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[Draugoth]

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Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla are great, but very, very big

Speaking to GamesRadar+ as part of our Big in 2023 showcase for Assassin's Creed Mirage, creative director Stéphane Boudon said that while "a convergence of several inputs" helped shape the creation of Mirage, the first in their mind is the voice of the community. "Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla. They are all great games with the promise to live an epic journey in a strong fantasy," he says.

2017's Origins marked a notable departure from the original Assassin's Creed formula, adjusting the series closer to a traditional RPG and moving on from many of the ideas that had been present in the games from their inception all the way up to Assassin's Creed Syndicate. But after Odyssey's world eclipsed Origins' and Valhalla grew larger still, fans wanted another change of tack:

"Amongst our fans, we started hearing the desire for a character-driven story, focused on the core pillars of the first ACs in a more intimate scale. It resonates with us as well, as developers, and this was the starting point of the project."

Mirage pays homage to the original Assassin's Creed in several ways. That "more intimate scale" was a necessity when Altair took his first shaky, free-running steps, but Basim's story makes a more deliberate choice to embrace that scope. It's also set in a similar part of the world, returning to the Middle East via 9th-century Baghdad (rather than the Holy Land) and concerning itself directly with the Assassin's Order, rath

 

[hussar16]

Honestly origins would have Ben so much better if it wasn't a rpg. The amount of times I was unable to progress because I was underdeveloped and being destoryed by bandits was annoying

 

[Punished Miku]

I'm actually interested in this. Middle East is one of the coolest settings that is underused. Cautiously optimistic.

 

[Laptop1991]

I like both styles of games, but the RPG's sold a lot more. i enjoyed all 3 open world games but admit Valhalla is quite bloated and no NG+ mode was disappointing.

 

[Arun1910]

Honestly origins would have Ben so much better if it wasn't a rpg. The amount of times I was unable to progress because I was underdeveloped and being destoryed by bandits was annoying

Imo Origins was the only good one out the 3 because it was their first real stab at RPG AC.

The side quests developed Bayek more as a character, the world wasn't bloated with crap, the inventory and weapon scaling wasn't too in depth to be overwhelming.

On your point about underdeveloped, they added enemy scaling eventually so that wouldn't be an issue, however I don't recall the game really level gating you too hard anyway and I've played through it multiple times.

 

[oji-san]

I'm actually love the bigger open-world AC games better then the older games, but after 3 bigger games it make sense to spice things up.

 

[Fuz]

So, they're short on development money.

 

[KyoZz]

Yeah wait and see.

 

[hussar16]

Imo Origins was the only good one out the 3 because it was their first real stab at RPG AC.

The side quests developed Bayek more as a character, the world wasn't bloated with crap, the inventory and weapon scaling wasn't too in depth to be overwhelming.

On your point about underdeveloped, they added enemy scaling eventually so that wouldn't be an issue, however I don't recall the game really level gating you too hard anyway and I've played through it multiple times.

I just wish it was unity in Egypt not this new take of witcher 3 with ac

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

however I don't recall the game really level gating you too hard anyway and I've played through it multiple times.

Bruv origins has completely insane level gating, it's 100% impossible to just play the story, you have to do side content to be able to progress because otherwise you'll just get one shot; it's awful.
Odyssey also has this but less, valhalla does not have it at all.

 

[xClout]

 

[Just_one]

Origins was the perfect size and had a good character.
Odyssey was a bit big but Kassandra was a GREAT character so it made up for it.
Valhalla is just an overblown mess with horrible game design decisions (the open door with keys hidden in god known where is just a mess) with a horrible character in eivor

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Also, though... it started as Valhalla DLC and was eventually turned into a standalone game, as a means to help fill Ubisoft's lineup and bring out a new AC game while the others are still years off. So it's nice that it works out, as it definitely seems most people are a bit exhausted by the giant sprawling open-world AC games of late.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

So, they're short on development money.

Not exactly, it started as an expansion for valhalla, so the budget for it was already smaller.

 

[Mr Branding]

Cautiously optimistic. The smaller ones tend to be the better ones at least for me. Greatly enjoyed 1, 2, Brohood and Unity. Origins was great too but that level gating they introduced can piss right off. Just quit Odyssey because of it recently.

 

[fermcr]

I'm curious about this game... hope Ubisoft delivers.

BTW Ubisoft, where the f**k is Beyond Good and Evil 2?

 

[TheShocker]

Good. Valhalla was a good game, but extremely bloated and didn’t feel like an AC game.

