Assassin's Creed Mirage may be bringing the series back to its roots with scaled-back environments and a focus on stealth, but one aspect of the more recent entries could also be part of Basim's adventure - microtransactions.
That's according to @xj0nathan who posted an image on Twitter that suggests in-game purchases will be a part of the game. The image, taken off-screen, shows the Fire Demon Pack, seemingly a cosmetic bundle that grants Basim some demonic-style armor, a fiery sword, and a special hellish-looking mount.
The post was removed from Twitter due to a copyright claim, but not before it was captured by another user and shared on the Assassin's Creed subreddit, where players have been reacting to the possibility of microtransactions with little more than a shrug of their shoulders.
AC Mirage gear pack leak. looks like we'll have microtransactions after all. from r/assassinscreed
"I can't bring myself to be majorly upset at this, if I'm honest," says user LycanIndarys in the comments. "I won't buy them, but if someone else does, so what? If they want to throw away their money, that's on them. And in a single-player game, it's not like what someone else does affects me in any way."
An equally indifferent DanFarrell98 says, "It's fine, there's no need to care. They can be completely ignored. They're just there for the people who want some of the more outlandish cosmetics, not required for anything."
What does seem to be grinding fans' gears, though, is that this potential in-game content doesn't in any way fit with Assassin's Creed Mirage's style. "I have nothing against this, but please make it fit to the actual theme of the game," says AC fan 37ankkuk37.
This is echoed by shahzebkhalid25, who writes, "What I hate is instead of making a cool historic suit or something like an Ezio or Connor suit, we are getting weird cosmetics."
User OrickJagstone perhaps puts it best when they say, "We are bringing the game back to its historical and stealth-based roots. Also, for 9.99, you can dress as a smoky demon from hell with a rainbow sword and have your horse be a giant frog."
Microtransactions have become a staple in Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Assassin's Creed Odyssey, so their inclusion in Mirage wouldn't come as all that much of a surprise. That said, the image is unverified, so we'll have to wait for official word from Ubisoft before we can know whether they will feature.
Assassin's Creed Mirage launches later this year on October 12 or PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One with a map roughly the same size as Revelations' Constantinople. It's estimated the game will take around 15-20 hours to beat, and according to creative director Stéphane Boudon, there are currently "no plans" to bolster Basim's adventure with post-launch expansions.
See which entries in Ubisoft's stealth action series hit the mark with our guide to the best Assassin's Creed games.
