The Best Assassin's Creed Game in Years 

What I appreciate most about Ubi Bordeaux is that despite being a smaller studio, they choose to appease the nichest part of the fanbase and they didn't back down. It's not ego, it's loyalty... and in this age it takes guts, everytime casual reviewers tear this game apart, I always found the fans appreciating the little things they've given us and they are thankful for us, they celebrated us... we are their success, the players. From here on out, they deserve our fullest support, they deserve more funding, resources... they deserve to make bigger titles with better quality.

Even from a gameplay standpoint, I miss better parkour, but for the first time in forever it feels like an AC game with a bow firmly wrapped around it without the bs. Playing in a stealth system that actually makes sense with the most customizable tools in the series as an actual Assassin works wonders, who knew?

In my opinion Lazerzz was way too over dramatic on his opinion of Mirage, he refuses to explain what he wants in an assassins creed game and just hates on any assassins creed game that’s came out in the last 10 years. It’s unwarranted and annoying.

This is prolly one of the most succint review of AC Mirage and a complete understanding of Assassin's Creed as a whole. A lot of the fanbase doesn't even know what they want from an Assassins Creed game, they'll just hate any new game that comes out that isn't Unity or Ezio trilogy. Good job on this review

Best review of the game by far. You also are the only RU-vidr I have found that describes the assassin‘s creed series pertaining to what it is and should be. I cannot complement this video enough

Wonderful analysis. I could tell even in the middle of the game that this would absolutely be one that I'll replay. The length of the game and focus of it's missions and side missions makes them all great stealth puzzles with multiple options. The contracts with side objectives like not being spotted were such a highlight for me. By the end of the game what you're able to accomplish is amazing with all the tools, abilities, and player skill you've achieved. Like you said it's a great assassin's creed game and it truly is also just a beautifully focused and well made game especially considering the smaller scope the team had. I'm very excited to see what this team does next

the redpilled ac fan manifesto

As a OG AC fan.Just finished Mirage and absolutely loved the game.The Parkour is good if you know how to get around Baghdad is immersive and tailored for parkour.Really enjoyed Basim's journey.The Black Box mission and tools to play .Oh Man The Ending was so crazy and gave me goosebumps. It was the ultimate Assassin fantasy since a long time. imo mirage is only behind 1-4 and origin .given the constraints of the game engine it's A Love letter from Ubisoft Bordeaux to the Og fans .

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I just can't get enough of Mirage. I honestly havent enjoyed an AC game this much since a very long time.

Great video, sums up my feelings towards this game perfectly. I loved this game & felt it was the best addition to the series in years. Now I want to play it again lol.

I felt the same, AC Mirage was the return to OG AC, that we all yearned for. The game scratched a 10-year-old itch. Glad to find a high-quality video essay I identify with. Subbed.

This is one of the best takes I’ve seen on AC Mirage. Fantastic review! Mirage was EASILY the best $50 I’ve spent this year. I platinumed it and kept going for about 50 hours total.

This game is awesome, the parkour could be better and I wish there wasn’t a stamina bar, but the story is unique and the end of it was awesome,roshan had an awesome voice.

Been watching SEVERAL critical videos of this game today to try and convince me to NOT buy it. But the more videos I watch trying to crap on it...the more I want it. Things they criticize I find myself in love with, things they cant stand are things pulling me closer, details they want no part of are the small pieces attracting my attention. I cant help it. By pure coincidence me and my partner have spent the last 2 days having an on-again-off-again conversation about the AC games (since I bought Rouge and BF on the insane steam sale rn) and Ive been ranting about all the crap I cant stand about the "RPG Creed" titles...and then today, I was reminded that this game exists and is an attempt at a love story to us, the OG fans, those of us who played Assassins Creed 1 and instantly fell in love all those years ago, and who formed a passionate desire for throughout the rest of the Desmond Series...and by Jove, the more I see the more it keeps pulling me in. The only question now...is what version to buy lol

This was an interesting and informative review, thanks for the deeper thoughts of the game and the game-series in general.

Great video mate.

I can’t stop coming back to this, every time the thumbnail pops - top quality

I love the original games but this is my new favorite Assassin's Creed game and I really hope they go farther with this gameplay style cause its so much better in my opinion

my biggest complaint with the game to be honest is that i wish it were longer, I thought it was gonna be bad, but Mirage is genuinly a pretty damn good game, and i wish we got to see a bit of basim in the modern day, cause i wanna know his intentions and what hes gonna do now

Great gameplay analysis among other things

That ending mirrored Lazzer's AC Odyssey video and I loved that, mainly for the stark contrast between this video and that one

You sir, you earned a sub!

