Assassin's Creed Mirage looks every bit the game I've been waiting almost a decade to play. Ubisoft may be presenting this stealth-action game as a homage to the original Assassin's Creed (desaturated visual filter and all), but I think it's fair to say that Mirage is effectively giving us a glimpse at an alternate-history through the Animus. Where would this series be today had Ubisoft not stretched its ambitions to breaking point with Assassin's Creed Unity, its failures fuelling Syndicate to fall short of sales expectations a year later.
I like to imagine that Ubisoft would have continued down the path it started carving in 2014, pushing for denser playspaces with more intuitive opportunities for creative problem solving. Instead, the publisher broadened the scope of the open world, diluted social stealth, reduced the reliance on parkour, and made the hidden blade more of a relic than a tool. Assassin's Creed Origins outlined a new formula, an action-RPG with all the trappings that the genre has to offer – more complex combat systems, enemies who leak damage numbers, and a wider focus on loot, grinding and busywork. It's proven to be a popular change of pace, but not what I ever wanted from Assassin's Creed as a whole.
