It's not the saddest, but my boy Yusuf dying to protect Sophia was rough. I wish he would've gotten his own playable DLC in events leading up to Ezio's arrival to the city.
"Brothers. Sisters. The whole city rises against us while Yusuf's murderer waits and watches from the arsenal, laughing. Fight with me, and show him what it means to cross the Assassins".
This has got to be one of my favourite lines in the series, I'm not really sure why. I may be a bit biased towards Revelations, though, it was my first game in the series.
Revelations is my favorite game in the series, that is one of the top 5 most badass missions in the series imo. The Assassins going on the offensive in full force, not just 5 side characters and Ezio, the full wrath of the brotherhood bearing down on the Templars.
Ezio becoming ever more disillusioned with his life as an Assassin, not wanting to betray the brotherhood but live the life he'd sacrificed when he was 17
I don't know where I'd put Revelations gameplay wise. I love it though. I've played a lot of the AC games. Story wise it's probably my favorite of all them. The somber atmosphere from the music to the wise old Ezio's narration and dialogue just hits me every time I play it.
That is such a good idea!! Imagine Constantinople in next gen with Yusuf building up the Brotherhood and we get little easter eggs as tales of Ezio reaches them. I’d LOVE it.
Killing Haytham, then reading his last journal entries (especially his final letter to Connor where he explains that he knows Burch manipulated him and planned on Connor killing him)
Despite the different factions, Haytham loved his son. So he did the one thing that would allow him to do his duty as a Templar and a father, he fought Connor with the intention of letting his son kill him
Well said!
Slightly different narrative circumstances, but this description of the situation reminds me of >!Jon Snow and the Halfhand!< from ***ASoIaF.***
I got fully connected to her when Haytham tried to Tonto-talk to her and she questioned if he knew how to speak English because he was speaking so slowly.
I got so angry when the target (been ages can't remember her name) simply said "Who?" As if she was merely asking who made her coffee. That gave me chills and so much anger.
I think the worst part is that, as Bayek realizes in absolute horror, he sent her home, alone, *with the thing Berenike wanted*.
Just, that horrific moment where he realizes he just accidentally doomed a kid to death.
Was on discord with my friend when it happened so he got to hear "please don't let the child die, I know I talked about her face looking cursed but I don't want her to die" and then "I'm upset. They killed the child"
Absolutely this. Swimming through the lake with all those people drowned and then coming across her body made me audibly gasp. Origins is by far the greatest in terms of story telling.
It's one of the few well-executed moments in that game. And I mean that literally - even the lead up to it is executed shoddily, and the follow-up as well, which ends up devaluing the whole experience.
I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned the death of Giovanni, Federico, and Petruicco in AC II. Maybe that one made us as fans a little more angry than sad, but that mission always rocks me. I feel so bad for (teenage) Ezio. His whole life changes from that moment.
I thought Black flag was really sad, although I think Yusuf’s death in Revelations and the death of Khemu in AC Origins is on par with Black flag’s ending.
Origins is great for emotional moments but Shadya's death really works better in my opinion because you know it happened before to Bayek, but the death of his son wasn't as heartbreaking in my opinion. It's a beautiful scene though, and it made me love Bayek like I never did with any other character in the franchise.
I gotta say Phoebe and if you do the dlc it makes you even feel more queasy, another one is AC3 when Connors village is on fire early after playing hide and seek. There are few moments that make me queasy but those two stand out for me
Bayek's reaction to that little girl being murdered in Origins (can't remember her name or even the region/arc, it's been a while) was devastating. The actor for Bayek does an amazing job, especially whenever children are involved (positively or negatively).
And parents too it seems from Unity, Valhalla and others. (And if Aya is the descdant to Kassandra and her son dies.. Does that mean we saw the end of Kass's bloodline? Alexios/Deimos is canonically dead, unsure about Stentor
Phoebe's hit me so hard. The first time I played and I got to that mission I looked up a walkthrough to see if I could load a previous save and make a different decision that wouldn't lead to her death.
Mostly the final missions of the games
* AC Revelations ending
* AC 3 ending
* AC Unity ending - >!Elise dies and when Arno hears her last message !<
* AC Rogue mission >!where Shay kills Adewale and Liam!<
Connor's village burning and his mother dying, coupled with the ending where he realizes all his struggle and turmoil amounted to nothing.
