Assassin's Creed: Mirage

In this episode of Game Pass Grab Bag, the hosts review Assassin's Creed Mirage, discussing its return to traditional gameplay, character development, and the historical context of the game. They express mixed feelings about the storyline and gameplay mechanics, while also contemplating the future of the Assassin's Creed series and its potential for innovation. In this episode, the hosts delve into the intricacies of game design, particularly focusing on the Assassin's Creed franchise and its latest installment, Mirage. They discuss the gameplay mechanics, storytelling elements, and the impact of microtransactions on the gaming experience. The conversation also touches on audio and graphics, providing a comprehensive review of the game's strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, the hosts share their final thoughts and ratings, reflecting on the evolution of the Assassin's Creed series and its place in the gaming landscape.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello again everyone, welcome toanother episode of Game Pass
Grab Bag, your weekly podcast for few games from the Game Pass
collection. Bring you 3 unique perspective
from varying skill range. I am the hidden 1 of this
episode. Andrew with me, the one who puts
the ass in Assassin Keith. You've had to have already used
that because I was just waiting for that to be my intro.
Possibly, but I haven't done this one.

(00:21):
And the one who puts the higher in the Creed?
Aaron. All right.
I did not expect that one. Yeah, that one is a good one
actually. I'll get that to you.
Did you get it? I do.
I do. OK, good it.
Was on 6 feet from the edge, so.And this week Aaron picked the
game we decided to play, Assassin's Creed Mirage by

(00:43):
Ubisoft. Assassin's Creed Mirage is the
third person in stealth action game where you were playing in
Assassin trying to take down theorganization of what are they
called this one, The Order. That's what they are the Order
which takes place in ancient Baghdad where you are playing as
Bassem. If you have played Assassin's
Creed Valhalla, you may recognize this character, but

(01:05):
you are going this is a prequel to Valhalla.
As to how Bassem got into his position that he did, but going
around whether or not before we get into this, I just want to
say this episode is quickly as sponsored by Gunner Glasses.
I was given the newest latest classes of the Borderlands,
which actually came in a pretty sweet case.

(01:27):
Well, that is cool. It's cool.
See that? Yeah, the only thing I was
looking. Does it say Borderlands 4 on it?
No it does not. And even even like the glass the
wipe also has. That's cool, really.
Cool, the only thing I was a. Little disappointed it didn't
come with any in game like cosmetic things.
We also got the Call of Duty aviator ones and that at least
came with a charm. This one doesn't come with any

(01:48):
like skins for Borderlands so I'll disappointed that.
But overall these glasses are very comfortable.
I because I'm not a big aviator fan so the aviator glasses are
kind of get a little tiring, butthese ones are super snug.
So they block out. Is it like blue light?
Blue light and yellow light that's normally isn't the yellow
light that's supposed to be in monitors.
Yeah, the ones that cause eye fatigue and stuff like that.

(02:10):
Yeah, which is they worked very well because I've been looking
at my monitor and it's like it doesn't do a much of a hue on
it, but it just, it makes everything much more smoother.
Yeah. So I'm going to join them.
So thank you so much, Gunner Glasses.
But getting into whether or not Assassin's Creed Mirage is a
game or a pass, I guess I will start this off.
I don't know what to give it over.

(02:31):
I I think I'm going to give it apass.
So Assassin's Creed Mirage is meant to be more of a
traditional Assassin's Creed game.
So if you were someone like me or probably any of us who's
played, you know the old Assassin's Creed games, this
one's very much more true to that because as of recent
Assassin's Creed's have gone a little more RPG with a gear
score leveling up. You know, make sure you go to a
different area of a higher leveland this one to get rid of all

(02:54):
that. You know, assassins, you know
when you assassinate someone they're going to be killed.
There's a few exceptions, but this is meant to be kind of more
true to form the old school Assassin's Creed.
But the only reason I'm giving apass, it's not a bad game, it's
just it's Assassin's Creed. After playing about 8 hours, I'm
like I have not done a single thing new.
I have seen all this. So it's like if you like

(03:16):
Assassin's Creed, you're going to you're going to like Mirage.
Overall, I think I liked Mirage more than a lot of other series
because I like the old style. I don't like the gear score, but
getting it because but once you get into the story too, I didn't
care for these characters. So it's it's not a bad game
Overall, I still enjoyed my timewith it.
It just didn't do much for me. Yeah, I mean, I've never been

(03:39):
big Assassin's Creed guy, but every time I've played when I've
always enjoyed them, like they they are fun games to play.
And so I think just like as a series, I give this a game in
general. But I'm with Andrew in that I
wasn't playing this at any pointgoing wow, I've never done this
before in an Assassin's Creed game.

(04:00):
I think the closest I came as I asked you, as I was like, I
don't necessarily remember if you had like some of these like
kind of like quick assassinations, like as you're
walking along to a street or whatever.
And that was kind of fun if, butI might have just missed that in
other games too. So it's fun.
It's a game in general, but it'snot like you have to play this

(04:21):
Assassin's Creed. It's just play one.
If you want to play one, you'll probably have a good time.
You know, it's funny because I feel like we're at least Andrew
and myself, we're going to end up in the same spot, but for
different reasons. This is a pass for me.
I am, but unlike what Andrew said, I like the RPG of the

(04:47):
newer Assassin's Creed because it just.
It scratches that edge. As I've said multiple times on
here, I like ARPGSI, like RPGSII, like things of find
gear, make numbers go up. I like that.
I get that that's a very unpopular take.
I know that most people prefer the classic and I think that's

(05:08):
why this game was made in the same year that Assassin's Creed
Shadow came out, This came out and they're both an Assassin's
Creed game, but they're both different.
Odyssey. To this day, Odyssey is my
favorite Assassin's Creed game. In fact, I think it's like one
of the only ones that I probablynear 100% of that thing because

(05:30):
I loved it that much. How many Assassin Creed games
have you played? Not many of the old ones.
Oh, I think I've probably I remember I have some memory of
the first one and I have some memory of the second one.
And I remember watching you playBlack Flag, but I had never
played Black Flag. So it was never a series I

(05:50):
entirely loved. It was so it was really random
to get into Odyssey because again, this was just not a
series that I was I was totally in love with.
But my in my issues with this game, I'm OK with it going back
to a traditional Assassin's Creed, but I I just think this
game is really surface level andnot much more beyond that and

(06:14):
that's ultimately why I get to apass on it.
Man, so Assassin's Creed, this is such a weird series.
Like I like Assassin's Creed games.
Do you? I think I feel like you really
like this franchise, Aaron. Like you said, you haven't
played the old ones, but I feel like any time we've talked about
Assassin's Creed, you've been like, loving them.
Obviously, except for this, yes.I never finished it either.

(06:36):
I'm pretty farted, but OK, I wanted to ask you this.
Yeah. Especially since you didn't play
the old games. No, but I do.
Know what is going on? Yes.
Do you know what is going on with the sci-fi stuff?
Yes, kind of because that stuff,that stuff does exist even in
the newer Assassin's Creed gamesas well.
So you're it's right, it's the Templars and the Assassins have

(06:56):
basically been fighting against each other for millennia and.
They've kind of steered away from the phrase Templar.
Yeah. Like they they still kind of
are, but like every game, I feellike they're coming with a new
name. I'm great that they're doing
with the assassins as. Well, so you're in the future, a
descendant of the assassins, so you're kind of fighting them in

(07:19):
the future by using the past to kind of piece things together.
If I remember correctly, it was something along those lines,
right? Yeah.
Yeah, OK. And and this is kind of this is
kind of something I wanted to bring up of like where do you
like OK if someone went to you today on the street today?
Hey, I really want to get the Assassin's Creed game.
Which one should I? Play.

