Step into the bustling streets of 9th century Baghdad and embrace the shadows as Basim, a cunning street thief turned master assassin. In Assassin’s Creed Mirage, stealth is your greatest weapon and patience your greatest ally-forget the brute force of past titles; here, every silent takedown and carefully planned move could mean the difference between life and death. Ready to unravel the secrets of the city and rise through the ranks? Here’s what you need to do first to master the art of the assassin in this thrilling return to the franchise’s roots.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is like a model of smart urban design: It’s geographically smaller than recent games in the series, sure, but way more dense. And like any dense city, there’s a dizzying degree of choice. From side quests to exploration to (of course) collectible hunts, you can quickly get lost in Mirage’s rendition of 9th-century Baghdad. Here are the four things you should do first in Assassin’s Creed Mirage. And if you need more help starting out, check out our Assassin’s Creed Mirage tips for beginners.
Prioritize the story (for a little bit)
When starting Assassin’s Creed Mirage, it’s best to prioritize the main story missions initially. After completing the prologue mission “First Order,” the game opens up with multiple paths tied to different Assassin Bureaus. To keep the narrative coherent and engaging, focus on completing one Bureau’s storyline at a time rather than jumping between them. This approach helps maintain immersion and ensures you don’t lose track of characters or plot threads as you explore Baghdad. Progressing through the story also unlocks more world activities, collectibles, and upgrades, enhancing your overall experience.
Like most open-world games, it takes a bit for Assassin’s Creed Mirage to really open up. The tutorial itself is one thing, and even when you eventually reach Baghdad, you won’t have access to some side content until you complete some story objectives. At the very least, play until you connect with Nur’s contact – which happens about two hours in if you focus – before letting yourself get lost in side content. That’ll give you access to a bit more of the open-world stuff, including the ability to pickpocket and search for artifacts.
Synchronize viewpoints
Synchronizing viewpoints in Assassin’s Creed Mirage is similar to previous titles, where players must climb towers to get a bird’s-eye view of the region. After a cutscene that pans around the entire region, synchronization is complete, and points of interest are added to the world map. In Assassin’s Creed Mirage, there are 21 viewpoints to synchronize, which will unlock fast travel locations.
The tallest structures in and around Baghdad are viewpoints. Climbing and synchronizing with a viewpoint defogs a portion of your map, and usually reveals nearby objectives – including, more often than not, other viewpoints. Synchronized viewpoints also serve as fast travel spots. The more you sync with early on, the easier it’ll be to get around Baghdad later.
Complete contracts
Complete contracts in Assassin’s Creed Mirage by accepting missions from contract boards found in Hidden One Bureaus, such as the Harbiyah Bureau in Baghdad. These contracts involve various objectives like escorting allies, stealing valuable items, or assassinating targets, often with special conditions such as remaining undetected or not taking damage. Completing contracts rewards you with valuable gear, skill points, favor tokens, and currency, enhancing your character’s abilities and equipment. While the special contractor requests add challenge, failing them doesn’t prevent you from finishing the contract or earning rewards, so focus on enjoying the missions without stress. Contracts become available after progressing through the story, starting with the “Zeroing In” quest, and offer diverse gameplay experiences across the city.
Soon after you open the Harbiyah Bureau, you’ll be able to accept contracts – short side quests that grant helpful rewards. There’s no reason not to accept them all from the assignment board by the bureau’s entrance, then tackling them at your own leisure. In particular, though, you should do these two as soon as you can:
- “The Satiric Poet” is a brief escort mission. (Don’t worry, the VIP you’re guarding will duck out of sight before each fight sequence, so it’s not that type of escort mission.) Upon completion, you’re rewarded with the Rostam Dagger, which increases the amount of damage you deal with throwing knives.
- “The Boat Heist” tasks you with taking out a contingent of guards at a base on a canal, and stealing a boat. You’ll get two Merchant Tokens, which will help you immensely during an early story mission, “Jailbreak.”
Hunt for collectibles
In Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the hunt for collectibles is a rewarding and immersive part of exploring the vibrant city of Baghdad. Players can find seven different types of collectibles, including Gear Chests that contain unique weapons and outfits, Lost Books that unlock skill points, Enigmas which are cryptic clues leading to special rewards, and Dervis’ Artifacts obtained through pickpocketing key targets. Additionally, there are Historical Sites that reveal rich lore about the city, Mysterious Shards carried by elusive enemies, and Viewpoints to synchronize for map expansion. Collecting these items not only enhances gameplay by providing upgrades and new gear but also deepens the player’s connection to the historical setting, making the search for collectibles a key element of the Assassin’s Creed Mirage experience.
It’s well worth seeking out collectibles in Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Rather than checking off boxes on a list, the vast majority of collectibles you find benefit your gameplay. Can’t hurt to do so as early as possible!
You’ll get a free skill point for every Lost Book you find. Gear Chests contain outfits, weapons, and schematics for upgrading said outfits and weapons. Enigmas give you cosmetics for those outfits. Tracking down Mysterious Shards when you can helps you out with a game-long mission. Historical Sites provide IRL information on the people, places, and things that defined 9th-century Baghdad – not exactly a tangible gameplay benefit, sure, but arguably the most consistently exemplary part of the series, and well worth your time.
What’s the first step to mastering stealth in Assassin’s Creed Mirage
The first step to mastering stealth in Assassin’s Creed Mirage is to progress through the Main Quest until you defeat the first boss, Al-Ghul, which unlocks the full skill tree including the essential Assassin’s Focus ability. This ability allows you to slow down time, mark multiple enemies, and chain assassinations, making stealth kills more efficient and fluid. Additionally, early on, focus on crouching behind objects or hiding in foliage to remain undetected, observe guard patrols, and time your attacks carefully to avoid raising alarms. Using distractions like whistling can also help isolate guards for easier takedowns. Building up your skill points by completing contracts and unlocking extra tool capacity will further enhance your stealth capabilities.
How does defeating the first boss unlock the full stealth skill tree
Defeating the first boss in Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Al-Ghul, is a key milestone because it unlocks the full skill tree, including crucial stealth abilities like Assassin’s Focus. This progression allows players to access advanced stealth tools and techniques that are otherwise unavailable, enabling a more fluid and effective stealth gameplay experience. Until this boss is defeated, the skill tree remains limited, restricting access to essential stealth perks that enhance your ability to slow time, mark enemies, and chain assassinations, which are vital for mastering the game’s stealth mechanics.
