Ten Counter-Strike 2 stars jumped into a fan-service special that actually delivered on the hype. Billed as “The Most Stacked CS2 PUG of All Time,” ESL’s All-Star draft put Team m0NESY against Team donk. On the server, though, it was Team kyousuke that ran away with it, closing 13–6 on Mirage with real ±100 FACEIT Elo at stake.

The line-ups and the draft that swung it

The captains were decided by FACEIT ELO, which meant m0NESY had first pick. He chose NiKo, leaving kyousuke to snap up donk and ZywOo in quick succession. The full squads were:

• Team kyousuke: kyousuke, ZywOo, donk, frozen, Wicadia
• Team m0NESY: m0NESY, NiKo, ropz, b1t, Senzu

A standard veto left Mirage. From there, kyousuke’s five had the confidence and firepower to dictate pace.

The key beats on Mirage

• donk top-frags with 20 kills and 12 deaths, bullying mid and entries with trademark tempo.
• ZywOo steals rounds with late-round reads and tidy clutches, including sharp decisions around kitchen and short.
• Wicadia surprises with impact plays and well-timed swings that kept momentum on kyousuke’s side.

“Do this every EPL”  the community loved it

Reactions across YouTube and Reddit were overwhelmingly positive, and a big chunk of the discourse asked ESL to make this a regular feature.

• “Lowkey the best showmatch I’ve seen. Stacked teams, serious CS, great vibes.”
• “Finally, a proper All-Star for CS, like the NBA or NHL.”
• “Watching donk and ZywOo together feels like Messi and Ronaldo on the same side.”
• “Big W, ESL production. This should be a regular thing.”
• “Even NiKo thinks m0NESY was crazy not to pick donk or ZywOo.”
• “Comms were elite from ZywOo, donk and m0NESY. That’s what it takes at the top.”

It wasn’t just the highlight reels. Viewers loved the personality on show, donk joking with kyousuke, ZywOo hyping frozen, and wholesome post-round banter. One comment thanked m0NESY “for letting donk and ZywOo be on the same team,” while another teased that Falcons were “testing new team combinations.”

Image via ESL FACEIT Group

Why the format worked

• Real stakes: The ±100 FACEIT Elo twist kept it competitive.
• Super-team novelty: Rivals sharing sides gave us chemistry and comms we rarely get in officials.
• Broadcast polish: ESL’s pace, observing and sound bites made it feel premium without losing the fun.

The result

Team kyousuke beat Team m0NESY 13–6 on Mirage, with donk leading the server and ZywOo adding class in the clutch. If the community gets its way, this won’t be a one-off. The message is clear: run the ESL All-Star again, keep the draft, and let the fans feast.

kyousuke + donk + ZywOo got a victory in the showmatch against m0NESY + b1t + NiKo, with donk top fragging 20 kills on 12 deaths.

Teams played classic Mirage, for the victory kyousuke’s team got 100 FACEIT Elo each, while m0NESY’s lost 100 Elo each. pic.twitter.com/NS5PGHKX7b

— CS2 NEWS (@CS2News_EN) October 9, 2025

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Ubisoft has just revealed that Assassin’s Creed Mirage will be launching on June 6, 2024, on the App Store for iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad Air and iPad Pro with M1 chip or later.

Released on consoles and PC on October 5, 2023, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is the latest instalment of Ubisoft’s best-selling franchise and will be the first console title of the series for players to enjoy natively on mobile devices.

Players will be able to experience the complete narrative-driven action adventure of Assassin’s Creed Mirage on the go, exploring 9th century Baghdad as Basim, a young thief who transforms into a Master Assassin. Developed by Ubisoft Sofia, the iPhone and iPad versions of the game feature the same experience as the console version. In addition, game controls have been adapted to the iPhone and iPad touch screens, providing an intuitive, comfortable and engaging gaming experience. Cross-progression and cross-save are also available through Ubisoft Connect, letting players transfer their progress across all available platforms.

Available on the App Store, Assassin’s Creed Mirage will be free to download and play for 90 minutes. The full version supports Universal Purchase and can be unlocked with a single in-app purchase of so players can enjoy the game on both iPhone and iPad.

