The Assassin’s Creed franchise has been going through a bit of a growth phase as Ubisoft has tried to figure out just what the franchise should look like. Assassin’s Creed Origins kicked off this experimental phase, and then Odyssey and Valhalla took it to the next level. These games have garnered criticism for moving away from what made Assassin’s Creed special, and have put off some players who have been with the series since the beginning. While Assassin’s Creed Mirage will apparently bring back that classic feeling, it remains to be seen if Ubisoft can pull it off.
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Assassin’s Creed Has Strayed Away from the Franchise Core
Before Assassin’s Creed Origins, Ubisoft was releasing an Assassin’s Creed title almost every single year. These games brought players across history and put them in the shoes of all sorts of different assassins. They got to control Ezio during the Italian Renaissance, Connor during the American Revolution, the Frye twins during the Industrial Revolution in London, and it even dipped its toes in the pirate life with Edward Kenway. While all the stories were different, they were all tied together by the fictional Assassin-Templar war that had been raging across history.
By the time of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, many people were feeling burnt out by the franchise. The games all took place in different time periods, but they were all relatively the same experience with a different coat of paint. Ubisoft chose to solve the issue by taking the franchise in a whole new direction with Assassin’s Creed Origins. It brought the series further back than it had ever gone before and completely revamped the core gameplay of the series from an action-adventure to an open-world RPG.
This new direction proved to be a huge success for Ubisoft, and it chose to continue down this path. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Valhalla took the series to new periods and expanded the RPG gameplay. The titles were large games that could take someone hundreds of hours to get through everything, and both were received considerably well. Valhalla in particular became one of the fastest selling Assassin’s Creed titles, and was the most successful launch of any Ubisoft PC game.
While these last two Assassin’s Creed titles offered a decent amount of fun, there was something missing. In Ubisoft’s quest to revitalize the franchise, it chose to seemingly forego the core Assassin-Templar conflict that had driven the series. Odyssey put players in control of a Greek mercenary who had little interest in the conflict of the Hidden Ones, and Valhalla gave players control of a Viking fighting for a place in Britain while the Hidden Ones embarked on their own journey. Both games provided a pretty fun historical RPG, but neither had much to do with Assassin’s Creed.
Deviating from the core Assassin’s Creed story put off some franchise fans, but so did the gameplay. The original games were action-adventure titles with an emphasis on stealth. A lot of the early games were built on the concept of sneaking around large cities to assassinate targets with hidden blades. These newer games were more focused on traversing these large open-worlds to grind out levels in classic RPG fashion.
Stealth still played a factor in the newer titles, but that was no longer the focus. Assassinations also still existed, but players could no longer sneak around in the shadows to kill their target with one stab of their iconic Assassin’s Creed hidden blade. Instead, players would have to be aware of the level of their target and make sure that their level was comparable if they wanted to stand a chance. This was a symptom of the new RPG route that Ubisoft chose to go down, and it made some players fall out of love with the series.
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Assassin’s Creed Mirage is Facing an Uphill Battle
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is apparently going to be a return to form for the franchise, and that sounds like great news for fans. The game will see the return of action-adventure gameplay and put a much larger emphasis on stealth. Players will also be exploring a singular city like the older games instead of a vast open-world like the newer games, and it will also see the return of the Assassin-Templar conflict.
Ubisoft has yet to share any gameplay, but if it pays off then it could be the Assassin’s Creed title that fans have been waiting for. However, the game needs to come out of the gates swinging if it wants to truly make an impact. The last couple titles have been fun, but they have also heavily deviated from what drew people to the series to begin with. Assassin’s Creed Mirage needs to put a heavy emphasis on what made Assassin’s Creed great, and it needs to be good.
The last time that the Assassin conflict was central to the plot of the game was with Assassin’s Creed Origins. That title showed the beginning of the Brotherhood and their war with the Templars, but the titles since have put that storyline more in the background. Assassin’s Creed Mirage will mark the return of the conflict to the forefront, and Ubisoft needs to make sure it gets it right. If the story is inline with the great tales of Ezio or Edward, then older fans may flock to it, but if it is written like the newer games, then those fans may just stay away.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is Ubisoft’s chance to pull fans back to the series, and it needs to tread carefully so that it does not mess this up. It needs to represent everything that made the series good in the first place, because it could just kickstart a new era for this 15-year-old franchise.
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