I think people misunderstand what constituted as 'social stealth' in AC1, as many say that 'In AC1 you could only blend in with the scholars but in AC2 you can blend with anyone.' The scholars were not the social stealth aspect of the first game. They were just another hiding spot, like a moving haybale. The SOCIAL stealth aspect was 'socially acceptable behavior', like walking instead of running, gently pushing instead of shoving, using ladders instead of not using them, etc. Running, breaking stuff and killing people got you into trouble, whereas acting like the civilian crowd made you one with the crowd. AC2's crowd blending innovation was pretty neat for the time and I'm glad Mirage will continue it after it being absent for so long (Valhalla doesn't count) but I hope that Ubisoft, just like with the parkour of AC1 will expand upon the original idea of social stealth they had for AC1 in the future.
Exactly. While it can be fun moving in the crowd unnoticed. in the gameplay you're not really making any decisions other than going from crowd to crowd when the enemy is not looking, thus turning the infiltration into a Frogger game. What is more engaging, is being on your own, without any crowds, and ACTING like you belong through gameplay. The Blend button might have been an alternative to a "crouch" button but it slowed you down so it wasn't that overpowered. I feel like the only game in the series after AC1 that has actually good social stealth is Liberation. Guards actually get suspicious of you when you do parkour even outside of the restricted areas, and it really makes you consider your approach and decide whether you want to rush through the rooftops and risk being exposed, or move in plain sight simply acting naturally and not doing anything a regular citizen wouldn't do.
The true "hide in plain sight" is to quite literally be right there in the open for the world to see and still not get caught because you're so confidently normal.
Good point, under articulated. I was never upset about the removal of social stealth because it isn't really social stealth, functionally just a big field of grass. When I say I want social stealth, I mean what you're saying, a system that rewards me for considering what my actions would look like to people in this place at this time. AC2 did this alright, but it was still rudimentary and uncomplicated. It has a lot of untapped potential.
I am glad you enjoyed the content, it always makes me happy when people say they connected with it and that’s more than enough for me. And I agree, the setting is by far the thing I am most excited to check out
i hope they put out something today its literally 1 month away i just wana see -Basim in Master assassins robes -sassinations from hiding spots -combat/finishers -escaping with the pole vault (because you didnt kill the Hornbearer and so you're encourged to flee) *uses Red Smoke Bomb* *I have no idea why they wont show us this especially if the game has "Gone Gold" what are they hiding from us?
the setting and the art direction are huge selling points. for the first time since Revelations it feels like I'm looking at an actual Assassin's Creed game, and that's enough to at least get my attention.
Love the fact that it's not yet another revenge story and judging by the story trailer we're going back to the AC1 takes on free will and its contrast with the creed that the first game introduced but never fleshed out. It's not incredible or anything but it's miles better than soap opera tier plot points and struggles. Great video as always.
If this game ends up being good, I want this specific studio to continue the series going forward, or at least make one more. Cus it seems they have a lot of opportunities and ideas even more if they have the freedom to make a new ac game from scratch, instead of modifying Valhalla.
First time in 10 years I've pre-ordered an AC game, my last one was Black Flag when I still needed my dad to order the game for me, although that's a completely different AC 😅 The team for this game looks to have so much passion for the project; the setting is amazing; eye for historical accuracy is there; every bit of new gameplay gets me excited and last but not least, it looks polished in most facets, something we don't see that often with new releases nowadays and hopefully that'll also be the reality. My excitement is through the roof and I hope this will set the bar and tone for future AC projects like these
This is generally my perspective as well. I understand and empathize with why so many players are disappointed and are choosing to refrain from buying the game -- with like... nearly activist-level fervor, mind you -- but the fact of the matter is I haven't had properly solid Assassin's Creed stealth that even approaches my personal standard in close to ten years. Mirage has been fairly transparent with showcasing interesting ways to lean into and wield stealth in a way I've been missing. It's not really pushing anything forward, but to my taste, I think I've had far more than enough of "ambitious" Assassin's Creed games that trip over their own feet for the time being. I'm perfectly fine playing something I have no real expectations for, that's reasonably smooth and lets me sit down with it for a while to learn its systems iteratively. Basim deserves special mention. He's not only my favorite archetype of protagonist (a rogue/Brotherhood Assassin) he's my favorite archetype _WITHIN_ that archetype: someone for whom Assassin-work is his 9-to-5 job. Altair is the only other time I was served in this manner.
I think one of the things I'm most excited about with Mirage is the density of Baghdad. One of the complaints I had about Unity and Syndicate (and every game since) is it never felt like parkour was the absolute BEST option of traversal to use all the time. Yes, Unity's parkour was fun, but sometimes I just wanted to get from point a to point b as quick as possible. And I remember quite a few areas in France where it was objectively faster to just run through the streets. With Baghdad, I'm hoping that the mixture of crowds, parkour infrastructure, and overall compactness of the city will genuinely encourage parkour usage. Everything we've seen so far has shown us plenty of ropes and pole vaults to cross larger distances over streets, lots of different options for the predesigned paths, and no shortage of accessibility for transitions between the ground and rooftops. The parkour in AC has almost always been fun, but it doesn't always feel necessary. And I am aware player choice for traversal is important, but I would prefer if the choice to use parkour makes it feel like you ARE getting somewhere quicker than if you didn't use it.
Been a fan since AC1, I’ve always just been a fan of the historical settings tbh. I am happy they’re scaling back the RPG-elements this time and are being a bit nostalgic with the assassin aesthetic, but that’s about it. I couldn’t care less about the modern day/ Isu elements. I’d like them to bring it back and wrap it up in a way that satisfies people, but after that point, I really just want them to ditch that aspect to the series and focus on the history simulator aspect.
