MEMENTO GALLERY'S REVIEW ON PARKOUR
Assassin's Creed Mirage
VORTEX COLLABORATOR: Memento Gallery, October 5th, 2023


Before diving into this analysis it’s important to underline the context in which this parkour is delivered. Mirage started as a DLC for Valhalla, to expect this game to have a dramatically different navigation system compared to Valhalla is naive and unrealistic and credit needs to be given when due. In particular I want to praise the team’s determination to craft a world fit for parkour and the inclusion of settings dedicated to remapping buttons. This is important for reasons I’ll explain later.

With this out of the way, I do think Assassin’s Creed needs to introduce a brand new system in future games, independent from past titles, one that truly focuses on making free run a core feature again, and not just a means to an end.



MY GENERAL TAKE ON MIRAGE'S PARKOUR

Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s world is committed to parkour in a way we haven’t seen in the series since 2014. Exploring Baghdad is like visiting the most fun playground for free run—just to be told you can approach paths one way only (Which reminds me of Jorvik in AC Valhalla and the disconnection between world design and the limits of its navigation system. With the difference that Mirage tries to make that disconnection less noticeable) That’s because, while faster and less restrictive than its predecessor, Mirage’s parkour still isn’t quite as committed to that playground the same way that playground is committed to free run: while the city is packed with parkour opportunities, Basim will navigate it through “corridors” of preset paths which you will not be free to approach in any alternative or creative way (It’s mostly a beam to beam situation). This is especially due to the lack of buttons dedicated to the enhancement of free run.

To somewhat fix this you can (and I highly suggest you do so) remap the buttons the following way:

  1. Assign sprint from L3 to the right trigger.
  2. Assign the tools wheel to the left button of the D Pad.
  3. Assign eagle vision to L3.


This will bring (to a degree) parkour back to pre-RPG era, in the sense that you’ll use the trigger to run faster and then the jump button to perform actions.


SOME FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS ABOUT MIRAGE'S NAVIGATION

  • There is no manual jump.


  • Controlled descent is the same as in the previous three games, meaning getting off buildings starts with grabbing the ledge right beneath you first and then slowly making your way down. This feels very time consuming. Crouching sometimes gets in the way of descending.




  • We were told back and side ejects weren’t in the game but actually, they are! You can back eject pretty much anytime (though there is still no animation cancellation), while side ejects are very contextual. They’re short range but you can take advantage of them quite often and therefore make your runs a bit faster.


       


  • Diagonal movement is very difficult to perform, both when running up a wall or when jumping from a building, there is very little control over where Basim will jump to and it mostly feels like you’re magnetically attracted to where the game wants you to go, even if you tried to aim towards somewhere that required a tight diagonal jump.

Photo by Memento Gallery
Accepting that Baghdad’s full parkour potential is limited by this specific navigation system, there is only one thing that I wish could be fixed/improved.

Parkour in Mirage is riddled with a noticeable amount of stutter in many little movements and parkour transitions. The character will tremble every 2/3 actions while trying to perform easy tasks, such as hopping off a balustrade to land on a rooftop, or transitioning from an obstacle to the other. Getting into the flow of the game is possible and so is appreciating the team’s attempt made at implementing a better parkour over what they were given— but the stutter truly does get in the way and greatly breaks the immersion.

Ultimately, while (with some effort) I can get some satisfaction in my Mirage runs, I do hope this is the last time we see this specific parkour in Assassin’s Creed. Thank you for reading and let me know your thoughts!






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