(07:39):
Oh gosh, Part of the problem is just there's so many of them.
Exactly. Yeah, I this is what I think is
so weird about this. I feel like there's too many of
them. I love this sci-fi element to
it, but I've played majority of them.
I have no idea where it's going.Heck, even Ubisoft, I think it
was after like either Syndicate or like Unity when I'm not going

(08:00):
to try to spoil things, when a character in the present died,
even Ubisoft kind of came out and they're like, we don't know
what we're doing with the story.Like they even they were kind of
like, we don't know where we're going with this.
And that's what it ever since that moment, it does feel like,
oh, it still exists, but it's just sprinkled in there.
And it made me think, especiallywith Mirage, because there's no

(08:20):
modern. Like the usually Assassin's
Creed's game will start with a modern.
Here's the guy you're playing, you're seeing his ancestry and
that's how you're playing the game.
The Mirage does not start with that, but he obviously is
dealing with the sci-fi. And I'm like man, if someone
does not know what's going on, this must be very confusing.
Yes, so that you can add me intothat as I said that.

(08:42):
That's a place where I feel likeyou have to play them in an
order if you want to understand the story.
It happened at what order? I mean, I don't know, because
that's The thing is I, I remember playing the very first
Assassin's Creed. What was it?
PlayStation Two, I think maybe alongside the Xbox that came out
and. I think it's 360.

(09:04):
No, it might have been. It might have been 360.
It was. It was many, many years ago.
And right. And my whole point about that is
that I remember it being this intriguing story, like, oh,
cool, you're sent back in time and your aunt says, you know,
through DNA you're living their past and that's like how you
become an assassin. That was a really cool story.
And then over, you know, again, when you just have so many

(09:26):
different stories that you end up telling, you end up needing
to tell wild stories to keep coming up with them, at least to
link them back to the same thing, 'cause like, you can have
the same, you know, quote UN quote Romeo and Juliet story 10
times over the the star crossed lovers.
But you can't have that 10 timesin the same series and have it
makes sense or whatever, you know, like it had to change.

(09:48):
It's off the rails. And, and so, yeah, you pick this
up and me having played at leastthat first game or having played
some of the old ones when it says like, oh, you asked stories
about this character. Let me tell you more.
When did I ask them? Beats me.
It was a 2007 or PS3 and Xbox three 60s.
OK, so it was 360 that even still.

(10:10):
Yeah, I mean, I, I remember justthe the story being intriguing
and then I don't know, now it is.
Well, it's at some ways just rehashing and rehashing and
rehashing. And obviously nobody creates a
game anticipating making fourteen of them.
So you know, nobody, nobody builds out a story arc that's
going to cover all of that time.And heck, even when I was

(10:32):
playing the more modern Assassin's Creed games, the
future stuff or I don't know, maybe present day, whatever you
want to call it was lesser and lesser.
Like they're it was there, but you're kind of like it was there
because it felt like I had to bethere.
It was totally unnecessary and you hated.
It was like, it was like beginning and end.
Yeah. You kind of like how the game
ended. You like, hated.
Being in it because it was like,get me back to the fun stuff,

(10:57):
not me just walking around a cabin or something like that.
Reading stuff, yeah. So the concept though is cool.
Like I think that concept is really cool.
It's just how many times do you do it and it stops being cool?
I don't know. Probably by game five it it just
becomes a little mundane at thatpoint.
Yeah, but I think you made a good point though, Aaron, of how

(11:19):
many of these games there are. And I think that's just
generally my issue. Like I really like Assassin's
Creed. I like the series.
I'm not a huge hardcore fan. Like I one of my friends, like
day one, he buys any Assassin's Creed that comes out, he loves
them. And it's like for me, I'm like,
they all kind of feel the same. I was enjoying the overall
story, but I'm now I'm like, I don't, I'm so lost with it.

(11:39):
I don't care anymore. And like, I, I think, I think
they just Ubisoft flooded the market too much, I think with
Assassin's Creed games. And they also just honestly
bungled what ones they came out with, like Assassin's Creed
shadow. I feel like since the second or
third game, people asked to go to feudal Japan.
Like they should have came out with that game like a decade

(12:00):
ago. And now it's like they came in
out with a time where there's somany feudal Japan games and it's
just like, well, now you're placing it at a bad time.
And like, and that's a little bit how I felt with also Mirage.
You know, this take place in like an older, like a ancient
Middle Eastern area. You know, it takes place, you
know, in Baghdad, which obviously hasn't been in

(12:21):
Baghdad, but we've seen kind of this locale.
I mean heck of the first Assassin's Creed was in like
Jerusalem. Yeah, I was going to say, I
thought we've seen the Middle East before, which is fine too.
Like don't. And then Origins was in Egypt,
which these are different countries, but they're still
like kind of a missile Middle Eastern area.
So for me, I was just like that little Cal of this game is just
kind of like. I mean, you're going to run out

(12:41):
of locales at some point. Again, you're, you're so many
games deep into this thing. You're you're going to, you're
going to end up rehashing some of those locales.
That's fine too, because they because you can you can tie in
their stories like hey, like this is a character you
interacted is as part of the theorder, the assassins, the hidden

(13:02):
ones, whatever they call them ina given game.
It's like you can tell their story and expand on that and
that's all fine and I'll go backto it, but yeah, it's just, I
don't know. I partially, I think the fact
that I've played maybe 4:00 throughout the years, but we
played Odyssey, I think I playedmaybe a couple others like and

(13:24):
there's been so many. I it almost to me it almost
doesn't matter I guess if you'verehashed them or not.
So I want to though, I want to kind of break this down a little
bit. So let's let's just say and,
and, or maybe you're you're the most well versed in this, but
let's say you are not an Assassin's Creed fan.

(13:45):
This is the kind of like your first foray into it.
Let's so you're listening this video saying, should I check
this out? Story wise, even if you kind of
ignore the grander stuff, and I don't think this does a ton of
grander stuff, like you said, there is no modern time stuff.
It does kind of seem focused on the story in the game Al, albeit

(14:08):
with a lot of back story that you might not quite understand.
Do you think that story's even any good?
No, I think it's awesome. This is.
Yeah. This is kind of my complaint.
Your character, Bassam, I there's no back story to him.
You literally start off 0 motivation with your friend.
Hey, you guys are thieves. You're stealing stuff.
Oh, you work for the assassins. Oh, something happened.

(14:28):
Now you're part of the assassins.
I could care less about this protagonist, honestly.
Even even like his, the way he looks is very forgettable.
If I had a line up of charactersand you put the protagonist in
that line up, I probably couldn't pick him out.
I mean, that's perfect. He's he's a perfect assassin.
You can't pick him out, but I'm gonna.
That's true, Keith, but I. Don't know because I feel like

(14:48):
it's so early in the story. It's, I think it's before they
even put the the intro screen onon there that the event
happened. So I don't know if I would call
it a spoiler, but they immediately make you super
unlikable. And I get that they're trying to
make it like the hero's tale or whatever, but the event is 100%
your fault and you immediately blame your best friend and.

(15:10):
I'd say like the worst things. I don't.
Ever want to see you? Again, like.
You saved my life. Get out of here.
I mean, at the same time, so nonsense.
So that yeah, that that scene isawful for multitude of reasons.
You've named a bunch of them, but it's also so on the nose
that you are going to see that best friend character again.