One major problem is how they want to showcase their Assassins. I don't think many fans actually want a stealth game. When we say we want to live an Assassin fantasy, we want to be flashy while being efficient. Old AC games were pretty simple, but it felt amazing, In AC Origins and above it feels like you have to hide way more and you're only strong because of mystical items and superpowers. I want that Altair or Ezio feel back. AC Unity was probably the most refined version of this style. Gameplay wise everything looks promising other than the animations. It looks awkward. It's worse because Ubisoft was once the best at them, but in cutscenes, or running animations or parkour, they just all have that lethargic feel to them. The combat animations look good though. It like kind of reminds me of AC Syndicate, remember how off putting it looked animations wise compared to Unity?
I personally am excited about mirage while some animations are reused from Valhalla I saw a few new assassination animations and honestly there is enough new for me to not let asset reuse bother me and despite parker being the same as the RPG games in terms of animation and simplicity it does look like basim is faster than ever especially in the recent game informer gameplay basim looks significantly faster than ever in my Opinion which will help I also think people need to not be so harsh on the game refusing animations I mean the developers are only given a little over two years not four years like assassin's creed red and they're forced to use the same engine as the RPG games so i am honestly impressed with what they accomplished with what they were given .
I’m honestly mainly excited for the setting & time period, but I also just wanted an AC that had an emphasis on one city, so hopefully this game lives up to the hype.
As you've said, I'm both excited and worried for Mirage. In the future we will understand how important is this game for Ubisoft: a quick cash grab on nostalgia or the pure will of "saving" the franchise? For the developers I think the second one, but for the company leaders?
I'm just happy they are reeling back the size of the game, Odyssey left feeling burnt out halfway through the game and I didn't dare touch Valhalla since it's even more extreme.
Listening to the second part gives me an idea, it would be great if the more weapons you have, the more attention you receive, making if you want to be very inconspicuous you use only the hidden blade forcing yourself to play like in Hitman, or use weapons in combat and call more the attention
My last bit of hope with this series is with this game. Part of me knows what to expect, and being a longtime Ubisoft player I am SO cynical but I loved this series. I just hope it’s a step in the right direction
I’m just hoping Ubi has finally found the groove again. Mirage looks fantastic and everything I’ve been wanting since origins, really it just looks like a good ass AC game. Also, Xdefiant was fantastic and Ghost Recon Breakpoint had a huge turn around. Yeah ubi hasn’t been making what we’ve been wanting, but their willing to compromise and it seems like their taking this new decade more serious like how they were up to 2017.
I agree with your points but this video does also upset me in the sense that it highlights that the bar is literally on the floor for traditional AC fans
It's pretty funny you even have to call it that. "Traditional" AC haha. This series used to be one way, now it's in a completely different way. Damn shame but not much can be done about it. It was really enjoyable while it lasted though.
I've been excited for this since the initial announcement. One thing that Ubisoft never fails at is these incredible recreations of ancient civilizations. While I didn't mind the RPG era all that much, it's going to be good to just have a story with a beginning, middle, and end in less than 40+ hours.
Not gonna lie, I've been waiting for this since 2007. The second I saw AC 1, the middle eastern setting, the music, the lore. I was instantly taken away. And this is the only time I have felt anywhere close to the same way about an AC game. Don't get me wrong. Ac 2, brother good 3 ect are all good. But they never captured that Assassin aesthetic AC1 did. I cannot wait, while also being skeptical lol.
I’m just glad we have one, singular main character who’s has a cannon gender and explicitly defined personality. I hated the fact that the games are marketed as the male protagonist but after the fact they say “female is cannon”. Especially when female Eivor had the worst voice actress of the two
@MEMEGUY414 Only reason I can think of is the fact that Eivor is a female name, still shouldn't have mattered, since they got such an amazing male voice actor.
That’s how it tends to sound when they have devs showcase the game themselves instead of hiring presenters, and I appreciate it. Especially when none of them speak English as their first language.
What is really suspicious is the level of secrecy and the lack of significant gameplay showcases. All of the previous games had lots of gameplay demos, not just trailers. This feels like Ubisoft accidentally inflated expectations for this game, but now they realize that the reality can't meet them, and are afraid that the people will realize that after seeing proper gameplay. If that's the case, then it really feels like the whole marketing was a lie. Why else would they let game journalists play the game and share their opinions, but not actually show anything? I don't know, when you're actually proud of your work you tend to show it as much as possible to get people excited, not guard it as a shameful secret. Compare it to lots of showcases for Jade on UA-cam.
My reactions throughout watching the trailer for mirage 😲😃😁🤩😑🤬 All they had to do was end the video before the teleporting and it would be 10/10 Ubisoft fumbled at the one yard line
I have bought every AC game that came out since brotherhood, and will 100% buy Mirage, but man it's Ubisoft so I'm REALLY tempering my expectations, Ubi themselves said Mirage was "going back to the roots", but it still looks (and probably feels) too much like Valhala, I just know something is gonna be missing/underdeveloped but I really hope I'm wrong. It does look like the world is much more well designed for parkour and it does look good, but we'll see
I think this is the last AC game that's gonna settle it for the fanbase. All this hype the dev team is doing by marketing the game as "finally an AC game with Assassins and assassin plot"--if this shit fails, its over. No one's gonna have hope anymore. But I will say, this game not being the cringe wannabe Dark Souls RPG, bringing back ACTUAL social stealth, etc. is already a massive W. I can already see this game being better than the RPG trilogy, gameplay wise. We'll see how the plot turns out
""If you remember, Valhalla promised to be a return to roots with a focus on social stealth and the Hidden Ones"- anyone who actually followed the release would know that this is completely false. There were like two interviews where they said they'd be bringing back some old mechanics but most of it was Viking focused. So many fans complained about the marketing lol. Revisionism is crazy
For the first time in my life, I will not be getting the new AC game. I just can no longer justify giving money to a company as harmful and greedy as Ubisoft and I also acknowledge that this game just isn't what I want out of AC (and it hasn't been for a while). I love the direction that this game is taking and am hopeful of what it will be, but I am disappointed in the knowledge that, successful or not, the games won't be expanding upon what this small-scale project is trying to do for at least the next 5 years with Red and Jade being a return to RPGCreed, Hexe being something entirely different and Infinite something new again. I don't hate the direction AC has taken but I know it's just not for me anymore, and it's not something I could possibly justify filling Ubisoft's pockets anymore
While I’ve continued to enjoy the series, I think it’s healthy to step away from the things that don’t make you happy. There are always other things out there that can give you that, and I am sure you will find plenty
I stepped away after Unity, not neccessarily because of Unity, i just got into other stuff. I did keep an eye on the series but seeing where it was going gave me no reason to go back. The proverbial straw to me was when they killed Juno off in a comic.
