A Skeptical Review of ‘Assassin’s Creed: Mirage’
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
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!['Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty' Is Utterly Tremendous [REVIEW 4K]](/img/n.gif)
bro is skeptical
Bro said 🤔
Let's all be bros, bro!
It's not even just that. He's PROUDLY skeptical.
I'm skeptical he's skeptical
PROUD SKEPTIC BABYYYY
cringe
I always loved the continuity between the games like AC3 Connor being the grandson of AC4 Edward and the latter's son Haytham as a side character in AC Rogue which at the end gives the lead to AC 5 unity and so on. The level of excitement when I saw Arno and Elise playing around as kids in Rogue was like something else. I guess continuing the lineage or at least making spinoffs from there would be the real "back to roots" for me.
Kenway saga was well connected
And this game has the dishonor of sharing continuity with the worst AC game ever that only about 8 actually bothered to finish.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
It takes very little to entertain you.
@@seizonsha yepp.....I guess well connected stories are what makes us excited for the next game. But by just switching locations each game loses the "what's next" factor😅
I find it funny when someone comments that in the past AC's focus was on stealth, then I remember that I would pick fights with everyone and one parry per enemy on the screen. I never cared about stealth, when parry is so broken (on AC1, AC2, ACB, ACR, AC3 and AC4)
Yeah it's only until i play Unity that i fully embrace the stealth because fighting a lot of enemies is really punishing
Yeah apart from AC1 and Unity, Mirage is objectively the stealthiest AC game
this. as someone who started with AC2, I never understood the whole sentiment of ppl wanting stealth back lmao. the combat was so forgiving if you messed up playing stealth.
Also, we didn't have crouch until Unity lol I always found that weird
But the combat in general made them feel like skilled assassins who can kill you with one blow to the neck with the hidden blade, or be stylish in combat if need be. Now a days the combat feels so stiff and stale you’d think you were playing a tanking hulk. I feel a good compromise to, at least the combat, is to take a page out of ghost of tsushima’s book and approach combat like how it was in that game.
For such a positive skeptical review, this outlook seems more of a "This game gives me hope for the future of AC" rather than "I'm impressed by this game and here's why"
The game in and of itself isn't impressive. It's a worse version of what we used to have. But it is good in the sense that it proves that Ubisoft hasn't totally forgotten or become incapable of providing us with what made AC good.
Luke never has an actual opinion just sits on the fence so kinda tracks
@@J.R.Swish1 This. It looks like they wanted to make a classic AC game, but made everything worse than it used to be.
This franchise is dead in the water at this point. Ubisoft are creatively bankrupt and need to put it to bed.
cause he tiptoes way too hard around the issues in the idea it makes him more "fair and balanced"
I just wish we could get another AC as good as the Ezio Trilogy. The story, acting, characters and gameplay was perfection back then
The gameplay really wasn’t perfect. Go replay them
Its not all that my guy, man acting like the older games were masterpieces.
@@jeremyrdlamaxima7052 The ezio trilogy is literally the highest rated AC games, the story and setting of brotherhood is so fucking good like i dont even understand how the 2015+ games are comparable ?
@@razer3066they dont. The stealth gameplay back then was ass and the rpg games excluding origins are bad too. Mirage and unity's stealth are the best in my opinion.
They might be great FOR THEIR TIME. But they are nothing compared to modern games. Take off those nostalgia glasses and play them again. @@razer3066
TLDR: AC Mirage plays like an Assassin’s Creed game from 10-15 years ago, and while some will find that boring or lackluster, fans of those original games will likely enjoy the trip down memory lane. Mirage does what it set out to do. It’s far from a masterpiece, but it’s a good time for old school Assassin’s Creed fans, especially at the lower price point.
p.s. If you listen close to the conclusion of the video you can hear my son Lochlan talking in the other room. A little Easter Egg for ya 😂 😉
For it to play like an AC game from 10-15 years ago they would need to have put the traditional AC controller scheme back. They didn't. They kept Valhalla's retarded one.
Lower price point? The game is still $50 that’s a full price for a game though.
what? 50$ have never been full price for games. it was either 60$ and now 70$. only indie games were lower@@LordSaull
@@sweetbabyrayso5262fr what is bro on
Incorrect. This game is nowhere near the AC games of old. The parkour is absolute ass, no side ejects, no back ejects, no ledge catch, no parkour roll, that's just not old AC. The combat is pretty much the same as Valhalla with a few tweaks. It's still plays like Valhalla. The characters' movement is just like Valhalla. The parry animation is always the same. That's just not old AC. The game still looks more like a fantasy game instead of having a more gritty and grounded look. Weapons, attire, environment, it all looks much more fantasy inspired. That's just not old AC. This game absolutely failed in the one thing that it promised, a return to the roots, and it doesn't deserve a purchase.
Trailing missions only work when there is a very low amount of stealth combined with a very high amount of fun parkour traversal while an interestingly written and voice acted NPC or two converse in a funny or unexpected way, especially if they are commenting on and/or interacting with the environment.
Seeing Basim in that Bayek drip reminded me just how much I REALLY want an Origins sequel.
Orrrr prequel👀
Please no, i liked origins, but the RPG thing needs to end
What about Bayek in Rome but with classic AC style gameplay? I feel that Syndicate perfected the formula.
I'm honestly confident the series will return to the "Witcher Creed" type games in the future and Mirage is just an Olive branch to people like me who enjoyed the previous games after the criticism of Odyssey and Valhalla. That being said I'm more than welcome this as nothing has scratched my AC itch in years. Gotta support the product when they finally cater to ya.