(15:31):
Oh, which which the reunion is also very.
Weird. I know, I know.
So even when that scene is happening, you know what it's
doing. Like I immediately knew what
this was doing. It was like, OK, here we go.
I was a few hours into this gameand I sat there for a second and
said, like what? I this is such a stupid thing to

(15:52):
think, but what is my purpose? What is my purpose here?
I don't know what I'm motivated by.
Am I motivated by revenge? No.
I don't know if you remember, there was a very quick cutscene
basically saying, you know, Baghdad's in a terrible place
right now. You know, the government is
oppressing people and killing people and you're trying to, you
know, right, But. You set this in the middle of

(16:13):
Detroit and you're just someone who was raised in Detroit and
doesn't like how things are, so you're just going to clean up
the city in like in like doing. It's that RoboCop, but it
doesn't even. Are you RoboCop?
But it's not even obviously doing that because you're just a
thief. Like, yeah, all you were is a

(16:33):
thief that just wants to do more.
Like that is literally like your.
Parents were killed. No, or as far as I know.
Yeah, well. It's hold on, I I do.
I gotta say, I'm assuming we're all I know they explain more of
your character. Yes.
So I guess we should point that out.
I didn't beat the game. I'm like halfway.
The time to beat is about 16 hours.
And yeah, I'm like 8 hours. In not a horrible.
I do know there is a whole segment where it actually

(16:55):
explains more of your character in the past, so I'm at least
coming out the perspective at the moment of eight hours in and
I could care less about my. Yeah, well, my, my whole point
is when you're talking about kind of building the, the pacing
of the story is awful. It's very much just move, move,
move, move, move and it like so nothing settles.

(17:16):
I think the character development is slow, if at all
existing because there are plenty of characters in this
that are just characters, but they have literally nothing else
to them, they're just. Yeah, existing.
There's a couple times we're like, hello friend, do you
Remember Me? And I'm like.
No, not not particularly. So just story in general.

(17:38):
To me, this was a huge, huge bummer.
Even if you didn't know the greater arc of Assassin's Creed,
which I there are, those people obviously do exist.
If you're just coming into this just to play the game and you
just assume you're going to get a story with a starting, middle
and end, it does have those things, but it's not good.
I don't think anything there is original, unique or interesting.

(18:01):
So here's here's kind of what I took this as, and I could be
100% wrong, is that the idea wasas Anderson, let's give this
kind of the old school feel of it.
And it was supposed to just be almost like a little like love
note, so to speak to the Assassin's Creed fans.
And I know there's some defensiveness, you know, to what

(18:23):
the the Assassin's Creed fans want, I guess, but like, hey,
it's the old game. Here's just like a quick 16 hour
romp of a game, almost like a DLC, like one of those types of
deals. Like it's not, it's obviously
not it's a 16 hour game. It's it's a full game, but it's
almost meant to be like a Side Story DLC of just kind of throw

(18:44):
away and give you something in the meantime before we give you
one of those 100 plus hour Odyssey games or Valhalla games.
It it does feel like that, and it does.
And you, you got to consider Assassin's Creed Shadow did not
come out under good terms. No it did not.

(19:04):
It meant it meant a lot of backlash, so much so they
delayed the game literally to try and fix some of the the I
don't. Controversial.
Yeah, the controversial stuff they wanted to, there was
something about destroying ancient things in in Japan that
didn't sit well with a lot of people.

(19:26):
So they had to go back and fix alot of that stuff.
So, you know, you could, you could be right.
There is elements of this game that do feel pretty low budget.
The voice acting in general seems kind of low budget when
you compare it to a mainline Assassin's Creed game right now,
which are are pretty decent in their presentation.

(19:48):
This one did feel like it was ithad some rough edges.
It's not bad. It's not bad, but it it doesn't
feel like it had a AAA gloss putover it.
So yeah, I am. You could be right as this could
have been a smaller team that was put together to just kind of
create a classic feel, but it was just made.

(20:09):
Maybe as a hey, we, we still make good games to that.
Still love, Still love us? Well, because here's another
game. 'S kind of copy and paste.
I kind of agree with that, Aaron.
Because because here's another complaint I have because I feel
I don't know, unless you guys have more to talk about in the
story, I was going to jump into the game.
Well, I, I do a little bit. No, no, there's one more thing I
want to mention with the story. The other issue I have a little

(20:32):
bit with the story. I, I don't fault the game for
this. This is me being a dumb
American, but this obviously, you know, is in Baghdad and as
people are talking, they speak English.
But when they're saying phrases or places they speak in Arabic
in which in the subtitles they kind of translate a little bit.
There's a handful of times I'm they're, they say a bunch of

(20:53):
things, a location, a person or a title.
And I'm like, I'm so lost to me as a dumb American, I'm like,
this is just jargon. Like I wish the text had a color
coding of like, oh, if it's pink, that's a, that's a verb
or, or this is a noun. Because like a lot of times
they're like, oh, he went to banga, banga banga.
And I'm like, what is that a person?
What, what is that? And then they're like saying

(21:14):
things to each other and I'm completely lost in the story
because I just, I don't understand what they're saying
sometimes. Maybe you just don't read good,
because that didn't bother me atall.
I I. Feel like I got along pretty
well the. One that really bothered me, it
was right after the first assassination.
You guys sit down and you're like, we're going to open more
bureaus. And she's talking about people
and places are opening bureaus. And I'm like, who was that a

(21:36):
person? I don't know what you just said
to me. There's also great thing, I
guess the grand scheme is it didn't affect the story.
And like I said, I'm not faulting the game for this.
I know this is more of my shortcoming, but there was a lot
of times where I'm like, I don'tknow what they just said to me.
So I guess I'm just going to keep going.
I like that your solution was color code the words for me like
what are you 6? No.

(21:57):
Can I get a little? Can I get a little card?
A little color card. No, what game was it?
There was a game we played recently.
I want to say it was like a vowed.
It was an RPG but anytime a in game a reference was put in you
can hit a. Button the one on the on the oil
rig. I think it might not not still
wakes a deep no, it wasn't that.Well, that one did the same

(22:18):
thing as far as like the Scottish interpretation.
That's true translation. That's what I was thinking.
No, no, it was an RPG we played.But whenever someone said like a
locale, there was a button you could hit and it could refresh
your memory. Oh, this was the city that's in
this location. It was like, oh, OK.
And you can kind of follow alongthat way.
And like I said, I'm not faulting the game for it.
I know it's more of me being a dumb American, but there was a
handful of times I'm like, I don't know what they just said

(22:39):
to me. Share.
But anyway, go ahead Keith, theycan talk about gameplay.
So this is kind of piggybacking on this like it's kind of the
throw together shortened versionof this game is it had.
So Assassin's Creed has something that I love and I hate
is it's all about the the parkour and all of these things.

(23:01):
So everything is super snappy. Like every pole you go to, it's
just like snap, snap. You land on you land on you land
on it it it makes it very smooth, but it's always made it
a little choppy. But they've done a very good
job. This one does not.
I feel like hopping from a pole to a pole.
It's like very slow pause, stop,pause, stop, pause.
Never did I feel like I was likeparkouring through the city.

(23:24):
And now maybe I get some skills later on that I didn't get to.
But it didn't have that Assassin's Creed feel, but it
did all of the things that Assassin's Creed does, if that
makes sense. Don't have any issues with the
parkour. I, I thought it flowed pretty
nicely. I, I, I feel like the complaints
that you're mentioning right there, I feel like they've

(23:45):
always had that where it's felt smooth, but there's still some
chop there. There's still some things that
are going to slow you down or you're going to go to a corner
that there's not another thing to jump to.
I didn't have any issues with it.
I mean, did you think the movement was bad, Andrew?
No. Or just to be.
I mean it. Was very Assassin's Creed.

(24:06):
It was still the same. Yeah.
Maybe that's just a personal thing then.
It it feels pretty much the sameto me.
That stuff I don't have an issuewith.
All the assassins still feel like exactly the same.
None of that stuff feels any different or unique.
I can't think of one thing that it was presented to me that I
was like, oh, OK, well we haven't seen that before.

