Assassin's Creed Mirage is one of the lowest-rated games in the franchise

Assassin's Creed is Ubisoft's flagship franchise, but in recent years, it experienced an identity crisis. After constant releases that fatigued fans, it evolved and adopted RPG elements. However, that concept also lost its novelty, so the latest installment aims to be a return to its roots. Unfortunately, it seems that the experiment was far from perfect.

We're talking about Assassin's Creed Mirage, the latest title that hit the shelves this week. It's an attempt to go back to the origins and recapture the essence of the original releases, leaving behind the focus on RPG elements and open-world exploration to return to gameplay where stealth and parkour are the pillars of the experience.

Unfortunately, it appears that Basim Ibn Ishaq's adventure in the city of Baghdad fell short and was unable to meet the expectations of the most demanding fans.

Assassin's Creed Mirage received mixed reviews

As of writing this, the game holds an average score of 78 on Metacritic. While it's a solid score, it shows that there are some rough edges. This makes it one of the lowest-rated mainline entries in the franchise.

Specifically, the title featuring Basim is at the bottom of the list, sharing the third spot with Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Thus, the only mainline games with lower scores are Assassin’s Creed Unity (72) and Assassin’s Creed Rogue (72), both of which had simultaneous releases in 2014.

Perhaps the score of 78 fell below Ubisoft's expectations. For context, the previous title, Valhalla, has a maximum score of 84 on Metacritic, despite criticism from purists of the intellectual property.

It seems that the direction the franchise will take depends on the commercial performance of Assassin's Creed Mirage. If the return to the roots generated apathy, future installments may revert to focusing on RPG elements. Of course, Ubisoft already has multiple projects in the works for the IP, from the title set in Japan[/url] to ]a proposal for mobile devices.

But tell us, what do you think of this situation? Do you believe the game deserves better ratings? Let us hear your thoughts in the comments.

Assassin's Creed Mirage is now available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.