Those are their most successful releases, so even if they are criticized, they'd be stupid to not make more of those since it makes them money.
I don't think the RPG Creed will ever go away but there was definitely strong fatigue and displeasure of that formula by the end of Valhalla's run. Especially given the next game is in Japan, I don't see them just trotting out another Odyssey/Valhalla clone and expecting people to be happy. They kind of boxed themselves into actually having to make an Assassin's Creed RPG because nobody is going to play as a ninja who sucks at parkour and isn't stealthy.
Sir. The point wasn't that they had easy combat. The point was that as a player you felt a duty to adhere to the creed or shall I say I did but I'm willing to bet that I'm not alone in that.
@@GoldenLeafsMovies Actually no, Black Flag is the highest selling AC title followed by AC 3, then Origins then Odyssey then Unity.
idk, I love Origins and especially Odyssey. Odyssey was the closest I’ve ever gotten to being able to play through Greek Mythology.
I only wish Odyssey wasn’t tied down by being an Assassin’s Creed game. Let us actually play through the tales of Perseus, Odysseus, Jason, etc. I think that would have been insanely cool.
Odyssey was a taste of what a game like that could be imo.
When Luke said it’s skeptin’ time and skeptic’ed all over everyone.
I felt that
😂😂🤣
Stop it.....(morbs away....)
Most original youtube comment :
Yeah ok the morbius jokes are getting old.
Cringe
I loved Odyssey because of the sheer amount of content and exploration and ways to engage with the world. The side quests were so rich that I actually enjoyed playing them more than the main campaign plus all the little things you could do like completing locations around the map made it the best to me. If they brought the type of stealth approach we see again in Mirage to a map filled with more to do, maybe contracts you can get (with interesting backstories to them), would make for an even greater game.
You've just described Origins, lol
Odyssey really feels under-appreciated. It was such an amazing world and both the protagonist and the side characters were awesome. Origins was too, but the gameplay was better in Odyssey because it was in generally harder in both stealth and combat. But Mirage feels fresh with the smaller scale assassin focus again. I wouldn’t have minded a much larger world though, for sure.
I concur, odyssey was an amazing time for me
Odyssey was terrible
Agreed, just finished Mirage and I think I enjoyed Odyssey more. Better than Valhalla for sure though
I’m about 6 or 7 hours in and really enjoying it. It’s giving me what I want as an AC fan.
City with parkour focused landscape as opposed to massive space of fields and rocks ✅
Stealth focused, I’d say more stealth focused than 1-4 no joke because you could so easily beat people in combat in the OG games whereas if 3 guards show up here I might actually just dip ✅
OG mechanics like bureaus and notoriety back ✅
Listen, it’s not the full fledged reboot that we hope is coming, but why did ANYONE and I mean ANYONE expect it to be? It was a Valhalla DLC, it’s obviously running on the same engine which brings a lot of the same feel, but I think they’ve done a good job in making it feel faster in movement and stealthier whilst essentially being a love letter (their words) to AC1 even adding the iconic filter that tinges the game blue. I’m happy for the £40 I spent.
The only frustration I have is the lost potential of the Unity's engine. They are onto something there but gave up because of the backlash instead of improving it. Cyberpunk 2077 proved that giving up on a game is always not the best option and I hope they learned from that. Hopefully, we'll go back to the golden age of gaming again as 2023 is a rollercoaster of a ride for the whole industry.
Yeah true, Unity is kinda infuriating to think about because they really had something big in their hands, but because they fell short on the technical side, it put all the progress and the innovation of the game in a bad light. AC Unity proved coop AC is doable and fun as hell, but we'll most likely not see it in a very long time
Ehh, honestly Mirage looks great enough and it runs 100fps 2k on my 6 year old GPU so it's good enough
I'm a fan of the og assassin's creed games I can still remember playing the first game on release and being in complete awe of the game because of how different it was to anything else at the time, from the parkour to the assassinations and the whole idea of the story going back in time to not actually change it but to literally walk in the shoes of a distant ancestor, how cool is that.
It still is a pretty unique idea but the problem is the writing and acting. It’s all been pretty flat since ac odyssey. I would prefer motion capture acting rather than the animation they use now. Especially in Mirage it just feels strange when people are conversing.
If your an OG fan of AC games and love the traditional hidden one’s style story then Mirage is perfect for you. I was expecting the game to be mediocre because of all the hate online but it’s the best game I’ve played in years and in my opinion it’s the best AC game ever made and I know that’s a bold claim but I feel strongly about it. Ubisoft really went back to the roots with this one and took everything good about the early games and put it in Mirage with a beautiful setting in Baghdad
@@eternalglow6483 it's harder and harder to be able to judge a game without being influenced by others opinions these days because of the internet we have access to information about the games we are interested in and it take willpower to not go looking and actively avoid information but because of ubisofts track record of course I was skeptical but I have found that if I only look at things about performance and stay away from negative information about a game I am much more likely to be able to enjoy it for its own merits without going into it with negative thoughts and actively looking for the negative things. I just started playing and so far it's too early to tell but the focus on stealth is good and I am very open to enjoy this game and just experience whatever it puts in front of me. Of course reading comments like yours give me hope and I'll take a positive attitude over a negative one any day and if after hours of playing I agree that's great and if I don't for whatever reason then it will be because of my own reasons and not because I noticed something that others have said are bad. Well that's my goal when it comes to games these days ignore any negatives other than performance and just enjoy the experience that is put in front of me. Well I rambled on for a bit there lol hope you have a great day or night wherever you are in the world mate👍😊
@@eternalglow6483It definitely isn't the best AC, and it definitely isn't a return to the roots. For it to be a true return to the roots the parkour would need to be faster, smoother, with actual depth. Combat would also have to be faster and smoother instead of this mobile game looking, no impact having, Walmart Dark Souls abomination. There's a lot more to add to the list, but i'll leave it there. However, Mirage is definitely a very small step in the right direction, and i wish the smoothbrains at Ubisoft will persue this formula instead of the RPG formula of the last three garbage entries in the series.
