STACK #228 October 2023

GAMING FEATURE

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FILTER HAPPIER

Assassin’s Creed Mirage features a nice surprise for longtime fans – there’s a nostalgic visual filter option, for those who wish to explore the game with the blue-grey colour palette from the original Assassin’s Creed .

The Assassin’s Creed series returns this month, going back to its roots as we inhabit a young, ninth-century Baghdad street-thief named Basim in Assassin’s Creed Mirage . The game's creative director Stéphane Boudon and senior game designer Marco Maresca at Ubisoft Bordeaux tell us more about what to expect from the experience. Words Bec Summer SNEAK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG STICK

Eivor was, and to give that feeling we worked out animations to reinforce the sense of speed when jumping, vaulting, and free roaming. Stealth is another key ingredient of the Assassin’s Creed experience.What’s on the table in this respect?

SB: A core focus of Mirage ’s stealth is that we want players to work in the shadows, plan their next move, strike, and then vanish. There are more ways to assassinate, with

• Assassin's Creed Mirage is out Oct 5

You’re promising a return to a more classic Assassin’s Creed style of play in Mirage . How did you go about achieving this? SB: When we got the opportunity to work on the next game of the series, we sat down with the rest of the core team and asked ourselves, as fans, what kind of Assassin’s Creed game we’d most want to play. Coming off Valhalla , we started to explore the idea of introducing a new playable hero, Basim, and creating an experience that is a love letter to the origins of the franchise – a coming-of-age story with rhythm mechanics to bring the feel of the early games into the modern day.

new killing animations, some leveraging a stealthy approach,

others delivering a violent killing blow. We also have direct throwbacks to the first games with moves like the bench assassination that you might recognise from Assassin’s Creed 2 . Also, kill from the rooftop gardens, an old favourite of players. Social stealth is also making a return. We’re bringing back the systemic blending with larger crowds that allows you to move undetected through the business location. But you can also bribe more factions with specific tokens in order to control AI groups and make your way through guarded areas. MM: We also reworked our enemy AI to improve detection and vanishing loops, making our behaviours more responsive and readable. New enemy archetypes will also increase the stakes. The marksman can shoot your eagle and prevent you from using it, the spearman pokes through haystacks, and the horn bearer can call for reinforcements. That’s where your assassin skills come in handy. And then there’s the big one, of course: assassinations.What can we expect here? SB: The bureaus in Mirage act as gameplay hubs from which you can take on side contracts with various objectives, from rescue missions to assassinations, and help the Hidden Ones in their fight for freedom. And with our black box missions, we give you the freedom to approach key assassination missions however you see fit.

Please, tell us more about the story? SB: We’re going back to the Middle East, but this time in ninth-century Baghdad, 300 years before the time of Altair. We’re telling the story of Basim and how he became a master assassin. MM: For parkour, we looked to our previous games for inspiration, and chose to put the emphasis on comfort and fluidity. In Mirage , parkour is easy to learn and to master. Our approach is closer to the Ezio games, where it’s all about keeping the flow and momentum going, with the design centred around verticality. Many elements from past games are making a return – we have the corner swing, the ability to vault over objects, elevators to quickly reach high ground – with also new ingredients, such as the pole vault, allowing you to cross large gaps between two rooftops. Of course, Basim is faster and more agile than What can we expect in the way of classic parkour in Assassin’s Creed Mirage ?

The first working title for the original Assassin’s Creed was Prince of Persia: Assassin . DYK?

10 OCTOBER 2023

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