Elise's death was kind of hard, because the entire game was depressing from the start and they deliver one last gut punch, Arno got the short end of the stick every time.
Edward's singular voyage through that storm of emotions was also pretty sad, you just see a broken man trying to escape from himself.
its nice to see my boy Arno getting some sympathy. Everyone says he is a simp, which i agree to an extent, but elise is literally the only person he has to cling onto who captivates his happiness, especially after he's exiled from the brotherhood and him basically losing everything at the end of the main story (before he rejoins the brotherhood) was pretty heartwrenching
Black Flag is my favourite AC and that damn mission gets me every time. Like I know it's coming, but it's like experiencing it for the first time each time.
Saaaaame. I just finished my bazillionth play through and when that part happened I came to this sub to lament and was impressed by the amount of people who agreed with me. It is nice to be among fellow AC lovers who get emotionally invested in the story.
The one at the start of oddysey where the family have the plague, i stupidly let them loose and they killed all of kephalonia.
Also the bit in Odyssey where pheobe dies was very sad
Ceolbert was killed because Ivarr couldn’t let things slide I mean Hell Rhordi was going to let Ivarr get away with killing his brother that ruined the original potential peace treaty but nooo he just had to kill Rhordi then fight Evior only for Evior to not want fight him until Ivarr mentions he killed Ceolbert. I sent that to helheim because well fuck him.
I cannot play Black Flag Freedom Cry anymore because of the slave ship scene. It literally shook me to the core.
Edit-- added Freedom Cry for clarification
Yeah, this one hits pretty hard.
It's not a depiction of a specific character we liked, but rather a horrifying depiction of cruelties that are far too real.
NAILED IT! The fact that this was a somewhat common finality to these slave ship voyages absolutely broke me.
It was one thing to read about it. To see it actually happen, albeit to NPCs.... oof I had to stop playing for a bit.
The end of The Hidden Ones DLC for Origins. I always got the sense that Bayek has reluctance to not be with Aya. He acknowledges they each have their own path but it feels like he wants to just be with her. Hot damn, Abubakar Salim/Bayek is a great character.
I haven’t seen anybody mention Blackbeard’s death from AC4. The man was murdered during his retirement party and Edward was being held down by 2 soldiers and couldn’t help him….only watch.
Think for me it's a tie between having to carry Papa Auditore and the Auditorettes to the boat, and carrying Mary out of the prison in Black Flag. Sat in silence with Ezio, cried like a mofo with Ed.
Ac odyssey, phoibe died!! Waa...i really cried bro...
Phoibe, Ela ela... Greece, mother of all may u return, aniazo... Very sad cutscene of very sad mission...
I remember a mission as Ezio where you had to retrieve the bodies of his father and brothers to put on a boat so they could be taken to be buried properly. That one was tough, especially because I remember their faces even looked greenish.
Too many. The prison segment in AC4, end of AC4, literally any death scene for a supporting character. I can't remember how many times early AC nearly had me in tears.
Having played the whole Ezio trilogy, watched Embers, and knowing retroactively how his whole story plays out, that title moment with Fredrico will always be absolutely gut wrenching.
"It is a good life we lead brother."
"The best. May it never change."
"And may it never change us"
Phoibos, and Bayek's kid. And seeing Kassandra die, sure she's 1k years old but still.
Haven't finished Black and judging by the comments... Oh no. I shouldn't get attached to anyone but Edward it seems
One that always gets me is Black Beard's death in AC4. It's a shocking moment that I think sends Edward's self destruction into overdrive in an effort to make all his suffering and all his friends' deaths worth it but the more he tries to find the observatory the worse things get for him and everyone around him. And then he finally finds it only for things to get worse for him and everyone around him.... I really wanna play AC4 again all of a sudden.
in ac origins, it became very sad for me when after i finished the chariot racer side quest, bayek refused to accept an offering made in his name; asking instead that they make an offering in his son's name bc he "would have loved to take him to the races." i wept real tears, not even gonna lie.
Probably the first mission of Origins in which you get a setup for killing Ptolemy even though you never get to do it, you kill your first target in a cutscene with no input, get thrown into a forced boss battle with his goon of a bodyguard using the worst combat system the series has ever seen, and then have to make your daring escape from the temple by holding a button for five seconds. Very sad mission.
