Unveiling the Ultimate Showdown: Assassin's Creed Mirage vs Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Highlights

Both Assassin's Creed Mirage and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are heavily banking on nostalgia in order to boost their game sales, targeting loyal followers of their initial installments.

Mirage has been marketed as a throwback to its series' original formula, focusing on stealth gameplay and a smaller scale. On the other hand, Modern Warfare 3 remasters maps and features the return of legacy characters.

Despite receiving mixed critical reception, Mirage effectively delivers on its promise of nostalgia. Many fans are willing to overlook its incomplete feel and find the trip down memory lane well worth the price. In contrast, Modern Warfare 3 relies heavily on nostalgia, potentially serving as a cover-up for any possible shortcomings it may have.

October 2023 is expected to be a busy month for game releases, with highly anticipated titles like Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Alan Wake 2. However, before these big releases, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Mirage has already made its debut, bringing a unique twist to the long-running franchise. While still maintaining its stealth, action-adventure, open-world RPG hybrid nature, Assassin's Creed Mirage offers a departure from the recent RPG-focused formula and a return to the series' roots. It heavily focuses on nostalgia and marketing, much like this year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Assassin's Creed Mirage and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Are Heavily Relying on Nostalgia

Assassin's Creed Mirage was officially announced in September 2022, after months of leaks and speculation. Ubisoft clearly relied on nostalgia to market the game, which served as the centerpiece for their celebration of the franchise's 15th anniversary. Mirage was meticulously designed to evoke the feeling of the series' first installment, featuring similar locations, time setting, and a stronger emphasis on stealth gameplay with scaled-back combat.

Ubisoft's marketing campaign emphasized that Assassin's Creed Mirage harked back to the original formula of the series. Now that fans have finally had the chance to play it, it is evident that the game indeed captures that essence. However, Mirage has received mixed reviews. While many find the story lackluster, characters dull, and the middle section uninspiring, it still successfully embraces the throwback concept. For numerous fans, the trip down memory lane is worth the price of admission, despite the game feeling unfinished.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 finds itself in a similar position. With its release just a month away, the game heavily relies on nostalgia to sell copies, and this tactic is quite obvious. Instead of offering original 6v6 maps, Modern Warfare 3 plans to remaster all 16 maps from the 2009 release, Modern Warfare 2. The marketing for the game has also heavily focused on these returning maps, aiming to capitalize on fans' sentimental attachment to the original Modern Warfare series. Similarly, the campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has been promoted in a comparable manner, emphasizing the return of fan-favorite characters like Captain Price and Makarov, as well as familiar settings such as a gulag infiltration.

While Call of Duty has been employing nostalgia as a marketing strategy for a while now, it has never been quite as overt as it is with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Despite the game receiving positive feedback from the closed beta and most likely being a solid entry in the series, there is no denying the deliberate use of nostalgia, raising the possibility that Sledgehammer and Activision are trying to overshadow any potential flaws the game might have, similar to what Ubisoft did with Assassin's Creed Mirage.

Assassin's Creed Mirage is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.