@@markonovakovic6762 Yea you 100% have not played the game 😂 Mirage has the second best parkour in the series behind Unity, you would know this if you actually played the game. Also mobile game???? I’m playing on PC with max settings and Mirage is EASILY some of the best graphics I’ve ever seen in a video game. It’s stunningly beautiful so idk what the fuck your saying lol. It’s very obvious you just watched a few videos of people hating the game and haven’t actually played it
To me it feels like a game I've seen and experienced too many times. Might buy it from sale for 20-30 dollars
I want another AC like Unity. ❤
100%
Unity was peak Assassin's Creed
for real bruh, thats legit all i wanted
ME TOO. Unity is my favorite one in the entire series.
Peak AC, it just needed more polish.
yeah I love unity it was so good
Took me a bit to realize that Luke’s using a Bayek outfit for Basim and it feels odd seeing him without carrying at least a dozen different pieces of gear on his back
I thought the same thing but it's the Zanj Uprising armor from the game. You can find it early
@@hannahw7023 I just found that out after playing it myself. The resemblances couldn’t have been a coincidence lol
Seems pretty much what I expected. A "return to form" while simultaneously forgetting what made the original form so engaging.
The only bad thing about this game, IMO, is that it sprouted from Valhalla. I hope they take a crack at smaller scale, stealth focused AC with good story again even if this lands to be a controversial game. But sadly I think they'll go like "See! We told you nobody wants the old formula!" when in fact we do, but done properly.
We know it’s your opinion why say it 🤷🏿♂️
I disagree. I think it's likely that all the AC games that have been announced recently are smaller-scale ones, which shows they're open to trying new things. I also think that there is room in the franchise for both the smaller city-based stuff as well as the more open-map ones. either can be stealth or action, and either can be RPG or not.
I think what matters is that they put out well-planned games set in interesting locations at interesting points in time, with solid storytelling and characters - and minimal bugs. what format the game is doesn't matter all that much. Sure, I hated Valhalla too, but Origins and Odyssey are fucking brilliant. same goes for the older AC games - most of us can agree that Unity is overlooked and the Ezio games are good, but not many people love AC 3 or 1 the most. it's not the formula that matters.
If enough ppl buy it they cant say that nobody wanted it
@@ianism3wrong. Red will be an RPG
@@ianism3 no the rpg ones need to stop and just make those their own stand alone titles
This reviewer has the swagger of a skeptic, and watching his review makes me in turn feel like a skeptic.
Watch Dunkey's review of this game.
@@JonnyBGoode. For what that dude provides zero value to the gaming community he makes troll videos that are usually filled with negativity.
@@eternalglow6483 That's like... your opinion, man.
Personally I enjoy his humour and showcasing flaws in a very playful way. He's having fun with his content and always has since his beginnings on NG before UA-cam.
And to be fair, AC Mirage isn't really what we were promised, as a gamer who's accompanied the series since the beginning - not impressed with this delivery.
I'd rather replay AC 2 trilogy or AC4 for replayability. Hell, may even Mod up AC unity to see it polished and beautifully worked by the community.
I'll wait for ACM to be in the bargain bin a year or so from now ✓
@@JonnyBGoode I’ll tell you why your wrong, I’ve been a diehard AC fan myself for the past 15 years or whatever and I can confidently say AC Mirage is EXACTLY what we were promised and more. The game is super polished, the parkour is actually good again, stealth is the primary focus of the game again, and the story is engaging and true to the OG story of the hidden ones vs templars. If you say your a true OG fan of the series there is literally no way on planet earth you won’t fucking love this game like I do, it’s completely revived my love for the series and I haven’t felt this strongly about AC since Unity. I was super skeptical as well at first, but literally 3-4 hours in I’m debating with myself if this is the best AC game ever made or not. Personally my favorite game has always been Revelations because it’s the first AC game I played and Ezio is such a suave badass, and Mirage is basically Revelations 2. It takes everything good about the OG games and does it better. I’m telling you don’t sleep on this game, get it immediately if your actually a real fan because you won’t regret it. This game is a 10/10 and like I said might be the best in the series
@@eternalglow6483 admire your passion, friend. But I generally stick to taking in games at a slow pace.
My first game was AC1 and I don't exactly see ACM dethroning AC2 or ACIV in my books. But, I'll play the Demo and one day think about buying it down the road (at a discount rate w/ all patches + DLCs).
Appreciate your insights though 🙌
Happy you're enjoying it.
We need more stealth games
That pop in at 11:07 nearly broke my neck. game looks cool just a pet peeve of mine of recent games
Completely agree. I get pop in from a further distance, I really do! But when shit like that happens, on modern hardware, it just rubs me wrong.
Pop in and aliasing are my two major graphical turn-offs. So many games fail at implementing good AA these days.
*edit Nvm, just got to the end of the vid. Pop in was on PC :/
Do we know if he’s playing this on PC or Xbox? Xbox might explain the pop-in. I only mention it bc he said he’s been on vacation, so maybe he didn’t take his whole PC setup or w/e.
@@I_enjoy_some_things Given the architecture the Series X uses in particular there should be no excuse for pop-in beyond software/engine limitations, the data funnel within that console should prevent that from ever being a thing.
yeah. gonna wait to play this one for a couple months so hopefully that sort of stuff gets fixed. same for the enemy AI.