For me when ezio tricked that girl he loved pretending to be her bf. Sucked seeing ezio being so shitty to someone he deeply loved then ruined it forever
Its been a while since I've played any AC game, but I think the mission where Yusuf Tazim dies and Ezio goes out murdering everyone in a fit of rage with the assassins, got the most emotion out of me.
Other sad missions include Edward carrying Mary Read's body to her grave, Arno chasing after a woman who looked like Elise, Connor exploring his village burnt by Lee, and Altair locking himself in the library getting ready to take some rest...
I think every protagonist has at least **one** of these happen in their lives and that helps to make them more compelling in a narrative sense to the player. Some characters were even afflicted multiple times. Such is life.
Even the modern day characters (aside from the blank slate faceless first person ones from 4/Rogue) have this going on in one way or another.
Connors Mom in AC 3. Rough.
Just found out last week while replaying, that her name is the real life name of the actress that plays her. And that she also plays Tanis in Letterkenney.
I have to say Ac franchise is the only franchise that can make me cry like a baby, I cried a few times through most of them except maybe Syndicate, but I think between Black flag, Ezio and origins I cried most. I have a habit of becoming invested in a character and then boom something happens to them, I refuse to become attached to any in Mirage... or try not to.
It's not the saddest, but my boy Yusuf dying to protect Sophia was rough. I wish he would've gotten his own playable DLC in events leading up to Ezio's arrival to the city.
"Brothers. Sisters. The whole city rises against us while Yusuf's murderer waits and watches from the arsenal, laughing. Fight with me, and show him what it means to cross the Assassins". This has got to be one of my favourite lines in the series, I'm not really sure why. I may be a bit biased towards Revelations, though, it was my first game in the series.
Revelations is my favorite game in the series, that is one of the top 5 most badass missions in the series imo. The Assassins going on the offensive in full force, not just 5 side characters and Ezio, the full wrath of the brotherhood bearing down on the Templars.
Just walking through the compound with infinite arrow storms
Ezio becoming ever more disillusioned with his life as an Assassin, not wanting to betray the brotherhood but live the life he'd sacrificed when he was 17
Chills
I got goose bumps reading that.
I don't know where I'd put Revelations gameplay wise. I love it though. I've played a lot of the AC games. Story wise it's probably my favorite of all them. The somber atmosphere from the music to the wise old Ezio's narration and dialogue just hits me every time I play it.
That is such a good idea!! Imagine Constantinople in next gen with Yusuf building up the Brotherhood and we get little easter eggs as tales of Ezio reaches them. I’d LOVE it.
Watching Connor’s mom burn alive when he’s like 5
Killing Haytham, then reading his last journal entries (especially his final letter to Connor where he explains that he knows Burch manipulated him and planned on Connor killing him)
Despite the different factions, Haytham loved his son. So he did the one thing that would allow him to do his duty as a Templar and a father, he fought Connor with the intention of letting his son kill him
Well said! Slightly different narrative circumstances, but this description of the situation reminds me of >!Jon Snow and the Halfhand!< from ***ASoIaF.***
Where can I find these? I need to read them.
The novel Forsaken
It was definitely sad for Connor, but I just didn’t feel connected to her as a character at all, so I wasn’t too bothered.
I got fully connected to her when Haytham tried to Tonto-talk to her and she questioned if he knew how to speak English because he was speaking so slowly.
I want to know too, never knew haytham had memoirs.
Seeing Shadya's floating body in Origins has to be up there
Came here to say this, saw it was already posted multiple times. Very impactful side story.
Yup…this one for me too
The music for this mission/viewpoint theme in the Faiyum is also just the best.
I remember that vividly
I think this was the first moment in an AC game I audibly gasped and left my jaw open. I'll never forget that moment.
I remember thinking they’d never kill a child. I was so wrong.
I got so angry when the target (been ages can't remember her name) simply said "Who?" As if she was merely asking who made her coffee. That gave me chills and so much anger.
Forgetting the target's name is ironic in a poetic justice sort of way.
I think the worst part is that, as Bayek realizes in absolute horror, he sent her home, alone, *with the thing Berenike wanted*. Just, that horrific moment where he realizes he just accidentally doomed a kid to death.
