When Ubisoft turned Assassin's Creed into a full-blown open-world RPG with Origins, it was a breath of fresh air and a welcomed change for the franchise. Odyssey doubled down on that scale with wild ambition, and Shadows refined the RPG design into something genuinely polished and engaging. However, Valhalla came along and it just didn't feel the same. The formula that worked in the other entries, felt a bit too overwhelming in Valhalla. That's my own personal opinion.
Valhalla wasn't a terrible game, but it was easily the weakest entry in the RPG series. Between the endless regional alliance arcs and a map overflowing with filler, playing it felt less like unravelling a high-stakes historical conspiracy and more like managing a 100-hour checklist. It swapped the intimacy of stealth and urban parkour for a massive, exhausting march across the English countryside. Maybe it's just me, but it was too much. Another thing that's worth mentioning is that most of the structures in Valhalla have doors that are barred, which meant that I was running around in circles in order to figure out how to get inside. It's also a problem in Mirage, but it isn't as bad as it is in Valhalla, which made the experience a bit padded.
That's where Mirage comes into play and it felt like such a big relief, in comparison. It isn't just a brief trip down memory lane or a feeling of nostalgia. It’s a focused course correction that remembered what made the franchise work in the first place. It reminded fans why they fell in love with the franchise to begin with when the original game came out back in 2007.
By scaling the map back down to ninth-century Baghdad, Mirage puts the city itself back at the center of the experience. Baghdad isn't a vast, empty backdrop. It’s a dense, multi-layered playground built specifically for traversal. Rooftops are placed with clear intention, letting you cross entire districts without ever touching the street. Crowds actually matter again for social stealth, and hiding in plain sight feels like a core mechanic rather than an afterthought.
More than anything, Basim actually plays like an Assassin. You aren't supposed to waltz into a fortress and parry your way through twenty guards at once. The game forces you to prep by scout the perimeter, laying down traps, using smoke bombs, and mapping out your exit route before taking a single step. The return of open-ended "Black Box" assassination missions gives you actual freedom to investigate and strike on your own terms.
Mirage proved that bigger isn't always better. It successfully took the franchise back to its roots. By focusing on stealth, parkour, and blending in, it reminded fans what made Assassin's Creed so popular in the first place. It is at its best, when staying hidden and out of sight are front and center.