Fans of the Assassin’s Creed games are eagerly awaiting the release of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the next entry in the storied video game series which surely is one of the most exciting games hitting shelves in the second half of the year.
And given that Mirage goes back to the series roots (being a sort of remake of the original 2007 Assassin’s Creed game) it will also be an opportunity for newcomers to dive into the Assassin’s Creed universe when the game ships this fall.
Also, when compared to the previous entry in the series (Assassin’s Creed Valhalla) this will be a more linear and focused experience. Because while Assassin’s Creed Valhalla offered players an enormous map to explore and countless side quests to embark on, the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Mirage tells the story of a lone assassin in the Middle Eastern city of Baghdad in the 9th century.
And according to Ubisoft’s Fabian Salomon, who is the producer of the game, most players will take about 20 hours to finish the game.
He pointed this out in an interview with YouTuber Julien Chieze (via Eurogamer), that this was the case if they “rushed” through the game, meaning those playing at a leisurely pace will take longer to complete this upcoming Assassin’s Creed game.
Completionists and those who want to see everything could take up to 30 hours according to Salomon.
This is in line with the original Assassin’s Creed game, which offers roughly the same playtime according to howlongtobeat.com.
It’s still a far cry from what the previous entry in the series, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, offers in terms of playtime though – that game can take over 140 hours to finish if you wish to see and do everything in it.
“Given that we do a lot of playtesting internally at Ubisoft, it’s part of our process, we really want to get as close as possible to the players, so we’ll say that the latest playtimes we’ve received average at around 20-23 hours”, said Solomon in the interview. “That can go up to 25-30 hours for the completionists”, added the Ubisoft man. So Assassin’s Creed Mirage will be nowhere near in terms of gameplay time as the earlier Assassin’s Creed Valhalla it seems…
But still, Assassin’s Creed Mirage offering a more focused, shorter experience is not necessarily a bad thing after the massive, RPG-like experiences which the likes of Assassin’s Creed Origins, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla brought to the table.
And like the earlier Valhalla, Assassin’s Creed Mirage has also been controversial before launch – it was believed the game would ship with an AO (Adults Only) rating due to an error on Ubisoft’s part, but thankfully the matter was soon cleared up. Regarding Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Ubisoft was accused of sexism by some who claimed the game was meant to have a female protagonist only, although this turned out to be a case of too much ado about nothing.
Hopefully, though, and given that Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a shorter experience than recent games in the series, it won’t arrive with as many bugs and glitches as Assassin’s Creed Unity did back in 2014, something quite a few players might still have bad dreams about…
Aside from Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Ubisoft has several other Assassin’s Creed games in the pipeline. Perhaps the most interesting of these is Assassin’s Creed Codename Red (its working title), which is set in feudal Japan and could be Ubisoft’s answer to Ghost of Tsushima.
For now, though, players will be looking forward to Assassin’s Creed Mirage, with the hope it will turn out to be a great entry in the series when it arrives this fall.
Read more: Top 5 Assassin’s Creed games coming in 2023 and beyond