As a history buff, my favourite part of every AC, and the part I scrutinise the most, is the world. Origins and Odyssey were, imo, works of art in terms of recreating living breathing historical settings, but they were a bit too big for their own good sometimes. Valhalla left me disappointed in some ways with how lifeless it often felt. I can safely say I am hyped to explore Medieval Baghdad, it really looks like they’ve done justice to this immensely important but often overlooked period of history. Everything is so vibrant and sensual, and I just know I’m gonna hunt down every one of those database collectibles.
I'm in a place where I do geography /geology and I'm in my private life interested in history too: My problem with say Origins wasn't that it was too big, but that it wanted to have no loading screens. The end result was a map where travelling from Siwa to Alexandria was doable within minutes, which was vastly more immersion-breaking than any loading screen were the map accurate in proportions. I liked the size of the map, but not the space-time compression of it.
@@Argacyan Any video game is going to have compression, that’s just the nature of changing mediums. Lord of people would complain if it took hours to travel between locations.
@@pastlife960 The compression used to be bridged by loading screens, to write that a 2nd time. In AC2 you travel from Florence to Venice, in AC3 from Boston to New York, in Valhalla from Norway to London. Especially with the latter it's notable that they chose not to put England right off-shore from Norway, but separated the regions by loading screen.
The biggest reason I'm looking forward to Mirage is the setting. I've always wanted an open world game that took place in Harun Al Rashid's Golden age Baghdad, but even though this is a few generations later, it still has me excited (it's probably a better setting as its the end of an era in many ways.) But apart from vague Arabian nights references and Prince of Persia, this era doesn't have the cultural capital that say, Feudal Japan has which is why you still have a few people complaining about 'another game in the middle east.' Even if this was a DLC for Valhalla I probably would've checked it out despite never playing any of the other DLCs. But the fact that it's a new game, incorporates the Assassin fantasy, features my favorite character from Valhalla, this is all a winning recipe in my book.
I LOVE the middle East as a setting. Crossroads of the world, so much rich history, general sacred feel to the land. Lots of philosophical and religious concepts that can be explored
True, but I’m glad it’s not gonna be a long ass rpg with an empty world with pointless side quests. Plus with black box missions there will be replay value
I wish they'd just drop the Assassin part from the name and just rebrand it. Because nothing about these is about stealth. It's just magic bs and parkour like you're spiderman
If players want to make a properly informed decision then they should wait for the reviews after release. Pre-ordering out of blind trust is just a bad idea.
They recently dropped a trailer with the arabic voiceover and although I'm german I intend to play it in arabic with subs. The mentioned trailer really felt immersive, something I missed in many games of the series. What are your thoughts about that?
The parkour and/or stealth of assassins creed games are the things that get me excited like unity’s stealth and parkour and the stealth of origins is one of my favorite things to do ever…
2023 is the peak of videogames Armoured Core Fires Of Rubicon Assassins Creed Mirage Baulders Gate III Black Myth Wu Kong Bramble C-Smash Vr Dead Space Remake Elden Ring: in the shadow of the Erdtree Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy XVI Gollum Humanity Lies of P Metal Gear Solid III Snake Eater Delta No Man's Sky Vr Resident Evil IV Remake plus Vr Payday III Sea of Stars Spider-man 2 Starfield Street Fighter 6 Sword of The Sea Tekken VIII
I hope the 'standard' for moving around is walking. So when I push the joystick forward, the dude will WALK forward instead of running like in Origins, Odyssey en Valhalla. In a game that is set around being a stealthy assassin, it makes so much more sense that the standard is to walk. If you want to run: press a button. If you want to climb, press a button. What I disliked about the 'newer' Assassins Creeds is that pushing forward on the joystick would just make you run forward and climb everything that's in your way. Super unrealistic and it just made the world feel less real.
I still won’t buy this game,I’ll wait until it’s free,but that’s just me 🤷♂️ I hope they will stop lying to us that we will have a back to the roots game,it’s obvious good old times are long gone,just stop making Ac games
I agree with everything you have said. As much as I really want to get excited about this game, I'm holding back because of so many past disappointments. I will never preorder any game ever again but I'll wait and see what actual players say about it after it's released and then decide if I want to buy it or not. I'm not bothered about the smaller scope of the game, unless it's ridiculously short, because I'd rather play something done well than something with vast overreach that misses every mark.
well, the game released and it really feels unfinished, not polished in almost every aspect except for the city architecture. terrible quests, bad animation blendings, parkour is broken, low and disappointing npc density and interactions. and the list goes on. seems ubi is broken and nowhere to see when they will have a decent project out in the future.
For me looking at mirage I can see what people are talking about when they say there’s a lot of AC Valhalla in the game and so it’s just going to be a clone But I think some people forget that originally mirage was meant to be a DLC for Valhalla so obviously things like the game engine and the way it looks are going to be the sane but from what I’m seeing so far at least it looks like we are going ti be getting a much more grounded game that might actually be worth of the title assassins creed but I’m still very skeptical and won’t be casting aby negative judgments until I’m playing the game but I’m definatly interested
Cautiously optimistic about this game, but I like what I see so far. This is mainly because I set my expectations appropriately. I think the purists that are already denouncing this game either expected Mirage to be the holy grail of old AC, or we’re looking for any reason to say “I told you so” about Mirage not delivering. Just hope the purists don’t review bomb this game. If Mirage does well, we could get more games like this in the future.
