This year, Ubisoft actually tried something different with one of their big franchises instead of just another formulaic sequel. Assassin’s Creed helped usher in the modern open world era of tower-unlocking and dozens of map icons before then pivoting to a simplified take on something like The Witcher 3 instead.
Mirage goes in both directions at once, picking and choosing its elements from across the entire history of the franchise — all wrapped in a package that feels like a big AAA game, but with a scope that should actually be manageable for human players with human lives.
Rather than spend years turning out another big 100+ hour epic (don’t worry, that’s coming next year), Ubisoft has instead developed a smaller 20-ish hour game. What’s here is produced at the same quality level that you’d expect from a modern video game, only there’s just a bit less of it. It reminds me of the sadly bygone era when a game could spend 18–24 months in development, launch without multiplayer, and still be considered a “AAA” experience worth picking up.
