Summary
It’s been 15 years since theAssassin’s Creedfranchise first leaped onto the scene, and it’s somehow simultaneously changed a lot, and not at all. While the setting changes with each new entry, and the franchise saw a big shift in 2017 with the RPG-focused entries,everyAssassin’s Creedgamestill carries with it the same DNA that’s been present since day one, and that’s never been more true than with the most recent entry,Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
From the get-go,Assassin’s Creed Miragehas been marketed as a smaller-scale entry in the series, designed specifically to be a throwback to theoriginalAssassin’s Creedformula. From stealth to parkour to combat to map design, almost every element ofAssassin’s Creed Miragehas been paired back to give fans that old-school feeling, and in the process of achieving that, Ubisoft may have inadvertently paved the way for anAssassin’s Creed 1remake.
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The main focus ofAssassin’s Creed Miragefrom the very beginning was to deliver fans a classicAssassin’s Creedexperience that hearkened back to the series' original formula, and more specifically, the very first game in the series. Thoughthe recentAssassin’s CreedRPGshave been well-received by most fans and critics, a lot of long-time fans were desperate for a smaller-scale adventure to balance things out, and that’s exactly whatAssassin’s Creed Miragedoes. ThoughMiragecarries over some newer elements like equipable gear, skill trees, and skill-based combat, it puts the emphasis firmly back on stealth gameplay and scales the narrative back to just one main character and one main location.
By all accounts,Assassin’s Creed Miragesucceeds in what it set out to do. While it may not have the most engaging narrative in the series, the best parkour, or the most compelling characters,Assassin’s Creed Mirageis the return to basics that many fans were longing for, and it feels like a classicAssassin’s Creedgame, for better and for worse. In many ways,Assassin’s Creed Miragefeels like a spiritual successor tothe very firstAssassin’s Creedgame, and that close connection could end up leading to a remake in the near future.
In essentially being a modern-day version of an oldAssassin’s Creedgame,Assassin’s Creed Miragehas basically laid the groundwork for a remake of the first game in the franchise. A project that’s been heavily rumored for a while now, a remake of the original 2007Assassin’s Creedwas deemed a little too ambitious by some fans, as it would need to essentially overhaul the vast majority of the original game’s mechanics. Stealth, combat, and parkour would all need to be remade from the ground up to feel like a modern game, albeit one that still felt close enough to the original experience. But now,Assassin’s Creed Miragehas practically done all of the work already, bringing modern parkour, stealth, and combat mechanics to the series while still retaining the essence of the original series formula.
With the bulk of the gameplay groundwork already right there inAssassin’s Creed Mirage, all Ubisoft would need to do is carry that over to anAssassin’s Creed 1remake, and give everything a fresh coat of paint.Assassin’s Creed Mirageeven has an old-school filter packaged in, letting players view the game through the same color palette and art style used in the firstAssassin’s Creed. It would still require a decent amount of effort to put it all together, but anAssassin’s Creedremake already has all of its pieces just waiting to be joined.
Assassin’s Creed Mirageis available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
