The Hidden Truth Behind Assassin's Creed Mirage - AC Valhalla's Epic Evolution Revealed
Assassin's Creed Valhalla's vast open-world RPG mechanics might inadvertently hinder the potential of Assassin's Creed Mirage, a smaller-scale action game in the franchise
Despite being a franchise that has endured for 16 years, Assassin's Creed has surprisingly undergone few changes throughout its existence. It essentially perfected its formula from the start, resulting in a decade of games—Assassin's Creed 2, Brotherhood, Revelations, 3, Black Flag, Rogue, Unity, and Syndicate—that followed a similar pattern with minor adjustments and additions. However, fans grew weary of this repetitive gameplay with different settings. In response, Ubisoft decided to take the Assassin's Creed series in a new direction.
Assassin's Creed Origins, released in 2017, marked a new chapter for the long-standing action-adventure franchise by introducing more role-playing game elements and on a larger scale. This formula has continued to be the cornerstone since then. Nevertheless, history is repeating itself, and fans are once again becoming tired of the same old formula. This brings us to Assassin's Creed Mirage, the upcoming entry by Ubisoft, which supposedly represents a return to the franchise's roots that fans have been clamoring for. However, it appears that Assassin's Creed Valhalla is hindering Mirage's potential, as fans are witnessing more of it.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Mechanics Could Be Hurting Assassin's Creed Mirage
Since its initial unveiling in September 2022, Ubisoft has marketed Assassin's Creed Mirage as a nostalgic throwback, drawing heavy inspiration from the original Assassin's Creed game released in 2007. Initially, fans were hopeful that Mirage would provide a return to the series' roots, placing a greater emphasis on narrative, parkour, and stealth. However, as the October 2023 release date approaches and more gameplay footage emerges, it becomes increasingly apparent that Mirage bears a striking resemblance to Assassin's Creed Valhalla, albeit with certain mechanics removed.
Sharing the same Ubisoft Anvil engine as Valhalla, Mirage's animations and mechanics closely mirror those of its predecessor. While this doesn't necessarily imply a negative outcome, considering sequels like God of War Ragnarok and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 that retained similarities to their previous installments, it does raise concerns regarding Mirage's highly anticipated parkour element.
The parkour in Assassin's Creed Valhalla was relatively sluggish and simplistic, limiting the player's options for climbing. However, this was not a significant issue in Valhalla due to the abundance of open plains and empty spaces in its vast open-world map, resulting in less frequent use of parkour compared to previous games in the franchise.
Ubisoft has highlighted parkour as one of the key elements in Assassin's Creed Mirage, which utilizes Valhalla's engine. However, based on what fans have seen so far, Mirage's parkour appears to be quite slow and lacks diverse climbing and jumping animations. Ubisoft has also confirmed the absence of wall side or back ejects in Assassin's Creed Mirage, meaning players won't be able to maintain their climbing momentum. While casual Assassin's Creed players may not notice a significant difference, long-time fans of the franchise are likely to be disappointed by the limited parkour actions available in Mirage. If the rest of the game is similarly constrained by Assassin's Creed Valhalla's mechanics, it may not live up to fans' expectations for a return to the franchise's previous form.
Assassin's Creed Mirage is set to release on October 12 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