I am not completely over the moon with the gameplay but I am also very much excited to see The more staff oriented version of assassins Creed that we haven’t got in years. I just really hope that this gets expanded upon in the future along with keeping assassins at the front of A franchise called assassins Creed like come onnnnn
I don't give a shit about AC but your vids are pretty well articulated for a UA-camr. I am kind of looking forward to the game but at the same time, I don't care too much since I "grew out" of AC's dull and simplistic mechanics years ago. This game I do hope doesn't have terrible AI like modern Ubisoft games do. Watch Dogs 2 and AC Unity have terrible AI that ruins the games for me.
i'm mostly cynical about it because they're still opting to use these badly animated AI picked animations for "cutscenes" instead of mocapping the voice actors. it just shows a lack of effort and quality to me. we're likely never going to see unity/ezio trilogy quality acted cutscenes ever again. i enjoyed valhalla and odyssey but they are of a lower quality, and tbh i'm just sick of the series being handled this way. their original excuse for it was because of covid lockdowns and people working from home, but now that's not a thing anymore and yet they're still doing it. just pure laziness/penny pinching.
It's weird but AC Mirage is fulfilling what AC Valhalla promised. Parkour, social stealth, an Assassin focused story, etc. The only thing that really kept Valhalla a float for a lot of us is that ot wasn't Odyessy and fixed a lot of what that game broke but that came at the great cost of what the game was marketed on. I don't trust Ubi$oft as far as I can throw them, I am very skeptical about the monetization and post launch of this game. As someone who keeps a close eye on the franchise my hope is that Mirage regardless of how it shakes out shows Ubi$oft what people want from the franchise and that it is possible to make a lot different kinds of games while keeping what people like.
I wont be bothering with this one but I havent played any of the new ones other than Origins and that only left a horrible taste in my mouth afterwards. I really like the videos youve been putting out and made me also question what makes assassins creed assassins creed to me and I think I figured it out. Watching a "Fleekazoid" video on here on black flag and even tho his videos are insane and unhinged I think he nailed what makes AC for me. I didnt really think about it as I barely played these new ones but its that combat and those takedowns that really makes AC to me. Its not hard in depth combat but its so fucking cool and badass. Recently I went back and played a few games I missed or wanted to refresh.Played AC3,liberation and freedom cry and afterwards I had so many saved clips from all the badass kills in all the games and an AC game without that style just wouldnt feel like AC to me. As I said Origins left a bad taste in my mouth but I cannot pinpoint if it was the combat or not as I just dont even remember it,only thing I remembered was the game being a chore to finish. Having spongey enemies with RPG levels over their head to explain the spongeyness sounds awful in comparison. I know it sounds like a small thing but I really think thats what it is for me
"show us more so people can make an informed decision" - I am pretty sure once the game is launched the review embargo is lifted so people can just check the reviews and decide whether to buy. Oh wait, people are idiots and buy black boxes even though they don't know what's inside.
I don't believe Ubisoft is capable of creating a good game any more. And I'm pretty sure Mirage will be filled to the brim with modern day politicized nonsense its creators believe. Like Odyssey was.
I think people misunderstand what constituted as 'social stealth' in AC1, as many say that 'In AC1 you could only blend in with the scholars but in AC2 you can blend with anyone.'
The scholars were not the social stealth aspect of the first game. They were just another hiding spot, like a moving haybale. The SOCIAL stealth aspect was 'socially acceptable behavior', like walking instead of running, gently pushing instead of shoving, using ladders instead of not using them, etc. Running, breaking stuff and killing people got you into trouble, whereas acting like the civilian crowd made you one with the crowd.
AC2's crowd blending innovation was pretty neat for the time and I'm glad Mirage will continue it after it being absent for so long (Valhalla doesn't count) but I hope that Ubisoft, just like with the parkour of AC1 will expand upon the original idea of social stealth they had for AC1 in the future.
Exactly. While it can be fun moving in the crowd unnoticed. in the gameplay you're not really making any decisions other than going from crowd to crowd when the enemy is not looking, thus turning the infiltration into a Frogger game. What is more engaging, is being on your own, without any crowds, and ACTING like you belong through gameplay. The Blend button might have been an alternative to a "crouch" button but it slowed you down so it wasn't that overpowered.
I feel like the only game in the series after AC1 that has actually good social stealth is Liberation. Guards actually get suspicious of you when you do parkour even outside of the restricted areas, and it really makes you consider your approach and decide whether you want to rush through the rooftops and risk being exposed, or move in plain sight simply acting naturally and not doing anything a regular citizen wouldn't do.
The true "hide in plain sight" is to quite literally be right there in the open for the world to see and still not get caught because you're so confidently normal.
it's crazy how they dumbed down AC1's fantastic social stealth system and never got it to be nearly as good in sequels
Good point, under articulated. I was never upset about the removal of social stealth because it isn't really social stealth, functionally just a big field of grass. When I say I want social stealth, I mean what you're saying, a system that rewards me for considering what my actions would look like to people in this place at this time. AC2 did this alright, but it was still rudimentary and uncomplicated. It has a lot of untapped potential.
Yeah in AC1 most assassinations were done in broad daylight with you just walking up to your target..
Really enjoy your videos Jay, they feel well thought out and really well articulated. By far the best AC channel imo. You're killing it man
That is very high praise, thank you
Totally agree. You video analyzing stealth in AC was brilliant
And a pleasant voice too!
100% agree
Why are people like you who make quality content are so underrated? Also i'm really excited for mirage because of the map and environment of Baghdad.
I am glad you enjoyed the content, it always makes me happy when people say they connected with it and that’s more than enough for me. And I agree, the setting is by far the thing I am most excited to check out
Hes got mostly AC stuff so that could slow down the spread is why.