(24:26):
Including a flying eagle to scaneverything.
That's that's all still there still Ubisoft.
So your map is still littered with.
No, this one definitely has fluff.
Cut down it is it? Definitely.
Is. But there's still a lot of
markers on your map. There is, but it's like
shopkeeper and I'm like I don't need to know where we're
sinking. Blacksmith shopkeeper is.
I visit them like 3 times. If there is in fact this is kind

(24:51):
of mentioned, a dialogue. If there is one element that is
quintessential Assassin's Creed,what do you think it is like if
you were to nail it down to thisis like the Assassin's Creed
thing? In reference to what?
Like gameplay or gameplay? I mean the assassins, the

(25:15):
assassinations. No, and they even mention a
dialogue. It is the freaking leap of
faith. To this day, the leap of faith.
It's still is an exhilarating feeling, like it is still a cool
feeling to dive off of a building into a hay Bale.
I don't care that there's been fourteen of these and I've done

(25:35):
it a million times. It's still feels satisfying as
I'll get out. And even at the beginning when
you're kind of training, she says that like the leap of faith
is like that core element of it.Like I was thinking about that
as I was playing and I was like,if an Assassin's Creed game did
not have a leap of faith, it would not feel like an
Assassin's Creed game anymore. No, that would never changed.

(25:57):
No. It's been how they flip, how
they land, the sound effect. Everything is exactly the same
since day. One, it's one of those things
you. Synchronize at the top of one,
yeah. I just, I don't hate it.
Like anytime I I see one of those Dang towers, I'm excited
to climb it, I'm excited to synchronize, and I look forward
to my jump down. I'm not excited to climb it, but

(26:17):
I'm excited to get a new travel point.
That is true. Climbing it isn't all that hard.
I mean, they they make it a little puzzly now, but yeah,
that's that's not a really a puzzle.
I. Actually have a question.
This is actually I I know I saidI was dumb a story so and this
is kind of story related. Is your eagle supposed to
represent your connection to thetechnology world?

(26:39):
Because it says synchronize and you like synchronize with your
eagle. And I just had that thought as I
was playing. It said it was like, again,
that's in there. Pretty common too when you
synchronize it always. I know the pan.
The pan. I know that it's common, but
that's why I was saying is like if that's why it's always the
overarching. It happens in every game.
You always have your bird and it's always synchronized.

(27:00):
That's like your connection to like give you all your unlock
points and all this. I don't know, it was just a
weird thought I had. So you were playing as the
player, and I guess that's why it's called synchronization,
because I guess what you're saying is it wrong?
Yeah, but it's not like you're, you know, Bassem here is
actually synchronizing with. Anything you're synchronizing?
Himself is actually going and memorizing, yeah, but the bird

(27:22):
is a real bird and it's supposedto be there with him and like
giving him information. It's just you as a player is.
Who's synchronizing? That's fair.
That's what it was. Just a pure random thought I had
that I was playing. I Another element that I've
enjoyed, I think this is kind ofin the evolution of these

(27:42):
Assassin Creed games, and I'll give them credit in this one.
The first time I remember this happening was was it Syndicate
that took place in France? Unity.
Unity took place in there was a French Revolution.
OK. Yeah, you were.
Great. Yeah, Syndicate was England in
the industrial. Era, so the first one I

(28:03):
remembered. Then it was Unity that really
leaned into the historical element of the game.
I will give them props for this.They do a good job in this game
of introducing you to historicalfacts of the area.
And you know, they, they did that and, and some of the newer
games as well. I, I will give them props for

(28:25):
that. I think that's kind of a, a
smart way of kind of showing that you put attention and care
into trying to recreate that area.
And 'cause I remembered, didn't they do like this whole thing
with like the the Notre Dame Cathedral and Unity was like

(28:46):
scaled 1 to 1? Yeah, they did that.
Yeah, I guess you're right. Like they did do a good amount
with Unity. I know for the big one was was
Odyssey he? Doesn't say Odyssey had like a
Odyssey historical option. Like you could basically turn
off combat and be like, I just want to learn the history of
Greece. Yeah.
You could turn like our fly on camera and kind of a scope the

(29:08):
area because they did the whole landscape.
Yeah, took one to one. But in Unity, I remember, yeah,
they did do main key structure is 1 to one, but I don't think
they exactly did France 1 to 1. No, I think it.
Was like, I think it was like historical places and stuff like
that. They went and actually kind of
recreated it out as a way to go and visit them in in video game.

(29:29):
I'll I'll give them credit for that.
I think that's a really smart idea to take a fantasy game, but
actually show some care and attention to kind of trying to
match some of the historical attachments to it.
I think that's just a smart thing to do.
And this game had it too. Whether you don't, you can
ignore it, it's all optional. But again, you you can see that

(29:52):
stuff kind of pop up as you go and visit these areas.
And it would give you a kind of a little introduction into what
that was. I think it's that's cool.
It's again small, but I think a smart move for them to do stuff
like that. So, yeah, I was just looking at
it and this is kind of what you're saying, but they've had
Discovery Tour mode and an Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

(30:14):
It turned off all enemies and you could just teleport around,
but like, you walked around the map and like, could just explore
it. Yeah, that's cool.
It was, yeah, It was just, it was like a sandbox mode, which
is something that no other game like it has done, which is at
least unique. So there's something to be said
for that. I can't really think of an
equivalent of a game that has some historical connection that

(30:36):
actually spends the time. Obviously there's probably some
RDSS that exist that do stuff like that, but.
See that or so like Combat Focus, because otherwise it's
like a Minecraft, you know, sandbox mode or something like
that. Yeah.
Well, clearly you haven't playedKingdom Come Deliverance.
Yeah, again, but that's like, but that's a, that's a strategy
game. Is that based now first?
Person Section. RPG.

(30:57):
But is it actually historically based off of stuff?
It is. It's very cool.
I thought it is. They have.
I thought it was a fictional area.
No, it's it's Bohemia. No, it's actually during an
actual war. So it's during what's this last,
and I'm drawing a blank on the other Sigismund, his cousin

(31:17):
Sigismund when they're kind of fight over in Bohemia.
It's a real war that happened. Even the characters you're
interacting with, you can go to a codex and it actually gives
you historical documentation on it.
Sometimes they say they'll straight up say like, oh, there
was no description of this person's, you know, appearance,
but he's described as this. So that's why he looks like
this. That's cool.
It's very, very cool if you're actually digging the Kingdom to
Gondolitons to do a very good job with historical.

(31:38):
See, I I would encourage more games to do stuff like that.
I think that's a cool thing to do.
Yeah, I, I fully agree. It's like, that's what I liked
about like the Assassin's Creed.It's kind of cool going through
these like kind of ancient times.
Like I said, I was just a littledisappointed in like this era
because it's like, oh, you know,we, we've kind of say a middle.
Eastern, hold on, hold on. But what era would you like to

(32:00):
see at this point? This is where I say Detroit.
I think, I think it gets modern day assassins.
I, I, I just think we've kind oftapped out most of the market.
So what would you like to see atthis point?
I mean? South America.
Have we seen South America? Well, are their assassins there?
I don't know. They.
Finally did it but feudal Japan was always the number one but

(32:22):
feudal China would still be verycool.
And they they did these two D games of China and Russia which
people were like why are you notdoing the full Assassin's Creed
games on these? Those two locations alone would
be very cool to do. You know, Keith, actually you
did just you did just hit me there a little bit.
I could see like a Mayan Assassin's Creed.

(32:43):
And another one I was going. To say they are coming out with
one, they're doing a Salem witchish era one.
It's currently code named Hex, but it's like hinted at that
it's kind of supposed to be likeSalem witch trial kind of era.
Which interesting are you going to be like a Robin Hood?
To this day, I think I wish it was so much better than it was

(33:06):
because I do remember playing this one.
What was the Assassin's Creed during the American Revolution?
Three, I think it was just called. 3 Is this the third one
right? That was a sick era.
That could have been It was Patriot.
Yeah, but most people did like that one.
I generally what it is is almosteverybody universally says,
'cause they understand at the beginning of this episode.
Which one would you recommend? I think an Assassin's Creed fan

(33:30):
10 out of 10 times would recommend Black Flag.
It seems like Black Flag is universal.
They claim there's been a lot ofrumors that that's being remade
right now. Yes, which is also another
bungled thing of Ubisoft. People have been requesting a
remastered a Black Flag for the longest time and which they were
going to do, but it turned into Skull and Bones.

