Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, the highly anticipated game from Ubisoft, is generating both excitement and concern among fans as its release date approaches. With only six months remaining until its launch, long-time followers of the popular franchise have expressed reservations about a new gameplay feature.
The subject of debate revolves around Basim’s newfound ability in Mirage to teleport and dispatch multiple enemies swiftly and effortlessly. This surprising addition to the Assassin’s Creed formula has left some fans disenchanted, as they feel that the introduction of teleportation detracts from the series’ essence.
During a recent gameplay walkthrough presented at Ubisoft Forward 2023, the new mechanic known as Assassin Focus was revealed. This multi-kill feature seemingly resembles teleportation, allowing players to select and eliminate scattered targets from a distance. While Mirage aims to introduce fresh elements to its gameplay, the inclusion of Focus has triggered concerned discussions on Reddit, with some users worrying that it deviates too far from the established canon of the series.
To better understand Focus within the context of the Assassin’s Creed universe, fans have turned their attention to the Creed and the Isu, an advanced humanoid species from which each playable assassin in the AC games is descended. One Reddit commenter proposed that Isu inheritors with higher percentages of DNA possess enhanced speed and strength, likening them to a natural-born Captain America. This explanation attempts to rationalize Focus as a rapid movement ability rather than pure teleportation.
Nevertheless, not all fans are convinced, as evidenced by another Reddit thread that directly challenges this theory. The thread’s title, “However Animus related, Basim’s ‘Focus’ is still a teleport. Magic or not,” refers to both the Isu hypothesis and the possibility that Focus results from the player experiencing Basim’s memories through the Animus. The Animus, a device akin to time travel, allows the modern protagonist to witness past events from the present day, offering a potential in-game explanation for Focus as a plausible mechanic.
In this ongoing discussion, a key concern emerges among fans: Focus’s impact on the game’s assassination planning and the potential for exploitation. The original poster highlights their unease with Focus, not necessarily questioning why or how Basim possesses the ability, but rather expressing reservations about how it facilitates “cheesing out assassination routes” by relying on an ability provided by the game itself. Considering that Mirage promises a return to the stealth-centric combat found in earlier Assassin’s Creed titles, it is understandable that some fans are apprehensive about a tool that could potentially bypass the challenges associated with strategic assassination.
Assassin’s Creed: Mirage is scheduled for release on October 12, 2023. Until then, fans eagerly await how the game’s narrative will justify this unexpectedly controversial new feature. Mirage is just one of several upcoming Assassin’s Creed games, including Codename Hexe and Codename Red, which transport players to ancient Japan.
As the release date draws nearer, the anticipation and concerns surrounding Assassin’s Creed: Mirage continue to intensify. Ubisoft will undoubtedly be closely monitoring fan feedback, aiming to strike a balance between innovation and maintaining the core principles that have made the series a beloved franchise among gamers worldwide.