I love your videos man. You quickly became my fave ac channel on UA-cam. Keep up the good work dude !
That is kind of you, thank you
i hope they put out something today its literally 1 month away i just wana see
-Basim in Master assassins robes
-sassinations from hiding spots
-combat/finishers
-escaping with the pole vault (because you didnt kill the Hornbearer and so you're encourged to flee) *uses Red Smoke Bomb*
*I have no idea why they wont show us this especially if the game has "Gone Gold" what are they hiding from us?
They already showed basim in his master assassin robes, also finishers and assassination from hiding spots
that ac1 sound when the subtopic of the video changes is great
the setting and the art direction are huge selling points. for the first time since Revelations it feels like I'm looking at an actual Assassin's Creed game, and that's enough to at least get my attention.
Love the fact that it's not yet another revenge story and judging by the story trailer we're going back to the AC1 takes on free will and its contrast with the creed that the first game introduced but never fleshed out.
It's not incredible or anything but it's miles better than soap opera tier plot points and struggles.
Great video as always.
If this game ends up being good, I want this specific studio to continue the series going forward, or at least make one more. Cus it seems they have a lot of opportunities and ideas even more if they have the freedom to make a new ac game from scratch, instead of modifying Valhalla.
I was so excited for this game two months ago but after BG3 and Starfield I totally forgot it’s coming out.
Im now just teary with a bit of hopeium thanks stranger friend
Really looking forward to this, I hope it does succeed.
First time in 10 years I've pre-ordered an AC game, my last one was Black Flag when I still needed my dad to order the game for me, although that's a completely different AC 😅
The team for this game looks to have so much passion for the project; the setting is amazing; eye for historical accuracy is there; every bit of new gameplay gets me excited and last but not least, it looks polished in most facets, something we don't see that often with new releases nowadays and hopefully that'll also be the reality.
My excitement is through the roof and I hope this will set the bar and tone for future AC projects like these
This is generally my perspective as well. I understand and empathize with why so many players are disappointed and are choosing to refrain from buying the game -- with like... nearly activist-level fervor, mind you -- but the fact of the matter is I haven't had properly solid Assassin's Creed stealth that even approaches my personal standard in close to ten years. Mirage has been fairly transparent with showcasing interesting ways to lean into and wield stealth in a way I've been missing.
It's not really pushing anything forward, but to my taste, I think I've had far more than enough of "ambitious" Assassin's Creed games that trip over their own feet for the time being. I'm perfectly fine playing something I have no real expectations for, that's reasonably smooth and lets me sit down with it for a while to learn its systems iteratively.
Basim deserves special mention. He's not only my favorite archetype of protagonist (a rogue/Brotherhood Assassin) he's my favorite archetype _WITHIN_ that archetype: someone for whom Assassin-work is his 9-to-5 job. Altair is the only other time I was served in this manner.
I think one of the things I'm most excited about with Mirage is the density of Baghdad. One of the complaints I had about Unity and Syndicate (and every game since) is it never felt like parkour was the absolute BEST option of traversal to use all the time. Yes, Unity's parkour was fun, but sometimes I just wanted to get from point a to point b as quick as possible. And I remember quite a few areas in France where it was objectively faster to just run through the streets. With Baghdad, I'm hoping that the mixture of crowds, parkour infrastructure, and overall compactness of the city will genuinely encourage parkour usage. Everything we've seen so far has shown us plenty of ropes and pole vaults to cross larger distances over streets, lots of different options for the predesigned paths, and no shortage of accessibility for transitions between the ground and rooftops. The parkour in AC has almost always been fun, but it doesn't always feel necessary. And I am aware player choice for traversal is important, but I would prefer if the choice to use parkour makes it feel like you ARE getting somewhere quicker than if you didn't use it.
Been a fan since AC1, I’ve always just been a fan of the historical settings tbh. I am happy they’re scaling back the RPG-elements this time and are being a bit nostalgic with the assassin aesthetic, but that’s about it. I couldn’t care less about the modern day/ Isu elements. I’d like them to bring it back and wrap it up in a way that satisfies people, but after that point, I really just want them to ditch that aspect to the series and focus on the history simulator aspect.
Man your content is so good! I make sure to check out every new video you post. A lot of good AC channels but yours is certainly high up on the list!
One major problem is how they want to showcase their Assassins. I don't think many fans actually want a stealth game. When we say we want to live an Assassin fantasy, we want to be flashy while being efficient. Old AC games were pretty simple, but it felt amazing, In AC Origins and above it feels like you have to hide way more and you're only strong because of mystical items and superpowers. I want that Altair or Ezio feel back. AC Unity was probably the most refined version of this style.
Gameplay wise everything looks promising other than the animations. It looks awkward. It's worse because Ubisoft was once the best at them, but in cutscenes, or running animations or parkour, they just all have that lethargic feel to them. The combat animations look good though. It like kind of reminds me of AC Syndicate, remember how off putting it looked animations wise compared to Unity?
Let’s hope Ubisoft doesn’t mess up. I’ll be looking forward to play this game once it’s out.
Me to buddy I’m mostly looking forward to this game in October can’t wait ❤️❤️
Him jumping from beam to beam looks so bad it's funny
I personally am excited about mirage while some animations are reused from Valhalla I saw a few new assassination animations and honestly there is enough new for me to not let asset reuse bother me and despite parker being the same as the RPG games in terms of animation and simplicity it does look like basim is faster than ever especially in the recent game informer gameplay basim looks significantly faster than ever in my Opinion which will help I also think people need to not be so harsh on the game refusing animations I mean the developers are only given a little over two years not four years like assassin's creed red and they're forced to use the same engine as the RPG games so i am honestly impressed with what they accomplished with what they were given .
I’m honestly mainly excited for the setting & time period, but I also just wanted an AC that had an emphasis on one city, so hopefully this game lives up to the hype.
