Two years after its launch, Assassin's Creed Mirage has just launched its Valley of Memory update, substantially expanding Basim's big Baghdad adventure. Not only is the assassin (later-turned-Templar) on the trail of his long-lost father in a new story beat, but there's a brand new region to explore, a smattering of new world activities to engage in, and even a new hardcore difficulty to challenge yourself with. However, the biggest win in the new patch is the substantial improvements made to its parkour system, bringing it in line with the series' best.
Assassin's Creed Mirage was very much a double-A offering to the historic franchise by Ubisoft's big budget standards, yet to me it's the most important AC game in a generation. While, yes, Shadows is a very handsomely crafted take on high Sengoku Japan, Mirage's dense sandbox structure recaptured the essence of what made the stealth game series so good in the first place. Baghdad is vibrant, bustling, and full of wonder around every corner. It also saw a return to social stealth that had me jumping for joy (well, as much as my knees would allow). It made me feel the way I did when playing AC in my teens - happy memories, indeed.
Of course, Mirage wasn't the perfect package, and it lacked the narrative heft to really bring it into AC all-timer conversations. I also felt at the time that its parkour system was a little too fundamental. For me, Unity's fluid animations and versatility remains the gold standard for the series, even if it came at the cost of woeful performance on everything but the PS4 (after several patches). The good news is that, with the Valley of Memory update, Mirage is effectively getting the best bits of Unity's system, without the terrifying floating eyeballs.
Not only is there now a dedicated Free Jump button, granting the ability to manually jump, but back and side ejects can now be performed without requiring a safe destination. This makes for a far more expressive experience, and considerably more freedom of traversal when exploring Baghdad. Ubi's Bordeaux team is doing the Order's work, and I'm absolutely here for it.
I suppose I should also talk about the rest of the Valley of Memory update; it is quite exciting, after all. On Basim's new quest, he'll travel to AlUla, a region divided into two suitably ominous halves: the Land of the Dead in the north, and the Land of the Living in the south. Here, you'll be able to partake in new world activities like Stolen Goods, which has Basim yoink secret maps from robbers that lead to shiny rewards, and Oud Melodies, which put your newfound parkour tech through its paces as you gather up playable tunes; sea shanties are back on the menu, sort of.
Ubi's also offered up a custom difficulty option, alongside the challenging new Ultimate Assassin mode, which pretty much whacks its parameters up to the max. Tools can now be upgraded to level three, so be sure to invest in them if you're planning to try Mirage's most punishing challenge. What's more, if there are missions you're particularly fond of, you can now replay them using the new Animus Sequences feature.
Though it may have taken a couple of years to get here, Mirage now feels like a much more complete package. If you've had your fill of Naoe and Yasuke in Shadows, now's the perfect time to revisit Baghdad.