I got so used to your normal relaxed talk that this video feels like reading the script with gun to your head.
Constantly looking in a dictionary to find fancier words to make himself seem intelligent😂
@@patricksheasley1336 Naah man, that I am OK with. Dead poet society: It's all about wooing the women. One must not be lazy and use "very" all the time :)
When he pulls the rope around the targets neck it gave me flashbacks to ac revelations. 4:43 Very cool scene.
5 hours into Mirage and I’m enjoying it so far, although I have experienced screen tearing a couple of times on Series X
On a side note from the review, I LOVED hearing the faint AC2 music in the background. And not just Ezio's family song, but the soundtrack of different cities and such. Took me back.
The game looks like exactly what I expected: A small scale step in the right direction
I am liking this game quite a lot. I love games where you have the freedom to be stealthy and complete quests without combat. So far, I have been in open combat just once and i am 4 hours into the game solving my first investigation case
A lot of things still need fixing in future games. While I do appreciate a focus on stealth, I like when Assassins feel like actual warriors, highly intelligent combat experts. Hidden blade combat is badass, i was really disappointed when they removed it... The cinematic trailer for AC Revelations and Brotherhood encapsulate this perfectly. And also, I loved Unity's approach to assassinations, where you could choose your own path and they weren't directly spoon-fed to you. You actually had to find them on your own. Made the game very replayable. Syndicate as well to a lesser extent, but still had the multiple choice assassinations. They really need to get the best features from all past games and put them all on a single release.
What i want to see is Templars hunting you down through the world map, Templars who also act like Assassins because a lot of them also stay hidden. There should be like a Templar boss searching from you and can also escape from you if they are low health, and then come back later.
@@eurostar0711your not a very good assassin if you can be hunted down 😂
@@hotbritain Some Assassins have switched to Templar side, so they not only have inside info on whereabouts of Assassins but they have the same skills as well. Also, Assassins are parading the city with clothes that 99% of people dont wear. How many people in Mirage walking around with a hood on? Its a video game with a fictional story, so there wont be 100% logic anyway.
AC games would be more replay able if 30% of them wouldn't be you running around as a peasant. Mirage atleast fixes this by giving a skip prologue option.
I didn’t mind the newer games in a lot of ways. What I did mind was the new combat system that they sort of started implementing in Syndicate. I loved the feeling of taking on a group of guards, countering, and having those awesome finishing animations. Made you feel extremely powerful.
you liked hitting the same button over and over and wathcing the same 10 animations? whack
@@ethanbuck1403 You like hitting the same button over and over again, almost never getting a kill animation except for on the last guy and when you do get one it's one you've seen thousands of times because there are only 2 kill animations per weapon? Whack.
In what world is the new AC games combat better than any of the original games? If I wanted to play a watered down witcher, I'd just go play the witcher on the easiest difficulty... Even that has more depth than the new AC games.
I would take the simplest of the old AC games combat options over this weak ass generic ARPG shit we've gotten now. At least it had some style.
They should apply more of the "your choices matter" that have actual consequences evem later in the story just like the plague one in odyssey
I fell in love with ASC and played them all because of the historical content, Story, beautiful cities and landscapes, and don't forget it was one of the first games that had a parkour system where you could climb anything in the world. I've felt a part of each historical time period and learned always something new in every single game. Thx for that ubisoft 👏
Ain't been no parkour for half a decade brah or stealth it's just a generic action RPG now mate doesn't offer anything unique unlike the old games u talk about with the satisfying parkour and steath in addition to the combat the new games are just combat
@sumstuff6956 You can stealth more targets in Black Flag than you can in the entire ezio trilogy and that’s “the pirate game.”
The early games being super stealth focused is a myth.
@@sumstuff6956. I completely agree the new RPG witcher 3 clones like origins and odyssey were not real AC games but Mirage is a true to the core hidden ones, assassin experience. The parkour is actually good in this game, it’s definitely the best it’s been since Unity, and just all around a true stealth focused AC game. If your a fan of the OG games like me you will know what I mean when I say Mirage is a true AC game this time and it’s fucking amazing.
I was just at Universal a few weeks ago, I know that's not the point of the video but I freaking love that place so much. Hope you have a great time and hopefully HHN doesn't demoralize you lol.
That AI immediately put me off the game. This is why I like the newer games. Enemies actually fight back instead of taking turns to be counter-killed. There's nothing appealing about beating up brain dead foes.
3 hours in. For me, so far, it feels like modders got together and made a Origin fan DLC.
Ubisoft already said the next big AC, Red, is a RPG. They aren't going back to the old style, they had this DLC for Valhalla and someone in marketing knew they could nostalgia bait. Bigger longer games = more costumes sold.
Actually this game is a test but ofc they wont wait If a test succeeds to the next game which is already in development.
If this game fails you can clearly say that they wont return to the old Style.
RPG games are just more profitable sadly. Valhalla generated 1 billion... It's pointless for them to make old style AC games business wise, and guess what? Ubisoft solely cares about business
This game seems like its exactly what I wanted. Shorter more concise story, assassin's vs templars, and living the "Assassin Fantasy." Plus a game that I can play, enjoy, and finish in 2-4 days and that I don't need to grind for hours on end to get to the next mission. I'm excited.
Well, seems its unfortunate to hear the story is not exactly concise given that the main story isn't exactly linear where you can approach it out of order which result having the missions to be short and not interconnected, even in the main storyline.
@@Deliveredmean42i dont care, never played AC because of the story but for the gameplay
A shorter more concise story = So less content for a SLIGHTLY lower price. Not sure why people are praising this. It should be a £25 DLC.