As you've said, I'm both excited and worried for Mirage. In the future we will understand how important is this game for Ubisoft: a quick cash grab on nostalgia or the pure will of "saving" the franchise? For the developers I think the second one, but for the company leaders?
I'm just happy they are reeling back the size of the game, Odyssey left feeling burnt out halfway through the game and I didn't dare touch Valhalla since it's even more extreme.
Listening to the second part gives me an idea, it would be great if the more weapons you have, the more attention you receive, making if you want to be very inconspicuous you use only the hidden blade forcing yourself to play like in Hitman, or use weapons in combat and call more the attention
stoked for a new AC game
My last bit of hope with this series is with this game. Part of me knows what to expect, and being a longtime Ubisoft player I am SO cynical but I loved this series. I just hope it’s a step in the right direction
I’m just hoping Ubi has finally found the groove again. Mirage looks fantastic and everything I’ve been wanting since origins, really it just looks like a good ass AC game. Also, Xdefiant was fantastic and Ghost Recon Breakpoint had a huge turn around. Yeah ubi hasn’t been making what we’ve been wanting, but their willing to compromise and it seems like their taking this new decade more serious like how they were up to 2017.
Great one J, you made me excited as well
I agree with your points but this video does also upset me in the sense that it highlights that the bar is literally on the floor for traditional AC fans
It's pretty funny you even have to call it that. "Traditional" AC haha. This series used to be one way, now it's in a completely different way. Damn shame but not much can be done about it. It was really enjoyable while it lasted though.
I've been excited for this since the initial announcement. One thing that Ubisoft never fails at is these incredible recreations of ancient civilizations.
While I didn't mind the RPG era all that much, it's going to be good to just have a story with a beginning, middle, and end in less than 40+ hours.
Mirage is only going to take 25 hours so say which a lot of people are not happy about I’m not fussy as long as the story’s good
@@donkaibs5515, 25 is substantial as well.
I think a Video on the present-day story would be interesting. Because I really would like to hear your opinion about it.
I love to see the next game location be in Iran
Not gonna lie, I've been waiting for this since 2007. The second I saw AC 1, the middle eastern setting, the music, the lore. I was instantly taken away. And this is the only time I have felt anywhere close to the same way about an AC game. Don't get me wrong. Ac 2, brother good 3 ect are all good. But they never captured that Assassin aesthetic AC1 did. I cannot wait, while also being skeptical lol.
I’m just glad we have one, singular main character who’s has a cannon gender and explicitly defined personality. I hated the fact that the games are marketed as the male protagonist but after the fact they say “female is cannon”. Especially when female Eivor had the worst voice actress of the two
Fr. The female voice actor for Eivor sounded like an AI.
I agree, I'm fine whether it's male or female, but I just want it to be a fix thing, not an option to choose.
@MEMEGUY414 Only reason I can think of is the fact that Eivor is a female name, still shouldn't have mattered, since they got such an amazing male voice actor.
Yeah the "Dev Diaries" definitely feel like they're reading off of a teleprompter.
That’s how it tends to sound when they have devs showcase the game themselves instead of hiring presenters, and I appreciate it. Especially when none of them speak English as their first language.
Good video
Really enjoy your videos, hope u dont JUST talk only about AC 😊
What is really suspicious is the level of secrecy and the lack of significant gameplay showcases. All of the previous games had lots of gameplay demos, not just trailers. This feels like Ubisoft accidentally inflated expectations for this game, but now they realize that the reality can't meet them, and are afraid that the people will realize that after seeing proper gameplay. If that's the case, then it really feels like the whole marketing was a lie. Why else would they let game journalists play the game and share their opinions, but not actually show anything? I don't know, when you're actually proud of your work you tend to show it as much as possible to get people excited, not guard it as a shameful secret. Compare it to lots of showcases for Jade on UA-cam.
besides game I'm excited to see where they take the future world storyline
My reactions throughout watching the trailer for mirage
😲😃😁🤩😑🤬
All they had to do was end the video before the teleporting and it would be 10/10
Ubisoft fumbled at the one yard line
the only problem I have with mirage is the teleport assassination. unless that is removed, its nowhere close to being a “back to its root” game
I have bought every AC game that came out since brotherhood, and will 100% buy Mirage, but man it's Ubisoft so I'm REALLY tempering my expectations, Ubi themselves said Mirage was "going back to the roots", but it still looks (and probably feels) too much like Valhala, I just know something is gonna be missing/underdeveloped but I really hope I'm wrong. It does look like the world is much more well designed for parkour and it does look good, but we'll see
people who still believe it's a return to the roots are the most... let's say optimistic
Algorithm comment, amazing video! Also an AC channel, fellow Assassin!
I have really high hopes for Mirage
So when will you make a review??
I reviewed it when it came out, on my channel
Personally the latest gameplay shown by GameInformer made me even more hyped
Might be a fun lil game to play before spider man 2 drops
so.. how is it?
Anyone who buys a ubisoft game day 1 is a fool. I'm waiting for reviews and patches before spending money on it
I think this is the last AC game that's gonna settle it for the fanbase. All this hype the dev team is doing by marketing the game as "finally an AC game with Assassins and assassin plot"--if this shit fails, its over. No one's gonna have hope anymore. But I will say, this game not being the cringe wannabe Dark Souls RPG, bringing back ACTUAL social stealth, etc. is already a massive W. I can already see this game being better than the RPG trilogy, gameplay wise. We'll see how the plot turns out
If you have a problem with assassins focus or corrosive knives, just don’t use them
People aren't sceptical because its a small project but because its Ubisoft we're talking about
At the very least, it's a new AC game, which is hard to come by these days. 😅
for me its to small 20 25 h even if u do sidequests
If Ubisoft puts Denuvo on it I'm not buying.
Don’t give me false hope, please.
I say get rid of the flippin
bird
""If you remember, Valhalla promised to be a return to roots with a focus on social stealth and the Hidden Ones"- anyone who actually followed the release would know that this is completely false. There were like two interviews where they said they'd be bringing back some old mechanics but most of it was Viking focused.