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Ubisoft Bordeaux invites players to 9th Century Bagdad, with Assassin’s Creed Mirage, following the early life of Basim Ibn Ishaq, the Master Assassin from 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

For over fifteen years Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed games, a mix of historical events and modern-day sci-fi, have taken players on a journey from Ancient Egypt to Victorian England. On the way we engaged in Athenian naval battles, met Leonardo de Vinci, and played a part in the French Revolution.

Played in third-person, the games have players experiencing the lives of various Assassins through the ages via a device called the Animus. Principally action stealth games, of late the games have focused more on action.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage has been presented as a return to the series roots, the long-running franchise buckling under the weight of countless games, comics, and novels. This is not the first time that Ubisoft has backed themselves into a corner with their Assassin’s Creed games, with each entry being required to outdo the last and accommodate an increasingly esoteric overarching storyline.

The success of the epic Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag forced the publisher to reevaluate the franchise with 2014’s more compact Assassin’s Creed Unity. After Unity’s successor, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, the franchise was, once again refocused. 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins, 2018’s Assassin’s Odyssey, and 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla featured revamped action RPG-style gameplay.

Mirage starts with a young Basim as a thief on the streets of the city of Anbar. Like many of the recent games, the story is set before the formation of the Assassin’s Brotherhood and their mortal enemies the Templars. Instead, Basim gets drawn into the conflict between their precursor organisations, The Hidden Ones and The Ancient Order. Enamoured by The Hidden Ones, Basim is taken in by Master Assassin Roshan (voiced by The Expanse’s Shohreh Aghdashloo) and, over many years, is trained as an assassin.

Whilst I consider the last three games to be some of the best in the series, they are a considerable departure from the series’ original premise. These games grant players almost superhuman abilities that make them virtually invulnerable, and stealth gameplay pretty pointless. Unlike the earlier games, they made it easier to engage in open combat than use stealth. For Mirage, the gameplay has shifted focus back to stealth, planning, and cunning.

With Basim being a newly-minted assassin, he is dispatched to Baghdad to investigate The Order of the Ancients’ presence in the city. As soon as you start playing it, the game’s change of pace is immediately apparent. Having spent the last three years as Eivor, in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, just wading into enemy strongholds and kicking arse, Basim’s comparative vulnerabilities took a bit of getting used to. My first hour or so with Assassin’s Creed Mirage was very frustrating.

It took getting a good whooping to understand that the novice assassin, Basim, really wasn’t going to be able to take on lumbering scimitar-wielding guards in a fair fight. Assassin’s Creed games should be more about assassinations than melee combat, which in this game seems designed to punish players who clumsily step out of the shadows. It wasn’t long, however, before the muscle memory of playing the early Assassin’s Creed games kicked into gear and I was meticulously removing guards from play with a hidden blade stab to the back.

The combat very much draws upon that of the first game. Perfect timing is required to block regular strikes and dodge heavy, unblockable attacks.

The game ignores the originals’ minimalistic HUD design by having opponents glow yellow before normal strikes and red before unlockable strikes. This unsubtle design decision breaks the immersion, somewhat. It’s not very practical, either, as the coloured cues don’t work if using Basim’s eagle vision.

As much as the game is a soft reboot, as well as the eagle vision sense ability that has been around since the beginning, Basim has an eagle sidekick similar to those in Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. This greatly aids players when planning assaults on heavily guarded areas.

It’s not just the gameplay that harks back to the original Assassin’s Creed game. The Middle Eastern setting of Baghdad has the same exotic feel as the earlier games. There’s even a filter that can be switched on to match the blue / grey tones of the first game.

The city of Baghdad feels like a living city. Which makes exploring it even more fun. At ground level, there are opportunities to blend in and avoid guard, but it’s amongst the rooftops where Basim’s parkour skills come in handy. There’s lots of climbing and leaping across buildings, usually whilst being pursued.

Get caught pickpocketing and killing you will gain notoriety, eventually getting instantly recognised by the city guards. They will chase you until they lose sight of you and Basim becomes anonymous. The way to remove notoriety is by ripping down posters or paying a town herald.

The game is packed with secrets, collectables, and side quests, in the form of optional contracts. Contracts range from assassinations to procuring valuable objects. They are not without their risk but grant great rewards.