This is the first Assassin's Creed video I have seen that gives principles to what truly makes an Assassin's Creed game, and I 100% agree with the five core principles you laid out. While I have yet to play Mirage, genuine and unbiased reviews from fans of the series have given me hope and optimism to play this game which, after giving up on Valhalla as early as killing the first seven Ancients members, I did not think was possible. Every main game prior to Origins felt like an AC game, even if they didnt have the best story, or awkward combat, or sea traversal that I wasn't a fan of. Even my least favorite of the bunch still felt like a genuine franchise game. Origins had a similar feel as well, but it was obvious that, with the start of the RPG era, core values were starting to be abandoned. The "origin story" went against details previously established in much earlier gsmes, fighting a god, even in a revealed dream, abd being granted a flaming sword near the climax, were all very telling of a future that I wasnt very comfortable with. Luckily, I bought Odyssey years later at a discounted price, and it at least had a decent story, but, unlike Origins, it didn't even feel like an Assassin's Creed game, because it expanded on the RPG style of game while predating the gane before that established itself as the origin of Assassins and Templars. Valhalla (sadly) was paid for at full price by my best friend as a Christmas gift, and it kills me onowing that I just cant get through that game. In as much time as it took me to complete Odyssey, it took me nearly as much time to get through one small portion of Valhalla. With the insanely large map, skill trees, and target tree, Valhalla was more of an overwhelming "grind" than anything before hand But, from everything I've seen and heard about Mirage, we aren't getting Valhalla 1.5 or even another RPG heavy game, and that is such a relief. A beautiful hostorical setting, condensed city map, and a gameplay that pairs with times of the Desmond Miles era were my biggest relievers into considering playing Mirage, and reviews like these, ones that are genuine critiques that explore positives, negatives, abd neutrals, from fans of the series as a whole, give me more and more confidence in my belief that I will enjoy this game. I understand that as a major title game, there will be a lot of attebtion from people only looking to get views, as well as some people just wanting to try something new. I steer away from what those people might have to say about the game because they are either saying what they feel is necessary for maximum exposure, or they lack the knowledge and wisdom that long time fans have of the series as a whole. Prior to 2020, I only played Brotherhood closer to ut's release on the Xbox 360, but I loved the game so much that I went to a game store and got more games. Revelations, AC3 Remastered, and Syndicate. After finishing the Desmond games, I wanted to explore AC1 and AC2, so I got them on PC I enjoyed them so much that I got every main game on Steam after that up to Unity, and later vought Origins and Odyssey at a ysed game store. My love for a single game as a teenager had suddenly burst into a love for an entire franchise as an adult, and while I didn't always enjoy every facet of each game, each of those games had something captivating that kept me playing. In just s few years, I played every game in a 15 year long franchise and now consider myself a diehard series fan. It's crazy to think of it that way, but my experience with the franchise puts me in a strange boat, away from the nostalgia and RPG extremeists. Even though I didnt care as much for Origins or Odyssey as previous titles, Valhalla made them look like carrot cake to a fruitcake: not my favorite, but much more appealing.I'm glad that, immediately after the worst gane in the franchise, Assassin's Creed is taking a step back in the proper direction. My only hope is that Bordeaux gets another shot at a mainline gane, with the proper time, budget, and resources to make a game that they, and long time fans like us, can truly enjoy.

Odyssey had my favorite combat mechanics. I didn’t care for the combat system in Mirage. I did enjoy the stealth system in Mirage.

here from the mini reviews on shorts, good video!

Do you feel after mirage's success or how the older fanbase have loved this game for returming back to its roots that ubisoft will go back to the original formula or will they continue with the RPG element to enable micro transactions to make a loads of money?

I agree with you. I've been playing the series since 2010 and, even though Mirage felt low budget and limited compared to all the other games released this generation, it still felt like a step in the right direction. It has some great missions and having a big city to explore was refreshing after 50h of Valhalla's shitty flat map.

Finally a good review on this game, thank you. I emjoyd this game so mutch and i just get sick of only finding people whining and comparing it to unity. Great review, my guy

I do want to give this game a shot, but I'm waiting till it's on special. Been let down too many times. Overall it's nice to hear there are many improvements to this game compared to the recent ones.