Well that's your taste. But for the most part I am on the side of enjoying a bit of a story for these games. @@ggx444
@@EH_1995 I personally can't follow a 30+ hour story. So 12-20 is pretty perfect IMO.
Kinda shocked Luke gave this a more positive review especially after watching Matty lean more negative on it. Maybe he should review more games while on vacation.
I watched Neonknights review before watching Luke’s and have the same reaction 😂😅
Luke actually enjoys Assassin's Creed games
@@MentokTheMindTaker Which is absolutely his good right, to enjoy them, especially this game.
It just made me chuckle at the notion this was a "Skeptical Review" especially after watching another review which was a whole lot more... Skeptical.
Matty got this game wrong and VAlhalla. Valhalla was not very good at all
@@TimvanderLeeuw Well the skepticism is very apparent here despite the positivities because it's very aware of what is wrong with the game, what is not wrong with the game, while also understanding this is a lower budget title... that is for some reason asking for more money than $50 in the form of MTX. If that wasn't in the game, I'd be more interested.
I had high expectations regarding Mirage's "back to the roots" approach and I can't deny I'm disappointed with how shallow the roots picked by Ubisoft are, but I think I'll still give this game a chance as it appears to be the best, most assassin's creed-ish thing we've got since Syndicate. A tiny step in the right direction for the series, which for the past 6-7 years has been constantly cutting away all the stuff that made it so fun and unique in the first place. I hope Ubisoft keeps rebuilding this franchise instead of further turning it into a generic open-world action wanna-be-rpg.
Ubisoft has made it clear that the "return to roots" game is a one off. Their next game is literally an Odyssey-esque RPG. Don't waste your money. I know nostalgia can be a thirst to quench, but it shouldn't mean you HAVE to support a game that you already said you are disappointed in.
It's 50-50. Not entirely back but still back in sort of way 🙆😭
The Thing is the studio was very limited sadly. If they would have gotten more time and money im sure they would have created something different.
Im just sad the story isnt great. I miss a good story since unity. ( Okay Origins was decent but yeah)
Also this game is a test for Ubisoft if Players are still interested in the old AC Style
@@vishalvenkat6no its a test.
@@Even_N.D. i mean i can most people are positive about the game apart from few media outlets. Let's say mostly 70/30 situation. I can see them easily this one 12M+ in Lifetime sales. They can easily go further if they marketed it well. This is middle line between old and rpg style game but i would've appreciated if it was more next gen uk. Maybe if this turns out successful, ubi Bordeaux can make standalone after red & Hexe. 😭🙆
They decided to go back to the roots but also remove the fun part, gadget look boring and uninspired. It lacks innovation.
I'm so happy you take a break for the awesome job you do! I love your hard work! Enjoy your vacations!
Very much deserve🙌🏼
After about 15 hours, I have to say I am satisfied so far. While I would prefer a little bit more variety in weapons, outfits and such, but it fits the more reduced way the entire game has been handled. To be fair, I haven't actually played a lot of the story, but roamed around and searched for stuff.
2:25 I think that's a bit much to ask. Mirage is a step in right direction, but they don't take it far enough. At least from what I can see in the reviews. It still has the messed up parkour system and they encouraged stealth gameplay by making normal combat bad. I guess it achieves the goal they were aiming for, but in a very unsatisfying way.
The fact that you have only one weapon and the enemies don't even react to getting hit just seems like a terrible idea. It looks like a step down even from AC2 level.
„Making normal combat Bad“
Hard doesn’t mean bad lad it technically still works the same way it does in Valhalla you’re just not as strong as you were there
@@MonkeyD.Moritz No, it works different. They basically wanted to make the old school AC combat out of Valhalla combat, which is just straight up worse than old school AC combat.
They put a big focus on counter attacks, since they allow you to basically kill enemies in one hit, just like in the old games, but they also didn't give you anything else which made combat engaging back then. You have only one weapon, the enemies don't even react to getting hit, and your normal attacks do so little damage that there's no point in using them anyway. It's like they looked at how AC combat evolved from AC 2 to Syndicate and decided to ignore all of it and keep just the worst parts. And then they decided to create it based on Valhalla system, which doesn't fit it at all.
@@MonkeyD.Moritz It's not even hard it's just bad, the worst combat in any ac games thus far
An honest review. Love it as always. Looking forward to doing playthroughs, etc with this one
I’ve been a fan since ac1 and have shared the sentiment of the old school fans.
Have been excited by the pre release news and your coverage and the lower price point made it an immediate purchase for the first time in a long time.
Enjoying the couple hours I’ve played so far and hope we get that full Development budget for a sequel
Skeptical look, makes sense.
Skeptical review, does not make sense.
much respect to your dedication in this review because you are doing this review from your vacation,much respect...
Did someone forget to pack the skeptic? 100% holiday mood review
Good luck on the move, Luke. Thanks for the honest review as always.
No no it wasn't honest, it was skeptical (somehow?)
I loved the games before, but Odyssey and Valhalla are my faves. Especially Odyseey, they gave us Kassandra and it was just a fun game to grind.
i just realized Ubisoft's design philosophy is the polar opposite of Fromsoftware. That really explains it all.
"Bad gameplay"?
@@Goodbutevilgenius Ubisoft: Game plot is told. Games has a GPS telling players the exact path to take and location of all points-of-interest, does not risk the player overlooking any content. Avoids failure-state during moment-to-moment gameplay.
Fromsoft: Game plot is shown. Games does not tell where points-of-interest are, players come upon content of their own accord. Doesn't avoid failure-state during moment-to-moment gameplay.