(33:51):
Yes, yes, so and so now that Skull and Bones is kind of done.
Was just a worse version of the the pirate ship battles.
But that's everyone liked that one because it introduced
something very unique and that was ship combat, and that was
actually a lot of fun. Yeah, I I do remember that one.
That one is pretty good. I mean, is it better than Sea of

(34:12):
Thieves combat? I don't think so.
A wildly different game. No, they're both pirate ships.
But yeah, so that's that's my whole point.
My my bigger point was just you're getting close to where
you're running out of, I think, unique eras.
Even if you went and did a Russia 1, during what time

(34:34):
period is that just kind of feellike brotherhood and a little
bit of unity? Is it going?
To feel where you say like Persia because you have like
Prince of Persia and I don't know, like that kind of.
Middle East. You're all over and yeah.
I've seen a lot of death. You could do Russia with the
invasions of the Mongols. What?

(34:54):
About like the Scottish Scottishthe English Revolution.
But again, is it still going to feel samesy?
Probably. I mean, that's.
Under Western Europe. I'm not disagreeing that you
kind of aren't, but what we have7 continents like you're you're
going to run out at some point. Well.
I know I. Dimitri chat suggested
underwater. No, I get.

(35:16):
It there we go go far and go into the future.
They're going to project out what your DNA is going to be and
you're going to it's a whole. I, I, I I'm just saying Andrew's
criticism lizards is that it needs to be in a different
locale. My whole point is it's still
going to feel kind of savesy. I.
What about Assassin's Creed in the Cars universe?

(35:39):
A Disney crossover with Assassin's Creed.
Oh they'll re release Black Flagbut with Johnny Depp my couch.
Like why is it? Oh because they're not EA that's
why. That hasn't happened yet.
Not yet. That's Activision.
Activision anyways. Yeah.
So although to say gameplay wise, it's Assassin's Creed, I

(36:01):
don't this just doesn't do anything different.
It doesn't change. Yeah.
I don't know if there's a single, I don't know if there's
a single element in here that was like, oh, that's surprising.
What difficulty did you play on,Andrew?
I'm hoping you played on hard. Just saying no.
I think it's just a normal no because I think the hard you
only had like one death or something like that or no if you
died it like set you back super far and I was like I want to do

(36:23):
that. Just sounds like a headache.
No, I think it's just a normal. I was hoping you played on hard
because I played on normal as well.
And when? You only got a week to review.
It's a matter of. That is why I've been playing
with easy a lot more lately but it but the reason I asked is
like it mentioned specifically the not the AI but like the the

(36:43):
computer intelligence and adapter.
They're just nonsensically dumb on normal, so I don't know if
they were actually smart at all on hard.
See, I mean, I mean, we're glossing a bit over with the
gameplay, but I mean, this is where I think the game does
shine because like I said, this is much like old school
Assassin's Creed. When you assassinate someone,
they die and it's like, oh, thisis this is actually fun Because

(37:05):
I got kind of sick of that grindof oh, my gear score is not high
enough When I assassinate someone only takes half their
health and I have to go into combat.
I'm like this is annoying. No, I loved it.
But, and I like that it's just, it's just killing people and
it's, it's to me, this is a muchmore relaxing Assassin's Creed
experience. There's not a lot of like in the
modern ones. It's like liberating forts.

(37:27):
And if you get caught once they raise alarms and now you're
fighting just hordes of enemies and it's like, this is annoying.
Sounds awesome. And this, it's like if you get
caught, you fight maybe like twoor three guys and all right,
cool, I get to move on. To me, this is just a a more
relaxing Assassin's Creed that Idon't have to feel like I have
to, you know, devote so much time to.
I'm so you disagree. Your face is like.

(37:48):
See, I'm so in the middle on this because I like both styles
of those gameplay and I think the both are fine with an
Assassin's Creed. But also I think if I want to
play like for liberation and gear score and grinding and all
of that, please just give us another Shadow of War game.

(38:09):
Just that's all I want. If I, if I want that's out
truthfully. But I'd take it in Assassin's
Creed because Odyssey was prettyfun and had some of those
elements. But I also do just like kind of
just being able to take out like10 guys in rapid fire, just like
assassination, assassination, assassination.
It doesn't matter what they are leaping from buildings and just
having that my, my core mechanicfor kills.

(38:31):
I think both are fun and Assassin's Creed has done both.
I just think it does the the current one that we're playing
best. Keith might have just kind of
blew my mind a little bit. Keith actually said something
that was intelligent. Is is shadow?
This is how this is how Aaron's going to get me to just quit the

(38:52):
podcast. He's going to be like Keith
finally said something right? So I'm done.
Is Shadow of War the greatest Assassin's Creed game ever made?
Probably. I mean, even the Nemesis system,
yeah, it is a perfect. It made sense.
As obviously it was patented so you don't see anything else.
So it was very unique to that the well.
I think it's actually going to be free soon.

(39:15):
I don't. Depends on the supplements.
This the company went under and then it's, you know, there's
talks about selling off some of those patents.
So we'll see, we'll see. My my whole thing is now that
Keith mentioned it, I was like, oh Dang, the assassinations were
really good at that. The action was really good at
that. The Nemesis board is better than

(39:36):
any of the assassination boards in these games.
Yeah, although again, I did likeit.
Odyssey, I did have a lot of funwith that.
But what was cool with the Nemesis 1 is it was always
evolving. It was always kind of changing
and altering. They've never got the same fight
twice. Really.
Yeah. The best Assassin's Creed ever
made is is Shadow of War or Shadow War.

(40:00):
Yeah, I it's that's one of thosegames that I don't think about a
lot, but every like when it hitsmy brain, it might have been one
of my favorite games ever created, honestly, it was so
good, like it had just all of the right elements.
But anyway. I got to fire that back up.
It's been a while. See I I feel like the more I'm
talking about this game, I guessI probably actually would

(40:22):
recommend this as a first time Assassin's Creed game.
It's. It that's the thing, right?
Nothing was bad about this game.I, I wouldn't say anything was
bad outside of the story. I would say the story is bad,
but gameplay wise, like if you're looking to just
experience Assassin's Creed I, I, I really have nothing to
fault you on. I would agree.
I I think. The.
Ubisoft version of this map is less aggressive it is nowhere

(40:47):
near what we were doing on watchdogs that's just an
absolute disaster This is a little bit cleaner still got a
decent amount on there 16 hours is not a a long time like that's
a a an OK amount of game enough little hidden things as Andrew's
kind of pointing out here on thescreen you can kind of see on
the right there there's a bunch of little hidden things you can

(41:08):
go find around the map to kind of keep you busy I really.
Marry it too. What are that just?
When you fire this up, I don't think it was here when the game
launched, but it has a new game Plus.
Obviously none of us have gottento that point yet.
What do you think that would look like?
This just doesn't seem like a game that would need.
Oh, it tells you right at the beginning a new game that you

(41:28):
keep, you keep your skills and Ithink your gear.
Yeah, but yeah. And I think I was like, yeah.
Then what? Truly, that's you.
You just reminded me, Andrew, that's what the hard mode is and
almost made it intriguing. Not fully rogue like, because
there's nothing procedurally generated about this, but when
you die, you keep all of your skills and I think gear, but you

(41:52):
start from the beginning every time you die on hard.
So it's got this weird element. Oh, I wouldn't want to do it,
but it's got this weird element of like, yeah, if you've got
five hours into the game, but you're going to breeze through
those first five hours and probably an hour now.
Although it's not all about. Gear it's more about the skills.
That's going to be another one of my complaints.
The skills of this game are wildly unimpressive.