This was mostly great all the way around. Stealth was pushed. Most every mission necessitates a stealthy approach and has options for player agency. There was an actual order of “Assassins” who had a greater story going on. Characters seemed to matter even if the game was too short to delve deep into their story. The dense city and the beautiful environments that drove parkour were refreshing. Everything felt like what this series should be with each installment. Details mattered. The only gripe I have is that it carried over the Isu heavy plot from the last two installments which makes it feel less like an AC game for me. The first 4 games handled the first civilization perfectly for me; that entire story was alluded to but was just a cool mysterious detail the historical assassin would encounter at times. The modern iteration of that order vs. freedom story as the primary focus. Oh, and some variation of tombs with lore insight would be welcome.

act 2 is akward because it has the ingredients of a classic linear story progression but its placed into an rpg format. Which is why i think there is a correct order to the 3 assassinations in act 2. in order it is Treasurer>Fazil>Warlord. Treasurer is first because it is a filler sequence in the sense that basim does not experience any significant character growth during it. It's main purpose is to introduce Qabiha to the player Fazil is second because unlike the previous sequence, this sequence hints to the fact that there is a mystery going on about basim and his true origins of being a reincarnated isu. On top of that, this sequence provides the player a glimpse into what a more ruthless and combative basim might be like through his interactions with the snitch and with Ahmad The warlord is last because this is the mission that plants the seed of doubt that will fully manifest during act 3. Basim's beliefs on freedom and justice is challenged and contrasted by Ali's beliefs on freedom and justice. This seed of inner conflict is magnified by the cost of human life during a war (Ali torturing and killing an enemy informant and Beshi's demise) This order creates a much more believable build up towards act 3 where basim as a character is much more conbative, dimissive, and skeptical of who he is, what his beliefs are and what his relationship is with the brotherhood.

People nowadays are really in a huge need to understand that life isn't built upon perfection but rather upon variety... Your perfect ac game will never be there as long as you think it is a copy of your favorite game, there will never be another ac unity or bf or ezio trilogy again cuz it'll be pointless and you yourself would still complain about it not being the same; so you need to carry on and give a chance to the new world instead of picking a specific old thing and trash others like some annoying elder! Shout out to this honest review, always refreshing to hear positive opinions about positive things we have

It’s honestly hilarious how much hate this game is getting people went from complaining that the game wasn’t about assassins whatsoever then we finally get that and the feeling as well and all of a sudden people are saying stupid shit like if it isn’t like the ezio trilogy it isn’t assassins creed 😂😂😂

Did you just say the original 4 games have hitbox combat systems?

12:48 Sleep is a vital part Me watching this video at 1 AM💀

Subbed, keep uploading AC content) You’ll go a long way

Best AC game for the last 10 years (since Unity, I'm one of those who liked Unity a lot :P). It has for sure reinvigorated my interest in the AC universe (Valhalla was the first AC game I didn't bother to complete because it was so much repating tasks / bloated content).

I have always loved AC as a kid only played a few games but i want to play them all because I'm just a fan

Couldn't agree more

When the mention of "Classic Blackbox" mission structures i just simply think to only Unity and Syndicate as they were the first to implement such mission design.

is the title talking about that song created for the game by Coldplay or the game lol. it's the main lyric. fuck i confusedd coldplay for onerepublic. it's onerepublic.

It would be awesome to see you determine which assassin’s games meet all 5 principles

Loved your video and videos

I racked up so many faults about this game, I'm convinced it's a solid 7/10 but it doesn't fail to give me a good time, I'm still playing it after platinuming it

I don’t get it. Ali literally gives you a power or green token why did you do a contract for your first mission lmao you get the token as a reward in the main storyline to use in the literal next mission. Am I missing something?

This is definitely not a paid review.

I love this game its easily in my top 3 AC games

Really enjoying it so far but the cutscene quality is frankly pretty abysmal. They really should have mocapped the curscenes. Look at some of the older games like Unity and even the Ezio games and the quality of the cutscenes has a night and day difference. They actually had a cinematic quality to them, the cutscenes in Mirage are just stiff.

I recently bought Mirage and let me tell you after hating the previous RPG heavy crap we have been handed I was so hesitant! After playing for a few hours I can confidently say Mirage is excellent and I truly hope this is where the series continues to go with Red, yet somehow I already feel they are going to ruin that experience for us by making it a RPG grind fest and I simply wont budge if that’s the case. I need Assassin’s, I need stealth and I need a city game not a massive open world filled with pointless loot.