@@Boss_Fight_Index_muki From games are kinda infamous for placing a lot of the story inside item descriptions, no? Wouldn't really call that "shown".
@@Goodbutevilgenius For From, the item description are more like clues, without it the story is too obscure. With Ubisoft, the narrative is outright told to the audience.
I've finished the game. I wish it was longer and that the map was vast like Odyssey.
The reason I pre-ordered this game is because I wanted to show with my wallet that there are still fans of the old style AC games. If it doesn’t sell well Ubisoft will surely use the RPG formula going forward. The only way we can get another game like this on a bigger scale is if people go out and buy this game at full price.
Yes
If people don't buy it, I wouldn't expect another ac again at all
What a genius move. Despite the fact that Ubisoft has already revealed their new projects to be focused on milking assassin's creed RPG games, you PREORDERED this blatant one off title, with half baked ties to the original games.
@@golem4617 they only did that for red.
Do you think they would wait making a game until they get the results of their test?
Ofc not. They now doing what makes the most money
@@Even_N.D. I have no idea what you just said.
Unpopular opinion if games like Odyssey didn't get dry for the middle part of the game, that would be one of the best games of the decade. This repetitive assassin thing looks boring. Maybe I'm wrong
Crazy how cutting to Unity’s 2014 gameplay, it still looks next-gen compared to Mirage
im hoping they can do something like every release they alternate between a more "fantastical" element and then a more "grounded" element. I loved origins and oddysey and parts of valhalla but i also love black flag and the other assassin games, so an alternating release schedule would be great for all of the fans.
I just hope they keep making games like this in between the larger scale, modern design games. This is a good throwback, so far I think it's better than Rogue, and other smaller scale titles in the series and it's a good foundation for this team to improve on.
Will depend on how much it sells. Valhalla sold extremely well, so if Mirage isn’t a big seller they may just stick to the bigger games. We know Red is coming, but I’m hoping for an Aztec or Maya based AC in the future.
@@pressrepeat2000 I hope so, too. I'd love a game set in that scenario. I think since Mirage is a $50 titles made with a small budget and small team, Ubi might not be expecting something crazy with sales, but hopefully it meets their targets. We'll see.
10:59 That is some GNARLY pop in
Even though Luke is not pregnant he always delivers
Doctors deliver babies. Not pregnant women lol.
😂 Please become a comedian
Even though you are not creative or original these comments always get likes
@@lirich0even though yours isnt original either
I see this response and I'm just wondering where could you possibly have derived that conclusion from? I have never seen or copied a comment that said the same thing as this, and don't imagine you have, but for you consideration i'm open to elaboration if you can provide so with deliberation cause you're unironically ironic unoriginal retort is leaving me in stupefaction.@@RidoDrago
If they just made releases longer and worked on an assassin creed game with the mechanics and the story of that of an older assassins creed game with the dense detailed cities but with the open world of odyssey where you do have the option to explore because I just loved exploring the Greek isles it was amazing
They made a mistake by removing fun gadgets and skilltrees. That's not going back to the roots.
i just finished this game and i really liked it
now time to play AC Valhalla since is the only one i didn't played...and seeing that it continues the story for Basim i want to find out whats going to happen.
Overall after all the critique that Ubisoft gets i still enjoy their AC games
Just imagine the tech used in unity implemented on this game with way more polish , clearing out all bugs and inconsistencies on the parkour ,further improving animation fidelity and that crowd tech but even better this time. I guess thats too much work for the money they get from us.
Yeah the fact they haven't done that kinda bothers me. Unity honestly looks more impressive than this game does in terms of pretty much everything.
Get off your rose-tinted glasses.
Unity was by no means perfect.
@@cezarstefanseghjucan Did anybody say it was perfect? No dude so don't put words in our mouths. I played it recently and I love it, it's a 9/10 for me. Why put down people for loving something?
@@cezarstefanseghjucan I never said it was perfect. ready carefully. it just needed some attention from ubisoft to make it perfect because it had some incredible ideas with parkour and the animation also looked way cooler.. If u know StealthGamerBr then watch his recent upload of unity stealth gameplay that he uploaded on sept 25th and tell me how this game looks better than that..
This was a studio with low budget they werent able to do it
2:23 Oh god, I can only imagine Ubisoft green lighting something like a full title game set in Central or South India during the late Classical Era or early Medieval era. DREAM!
This was definitely a test on if fans really want the old style and I gotta say, valhalla being 100+ hours and this being roughly 15 this is already so much better 3 hours in. The city is intricate and feels alive and the parkour is well done.
I fucking hate the enemies glowing red with a passion. I’d be happy if they just toned it down by about 50%. I’ve been assassinating generic red blips for the last decade and I’m tired
OK. Having watched the video, it did not inspire any optimism in me. This game sounds like it's an ode to mediocrity.
From the very early announcement of the game, the key ad phrase was "bringing back the old school AC games" which reminded me of Call of Duty's "back to boots on the ground" motto.
There was no talk of "innovating on the old formula" or "improving upon them, gameplay-wise or narratively" rather, it's just going back. And Mirage looks exactly like that: just going back.
The problem is, I have already played AC 1 & 2 at launch which were masterpieces in their own era. And if everything else goes well for Mirage, it is planning to take us back almost two decades.
It will be a return to form when they bring back Unity level parkour, and not before.
I was bord after 2hrs done it all before on first couple of games ledge kill back kill jump kill all done in first 2hrs now i have played ac mirage don't need to play any more
maybe I'm in the minority, but I never found AC games that interesting until Origins and Odyssey. Those two were perfect, but I have no special infatuation with retro AC. I like open world RPGs when they are done tastefully.