(42:13):
You have 3 trees of like what? The center 1 is all about your
gadgets. Are you getting more gadgets?
Do you have more perks with yourgadgets?
You have one that's kind of so in other Assassin's creeds it
usually was like 01's based on like physical combat, 1's based
on like scouting and one's basedon like assassinations.

(42:33):
And this one, it seemed they're all kind of like a mixed mash or
stuff from the middle one with straight up gadgets.
But it's like, but none of the skills seemed that good.
Like usually when I'm looking through the skill tree, I'm
like, oh, that's I want to get that perk.
That perk, you know, let's me instantly teleport and
assassinate people and do all this crazy stuff.
These were very much just like, Oh yeah, your vision's a little
bit better. You can now reveal people

(42:54):
through the enemies when you're crouching and it's like hell.
Those are OK, but didn't that feel more like a classic
Assassin's Creed though? Yes, because I feel like the
newer ones. Those skill trees are massive.
There are there's a bunch of totally crazy things that you
can start to build into this. This just feels.
Forced to do the side quest stuff so you could get the
skills to get those correct stuff which I didn't mind doing.
This. I like those games, but this one

(43:17):
it just seemed like a pared downversion.
It was. It was very focused on you just
focusing on progressing your missions and assassinating
people. I just get.
It's like it was supposed to be like a re release of the first
one or some weird DLC to the first one that they just slopped
out into a full game. I.
Don't want to call it slopped again.

(43:39):
I know it's, it's so funny because I was going to say at
the very beginning, because Andrew and I both called this a
game in some varying level. You called the pass, but we've
all agreed on every symbol of. This game.
Well either way we're we've all just about agreed on this game
and every so nothing bad about it.
That was part of the thing that I, I figured out at the
beginning when Andrew came at itas negative, but for a

(44:02):
different, you know, but at a different point where I was
negative at a different point. So, you know, we all kind of
agree. But yeah, I, I do want to be,
like I said at the beginning, I,I don't think this, I don't
think this is a cash grab. I don't, it's just, it's just
not AAA. It, it definitely feels like it
was just a smaller group of people with a very focused

(44:23):
vision on what this thing was going to be.
And it's not anything outside ofthat.
Not that my, my, my opinion matters a whole lot, but I don't
I to be clear, I don't want to call it a cash grab.
I don't think it's that I lopped.
I did call it slopped, lopped itout.
I did say slopped. I will.
I will admit to those words, butI did not call it a cash grab.

(44:44):
All I was saying is that it feltlike it was kind of just thrown
together a little bit, but that's all I'm saying.
I don't. Know if I'd go that far?
I don't know if I'd say it was thrown together.
I just don't think it received it's it's AAA gloss, that's all.
Yeah, I'd say copy and paste. You know, is there even a like a

(45:04):
cash shop on this thing? Yes.
Was there? Of course there's all kinds of
skins you can I. Didn't even bother looking for
him. No, I did.
It was. I mean, it's definitely less
because they don't throw it in. Your face as much either I will
say that. That's why I was kind of
thinking I was like, you know, Iremember going through the menus
pretty cleanly. And in previous Ubisoft games,

(45:26):
you cannot go through menus cleanly.
Because they're RPGs, they're all about grinding.
So they're like, hey, do you want a shortcut?
Do you want to buy a shortcut? Yeah, buy, you know, do you want
to reveal? That I was but.
Even them, even the skins, they were aggressive in Odyssey from
what I remember. I was going to give these guys,
you know, at least a Gold Star, but now I can.
I can't. No, I don't mind.
I. Just saw, I don't mind.

(45:47):
Micro. Transactions I I did not get
thrown into my face because I distinctly remember when I'm
playing a USF game it is throwing ads in my face to go
check out their cash shop. I just, you know what it is
throwing your face is that Ubisoft Connect thing.
It is thrown on your screen in the worst resolution possible.
And so I'm just like. What it is this I?

(46:10):
I've been playing it on PC and it I I will.
I do hate this about Game Pass. On PC.
You have to download everybody'slauncher to play it.
Oh you do? Yes.
So I have an EA launcher. Ubisoft, I have an.
Ubisoft launcher. Well, I have a Blizzard
launcher, so every time you actually install the game, you

(46:30):
launch it. It launches the launcher first,
which I cannot stand. So that little Ubisoft Connect
thing is all built into it. I'm like, get this out of my
face. So yeah, that's also a negative
on the gameplay. Ubisoft Connect.
All right. But getting into the audio,
though, the music is, is fine. It's it fits well with the

(46:53):
music. This voice actress, I'm sure
you've all know what you're talking about.
How do you say your name? Yeah.
Roshan, yeah. Is that?
Well, that's the character, but the voice actress is Shari AG-AG
Dashlu. I'm I'm one of your your.
Yeah, probably don't know her name, but you know her voice and

(47:15):
she's. A toast factor as a human being.
Voice. It seems very weird.
It's a very weird choice to get that as a voice actress.
Because the character she's playing is kind of younger and
it didn't fit I well, I thought with the character.
It's just a tough voice to listen to.
It is. It's.
Just a tough voice. This is this is a weird

(47:36):
throwback, but do you guys remember playing a Dota?
Because that's all I know the name Roshan from and I and I'm
sure that it's actually historically accurate to Baghdad
and all that, but that's all I know it from.
Yeah, her voice was weird from amusic standpoint.
All I had playing in my head theentire time was Aladdin.

(47:57):
I was just. Playing somebody used to take
the creed. Feel like 1 jump ahead of the
the long as I'd be running away that was that was just playing
in my head constantly. OK, that was it in my head.
And then I thought of The Lion King, and I cried in the fields.
Wait, Nope, that was it. Try and flip this on me.
Don't try and flip this on me, OK?
That's not what we're talking about, all right?
Voice acting fine, ish. Mostly fine.

(48:20):
It felt, again, kind of rushed, kind of by the books.
I'm actually going to give a little props though.
I actually think the music is pretty decent.
It's it's actually better than I'd expect it to be in a product
like this. Though again, not where, not
where the kind of feels like a AA game, not a AAA game, but

(48:45):
this has some actual voiced music and it even like even when
it was introducing you to the game.
So again, playing this on an ultra wide monitor is actually
kind of pretty trippy. Games are kind of funny with
ultra wides. Like some have full support,
some don't. This was a hybrid.
So when it did the Assassin's Creed Mirage logo, when the

(49:08):
music really rises there really cool.
It went to widescreen, but then it would go tighter whenever
there was dialogue. So it just kind of close in the
black boxes on the side for it. So that scene was really cool
because it wide and open and themusic hit and I was like, Oh,
that's really cinematic. That was actually really well
done. And I you know, I took note.

(49:31):
I was like, you know, the music's actually again, there
are people singing these. So this isn't just some kind of
cheaply put together music. This sounds like somebody
actually spent some time making this music.
So I I will give it a Gold Star on music.
Will tell you and and this is and this is like a something

(49:53):
that I I would imagine I am 100%wrong on, but this is actually
more of the dumb American brain that Aaron Andrew was saying
earlier that could be any Arabicmusic because I just don't know
the words that I'm no, no, I'm not it was good.
OK, I'm I'm 100% agreeing with you.
I but when you're but it it's just in my brain when you talk

(50:16):
about that being like voiced over, I'm like, I don't know did
they just grab that from somewhere?
I don't know it was. This is coming from the guy that
said he was singing. Aladdin while playing was
because Aladdin is fantastic. And it was.
Fun. And I and that's not even a
joke. I really was maybe not singing
out loud, but in my head, but mypoint being is that's where

(50:37):
that. Doesn't take place Baghdad,
which is where this game takes place.
I don't act. I'm American.
Takes place takes place in the Middle East somewhere.
Agrabah, you don't know that because Agrabah a real city.
No it does not. OK.
Thank you anyways. My biggest point being.
Persia. Is that there's, I mean, the

(50:59):
music is good and I wasn't saying it was bad.
Just in my brain, I'm like, I don't know, is this like like
genuinely licensed music that they created for this?
Or was it just like, I don't know, like free music?
Stock Arabic music. I don't know.

