that a big-budget videogame feels like it was made according to my exact wishes, and yet Assassin’s Creed Mirage exists. What was once destined to be an expansion for Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla grew into a standalone throwback to the best of the series that valued stylish kills, freedom of movement, and stealth over quest logs and gear scores. Spiritually, it’s a straight bullseye.
This is the purest stealth game Ubisoft has made in 15 years of , dense with rooftops, ziplines and fluffy carts of hay in one of the most beautiful cities ever realised in a videogame. When I’m perched on a ledge studying guard routes, mentally noting hiding places, or plotting a risky climb, feels like Ubi at the top of its game. It’s a shame, then, that the fluid stealth sandbox is dragged down by all the bad stuff it inherits from the last six years of RPGs – spammy combat, floaty character movement and parkour that never quite flows as well as it’s meant to. I want so badly for classic to be back like I thought it could is more like a stepping stone.
