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Assassins Creed Mirage Review In Progress | MMORPG.com
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Assassins Creed Mirage Review In Progress | MMORPG.com
Assassins Creed Mirage is a return to the series' roots in a sense, bringing players to 9th-century Baghdad. But how does it stack up so far compared to the recent series entries? Here is our review in progress.
Comments
According to SKill Ups review the game takes about 15 hours to beat so you should slowly approach the end.
I guess I'm the minority here because I really liked the last 3 ACs, especially Valhalla but I must admit that they definitely were bloated and they'd just have to trim them a bit. But as far as I know there will also be another open-world-like so I'm just happy for the fans who wanted another 'classic' AC
There is a question mark to how much Denuvo effects performance, do you have any other concerns about it? I note that it was not patched in when reviewers received their copy but this site takes it time about reviews which is how they should be done. So by the time ACM gets a score Joseph will have had plenty of time to see if there is a difference.
Honestly, I don't actually think my version had Denuvo. But I've been playing mostly the PS5 version since I was laid up in bed with Covid during the process. I'll have to check this out, but in my experience Denuvo hasn't given me a performance impact.
Then again, I'm sitting on a 4090 which probably brute forces through most of that.
Minority? I don't know. I too preferred the last three. I bought all of those as soon as they were released but from the reviews I've been reading I think I'll give this one a miss. Maybe I might be tempted when it's been out a while and is on offer but it doesn't appeal enough to pay full price right now.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
It's almost like they know the malware would hurt performance, so they were deliberate in taking it out of reviewer's hands.
That's fine, they just saved me $50.
I like the series and the return to a more stealth approach is what I have wanted for a while now.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I was glad to see later AC titles mostly abandon the sections outside of the Animus as they were simply not as fun. But the later titles simply became too bloated with side stuff, that I ended up skipping. Although having them available to people that want to 100% is cool.
Furthermore, the AI in this game is notably worse than Valhalla and Odyssey, making any form of gameplay (stealth or otherwise) a breeze, even on the hardest difficulty setting. You can deploy a smoke bomb amidst a hostile group of five enemies and proceed to stealth kill them without delay. You can throw a trap at a group of hostiles, putting each of them to sleep, and immediately kill them. You honestly don't even need any tool other than the throwing knife, which is more overpowered than any bow/arrow from the previous games. Added: the enemies react poorly to their comrades being slain, even when right before their eyes. While in Odyssey and Valhalla the entire garrison would come after you, in Mirage you can break stealth, be spotted, and maybe only a few enemies attack you while the others stand not 20 meters away staring into the void.
The elements that Mirage does introduce to heighten the need of stealth are also entirely unnecessary and never worth using. The "tokens" you receive---does any one use these ever? And if so, why? 32 hours in and I've maybe only once ever "collapsed" a structure onto an enemy, a feature they broadcast over and over in the marketing trailers and demo sessions. And I've only ever seen maybe one or two vaulting poles. As mentioned, the tools are all overpowered but entirely unnecessary---AI is too dumb to require them; simply stealth attacking everyone is ample and fast enough and creates less room for distraction or error. "Blend In" is only used when you need to eavesdrop for a quest. No usage of lights or shadows (apparently we get than in Red) and between your hawk-buddy and miraculous, unending eagle vision, you can spot every enemy for miles, mark/track them, and even see them from behind walls. How truly stealth-based is a game when you have such a massively unfair advantaged of seeing and tracking enemies through structures, walls, and whatnot? Seriously? Think about it....
I do like the added pickpocket and notoriety systems, though both could use more depth. Bagdad is gorgeous, and the Arabic and Islamic flair is both fantastic and immersive.
Mirage is fine. But it's a dumbed down version of Odyssey and Valhalla with little difference in combat and stealth (worse at both, I'd argue). You could always be stealthy in Valhalla and Odyssey if you so chose, only the game pushed you into combat more due to skill trees and gave you more variety when it came to combat and enemy engagements.
Face it: Mirage is a holdover for Ubisoft to capitalize on the AC Name while they await Project Red (Japan) to release, which is the next true AC Game. Made by the Odyssey team, it's the next epic RPG in the AC line and the first to utilize whatever this new Nexus hub system that is somehow going to connect all their future AC titles.... I guess they also wanted to give Basim his origin story given he'll be a focal character moving forward in the series.
Ubisoft marketed this as a "stealthier" AC and the ignorant online game journalists and gamers who barely play AC (or who haven't in years and don't know better) gobbled it up. And the internet, as it does, turned the cumulative story into: AC RETURNS TO ITS ROOTS WITH STEALTH. It didn't. Not really. It just stripped elements of their past two entries and made a smaller campaign that takes 30 hours vs. 130 hours. Even the same RPG elements as prior are all there, just not as apparent since you don't have shown levels or damage numbers floating above people's heads.
Nothing wrong with this game, but let's stop pretending it's some huge return to stealth and the roots of AC. Same engines, same mechanics, same fundamental game since Origins. Like it or leave it. (I like them. Lots.)
Just bring on Japan/Red already and let's get a move on....
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