Assassin's Creed: Mirage (2023): The Review

Overview

Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s pivot back to the stealth-first roots of the series isn’t flawless, but it is deliberate. Every choice feels intentional, resulting in a tighter experience with a smaller map, a shorter runtime, fewer collectibles, scaled-back combat, and a trimmed-down gear selection, all of which feel genuinely refreshing after the sprawl of 100-hour behemoths like Odyssey and Valhalla. That focus does come with trade-offs. The story is thin and its cast largely forgettable, but what it lacks in depth it compensates for with clean quest design and brisk pacing. There’s no massive jaw-dropping set piece, yet Baghdad shines as a setting, with its detail concentrated inward, every alleyway and cramped corner feels lived-in, layered with history and purpose. For anyone who drifted away from Assassin’s Creed, Mirage is an easy recommendation: a confident return to basics that successfully recaptures the spirit that made the series special in the first place.

Score: 8 out of 10

The Positives ✅

Assassin’s Creed Mirage deserves immediate credit for remembering what series it belongs to. Stealth is king again, XP bars are gone, and enemies aren’t damage sponges waiting for your build to mature. If you plan well, stay hidden, and don’t do anything stupid, almost everyone is one hidden blade away from an early retirement. It’s refreshing in a way that modern Assassin’s Creed hasn’t been in years.

Level design fully commits to this philosophy. Strongholds are packed with layered patrols, overlapping sightlines, and enough environmental tools to make every infiltration feel like a puzzle instead of a checklist. Hanging cargo, spice bags, narrow alleys, rooftops, Mirage actually wants you to think before acting. Running in sword-first is possible, but it’s very clearly the wrong answer most of the time.

Baghdad is the real star of the show. The city feels dense, alive, and chaotic in the best way, with crowds to blend into and homes you can sprint through while guards lose their minds behind you. The notoriety system is a strong callback to the Ezio era, forcing you to actively manage how visible you are rather than just murdering half the district and jogging away. Removing wanted posters and bribing criers feels old-school in the best sense.

Mirage also shines when it lets you manipulate the world instead of brute-forcing it. Disguises, bribes, staged riots, and social stealth return in ways that make infiltration feel organic. These moments borrow heavily from games like Hitman, and that’s absolutely a compliment. Causing chaos so your target conveniently wanders into stabbing range never gets old.

Mechanically, Mirage adds just enough new spice to stay interesting. Tools are extremely useful, especially once upgraded, and Basim’s chain assassination ability is stylish, powerful, and thankfully balanced. Clearing a room in seconds feels great, and earning it through careful stealth makes it even better.

The Negatives ⚠️

Basim’s story… exists. Having played Valhalla, I never once thought, “Yes, please give me 20 hours of this guy’s backstory,” and Mirage unfortunately doesn’t change that. His rise from street thief to Hidden One happens at breakneck speed, skipping most of the emotional weight that could’ve made it compelling.

Basim himself is fine, but aggressively uninteresting. He’s agreeable, earnest, and morally upright to a fault, which makes his later reputation as a manipulative schemer feel completely disconnected. The transformation just isn’t there. Revenge plus destiny has been done better in this very franchise,  multiple times.

The villains don’t help much either. Members of the Order of the Ancients are cartoonishly evil, with little nuance or memorable personality. They exist to be stabbed and forgotten, which is serviceable but disappointing when compared to series standouts like Haytham Kenway or Rodrigo Borgia.

Supporting characters mostly blend together as “Assassins but nice,” with the notable exception of Roshan, whose presence is elevated massively by Shohreh Aghdashloo’s voice work. Everyone else does their job, but no one lingers in your mind once the credits roll.

While the world is beautiful, there aren’t many jaw-dropping landmarks. Nothing quite hits the scale of the pyramids or Athena’s statue, even if the smaller, tighter focus allows for better detail overall. It’s impressive, just not awe-inspiring.

The Experience 🎮

Going into Mirage, I didn’t expect to feel this relieved. The moment stealth became mandatory instead of optional, the game clicked. I found myself scouting areas carefully, planning routes, and backing off when things got too risky, something I hadn’t done consistently in Assassin’s Creed for years.

Infiltrations felt deliberate and satisfying. Whether I was sneaking through rooftops, bribing my way into restricted zones, or starting just enough chaos to isolate a target, Mirage rewarded patience more than aggression. When everything went according to plan, it felt fantastic.

Combat, when unavoidable, was slower and harsher than I expected, and I liked that. Basim isn’t a one-man army. Fighting more than a few guards at once is overwhelming, and enemies don’t politely take turns trying to kill you. Counters, dodges, and positioning mattered again, which made every fight tense instead of routine.

I didn’t experiment much with weapons or armor for mechanical reasons, but I absolutely did for fashion. Mirage’s gear looks good, and honestly, that mattered more than marginal stat boosts. The streamlined ability tree also surprised me, every upgrade felt useful, and free respecs encouraged experimentation without punishment.

By the end, Mirage felt like a course correction rather than a revolution. It doesn’t reinvent Assassin’s Creed, and it doesn’t try to. Instead, it reminds us why this series worked in the first place. It’s smaller, tighter, and more focused — and while it won’t win over everyone, it restored something I didn’t realize I missed: hope that Assassin’s Creed can still be Assassin’s Creed.