Ubisoft’s announcement of significant parkour improvements to Assassin’s Creed Mirage wiggled the community and it was confirmed that this enhancement would be the first via the Valley of Memory update in three days’ time. The official tweet, accompanied by a camel emoji, asked the players to “raise hands if ready,” and the response was massive.
What does this actually mean? The update will most likely include the long-requested manual jumping feature, a demand that has been around ever since the series’ first release. One player @esiokles crowed, “My beloved manual jump is finally back!!! Please add it in Shadows as well,” revealing the emotional stakes involved in the gaming community. It is somewhat shocking that a game, even if it is a classic, is getting such a huge attention after its long history.
The players’ reactions, meanwhile, were very diverse. On one side, there were players that were super happy like @ronnyj817 saying “Will def be re-downloading” or @BilalzDon even stating “already installed it back again!” which might imply that the game could attract players who have already finished it and are now returning just to enjoy the update. If you think about it, that’s a very unusual practice in the gaming industry at present.
On the contrary, @yokobets raised an issue that directly got to the root of the matter: “is it worth it to keep updating and improving an already old single-player game? A person who has played the game will not come back to play it again.” That is absolutely right. Most companies would simply move on to the next project. However, depending on one’s viewpoint, this can either be seen as very generous or rather strange as Ubisoft is still working on Mirage.
The parkour upgrades will include the ability to manually jump which according to @TherealZinney is “a disaster that we are just NOW getting back to where AC1 was in 2007. Origins did so much damage to the series that it is unbelievable.” The whole debate in the comment section is often split between those that see the RPG-style AC games as progression and those that see them as a regression. While some players claim the series has made a giant leap backward to its roots, others label it “devolution.”
@MandoF2187 shared the following: “Now all the fake mirage fans are going to change their tone and say mirage is great back when this game came out people were hating on it” which illustrates that how a certain aspect of the game can completely change people’s perception. The initial critics of Mirage might turn round if they are offered more quality-of-life upgrades.
It seems there is some confusion as to what the update will include exactly. @MandoF2187 asked “What is the price or is it free dlc?” which is a very relevant question as the tweet does not specify whether Valley of Memory is a free or paid content. And @Jonny_Sad wondered “Did they tweak the combat?” Even though parkour is the major focus, gamers are very curious about other possible changes as well.
@akshay_t133 questioned the timing of the whole thing and, sounding quite frustrated, expressed himself as “When will companies realize the value of releasing things on weekends…😵💫” which is more or less the same as saying that mid-week updates are random and strange. Also, @GameGoaltryhard is asking “When is this game coming to ps plus ubi please 🙏😬” implying that some players are still waiting for a better opportunity to get the game before even considering the DLC.
This update, however, is indeed an indication that Ubisoft’s change in attitude on the whole issue is taking place. @gamingdocc even wrote “This is the bare minimum that we need in the next projects and you will win your old fans back” which is a sign that the company might be listening to the feedback from the players who liked the old AC style. @kiryukazuma2788 even went as far as to say “Bring back Assassins Creed Ubisoft, good parkour, good motion capture with good facial animations, huge cities to explore and stop the rpg nonsense Ubisoft” which is pretty straightforward.
The entire situation surrounding the Assassin’s Creed series has been quite stiff recently. The new RPG direction of the Origins trilogy has its supporters and the diehard fans waiting for the return of stealth and parkour are also present in the AC universe. Mirage was touted as a return to form, but it looks like it failed to convince everyone at first – hence the updates.
As @acinterface put it, the waiting time was “3 Days of Pain🥲”, which perfectly expresses the feeling of being super excited when waiting for a game update. Furthermore, @sjfostersound mentions “a new play-through with the expansion!” which suggests Xbox players are also anticipating the changes.
