Mirage 7 Review (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, & PC)

If you wonder about how dark fantasy Persia might look like, some century or so past, it might look something like the world in Mirage 7. Then you actually play the game, and it brings back fond memories of the PS2/Xbox 360 retro era, with its muddy textures and puzzle-exploration gameplay. It’s often jarring trying to figure out whether these are all intentional design choices by Italy-based developer Drakkar Dev. Or is it some coincidence they couldn’t be more grateful for, because otherwise, the end-result leaves plenty to be desired, especially in this day and age of modern gaming. 

There’s a high chance you might instantly get annoyed at Drakkar Dev’s failed attempt to compete on par with recent action-adventure games. Or you might find its nostalgia charming, and entirely perfect for your yearning over the old and gone. Either way, we’ll assess all the game offers at face value in our Mirage 7 review below.

Be Wary of Fairytale Endings

Mirage 7 is about the protagonist Nadira and her pet lizard, Jiji. They journey together searching for Princess Taishma, who Nadira believes can bring her lost sister back to her. Along the way, they have to endure a harsh desert, surviving on the little water, food, and resources they can find. 

The world is instantly impressive, with its cascading dunes and ruins. You enjoy a decent variety of areas, exploring ancient temples and an underground military base. Wondering how the military base fits in all of this? Well, that’s the other puzzling element to your adventures. Initially, Mirage 7 appears to tell a dark fantasy fairytale. But it also starts to weave in sci-fi thriller elements. And the merge is, at first, strange. And toward the end, it leaves you unsatisfied with its conclusion. 

The story promises mystery and tension. However, it fails to dig deep into its themes. So even though you do feel curious to move forward and explore more, discovering the secrets the story and world hide, the intrigue ultimately burns out when the story fails to trigger an emotional or any memorable impact.

The Good Parts

I’ll say, though, Nadira and Jiji share an interesting relationship. Companionship, loyal and kind, is something I’ll always root for in games like these. And when there’s banter, all the more reason to soldier on. Not just in storytelling, but even in the gameplay itself, as Nadira and Jiji help each other survive the harsh journey across the desert.

Also, you’ll find the sci-fi thriller elements moderately tense. When a sinister sci-fi being randomly pops up on the screen, filling your view from end-to-end with an unnerving, foreboding presence. She warns you of the dangers that lie ahead, and your heart genuinely skips a beat, at least in the first few times she pops up.  

The Parts That Suck

I feel Drakkar Dev could have done a lot with the art style. Deserts have always been prime locations for truly wonderful atmosphere and environments. It’s the places that seem drab and unremarkable, when approached with creativity, that leave a lasting impression. Unfortunately, Mirage 7 is just any other desert, dunes, ruins, and all. It’s exactly what you expect to see, and barely has any surprises.

Thirst is your first problem to tend to, and harvesting dew from scarce plants or rare oases is the way to survive. A little sip of your water reserve replenishes your health, which you’ll rely on when facing the scorpions and spiders that spring up from the earth below. But then you run into skulls and ghostly enemies, who flesh out the “dark fantasy” theme of Mirage 7 a little more. And they finally establish Mirage 7’s identity. 

Further scouring the world, and you’ll discover underground caves, ancient temples, and ruins, where environmental puzzles await. You also stumble onto crashed drones and the ominous cyborg-being, and another mysterious creature, who appears in your dreams. There’s an element of reality blending with fantasy and illusions or dreams that doesn’t quite land like I hoped it would. It doesn’t all blend seamlessly to tell one cohesive, unforgettable story.

You get more information by collecting journals and notes in the environment. And these help fill out some backstory and lore. In the end, it feels like a mash-up of ideas that haven’t quite been refined to really hit that sweet spot. 

Three Steps Back

It doesn’t end there, I’m afraid. While potentially inspired at first glance, showcasing an Arabian Nights-inspired dark fantasy world, the presentation ends up falling flat on its face. It feels like an empty world with nothing that draws you in. Nothing that makes you want to branch from your main path because you’ve seen something that catches your eye. It doesn’t feel like a world alive with curious people and nature. 

Worse? Visuals appear like they’re from the PS2/Xbox 360 retro era. From muddy textures to stiff animations, they are a letdown in today’s modern age. But then you get to thinking that maybe this was the intention all along, especially given the gameplay. 

Might As Well Push Through It

Remember the desert spiders and skulls you run into? They’ll need you to fight them to continue your journey. And for that, you have a melee dagger to slash through their guts. Only the slashing doesn’t feel nearly as satisfying as you might expect. Swinging and landing a hit might as well be an involuntary action. 

Studying enemies’ attack patterns lets you know when to dodge roll out of the way of danger. And then swing back around to land more hits. And you should do this a couple of more times to finally defeat them. That’s it. That’s Mirage 7’s combat for you. 

Perhaps enemies being stronger might help remedy how tedious it feels to fight enemies. That they only need a few hits to put you down. But the reverse is more annoying, when it takes way too many hits of the same type to move on to the next item on the agenda. 

The ranged slingshot you craft later on helps switch things up a bit. And its aim and feel are better than the dagger. Yet some stronger enemies can become a pain again to fight when you have to maneuver around them, and the camera angle fails to switch in time for you to release.

Yet, this was the hurdle veterans had to push through the combat sections of most action-adventure retro games. To remedy the clunky controls and mechanics, devs would add puzzle-exploration to the mix, much like what’s in Mirage 7.

Password, Please?

Mirage 7’s world is big, but divided into smaller sections. Each one requires some level of environmental puzzle-solving to explore fully, before moving on to the next. Earlier puzzles are relatively simple and familiar. Push and pull objects to their rightful place. Align statues. Some do need a little thinking outside the box. Say, standing on top of a table to reach an inaccessible spot. And it’s at this point that the cracks in the puzzles begin to show. 

It’s difficult to know what the game wants you to do sometimes to solve certain puzzles. And you might actually waste valuable time trying to figure out what’s what. Items can be hard to spot, which you need to solve puzzles. Sometimes the puzzles come later on and force you to retrace your steps to retrieve the item you might have missed. The idea behind interconnected puzzles seems interesting at first. But during your actual playthrough, it becomes annoying, especially without any hand-holding. 

Granted, you can trigger hints that help you push forward through annoying puzzles whenever you get stuck. Plus, as long as you have the item that’s needed for a puzzle, it’ll activate immediately you reach its intended destination. Thus, helping ease some of the menu-navigation for you. I should add that some of the crafting puzzles are cool: when you combine objects to make new, valuable ones. And even then, once you click on an item, it highlights corresponding items that can make possible secondary items.

Verdict 

Overall, Mirage 7 is definitely not for everyone. It might annoy the crap out of gamers looking for a modern action-adventure. But for gamers looking for nostalgic charm, however unintended it might be, might actually enjoy this one. Its visuals and gameplay take you back to the original Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones era. Just keep in mind that along with retro charm comes the technical and clunky issues as well. 

Combat isn’t your stylish and satisfying ride from modern-day action games. Neither are the puzzles, whose implementation sometimes gets in its own way. Yet, there are still moments to marvel at. Combining dark fantasy and sci-fi thriller is an interesting perspective that piques your curiosity to find out more. The initial ideas you might have at the premise are quickly challenged when strange happenings begin to manifest during your journey. While imperfect, there are genuine moments of elation, and even a few jump scares.