 

[crackajack]

Recently played AC II for the first time. Imho that was already bloatet. New unnecessary characters every new chapter, making the story blurry, not even counting the cheap "real world" in between scenes, akwardly climbing from A to B, endlessly blocking enemies, while the main goals mostly take much much shorter and always feel to easy and uninspired. Some people say this was the best, and at least somewhat true to its roots. Shorter than Valhalla, sure, but already pretty much the "same". Maybe AC 1 would actually be to my liking?
Open world should be removed all together, or made somehow actually optional, snap me to the actual missions- don't care for impressive vistas-, make it a linear AC or something more like Hitman style, proper mission based, where you actually only do clever assassinations not some crap figthing and spending most of the play time getting there, to the actual action, even with fast travel everything taking forever.

Damn, why did PoP sales decline while this series grew bigger and went from bloatet to are you f-ing kidding me? Mirage might be a bit better, but AC as a whole seems in a very weird place. Eagle Flight, which is sort of an AC spin-off, is probably the best thing that came out of the whole franchise.

 

[Punished Miku]

Damn, why did PoP sales decline while this series grew bigger and went from bloatet to are you f-ing kidding me?

Been waiting 15 years since Prince of Persia 2008. Feels bad man.

 

[KXVXII9X]

This is great news to me. I've always hated them going the large open world RPG route after the popularity of The Witcher 3. Larger isn't always better. The past several years has been full of games with unneeded bloat and padding.

 

[mxbison]

That's good. I liked what they did in Immortals: smaller, more interesting world.

I hope GTA goes in a similar direction.

 

[Doctor Hades]

I have played most of the Assassin's Creed games but I can say that I have never finished a single one of the games despite playing some for upwards of 150 hours! There is simply too much stuff to do in the games and then they release DLC expansions that means I cannot possibly have time to finish them and play other games as well.

I would personally like to see Ubisoft revamp their tired "over-busy" open world template for something a lot more focused with a beginning, middle and a proper end. I am not asking for them to make a 10 hour game, just make it so that the map isn't a nightmare to look at and work out where you are supposed to be going next. They could do to learn a lot from Rockstar and especially Red Dead Redemption 2, a game that is packed with content and stuff to see and do but has a map that ensures I always know what it is I am supposed to be doing.

Anyway, not really that interested in AC: Mirage due to the mention of it being a "live service" game, which means "avoid" to me as I don't like how grindy (and, thus, boring) they tend to be to play. Ubisoft are a company obsessed with NFTs (whatever they are...) and exploitative micro-transactions so I don't trust them at all to make a live service game that is actually rewarding to play.

 

[MagnetoWasRight]

Why do these gaming sites buy into these bullshit lies? It is just an expansion to Valhalla spun out into a mostly full priced game. They probably didn't even expand the scope that much.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Not exactly, it started as an expansion for valhalla, so the budget for it was already smaller.

The timing just works in its favor. Since people are kind of tired of open-world AC following Valhalla and Odyssey.

 

[ABnormal]

"We are short on money and we can't pay 1000 persons to build a big game world" ---> Marketing office: "it will be a more intimate chapter!"

The magic of marketing which transforms an obstacle into a selling point.

 

[Hugare]

Being made by a support studio that have never made a game of this scale

Watch it be subpar and Ubi saying "see? people want bloated AC games"

 

[Rush2112]

The problem is that Ubi exploited the open world formula just to sell xp boosters and other microtransactions. Now that the money isnt flowing in anymore, theyre moving on.

 

[MiguelItUp]

"We are short on money and we can't pay 1000 persons to build a big game world" ---> Marketing office: "it will be a more intimate chapter!"

The magic of marketing which transforms an obstacle into a selling point.

Exactly, and I feel like this "news" coming out after all the Ubisoft dumpster fire stuff is pretty telling. Everyone should always keep the stance of, "I'll believe it when I see it.", especially these days. I'd wait to see it in motion until I show any form of excitement.

 

[ComputerBlue]

I have no problems with enormous RPG games, I do have a problems with games that have an enormous amount of bloat, which is what the AC games have turned into.

I love the AC franchise, but Ubisoft has made so many questionable decisions over the years with it so it’s hard to get excited about the series anymore.

 

[SJRB]

Good. Origins, Odyssey and especially Valhalla were exhausting.

A tight, focused and especially urban AC is exactly what I want.

I hope they'll show some gameplay soon. It's kinda wild how they still haven't shown any.

 

[ACESHIGH]

How about returning to the first game? The one that was about being an ASSASSIN?

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Good. Valhalla was a good game, but extremely bloated and didn’t feel like an AC game.