I'm with you there. The only old ones I really played were 2, 3 and Black Flag and while I thought the stories and stealth mechanics were decent, the combat is pretty bad and feels way too restricting and the modem day stuff was so damn boring it just broke my immersion
It seems like the game’s decent. Even if the story isn’t as good as we hoped I think it’s something that ac fans will enjoy and that’s good for me
Someone said that fans don’t know what they want anymore and I agree because I want a piece of all the games. I liked the stealth assassinations, ship and field battles/raids, parkour, semi large map, character customization, base building, combat skills, useful and meaningful skill trees, touches of the modern day story, etc etc😅but NEVER the slow Ai.
Love your reviews Luke.
I never want to hear the word “Valhalla” again…
God AC Origins was incredible
50$ is the new range of what is considered to be budget price? 0o
Been waiting for you review!Getting this game to ease the pain of waiting for Spider-Man. I think this will do the job, thanks Luke.
lmao same I hope this game lasts until the 20th
One thing that annoys me is that the guards respawned (????????) after a short time. I was working on a big fort and tried killing everyone on top. When I came back to the point i started, all the guys were replaced… Annoying when the game forces you to become visible in order to be able to assassinate someone (or i’m just dumb and could not find a way to sneak to the guy that had to be killed)
If Luke and Jayvee consider AC Mirage worth its price, I'll be getting it. Based on my limited time these days, Mirage may just be the perfect game for me right now.
The thing that will never sit right with me is the lack of innovation this franchise suffers from. We're talking about a multi-billion dollar company, and they couldn't come up with a team that can come up with something innovative in the past decade? I mean the facial animations are literally subpar to AC2, a game that came out in 2009. It's pathetic. Please do not confuse innovation with "changing the formula" like they did with Origin, that's not what I mean at all. I mean innovation within the confines of the game's identity. Look at what rockstar does with each of its franchises! Especially the Red Dead series. You could maintain the exact identity AC 1 had and upgrade its mechanics to next gen standards, weather its graphics, animations, or gameplay mechanics, the least I could think of is how they could've made the "investigation" mechanic so much deeper, by putting the player in the world and letting him figure out his targets on his own, no hand holding, no quest marks and GPS routes, makes us actually do what an assassin would to eliminate his target. Make getting detected punishing, make combat extremely hard that you avoid it completely, especially if your story revolves around a newly recruited assassin. It took Ezio 10 years of his life time to be finally accepted as an assassin within the brotherhood, and another whole game for him to become a master assassin. Let's not lie to ourselves, Altair and Ezio (and maybe Bayek) are the only WELL written assassins in the franchise every one else is average at best. make stealth and social stealth your main focus; for fuck sakes the game mechanics are literally written in the lore: "Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent." "Hide in plain sight, be one with the crowd." "Never compromise the Brotherhood." That's it, that's what an assassin's creed game should've always been.
And stop with the arcade style gameplay and combat, it's fucking boring. Give me a realistic assassin's creed game in the same style of Red Dead Redemption 2 any fucking day of the week.
And for the love of all that is holy and pure, hire better writers. Ubisoft suffers from bad writing like the fucking plague.
sKePtiCal
Being a fan of the og games and stealth in general I think that while odyssey has a cool and magical combat system which I enjoyed and thought was fun to engage with, I spent a good 70% of that game in stealth and I loved trying to clear ever enemy camp with pure stealth, it was really fun and I enjoyed it alot but it wasn't what I would consider an assassin's creed game to be because it was missing the story of the actual creed but either way I did the enjoy the gameplay and the same for origins as well. The main issue is just the size of the maps are needlessly extremely big which encourages the player to fast travel alot more which completely makes having an "open world game" pointless. Looking forward to a smaller more stealth based game hopefully.
What the hell is a skeptical review
😹😹 this guy just likes to pump stuff out
A review from the perspective of a skeptic. ... So a review.
IKR
Sorry mate, but it seems your education failed you if you can’t figure something as simple as that out!
@@Carfilliot You can be skeptical of the game if you havent played it. To be precise you can be sceptical of the claims made about the game. Once you finish the game it can either prove your doubts about the claims right or wrong. You should not be sceptical anymore. "Sceptical review" is nonsense.
Love your videos man! just wanted to know what benefits you would expect from a youtube thumbnail.
I knew this would happen. Everyone wants a “traditional” Assassin’s Creed game until they get one…and then they remember the flaws in the old formula.
This isnt a traditional ac game according to some reviews it has the exact same mechanics as valhalla even story structure.
Nah we want one like Unity. That builds off of what Unity did. Cuz that game had the best parkour and assassinations in the series. It built off of the formula in new and exciting ways but because it was blasted for glitches Ubisoft decided to turn the series into an rpg franchise.
People want perfection and they are sad when Ubisoft underdelivers.
I doesn't matter one bit for me, I am in it for the artistic achievement and historical worth of the games.
No other franchise comes even near, then my Ubisoft+ subscription.
It's not the old formula lol it's a Valhalla expansion
This is a fairly positive review from Luke Stephens considering this is supposed to be a "skeptic review". So what is it that you knew would happen?
I was way more invested in stealth in odyssey than any previous AC. You actually had to plan and strategise for thinning the herd. In old school AC you could spam counterattack and clean the entire map
Mirage is so damn fun. I’m 5hrs in (had a massive drive today so couldn’t do my usual all nighter on release 😢) and I can’t wait to keep going.
Excellent review, as always.
There will nerver be an Assassin creed game as great as the Ezio trilogy. Really wish a remaster for nex gen happened for AC2, AC brotherhood, and AC revelations.