So many fans complained about the marketing lol.
Revisionism is crazy
The marketing explicitly showcased Basim, the plot of the order of the ancients, and the implementation of the cloak mechanic and social stealth
For the first time in my life, I will not be getting the new AC game. I just can no longer justify giving money to a company as harmful and greedy as Ubisoft and I also acknowledge that this game just isn't what I want out of AC (and it hasn't been for a while). I love the direction that this game is taking and am hopeful of what it will be, but I am disappointed in the knowledge that, successful or not, the games won't be expanding upon what this small-scale project is trying to do for at least the next 5 years with Red and Jade being a return to RPGCreed, Hexe being something entirely different and Infinite something new again. I don't hate the direction AC has taken but I know it's just not for me anymore, and it's not something I could possibly justify filling Ubisoft's pockets anymore
While I’ve continued to enjoy the series, I think it’s healthy to step away from the things that don’t make you happy. There are always other things out there that can give you that, and I am sure you will find plenty
I stepped away after Unity, not neccessarily because of Unity, i just got into other stuff. I did keep an eye on the series but seeing where it was going gave me no reason to go back. The proverbial straw to me was when they killed Juno off in a comic.
Idc the tp is cool asf hate me
they lied to us so many times, pretty sure this game going to be a disaster
As a history buff, my favourite part of every AC, and the part I scrutinise the most, is the world. Origins and Odyssey were, imo, works of art in terms of recreating living breathing historical settings, but they were a bit too big for their own good sometimes. Valhalla left me disappointed in some ways with how lifeless it often felt. I can safely say I am hyped to explore Medieval Baghdad, it really looks like they’ve done justice to this immensely important but often overlooked period of history. Everything is so vibrant and sensual, and I just know I’m gonna hunt down every one of those database collectibles.
Even Valhalla was incredible with History, ubisoft atleast always does their research in the environment design .
Check out AC Unity as imo the most realistic recreation of a living breathing city.
I'm in a place where I do geography /geology and I'm in my private life interested in history too: My problem with say Origins wasn't that it was too big, but that it wanted to have no loading screens. The end result was a map where travelling from Siwa to Alexandria was doable within minutes, which was vastly more immersion-breaking than any loading screen were the map accurate in proportions. I liked the size of the map, but not the space-time compression of it.
@@Argacyan Any video game is going to have compression, that’s just the nature of changing mediums. Lord of people would complain if it took hours to travel between locations.
@@pastlife960 The compression used to be bridged by loading screens, to write that a 2nd time. In AC2 you travel from Florence to Venice, in AC3 from Boston to New York, in Valhalla from Norway to London. Especially with the latter it's notable that they chose not to put England right off-shore from Norway, but separated the regions by loading screen.
The biggest reason I'm looking forward to Mirage is the setting. I've always wanted an open world game that took place in Harun Al Rashid's Golden age Baghdad, but even though this is a few generations later, it still has me excited (it's probably a better setting as its the end of an era in many ways.)
But apart from vague Arabian nights references and Prince of Persia, this era doesn't have the cultural capital that say, Feudal Japan has which is why you still have a few people complaining about 'another game in the middle east.'
Even if this was a DLC for Valhalla I probably would've checked it out despite never playing any of the other DLCs. But the fact that it's a new game, incorporates the Assassin fantasy, features my favorite character from Valhalla, this is all a winning recipe in my book.
I LOVE the middle East as a setting. Crossroads of the world, so much rich history, general sacred feel to the land. Lots of philosophical and religious concepts that can be explored
Sadly its only 20or 25 hours for completing everything at 100%😢 i wanted to be long man .
And I don't want to not be done with the goddamned main story despite my save file clocking 90 hours again, so...
True, but I’m glad it’s not gonna be a long ass rpg with an empty world with pointless side quests. Plus with black box missions there will be replay value
Jay with another banger. Any time I want to watch somebody that knows what he's talking about, this is the channel to go to
That means a lot, thank you, I always keep up with your content as well
I wish they'd just drop the Assassin part from the name and just rebrand it. Because nothing about these is about stealth. It's just magic bs and parkour like you're spiderman
If players want to make a properly informed decision then they should wait for the reviews after release. Pre-ordering out of blind trust is just a bad idea.
Agreed.
They recently dropped a trailer with the arabic voiceover and although I'm german I intend to play it in arabic with subs. The mentioned trailer really felt immersive, something I missed in many games of the series. What are your thoughts about that?
I like your idea. I‘ll also give this a try.
The parkour and/or stealth of assassins creed games are the things that get me excited like unity’s stealth and parkour and the stealth of origins is one of my favorite things to do ever…
2023 is the peak of videogames
Armoured Core Fires Of Rubicon
Assassins Creed Mirage
Baulders Gate III
Black Myth Wu Kong
Bramble
C-Smash Vr
Dead Space Remake
Elden Ring: in the shadow of the Erdtree
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy XVI
Gollum
Humanity
Lies of P
Metal Gear Solid III Snake Eater Delta
No Man's Sky Vr
Resident Evil IV Remake plus Vr
Payday III
Sea of Stars
Spider-man 2
Starfield
Street Fighter 6
Sword of The Sea
Tekken VIII
I hope the 'standard' for moving around is walking. So when I push the joystick forward, the dude will WALK forward instead of running like in Origins, Odyssey en Valhalla. In a game that is set around being a stealthy assassin, it makes so much more sense that the standard is to walk. If you want to run: press a button. If you want to climb, press a button. What I disliked about the 'newer' Assassins Creeds is that pushing forward on the joystick would just make you run forward and climb everything that's in your way. Super unrealistic and it just made the world feel less real.
I’m only exited for Japan now. The mysterious mist. Obscuring the areas under the traditional temples. The samurai lore. I’m pumped.
