A massive Assassin’s Creed Mirage leak may have given fans their first proper look at the upcoming title, as well as its potential release date. Assassin’s Creed Mirage was revealed at the September 2022 Ubisoft Forward showcase and is set to return the franchise to its roots with a more contained story set in Baghdad after the series’ previous entries featured RPG elements and massive maps.
As reported by Insider Gaming, French YouTuber j0nathan has posted a video with “a ton of leaks” for Assassin’s Creed Mirage. The video suggests that the upcoming game will have a map similar in scale to Assassin’s Creed Unity‘s Paris, or Assassin’s Creed Syndicate‘s London.
While these maps were by no means small, this does confirm that the game will be nowhere near the scale of the previous two Assassin’s Creed titles: Odyssey and Valhalla. j0nathan also claimed that the release date will be October 12th after previous rumors speculated an August release.
AC Mirage Incorporates Elements From GTA, Ghost Recon, And Hitman
From the information in j0nathan’s video, Mirage seems to be inspired by other stealth franchises: Ghost Recon and Hitman. Basim has four major targets, with each one occupying a part of Baghdad and the fifth being the Master Templar, which is a set-up similar to that of Ghost Recon Wildlands‘ Santa Blanca Cartel. The targets’ identities are initially hidden from the player, and through investigations, a variety of Hitman-esque kill opportunities become available, with about 30 ways to dispatch each target. Much like Hitman, the more players investigate, the more opportunities present themselves.
With AC Mirage‘s focus on stealth, its protagonist Basim is very weak (apparently only able to take a few hits) and must rely on tactics and gadgets to gain the upper hand throughout the game. These can be unlocked through a four-tier reputation system similar to Grand Theft Auto‘s Wanted ratings. As Basim becomes more accomplished and infamous and unlocks more equipment, the world will become tougher to navigate, from crowds initially turning on the assassin and pointing him out to guards to more security being placed around the world, and ultimately the possibility of a bounty hunter tracking Basim down. Despite this, J0nathan claims there will be factions similar to the courtesans in Assassin’s Creed‘s Ezio trilogy who can help Basim out in these situations.
AC Mirage Has Overhauled Parkour And Very Few Modern Day Scenes
According to j0nathan, there are all-new movement mechanics and animations that will show Basim showing signs of injuries, and even limping until these have been tended to, much like characters in Ghost Recon Breakpoint. AC Mirage’s parkour will also reportedly be like Unity’s but better due to its new and improved animations, which makes sense as Mirage is being built on the same AnvilNext 2.0 game engine that Ubisoft’s been using since Unity.
Assassin’s Creed‘s present-day sequences have become a point of contention over the years, especially since the end of Desmond Miles’ arc back in 2012’s Assassin’s Creed 3. Fortunately, there are almost no modern-day references or scenes, with cutscenes only at the start and end of the game showing Desmond’s father William Miles looking into Basim’s blood sample from Valhalla.
There has been no confirmation from Ubisoft on whether these leaks are true or not. With Basim’s story also rumored to connect several plot threads from the more recent titles and the classics surrounding the Isu, and the series seemingly returning to its stealth roots, Assassin’s Creed Mirage could be the game many fans have been waiting for.
Source: j0nathan/YouTube (via. Insider Gaming)