Thank you so much for this video Joe! I’ve watched a lot of Mirage videos from both AC fans and general game reviews but yours is the one I trust the most, I’ll be picking the game up for myself to try it

Great review of Mirage & of the series as a whole! Bordeaux really deserves their flowers. They crafted a true AC experience even if it is rough around the edges in certain spots

One negative point I cannot ignore: the abysmal voice "acting". It's a mystery how it got past quality control.

I wanted more parkour and a slightly deeper combat system. Other than that it accomplished what it needed to. I wish they did everything from the ground up instead of being the same system from valhalla. Enemies dont respond to being hit by a sword like in unity to push the player towards stealth and only stealth but in the cutscenes he trains in the ways of combat with the assassins, yet when in combat he just swinging the blade around as if he is a highly untrained child. Arno handles each weapon with a certain uniqueness but the sword......SOOO much detail man, arno handles the sword with such elegance. The level of customization (NOT DETAIL) in Unity has not been seen since its entry and neither has its unique parkour system. The fact that ubisoft acts as if this game never accomplished anything positive and refuses to go back to it or even acknowledge its existence is just unfair. I want Unity 2.0 but with how legendary this games parkour and combat was they shouldve never even thought of abandoning it.

12:42 at this time I was watching the video at night and I dicide to go to sleep was better haha no hate to the publicity is just I realised it was to late. By the way, nice video.

Great video man!

My only gripes are the rpg combat not really meshing with every other combat mechanic, and the skill

You did a good review.

Now that I think of it, I never died in my game play🤔 Heck yeah! Pick pocketed so much I never tan out of money and tokens

Your conclusion coupled with revelations main theme brought me to tears. Great video overall. 👍

0:36 throwing shade at your former group the four pillars eyy?😁

Contracts are the best feature of this game.

I’m pretty sure “Genuinity” is not a real word.

Seriously? All the games are fantastic. I remember a time where people were happy JUST to play a game. Just to be able to have something. And now people are just completely spoiled. And it is just sad to see that people don’t like games the way they used to over the most stupid things.

I wish that people would understand, that whether you like mirage or not, its success can ONLY be a good thing for the future of the series (if you like the classic games) It's the only thing that could make Ubisoft make a high budget classic style AC game in the future, only then we can get a true spiritual successor to unity.

You get it sir

Shi in my opinion i love valhalla and I assassin creed mirage to I think they should make the next assassin creed game main character taller and they should add a blacc assassin need to see some brothers in the game😂✊🏿that’ll be something new for they franchise

I’m really considering buying this game, is it worth it?

"Everyone was saying the game sucked. I started saying the game sucked... then something incredible happened...." "I PLAYED THE GAME!" Well if it isn't the average videogame "reviewer" of modern times. 😂

didint like mirage, miss odyssey. best ac ever.

I love Mirage! Please DLCs!

It definitely is, they literally tell you in the game title. this isn’t an AC game. To make an AC game you should only walk unless you press the run button, have combat/parkour similar to Unity and the ezio games. This was an update for Valhalla with a Basim skin

I quite like your detailed definition of what it means to be a true ac game but I cant honestly agree with its objectivity. From what Ive seen online whatever principles different people abide by as to what a true ac game is is wildy varied because in such a big franchise thats gone through multiple changes (even in the early days), the words Assassins Creed mean different things to different people.

A new ubisoft studio, a budget rivaling assassin's creed rouge and 1 year to make a game from Valhalla's leftovers and Valhalla's engine. My hopes were low but damn the actually cared the new ubisoft team made one of the very good entries in this series that actually had amazing stealth and I love the parkour.

Basim’s Creed was as assassin as it can get given it’s a rpg era game

yeah, how did I know you'd use this to harp on about origins

I tend to ignore reviewers who are either almost strictly negative or strictly positive about this game. No franchise can last as long as AC has without some ups and downs; I’m just glad to see that overall Mirage looks good, which is all I can ask. I enjoyed the RPG games (apart from Valhalla, which I more than gave a fair shot) but that doesn’t mean every game needs to be that way either.

