With 11 projects apparently in the works right now, Ubisoft is betting very big onAssassin’s Creed. Mobile games, VR titles, RPGs, and live-service platforms are all just theAssassin’s Creedprojects that have been officially confirmedto be in the pipeline, and up first isAssassin’s Creed Mirage, a smaller-scale action-adventure game that’s set to take the series back to its roots.
Set in 9th century Baghdad,Assassin’s Creed Miragefollows the initial adventures ofBasim Ibn Ishaq, a member of the Assassin Order(Hidden Ones, at the time) first introduced inAssassin’s Creed Valhalla. WhileAssassin’s Creed Miragewill be a much smaller-scale adventure than the last few entries in the long-running franchise, it’ll still carry over some light RPG elements from titles likeOrigins, Odyssey, andValhalla. And where’s there are RPG mechanics, there are usually a set of complicated menus. Thankfully though,Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s menu UI looks much better than many other titles that have adopted similar approaches.
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Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s UI Is Already Better Than Other Destiny 2-Like Loadouts
The gaming ecosphere is like any other entertainment industry, there are usually a set of trends that become popular, and many creators try to capture that success by imitating the same formula. Right now, the most prevalent trend in the gaming industry is the live-service model, popularized byMMOs likeWorld of Warcraftand multiplayer games likeDestiny. And as developers and publishers try to get their own games, live service or not, on market, they tend to borrow a lot of the same elements from previously successful titles. For good and ill, that’s lead to aDestiny 2-like UI becoming more and more prominent.
A trailblazer for the modern live-service model,Destiny 2has had a lot of copycatsover the last few years, so much so that its menu UI has dripped into a ton of recent games.Destiny 2’s menu UI is a tad confusing at first, but once explained, it’s incredibly simple to use.Destiny 2features really only one menu, depicting the player’s character in the center of the screen, surrounded by a handful of boxes. Each box represents a specific piece of armor or equipment, and clicking on one takes the player to that section of the menu, letting them equip and compare their gear easily.
ForDestiny 2, this menu UI fits perfectly. This UI is both incredibly functional and aesthetically fitting, with the minimal menu art keeping with the game’s clean Sci-Fi art style. However, when this exact same menu UI is used in other games, it doesn’t fit nearly as well.Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leagueis one of the most recent offenders of this, copying almost the exact same menu layout asDestiny 2. But while this will probably function okay in practice, its visual design doesn’t mesh nearly as well with the type of game thatSuicide Squadis. From what fans have seen so far,Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguelooks like a fairly colorful, bright game, but itsDestiny-inspired menu is dark and dull, with the only color being a general outline for each equipment box identifying the gear’s rarity. The same can be said of games likeGotham Knights, Marvel’s Avengers, and more that just don’t hit the same note and miss making it feel unique to the.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s menu UI, however, seems to avoid this issue, at least for the most part.Assassin’s Creed Miragecarries over the same menu UI used inAssassin’s Creed Valhalla, which in itself is heavily inspired byDestiny 2’s character screen. However, the big difference betweenMirageand its other contemporaries is that its own menu UI has a little more visual flair. Its simplicity rings through enough for a simple action-adventure game, but it’s the sand that surrounds Basim that makes it feel unique to the game. At the very least, its approach clearly copies the homework of Destiny 2, but it still makes it its own.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s menu UI will have a light, yellowish background, fitting in with the game’s sandy setting. This isn’t the most revolutionary addition, but it does help to makeMirage’s menu UI fit in better with the rest of the game’s aesthetic, something thatGotham KnightsandSuicide Squaddon’t do. Little touches like this go a long way and, instead of a hollow, live-service like UI, AC Mirage feels like something designed to have Basim’s roots ring through on the most fundamental levels.
Assassin’s Creed Mirageis set to release on October 12 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
