Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the next title in the long-running franchise, will not feature an XP-based progression system this time around. As revealed in a very brief developer diary, your progression is tied more to the story than anything else, allowing players to freely dive into the game’s narrative rather than focus on grinding their level.
Mirage’s creative director, Stéphane Boudon, said “The story of Mirage follows Basim’s evolution from apprentice to mentor, a journey that’s reflected in the game’s systems. There’s no XP-based progression in Mirage, instead, progression is linear and story-driven. As you follow the story and complete missions, your rank increases within the Brotherhood, giving you new opportunities for missions, outfits, and tools.”
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XP-based Progression Is Out as Mirage Goes Back to the Series’ Roots
While the game does trim much of the RPG elements from the past several games, such as XP-based progression they are not removed entirely. Stéphane Boudon further stated that “We have new tools that can be upgraded and customized for Basim, giving him a deadly and effective Assassin toolset. When fully upgraded, these tools can allow for some interesting and unexpected gameplay strategies. We crafted a range of different outfit options for Basim so you can make the character feel personal to you.”
This may excite some fans as the title delves even deeper back into the basics of the franchise. The last several major titles in the series, ever since Origins in 2017, have transformed the series into a larger, open-world RPG format. While some fans have enjoyed this new style, others have considered it too radical of a change. Odyssey and Valhalla continued this trend, even going so far as to allow players to purchase XP boosts as a microtransaction. Losing the XP-based progression will therefore remove this microtransaction from the equation, which will certainly delight many fans.
Though Origins received wide acclaim at launch, it was a fairly divisive change to the series’ longstanding formula. After six years of continuing down that route, the scope of games like Valhalla grew to an overwhelming size. Some fans felt the series had strayed too far from its roots, and Mirage seems primed to return to them by scaling back the size, the RPG elements, cutting XP-based progression, and even reducing the scope of the game’s skill trees.
During the video, a glimpse of the skill tree is shown. Many fans were quick to notice that it was far less expansive than the dizzyingly large one presented in Valhalla, so the more manageable scope will likely be a boon to many fans who were starting to feel uninvited by the size and scale of more recent games.
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Without XP-based progression blocking the way for abilities to be unlocked, this allows players to forge new paths toward unlocking abilities, such as the Assassin’s Focus ability which will allow players to “slow down time and perform a deadly kill streak,” though the developer warns to be careful of where you finish the streak to avoid unintended combat encounters that may end your stealth goals.
How do you feel about the reduction of RPG elements in Mirage? Did you like XP-based progression, or are you happier with a greater emphasis on story? Let us know in the comments and on our social media feeds!
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