(51:25):
So what you're saying is what you're saying is?
You. Will not give them a Gold Star
because you don't actually know if this is original music.
No, but I will give them a very polished Silver Star.
OK. This isn't like Halo that I'm
like I know that someone record.I'm just perfectly.

(51:46):
That scene was awesome. I agree with you.
I'm I'm. Venturing a guest here.
I'm going out on a limb here because the music is it has a
modern feel to it. It definitely has some beats in
there. I'm going to guess this is all
original music, but this is justme speculating here, but they
will take your very polished Silver star.
I'm sure they're they're. Happy they've been, they've been

(52:09):
waiting to find out what I gave it.
I will say at least the Gold Star I get for the music.
I do like that there is quite a bit of like Arabic being spoken,
especially when you run through the street.
It works well. That doesn't stop.
The door, it is Andrew. That's true, it could be stock
Arabic language. So since we cannot.

(52:30):
They just typed in Google Translate the words they wanted.
I also love the best thing aboutthis podcast is we do 0
integrity in researching this soKeith just threw out an
accusation there. With.
Literally 0 research this some guy, some guy who wrote this
music is probably listening to this.

(52:52):
Like what the heck as Keith's going do I know that someone
wrote this and. There wasn't credits at the
beginning. We could have looked that up.
So he keeps on a quick Google search and it's.
Truthfully, I'm not going to look at the credit.
See what if I did? So so keep this thorough

(53:12):
accusation. Gave him a silver star for no
reason. I had said journalism complete
and walked away from it. So well done.
Are you going to check me on it?Absolutely not.
I gave him a Gold Star. I think it sounds good.
If you stole it that good on him.
He's still getting a Gold Star. It was very well stolen music.

(53:37):
Oh yeah, Graphics environments Ithought were great.
Character models I thought were very iffy.
People's faces can do that. Really creepy.
Yeah. Look.
Nope, Nope, Nope. I did.
I I went too far down the road. I don't like it.
It's by a guy named Brendan. That guy definitely knows Arabic

(54:03):
come. Like I can't, I can't trust that
this is, this is. See, This is why you do not do
the integrity. This guy absolutely just went to
ChatGPT. It was like, give me some air,
can you say? Oh, I'll be Brendan so.
He did get late. Late city, OK.

(54:25):
And so. Does it get any Lincoln trusts?
Ubisoft is French, so do keep inmind Brandon Angelicidis is is
probably very French. It's it's just some guy who
works at Ubisoft and was like hewas tasked with it one day.
We don't he just. He just went to SoundCloud and
he looked up what was free. Get out of here.

(54:47):
He slapped us. Hey, that's what exposition 33
did. Good point.
They went to SoundCloud. Yeah, Graphics.
There's our Expedition 33 reference there.
OK. Thanks, Environments looked
pretty good and no real complaints there.
The city itself looks pretty detailed.
Look more like Jerusalem than Baghdad though, honestly.
Get out of here a decent amount of NBCS in this game, but again,

(55:11):
character models are it's especially in some of those
cutscenes. They think like it was a mixed
bag, like everyone slowly like that isn't too bad and then
some. You're like, well, so.
It I put I put this picture in our Discord there.
I don't know if this was in everybody's game or if it was
just some weird video glitch, but in this in one of the

(55:34):
opening areas, you going there'slike a bunch of little kids
running around. You talk to one of them and this
child was like 60. 2. You had that with the giant.
It's like what is going on with?This what was the one that was
like? They just had the freakiest look
staring at you as you're talkingto them and you're like.
Is that the kid that tries to pickpocket you?

(55:55):
No. No, no, this was like.
By the way, that kid, when do you ever get a slingshot that
that kid created? Or would they make a big deal
about that kid creating a slingshot and you're like
anyways? Died.
I wouldn't, but you should have.You should.
Have carried on his legacy and like taken his slingshot.
I was. I was waiting for a slingshot.

(56:17):
That bothered me. I did.
That's a gameplay and story element.
But. Yes, what does that slingshot?
I said. How much?
How much is that slingshot? I'd like to buy it right now.
But you could that's that was a special edition.
You get that slingshot. Yeah.
That a boy gets crucified at thebeginning of the game.
You get a slingshot. Could you please name?

(56:37):
Backer in the NFL. But you can see it even just in
that brief picture. You see it in the eyes.
And you know, all these eyes arenot going to look right in some
of these scenes. And they don't, they don't too
much like when when graphics go a little funky in this, it's
it's always eyes and teeth. The eyes and teeth are just

(56:59):
always a little off. See, this is when Andrew should
have talked about the gunnery glasses because his eyes look
great right now. Thanks.
My eyes have so much less fatigue now.
Achievements, though, the achievements are fine.
They're very typical Assassin's Creed.
You do get a handful of achievements that are very much
gameplay specific. You know, make sure you like the

(57:20):
easiest one I got, I know even Keith got it, is, you know,
assassinate 10 people without raising an alarm.
So that's easy. But a lot of it's, yeah, like
sleep 20 guards with a blow dart, you know, get like 50
headshots with throwing knives. So some of it kind of takes some
time. But overall the achievements are
very manageable. And like I said, for a 16 hour
game, I'd say it's a pretty solid game for achievement
hunters. A lot of the achievements you're
getting are just playing the game.

(57:41):
All of my achievements were on Ubisoft Connect, so that's where
it's storing my achievements. So if you guys check me out on
Ubisoft Connect. Send me a you'll see a friend
request. You'll see all the achievements
I got on that game. Day.
I hate these launchers so much. Like how?
Does it not connect back to Xboxthough?

(58:02):
That doesn't make sense. Like I get the day once you have
the launcher, but it would. Do the same thing with with
Diablo. Every time I would fire up
Diablo, you would click on it inXbox, but then it would fire up
a Blizzard launcher and then you're launching it through
Blizzard. I don't, I don't know why.
I I don't know, maybe I'm missing something like I did
like. I can understand you have to

(58:24):
play through the launcher, it's just the achievements should
crossover, that's all. No, I kept getting the Ubisoft
connect pop ups for my achievements.
I wasn't getting the Xbox ones. Way less exciting.
Well, I mean I don't care. Andrew loves collecting the the
achievements. I don't.
Really say that much? Did you only play this on
Ubisoft Connect or on PC? I did play one session on Xbox.

(58:50):
Oh, as I said, because you do have two achievements.
It does, yeah, it does progress.So that is I guess if anybody
does want to know, it does, it does cross progress.
So there you. Go.
So if you just booted up your Xbox you'd probably get a flood
achievements. Maybe I don't know, I I knew I I
had some time to play it on my Xbox a little bit, but majority
of the time I I'm able to play it on my PC.

(59:12):
So I figure of this group, when we do these these podcasts, I
can always kind of give a littlebit more of the PC perspective
on how it played just because I it's easier for me to be able to
play on my PC. Game ran great.
Play this with all keyboard. I mean I I.
Think you know first person shooters a lot of people do

(59:33):
because of mouse like I just wonder if like these guys are if
everyone just gets a controller now.
You could you? You could.
I'm sure there's some lunatic out there playing this on a
mouse and keyboard. I'm not that lunatic, though.
Oh. You're just saying like I'm
playing on PC that kind of help people compare and you're like,
people are lunatics on the face of controlling.

