No, you thought wrong – this is not another sequel to Assassin's Creed on the Arab continent. In fact, stylistically and thematically, it is not even close to that series. The Italian development team, Drakkar Studios, created the video game Mirage 7, which arrived on the PlayStation 5 console on March 6. We played the version for that console. Published by Blowfish Studios, this game was said to be a combination of third-person adventure, puzzle solving, and fairy tale story.
Already at the beginning it is noticeable that the visual style is inspired by Arabic folklore. However, the game also has a sci-fi, or science-fantastic twist. We are in the role of the adventurer Nadira and her companion, the lizard Jiji. In the game we can manage both Nadir and Jiji. We are traveling through the endless desert in search of a mythical oasis called Jala and the Moon Palace. In that palace is Princess Taishma – who is the only one who can grant Nadira's wish and bring her sister back to life. In the first scene, we are thrown into the desert, and our first task is to find a source of water. We are gradually introduced to bare survival in the desert, so we learn how to gather food, make a fire, and fight against dangerous opponents in the desert.
The game focuses on exploration and survival, puzzle solving and combat. We navigate the harsh, sometimes bare environment, and progress through the game by crafting basic tools. Puzzles are a big part of the game, so Jiri should be used often. He has abilities to access inaccessible places and hidden symbols, called Lizard Eye in the game. The fight, which is quite clumsy and poorly made, is fought against various monsters that do not belong in the classic desert - these are giant spiders, ghosts and the like. The design of the monsters is one of the good points of the Mirage 7. They are made to be scary and quite detailed. Our weapons are a dagger and a slingshot.
Mirage 7 offers gaming in 4K resolution at 60 FPS. The visual style is simple but impressive. The price on the PlayStation Store is 19.99 euros, which makes this video game one of the more affordable indie titles, but you should still think about whether this game offers enough for that money. We encountered many glitches in our playthrough of this game, which we hope will be fixed with updates. All in all, this is one charming but imperfect video game. Technical difficulties aside, it still remains an overly simplistic desert world and poorly crafted combat mechanics. You need about 4 hours to complete the game, but a little longer to get the platinum trophy.
A copy of the PlayStation 5 version was provided for review purposes by development studio Drakkar Dev and publisher Blowfish Studios