The map is smaller than that of the last three games, but not overly so. The landscape still feels vast and peppered with settlement in the area surrounding Baghdad. There are plenty of secrets to find. The mystery and intrigue that is a staple of the Assassin’s Creed games are plentiful in Mirage, inviting and rewarding exploration.

Out of the box, Mirage runs well. I am playing it on a machine with an i9-13800K and an RTX 4090, but this system would still betray any inherent optimisation issues. This is likely due to the game being built upon Assassin’s Creed Valhalla as opposed to being a “new game”. Mirage was first pitched as a potential DLC for Valhalla, a game that has enjoyed a stack of expansions over the last three years.

This would also account for Mirage looking a teeny bit dated. Not the breathtakingly detailed environments, which are fantastic, but some of the character faces and animations. The absence of a season pass, and the lower cost of the retail game, as well, suggests that this is not quite a full Assassin’s Creed game in the traditional sense. That being said, it very much plays like a full Assassin’s Creed game.

With Assassin’s Creed Mirage we get exactly what Ubisoft promised. If some classic Assassin’s Creed is what you are after, polished up in a more modern presentation, this game delivers.

The post Assassin’s Creed Mirage (PC) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Interscope in partnership with Ubisoft are set to release Mirage (for Assassin’s Creed Mirage) by OneRepublic featuring Mishaal Tamer.

This is the first time the Assassin’s Creed franchise collaborates with a top 50 global artist. This aligns with the dedication and effort that has been invested in Assassin’s Creed music over the years, resulting in a Grammy Award this year.

The song and lyrics were co-written by Ryan Tedder, songwriter and lead vocalist of the band, who took inspiration from the game. Mirage (for Assassin’s Creed Mirage) also samples some notes from the original soundtrack of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, composed by Brendan Angelides in collaboration with Layth Sidiq, lead vocalist and violinist.

“Most people don’t know this about me, but my band and I are closet gamers. I’ve been a huge fan of Assassin’s Creed since the beginning. Having toured extensively in the Middle East, I wanted to capture the spirit of that region and reflect the location of the game sonically as much as possible. I can’t wait for our fans and fans of AC to hear what we came up with.  This was a definite pinch myself moment.” – Ryan Tedder (lead singer)

In addition, the band brought in an up-and-coming Saudi artist, Mishaal Tamer, who was the opening act for OneRepublic’s Summer European Tour 2023. His style takes inspiration from Arab music from the Levant, Egypt, and the Arabian Gulf, alongside K-pop, Indie rock, and Urban Latino. Both artists’ interest of the Assassin’s Creed franchise transpired in their latest title.

“To be featured on a song with my musical heroes, OneRepublic that soundtracks my favorite video game, is a dream come true. I am honored to be a part of this special collaboration with OneRepublic and Assassins Creed.” – Mishaal Tamer .

With development led by Ubisoft Bordeaux, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a special game made to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the series.

With Mirage, the studio pays homage to the game that started it all by offering a tightly crafted, narrative driven action-adventure experience set in an immersive medieval Middle Eastern setting. Assassin’s Creed Mirage tells a powerful coming of age story featuring charismatic protagonists. You play as Basim, a cunning street thief with nightmarish visions, who embarks on a quest to join the Hidden Ones as he seeks justice and answers.

Mirage will launch on October 5, 2023, on all platforms.

The single will be available on September 22nd, 2023.

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During the Ubisoft Forward Live conference, Ubisoft revealed more about the upcoming Assassin’s Creed games: Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, and Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade.

Each title enriches and expands the Assassin’s Creed brand to new territories, giving the opportunity for more players to delve into varied settings and immersive gameplay experiences.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

With development led by Ubisoft Bordeaux, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is an homage to the series, and a particularly special tribute to the first Assassin’s Creed. Inviting players in a magnificent ninth-century Baghdad at the peak of its Golden Age, Assassin’s Creed Mirage offers a condensed, narrative-driven action-adventure experience with a modern take on the parkour, stealth, and assassinations gameplay elements that have defined the franchise for over fifteen years.

Two new trailers were unveiled during the conference, delivering an immersive preview of the iconic Assassin’s Creed experience the game will offer to players.