Idk man I like Unity better than the Ezio trilogy...
@@jimmymurphy898 alot of people like unity. I personally never played it so I can't speak on it. The Ezio trilogy however was played alot by myself. Truly a masterpiece. But I should play Unity considering so many people tell me it's nothing but an improvement from the AC games before it.
@@jimmymurphy898Unity was lacking any good Story/characters/narrative.
Setting had potential but they missed it.
Parkour doesnt have as much control and animations are to flashy to me.
A lot of bugs and problems which got fixed by modders
@@Even_N.D. I just disagree dude I liked Unity's story and I think Arno is a great protagonist.
@@jimmymurphy898 it was very boring and didnt hooked. Arno was forgettable and they made a lovestory in this cool setting and did nothing with it
Man this odyssey music is amazing.
I'm concerned that you reference this as a "budget game" but it's still £45/$55(ish). I know it's not $60/£60 that we've seen recently, but it feels disingenuous to call it budget when it's still 80-90% of full price.
Current gen games are $70 now so at $50 that’s nearly 30% off. I’m just speaking for the US but Luke is from the US so for us it is a budget game.
@@jonbotwesley this game is no way current gen game, it looks no different compare to AC origin and vahalla. even vahalla is 60$, and story probably Is as mid as vahalla can be, since it's "budget" ubisoft game.
@@nguyenhanh9479 I mean yeah you have somewhat of a point there but the fact of the matter is that games today don’t necessarily have to meet any defined standard to be considered “current gen” and are priced at $70 nearly universally now. Even for games that release on current and last gen consoles. So your complaint isn’t really Ubisoft’s problem, it’s a problem with the gaming industry as a whole. If this game was just a little longer and more expansive it would be priced at the current standard price of $70. Therefore a $50 game coming out today is objectively a budget game.
@@jonbotwesley Nope, 50$ is near AAA game, BG3 is 60$ and probably ubisoft in it's peak never archive that level of quality, ubisoft game has always been mid since 2014, so 50$ is even overprice for their mid ass game. And this game is exclusive for Epic and Ubisuck so even less reason to buy this game.
@@nguyenhanh9479 BG3 is $70 for PS5 and it’ll be $70 for Xbox whenever it comes out. $70 is the new standard for AAA games on consoles and if you disagree you’re just wrong. A 30% discounted price makes something a DISCOUNT GAME for fuck’s sake. This is not a matter of opinion. We aren’t talking about whether it’s worth $50 to you personally or to anyone else for that matter. We’re talking about whether or not Mirage is a discount game. It is objectively a discount game. It’s ok to be wrong sometimes buddy. Hold your L with some dignity.
What’s funny is that I played Origin, Odyssey and Valhalla as stealthily as I could.
I’m just not paying $60 bucks for dlc
Well you’re in luck cause it’s not $60 but $50
@@2Slay3 deluxe edition is $60? If imma get it imma get the $60 version but it isn’t worth sixty shit isn’t even worth fifty lmao.
Bought it yesterday on Steam for 25$ 🤑
@@Ligmaballin yea I got it on sale one day to after makin this comment for like $30 and still wasn’t even worth it.
@@isometimescommentfunnythin5042 Worth it to me, best stealth in the franchise
I will wait for Ac Mirage to get cheaper in price
Been there, done that already a 1000 times. Thats my impression of this game after some hours. It‘s just boring as hell. We are in BG3 era…and now playing this borefest almost kills me.
I've played every single AC game ever released, even the psp game. Rouge, you name it, im a sucker for all things AC. I personally loved AC Origins and AC Odysee. They were gorgeous, stunning games that were both fun to play, I sunk 80 hours into Valhalla as well, even though I had really mixed feelings about that game. Im looking forward to jumping into Mirage after I wrap up my playthrough of Phantom Liberty. The only caveat is, I really dislike Basim as a character, so I dont know how I'll feel playing with him as a protagonist.
This is game absolutely and irrecoverably worth at a 50% discount. Definitely NOT worth the full price of $59.99.
Im actually after some advice from other commenters here regarding AC Mirage. I think AC Valhalla was the final nail in the coffin for me and I've also kind of got a little bit of side quest fatigue from replaying Witcher 3 so needless to say I'm not in the mood for another assassins creed game whether it be a short or long game. I'm more concerned with the story being memorable with interesting villains and a character arc for Basim (which feels impossible given that was kind of DOA at the end of Valhalla). Please let me know if Mirage is worth my time, if not I'll probably replay Ghost of Tsushima up until the release of Spider-Man 2
_" I'm more concerned with the story being memorable with interesting villains and a character arc for Basim (which feels impossible given that was kind of DOA at the end of Valhalla). Please let me know if Mirage is worth my time, "_
Did you not watch the video? He said the characters are incredibly interesting & unique & the story is one of the best he's ever seen in a game.
@@alwaysdisputin9930 I did watch the video, why are you questioning that? And the prologue is incredibly boring and given I bought Valhalla I think I deserve an opinion about Basim being memorable but for all the wrong reasons. Did you forget and forgive that Basim is the reincarnation of Loki like Ubisoft?
@@lachlanpr8463 _" I did watch the video, why are you questioning that?"_
You obviously didn't watch the video since he completely answered your question. He said "the story of AC Mirage is a modern day classic on the level of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet or Tolstoy's War and Peace"
@@alwaysdisputin9930 😂 I get where you’re coming from now, that was good
The game is definitely worth a play
If you find it on a deep deep deep sale. If you like Valhalla though, might like Mirage.
I am really enjoying it so far it’s great to be an assassin again.