I absolutely agree with the stealth being great in this game, but imo the combat is absolutely garbage, in valhalla you were able to parry with the unarmed hand and then finish them. They didn't innovate at all, which is fine but in combat Basim feels incredibly weak. AC1-AC4 all felt smooth in combat but Mirages combat feels super choppy. I've enjoyed Mirage but strictly because of the stealth and tools. The parkour feels unresponsive and I can do some sick stuff on Unity so it's not my stick awareness lol. Just saying I agree it's a step in the right direction, I just hope it's not a stepping stone

Bassim’s fighting style and the AC mirage combat system is legit the closest to the real Hashashin Sect / Assassin Brotherhood. They were clinical precise and deadly agents of death but when they was surrounded and had to fight numerous soldiers they were dead men. That is where the Leap Of Faith derived from as in real life they would flee and if they couldn’t escape the real Hashashin would jump to their death.

Great video, but would have loved a spoiler warning because I had to stop watching. Will come back once I've gotten further in the game though.

I love mirage

Parkour feels amazing if you mess with the controls. It takes a lot of messing around but I put "Run" on R1 and it felt so much better afterwards.

Mirage is one of the best assassin's creed sinc like Unity when it started to go downhill

I really liked your point against game journalists not understanding the series and just want it to be like every other open world RPG triple A game. Yes those games can be fun, but AC isn't those games and not every game needs to be like that. Gameplay variety is good. If I wanted to play an open world game with a complex combat system, I'd play something like the Witcher 3, not Assassin's Creed

Everything I agree with, but ac has not always been about silently killing your targets. The vast majority of ac2's "assassinations" were loud, public displays And as much as I dislike rpg games, origins' story can't be disregarded

I enjoyed mirage alot 🔥

The gameplay was fairly decent. But if you pay attention to the story without knowing anything else about Valhalla, it makes zero sense in regards to Basims personal story. The villains are bad guys just to be bad guys, no real motivations like in previous games. And we learn nothing of Basims personal struggles or why he really has nightmares.

man you are so educated

Absolutely perfect review my friend. As a fan since the first one back in 07 this is the best AC game in FOREVER. Felt like a kid again running through the city.

thank you for your grounded opinion....thanks for not following the mob and just seeing a good game for being a good game

I appreciate what this game did but it lacks good parkour and the combat isn’t fun. The story is also boring. I appreciate it only as a step in the right direction.

Mirage isn’t a perfect AC, I wouldn’t quite call it a complete “return to the roots,” but it is a good game.

beat the game a few hours ago and I really enjoyed it. Haven't played an Assassins creed game since Black Flag (which I didn't enjoy) feels nice to hear someone give positive feedback rather then complain for the 1000th time that its not the same parkour as Unity.

Ali was the best side character in Mirage

As a fan since the first one came out…..I am loving Mirage…….👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

For me the biggest problem is that AC lost at some point immersion and became just an "animus fanservice". Idk how I can describe it. I can remember when I played AC for the first time and fell in love with the idea that humans can relive the memories from their ancestors via the DNA and Desmond had to bring important information from "real persons" that lived years ago. You appreciated the characters in the story. About the battle between assassins and templars which is still going on end never ended. That whole thing had a "bigger sense".

The game just needs that newest mod that was added to mirage for pc and more social stealth crowds,there should have dancer groups to go were u want to and the finally boss was eh,ending was great and the story was good. Shouldn't been a rebellion questline for Ali,and questline for helping scholars uncover secrets and etc, and we finally got an game with infinity real contract,tho there could've some social stealth assassinations as contracs instead just more hostile camps and there should've been social stealth assassination animations when blending in. Mirage has the best eagle vision. They really stepped up on the ai chasing and searching for u.

Ppl dont even know what they want from an AC game.....AC has 3 pilars, Story, Stealth, and parkour, just make those 3 things good and thats it....its easy

The stealth in this game is not impressive. It’s too fantasized for my personal enjoyment. Fans complain to other fans saying you don’t have to use the teleport ability you can just play without it but that’s not entirely true. Playing without it makes the game so buggy. With no cover system for cover assassinations meaning you often get spotted over exposing yourself to a guard awkwardly standing there trying to get close enough to the edge of a wall to pull off a cover assassination. The double assassination rarely works because the first assassination animation is very long allowing the second guard to hit you with their sword yelling and alerting other guards. While it still chains and kills the second meaning technically the double assassination still works it’s pointless as other guards will already be rushing to your position during the long period of time during the double assassination.

SPOT FUCKING ON. Im convinced people who are just auto condemning mirage have either not played the game at all or only played a couple hours of it and think they got the full picture. This game, while not groundbreaking, is a phenomenal game and a pretty damn good assassins creed game. It is also an absolute step in the right direction.