As they follow the story of Basim going from a street thief to a master assassin, they will fight against the Order of the Ancients and discover more about the nightmarish visions that haunt him. Assassin’s Creed Mirage will release on October 12, 2023 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One, and Amazon Luna, as well as on Windows PC through the Epic Games Store and the Ubisoft Store.

Starting from launch, players will be able to learn historical information and discover images from renowned museums and institutions’ collections thanks to the “History of Baghdad” feature.

Featuring 66 historical sites across the world of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, “History of Baghdad” will provide a research-based perspective over the setting and era of the game. All entries will be available in the game’s Codex.

Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR

Led by Ubisoft Red Storm and set to release Holiday 2023, Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR is the first AAA VR title of the franchise, allowing players to embody legendary master assassins and physically perform their iconic actions throughout a full-fledged game.

The game will be available on the Meta Quest Platform, which includes the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest Pro. Fan favourite characters will be playable in Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, including Ezio Auditore da Firenze in Renaissance Italy, Kassandra in Ancient Greece, and Connor in Colonial America, in an all-new story built from the ground up for VR.

Abstergo Industries has found a way to retrieve powerful lost artifacts that can profile anyone via their lifetime of memories, and then use those profiles to manipulate their beliefs. Players will work to sabotage Abstergo’s plan, discovering all new chapters of each Assassin’s story.

Players will be immersed into the world of Assassin’s Creed, using real-world motions to fight with their blade, throw their axe, and wield their bow in combat against a variety of enemies. They must move stealthily, hiding within the environment or blending in amongst civilians. Players will explore iconic historical cities including Venice, Athens and Colonial Boston, as each environment features 360-degree navigation, allowing them to climb and parkour freely as they meet civilians and historical figures, all of whom react to the player’s VR actions.

They will experience the rush of air assassinations and the thrilling leap of faith as they decide how to achieve their objectives. Years of development have led to Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR featuring a comprehensive suite of comfort features in order to accommodate players of all types with VR sensitivity. Players can add Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR to their Wishlist on the Meta Quest Store page.

Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade

Today, Ubisoft also revealed its partnership with Level Infinite, a gaming brand dedicated to delivering high-quality games to a global audience, that will publish Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade.

Players will get to access a huge open world set in third century BC ancient China, featuring iconic Assassin’s Creed’s gameplay elements: exploration, parkour, combat and assassination. For the first time in the franchise, players will be able to customize their character’s appearance and make it their own, before tackling the journey ahead, filled with ancient history and hidden dangers.

During this pivotal era, the Qin Dynasty unified China and secured the trade route to the West. Players will have to take on desert raiders and work to dismantle conspiracies, taking on greater responsibilities and facing new challenges along the way, from the Great Wall to the imperial capital of Xianyang. To ensure the delivery of the most compelling experience, players feedback will be collected through various beta phases, with the first one starting later this summer.

Pre-registrations for the next public beta phase of Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade are now open to players at assassinscreedcodenamejade.com.

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During the recent PlayStation Showcase, Ubisoft announced that Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the upcoming instalment in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, will launch worldwide on October 12, 2023.

The new trailer follows Basim, guided by his fellow Hidden Ones, leveraging his tools and skills to track down and eliminate his targets. One of the most agile and resourceful Assassins in franchise history, Basim’s singular playstyle emphasises stealth and deadly assassination techniques, featuring new abilities such as the Assassin’s Focus, which allows him to mark and assassinate several enemies in a row. Additionally, the gameplay footage showcases the vibrant city of Baghdad, whose density and verticality provide plenty of opportunity for players to exploit Basim’s Parkour abilities and swiftly approach their objectives.

With development led by Ubisoft Bordeaux, the studio behind the Wrath of the Druids expansion for Assassin’s Creed® Valhalla, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is an homage to the series, and a particularly special tribute to the first Assassin’s Creed. Inviting players to immerse themselves in a magnificent ninth-century Baghdad at the peak of its Golden Age, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage offers a condensed, narrative-driven action-adventure experience with a modern take on the parkour, stealth, and assassinations gameplay elements that have defined the franchise for over fifteen years.

