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 realized 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 is more like a stepping stone.