(59:54):
PC. And if you are that.
Person. Who chooses to play all of your
games on that? And you're a well mannered
listener, you know, just out there living your best life and
Aaron is insulting you. Please, please roast him.
No, actually, yes, I would like,like, I would like someone to
comment. Yes, I play Assassin's Creed
with a mouse and keyboard. I want to know who that person
is. Please make angry comments

(01:00:15):
Aaron, for calling you a lunatic.
Well, I comment, I really want people to do.
I really want to know if someonenever played Assassin's Creed,
what Assassin's Creed would you say they should?
Start Black Flag I already. Told you wait, if someone oh, so
this is a question for people who have played it, don't.
Say Black Flag. 10 out of 10 will say it.
I already told you. Black Flag?

(01:00:36):
I don't know, because when it comes to the future story, Black
Flag is one of the most confusing ones.
Doesn't matter, the gameplay wasso good they don't care.
The gameplay was good, but I mean like if someone's like I
really want to get the Assassin's Creed story.
It's too late. We'll see that.
See, that's where you, I think that's where.
You have to give up. I think that's where you give
two separate recommendations because you're asking 2 separate
questions is if I really want todive into the Assassin's Creed

(01:01:00):
series, where do I be like? What's the movie?
Yeah, I'll do that. But like, so like what game do I
want to do? I want to play first is what is
the best Assassin's Creed Creed game to play?
They they, I think you have two different answers, all right,
because black flags, obviously the latter.
And then there's where do I jumpinto it?

(01:01:20):
So. Michael Fassbender starred in
the Assassin's Creed movie. Do you guys even remember that?
Yeah. Doesn't mean I recognize, but I
never tell you what he looks like until I see him.
Magneto you don't know what magnesium.
Do you still say things that I don't?
OK, there you go. Yeah, I recognize that guy.

(01:01:41):
I just listen to that. No X-Men, Keith.
And doesn't that take place in the Middle East?
And they picked Mac Michael Fastbender.
What a time. Yeah, 'cause.
I think it's supposed to be likethe original.
Remember when Jake Gyllenhaal was the Prince of Persia?
Do you? Remember.
That I just thought there's a trailer for Plants versus

(01:02:01):
Zombies movie too. Hollywood was awesome back then.
They did not care. Listen, And then they flipped.
And now it's like, no, we got to, we got to, we got to reverse
every role here. But back then they were just
like, yeah, the Prince of Persiais clearly Jake Gyllenhaal.
It's crazy. Yeah, what a time.

(01:02:24):
What a time all. Right, let's get our final
launch here on Assassin's Creed Mirage.
So for me, like I said, I, I'm kind of, I'm giving this, like I
said, kind of a pass, but that'sjust, you know, it's an
Assassin's Creed game. If you know Assassin's Creed,
you're going to be you're going to enjoy this.
I don't know, I guess maybe I should give it a game because

(01:02:44):
like, if you're someone who's never played Assassin's Creed, I
would say this is a pretty decent starting point.
You know, see if you like the series, if you want more than
stick to one of the heavy hitters of like Valhalla or
Odyssey or Origins where you doing a whole lot of Luke
grinding and levelling up and skills and big open world like
then maybe, yeah, check one of those out.

(01:03:05):
So I don't know, maybe Mirage islike a pretty decent starting
off point when you're getting here is a very kind of old
school kind of relaxing Assassin's Creed.
It's not very hard. It's easy to map out the guards,
assassinate people. If you get caught, you just
fight couple dudes and you're good to go.
Again, it's just the story didn't do much for me, you know,
8 hours in and I'm like, I'm just assassinating people

(01:03:27):
stopping the order because they want to do bad things and OK, it
just, and there was no, nothing new for gameplay wise
pickpocketing people, chasing after, you know, a piece of
paper that's flying in the wind where I'm doing a parkour
segment, you know, assassinate people, take cover, don't get
detected. It's all been there, been there,
done that. I don't know, but it's not bad.

(01:03:50):
Still give it a 75. Yeah, I mean, I, I think I still
stick with a game and, and it's almost like not in the same way
I would raid a rogue like because I I love them and I
don't love Assassin's Creed games, but I I feel like they're
just hard to go wrong by. They're they're all single

(01:04:10):
player. They generally are pretty
forgiving to the to the game player to make it fun and
challenging without being aggressive.
And I just they're they're all, I always know I'm going to have
fun when I play one, but they'reall going to be a little bit
different. Is this the best one?
Probably not. If you had just put a blanket
over my eyes and handed me the controller and said, hey, here's

(01:04:34):
a refurbished. That's not a word that gets used
with video games. But a refurbished.
Nope, I'm going to stick with refurbished version of the
original Assassin's Creed. I would have been like, oh,
cool, because it's been so long since I played that one probably
would have just felt like the same thing to me.
And and that's, I think the fourth different way I've
rephrased the same thing tonight.

(01:04:55):
Yeah, I think it's a game. And I think somebody, yeah, I'm
just going to have a copy, Andrew, because I think 75 is a
good score. Odyssey is the best Assassin's
Creed. Shadow Wars.
I'm willing. That's true.
Shadow Wars actually the greatest Assassin's Creed game
ever made. But the actual Assassin's Creed
game, that is an Assassin's Creed game that is the best is

(01:05:20):
Odyssey. And for me, it's like, well, why
wouldn't I just play Odyssey? It's kind of far, super story.
It's still got the assassinations, yes.
Not in the way that Andrew likesit, where every assassination is
just an assassination, but it's got way more to explore.
Sorry if I stab a guy in the neck I want him to be.
Dead. Yeah, well, if he's a higher
level than you, that might take a little.

(01:05:41):
Bit that's a real. World work anyway.
Oh yeah, like this is all realistic.
Shut up. So if you're just looking for a
simple like Andrew, Andrew did kind of describe it, right,
which is just kind of a laid back experience, Assassin's
Creed experience, then that's fine.
This can work for you. But I still think you'd be
better off trying an older Assassin's Creed game than than

(01:06:03):
going to this one. So the story is long gone.
And again, the story here is noteven compelling.
So there's not even that much todraw you in on that front.
It's not a bad game, but it's not it's it's a pass for me
still. I'm going to give it a 68.
You also forgot to mention Odyssey is ship combat.

(01:06:24):
That's true, that's true. Not great ship combat, but not
bad either. But it's a change of.
Pace it is. It is.
All right, well, I think that's going to do it for us this week.
Like make sure you go to gamepassgrabback.com.
Make sure you check out our awesome website.
If you want to see our past reviews of some of our games and
have a quick highlight of our comments, check out Game mask,

(01:06:44):
grab back.com or come join our Discord.
I'll have our link tree also in the show notes.
So you come join, say hi, even join our live recordings.
We record about every Wednesday around 9:00 EST Find it on
Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch. Make sure you check out our
YouTube channel. I've been trying to stream more
games. You know, we got, we got handed
a good amount of review copies of some indie games.

(01:07:06):
And so I've been trying to do some gameplay footage of it.
Been having a lot of fun with it.
Keith just did one. Well, you didn't record any
footage of it. It took some clips.
Rat Shaker. We could.
We could do a quick, probably 20minutes.
The game's an hour and a half long.
It would. But anyhow, that's another
story. But yeah, I've been streaming,
ready or not. Soon I'll be streaming some Hell

(01:07:26):
divers. But yeah, go check out our
YouTube. Come join us.
And I've been your hardcore gamer host, Andrew.
You can find me on Xbox Live at Firebirds 0952.
If you're playing Hell Divers, yeah, hit me up.
I'm always looking for people tohelp uphold democracy.
Fire up the music. OK, don't want us to say

(01:07:49):
anything else. I'm just.
Evolved over six years and you know this.
We do not. Ever say something and you ask?
Every time, just fire the music up.
Dog giant. Dog giant.
Well, you were gonna sock it. I just pasta for you.
I We. Love you all, we'll see you
again next week. I do not love you.

(01:08:09):
I don't know you.