In this pivotal moment of History, players will become Basim Ibn Is’haq, a young thief with a mysterious past who joins the Hidden Ones in Alamut on a quest for answers. Basim will be voiced by two talented actors: Lee Madjoub for the VO and Eyad Nassar for the Arabic version, as Assassin’s Creed: Mirage is the first Assassin’s Creed game to release worldwide with full Arabic localisation, including text and voice. They are joining the incredible Mirage cast with Shohreh Aghdashloo, who will voice Roshan, Basim’s mentor in the Hidden ones.

Starting today, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage will be available for pre-order on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, as well as on Windows PC through the Epic Games Store and the Ubisoft Store. Players can also subscribe to Ubisoft+ to access the game at launch. Pre-orders are available for the Assassin’s Creed: Mirage standard edition, as well as the as the Assassin’s Creed Mirage Deluxe Edition and Collector’s Case.

Fans who pre-order Assassin’s Creed Mirage will receive an exclusive bonus quest at launch called The Forty Thieves, where players will uncover the mysteries of Ali Baba’s legendary cave.

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Today, during Ubisoft Forward, Ubisoft announced that Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the next installment in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, will launch worldwide in 2023.

In addition, the roadmap of the brand’s future has been unveiled with the next two HD flagship games Codename RED and Codename HEXE as part of the Codename INFINITY hub, along with the AAA mobile game Codename JADE and more information about the collaboration with Netflix.

With development led by Ubisoft Bordeaux, the studio behind the Wrath of the Druids expansion for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Assassin’s Creed Mirage invites players to immerse themselves in a magnificent ninth-century Baghdad at the peak of its Golden Age. It offers a narrative-driven action-adventure experience with an intriguing coming-of-age storyline, charismatic protagonists, a majestic open city and modernized legacy gameplay focusing on parkour, stealth and assassinations.

They will embody a new hero, Basim Ibn Is’haq, a singular street thief with a mysterious past, who will join the Hidden Ones in Alamut on a quest for answers. Basim’s mentor, Roshan, will be voiced by Emmy-winning actress Shohreh Aghdashloo. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is an homage to the series, and a particularly special tribute to the first Assassin’s Creed. The announcement of the game comes with a cinematic reveal trailer with original music composed by Brendan Angelides, who is also the music composer for the game.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage will release on Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and Luna, as well as on Windows PC through the Epic Games Store and the Ubisoft Store. Players can also subscribe to Ubisoft+ to access the game.

The post BECOME A MASTER ASSASSIN IN ASSASSIN’S CREED MIRAGE appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Announced earlier this year at CES, VR is done differently with the Mirage Solo VR headset and Mirage VR180 camera from Lenovo, allowing VR-curious crowds to consume and create content in an incredibly seamless way.

With a standalone build, the Mirage allow consumers to break free from wires, PCs or phones with the comfort and simplicity of the world’s first standalone Daydream headset. The device comes with WorldSense motion-tracking technology on Google Daydream’s virtual reality platform. Using WorldSense, users can lean, dodge or duck through space naturally as they move through a large library of magical, reality-defying content. Based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 VR platform, the Lenovo Mirage Solo delivers high-quality, immersive experiences.

Users can make games even more lifelike with the wireless Daydream controller – baseball bat, steering wheel, or whatever fits your chosen app.

The Lenovo Mirage Camera will allow users to create their own VR content and then experience once-in-a-lifetime moments, on demand, with the Lenovo Mirage Camera with Daydream. This pocket-sized point-and-shoot camera simplifies the technology needed to capture 3D photos and videos with its dual 13 MP fisheye camera and its 180 x 180 degree field of view.

Together, the two devices bring the necessary tools so that anyone can make their own VR content – in an accessible and fun way. Photos and videos captured on the Lenovo Mirage Camera can be uploaded and viewed to your personal Google Photos and YouTube accounts. It comes equipped with the Qualcomm Connected Camera Platform which features high-quality dual cameras and built-in WiFi.

Watch that game-winning shot–as if you’re right there in the front row. Live-stream your wedding in 3D so everyone can be part of it. Experience the joy, with none of the stress. Introducing Mirage Solo, the world’s first stand-alone Daydream headset, and the Mirage Camera. Easily capture and share those once-in-a-lifetime moments, with a little more moment and a little less once-in-a-lifetime.

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