I still won’t buy this game,I’ll wait until it’s free,but that’s just me 🤷♂️ I hope they will stop lying to us that we will have a back to the roots game,it’s obvious good old times are long gone,just stop making Ac games
I agree with everything you have said. As much as I really want to get excited about this game, I'm holding back because of so many past disappointments. I will never preorder any game ever again but I'll wait and see what actual players say about it after it's released and then decide if I want to buy it or not. I'm not bothered about the smaller scope of the game, unless it's ridiculously short, because I'd rather play something done well than something with vast overreach that misses every mark.
I hope you have plans to talk about black flag and syndicate at some point. You're very insightful and interesting. The videos are very high quality
well, the game released and it really feels unfinished, not polished in almost every aspect except for the city architecture. terrible quests, bad animation blendings, parkour is broken, low and disappointing npc density and interactions. and the list goes on. seems ubi is broken and nowhere to see when they will have a decent project out in the future.
For me looking at mirage I can see what people are talking about when they say there’s a lot of AC Valhalla in the game and so it’s just going to be a clone But I think some people forget that originally mirage was meant to be a DLC for Valhalla so obviously things like the game engine and the way it looks are going to be the sane but from what I’m seeing so far at least it looks like we are going ti be getting a much more grounded game that might actually be worth of the title assassins creed but I’m still very skeptical and won’t be casting aby negative judgments until I’m playing the game but I’m definatly interested
i know it’ll still play similar to previous titles, but the world will be built like the EARLIEST titles. i’m excited fs
The only thing I want in Mirage is a sprint button. I don’t wanna be running around just by moving the stick
I love how impressively thought-out and well put your videos (and opinions) are. Thanks for putting out such great videos.
That means a lot, thank you
Cautiously optimistic about this game, but I like what I see so far. This is mainly because I set my expectations appropriately.
I think the purists that are already denouncing this game either expected Mirage to be the holy grail of old AC, or we’re looking for any reason to say “I told you so” about Mirage not delivering.
Just hope the purists don’t review bomb this game. If Mirage does well, we could get more games like this in the future.
Wow, didn't recognize this channel with this thumbnail. 😅
Great thoughts as always. Hope they will bring us a sharp knife for a sharp wit
It looks better, but it still looks too much like Valhalla for me to be too excited.
I’m still excited for Assassin creed mirage I still enjoy the Ac games I’m more excited for mirage
I’ll give it a shot
Incredible thumnnail
Love the thumbnail
Please don’t tell me you liked Odyssey more than Valhalla.
Both terrible
I am not completely over the moon with the gameplay but I am also very much excited to see The more staff oriented version of assassins Creed that we haven’t got in years.
I just really hope that this gets expanded upon in the future along with keeping assassins at the front of A franchise called assassins Creed like come onnnnn
Comment for the algorithm. I really like your content, super consistent quality 🙏
I just found this channel in recomended, amazing voice and well articulated. I will definietly subscribe. Cheers!
"If you like Assassins Creed, you'll probably not *LOVE* Assassins Creed"
I don't give a shit about AC but your vids are pretty well articulated for a UA-camr.
I am kind of looking forward to the game but at the same time, I don't care too much since I "grew out" of AC's dull and simplistic mechanics years ago. This game I do hope doesn't have terrible AI like modern Ubisoft games do.
Watch Dogs 2 and AC Unity have terrible AI that ruins the games for me.
i'm mostly cynical about it because they're still opting to use these badly animated AI picked animations for "cutscenes" instead of mocapping the voice actors. it just shows a lack of effort and quality to me. we're likely never going to see unity/ezio trilogy quality acted cutscenes ever again. i enjoyed valhalla and odyssey but they are of a lower quality, and tbh i'm just sick of the series being handled this way. their original excuse for it was because of covid lockdowns and people working from home, but now that's not a thing anymore and yet they're still doing it. just pure laziness/penny pinching.
It's weird but AC Mirage is fulfilling what AC Valhalla promised. Parkour, social stealth, an Assassin focused story, etc. The only thing that really kept Valhalla a float for a lot of us is that ot wasn't Odyessy and fixed a lot of what that game broke but that came at the great cost of what the game was marketed on. I don't trust Ubi$oft as far as I can throw them, I am very skeptical about the monetization and post launch of this game. As someone who keeps a close eye on the franchise my hope is that Mirage regardless of how it shakes out shows Ubi$oft what people want from the franchise and that it is possible to make a lot different kinds of games while keeping what people like.
I wont be bothering with this one but I havent played any of the new ones other than Origins and that only left a horrible taste in my mouth afterwards. I really like the videos youve been putting out and made me also question what makes assassins creed assassins creed to me and I think I figured it out. Watching a "Fleekazoid" video on here on black flag and even tho his videos are insane and unhinged I think he nailed what makes AC for me. I didnt really think about it as I barely played these new ones but its that combat and those takedowns that really makes AC to me. Its not hard in depth combat but its so fucking cool and badass.
Recently I went back and played a few games I missed or wanted to refresh.Played AC3,liberation and freedom cry and afterwards I had so many saved clips from all the badass kills in all the games and an AC game without that style just wouldnt feel like AC to me. As I said Origins left a bad taste in my mouth but I cannot pinpoint if it was the combat or not as I just dont even remember it,only thing I remembered was the game being a chore to finish. Having spongey enemies with RPG levels over their head to explain the spongeyness sounds awful in comparison.
I know it sounds like a small thing but I really think thats what it is for me
I miss unity parkour was so much fun to have the freedom of movement wish the would have polished it and refined it more
"show us more so people can make an informed decision" - I am pretty sure once the game is launched the review embargo is lifted so people can just check the reviews and decide whether to buy.
Oh wait, people are idiots and buy black boxes even though they don't know what's inside.
I don't believe Ubisoft is capable of creating a good game any more. And I'm pretty sure Mirage will be filled to the brim with modern day politicized nonsense its creators believe. Like Odyssey was.