I liked Origins quite a bit, but just based on reviews and comments from others Valhalla was a hard pass for me. Sounds like I made the right choice

 

[acm2000]

more focused campaign >>> open world any day of the week for me personally

 

[Filben]

they added enemy scaling eventually so that wouldn't be an issue,

Unfortunately the scaling only worked upwards. I remember strongly how excited I was to pick it up again only to see the scaling option was there to only increase enemies levels that are lower. They didn't scale down to yours.

However, level gating was worse and more an issue in Odyssey. It was still there in Origins but not nearly as bad.

 

[SSfox]

Imo Origins was the only good one out the 3 because it was their first real stab at RPG AC.

The side quests developed Bayek more as a character, the world wasn't bloated with crap, the inventory and weapon scaling wasn't too in depth to be overwhelming.

On your point about underdeveloped, they added enemy scaling eventually so that wouldn't be an issue, however I don't recall the game really level gating you too hard anyway and I've played through it multiple times.

Origins was awesome. What annoyed me tho is how they put max level behind paywall. Made me regret buying game at full price. Haven't bought an Ubi game full price since.

 

[Zimmy68]

Hopefully they bail on 1 million skill point trees.
"Add .01 % to stealth"

Odyssey was perfect, Valhalla? I gave up even using my points after awhile.

 

[Pagusas]

Honestly origins would have Ben so much better if it wasn't a rpg. The amount of times I was unable to progress because I was underdeveloped and being destoryed by bandits was annoying

I disagree, had it been "Unity in Egypt" the game would have been boring 5-6 hours in (Just like Unity was). The formula for old AssCreed is stale, even going back and playing II now feels so hollow and empty.

 

[Ywap]

I´m also a fan of both types. Odyssey is the favourite of the new ones.

Gonna be interesting to try Mirage, hope it turns out well for my beloved Ubi

 

[Umbasaborne]

Why the fuck is this taking so long to come out?

 

[DeepEnigma]

It wasn't the "enormous RPG" aspect. It was the bloat.

Elden Ring is enormous, and does not feel bloated.

 

[Umbasaborne]

I´m also a fan of both types. Odyssey is the favourite of the new ones.

Gonna be interesting to try Mirage, hope it turns out well for my beloved Ubi

Odyssey is a masterpiece imo, its excellent, but i think it could have done without the ac branding.

 

[TGO]

I feel AC Unity was them flying too close to the sun.
Seriously if they just did a Remaster and release it now people who don't know about it would think it's the NextGen AC in comparison to the last 3.
Although it did have its problems I still think it was the last real AC game that was on the right track.

 

[R6Rider]

Good. The only reason I'm interested in Mirage is because it's not like the past three titles.

 

[Games of Today]

Honestly origins would have Ben so much better if it wasn't a rpg. The amount of times I was unable to progress because I was underdeveloped and being destoryed by bandits was annoying

It's a lot more fun if you play easy mode as it allows you to one hit most enemies earlier in the game with the hidden blade. RPG's are fine but the leveling system is what broke the game.
You can still let me role play, dress my character and level up my equipment without making the enemies impossible to kill.

 

[HYDE]

BTW Ubisoft, where the f**k is Beyond Good and Evil 2?

Do we honestly even care anymore? It’s nothing like the original game, and doesn’t seem great atm.

 

[jm89]

Scale never bothered me in the previous ac, it's the boring basic ass story of valhalla, got progressively worse from origin to odyssey.

Maybe reducing scale will help them focus on other areas now.

 

[brian0057]

I'm currently going through Mankind Divided again. A game where the main hub area is comprised of maybe half a dozen city blocks.
It's packed with so much detail and with such incredible depth that it makes those behemoth maps Ubisoft dares call a "city" look like deserts.
If they can make something even half as good as that, there might be a future for this company.
Given that there's rumors of a possible acquisition (and apparently were laughed out of every offer), that future might be rather short.

 

[IDKFA]

I'll pass. I love the huge RPG scale of the previous few games. I want BIGGER!

 

[EDMIX]

Smart, I wanted them to do this for a while.

I think its a good idea to just split the IP.

Large open world light rpgs
Intimate scale for the old school AC fans.

I think this is a sound direction they should go in going forward.

 

[crackajack]

I am not asking for them to make a 10 hour game

I am though.

They could do to learn a lot from Rockstar and especially Red Dead Redemption 2, a game that is packed with content and stuff to see

No, thanks. RDR is also way too big for its own good. It has brillant moments, but they get buried by the overall scale too. I had more fun with the Call of Juarez games.

Somehow it should be possible to create those huge AC games and than make a scaled down compact distilled version, special edition or whatever, of it for gamers who want that. Make two things from one game instead of trying to do two separate forks. Especially if the lore kind of is connected between the entries.