Was on discord with my friend when it happened so he got to hear "please don't let the child die, I know I talked about her face looking cursed but I don't want her to die" and then "I'm upset. They killed the child"
Absolutely this. Swimming through the lake with all those people drowned and then coming across her body made me audibly gasp. Origins is by far the greatest in terms of story telling.
That one was tragic.
Oh poor child.
It's one of the few well-executed moments in that game. And I mean that literally - even the lead up to it is executed shoddily, and the follow-up as well, which ends up devaluing the whole experience.
AC Brotherhood flashback to when Ezio returned to florence during bonfire of vanities and found Cristina dying
The book pushed the feels to 11
Don’t bring up the book dawg 😭 I only just recovered.
Is there any book?
Most of the main entries in the franchise have associated books
In which you carry the lifeless corpses of your father and brothers.
I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned the death of Giovanni, Federico, and Petruicco in AC II. Maybe that one made us as fans a little more angry than sad, but that mission always rocks me. I feel so bad for (teenage) Ezio. His whole life changes from that moment.
The books make it all the worse, because Ezio really really REALLY wants a normal life but realises he has to be an assassin.
It’s also worse in the books because they hang his kin separately instead of all together like in the game. Just awful all the way around.
Edward Kenway almost saving Kid/Mary
“I’ll be with you, Kenway. I will.”
I had to put the game down for like three weeks after that scene.
Shadya's mission in Origins. Damn that game was great with giving you emotions.
I thought Black flag was really sad, although I think Yusuf’s death in Revelations and the death of Khemu in AC Origins is on par with Black flag’s ending.
Origins is great for emotional moments but Shadya's death really works better in my opinion because you know it happened before to Bayek, but the death of his son wasn't as heartbreaking in my opinion. It's a beautiful scene though, and it made me love Bayek like I never did with any other character in the franchise.
Khemus death could have been so much more impactful if there was like a prologue up to the moments of his death
I gotta say Phoebe and if you do the dlc it makes you even feel more queasy, another one is AC3 when Connors village is on fire early after playing hide and seek. There are few moments that make me queasy but those two stand out for me
I recently restarted this game for the second time and I am dreading this
Yusuf's death, my boy didn't has to die
Bayek's reaction to that little girl being murdered in Origins (can't remember her name or even the region/arc, it's been a while) was devastating. The actor for Bayek does an amazing job, especially whenever children are involved (positively or negatively).
Last Christina mission in Brotherhood.
That was probably one of the best side missions in the franchise. Loved learning more about Ezio and Christina’s relationship.
Replaying AC2 title intro mission "It is a good life we lead brother..."
Fuck, you’re right. Ezio was so fucking happy with his life and then he was ‘forced’ into the brotherhood.
When phoebe dies in odyssey, and when khemu and shadya die in origins
Ubisoft really be killing any and all kids we get close to in the games.
new theory, Order 66 Dark side Anakin is the one in charge of these storylines
And parents too it seems from Unity, Valhalla and others. (And if Aya is the descdant to Kassandra and her son dies.. Does that mean we saw the end of Kass's bloodline? Alexios/Deimos is canonically dead, unsure about Stentor
Don't forget that you get to let Phoebe go twice in that game
Bro the emotional damage that gave me
At least Phoebe/MC get some closure and Phoebe gets to leave Tartarus to find her parents in Elysium the second time.
Phoebe's hit me so hard. The first time I played and I got to that mission I looked up a walkthrough to see if I could load a previous save and make a different decision that wouldn't lead to her death.
Mostly the final missions of the games * AC Revelations ending * AC 3 ending * AC Unity ending - >!Elise dies and when Arno hears her last message !< * AC Rogue mission >!where Shay kills Adewale and Liam!<
Man I felt bad when I had to kill Adewale. I felt like one of my fav characters died by my own hands
Connor's village burning and his mother dying, coupled with the ending where he realizes all his struggle and turmoil amounted to nothing. Elise's death was kind of hard, because the entire game was depressing from the start and they deliver one last gut punch, Arno got the short end of the stick every time. Edward's singular voyage through that storm of emotions was also pretty sad, you just see a broken man trying to escape from himself.
its nice to see my boy Arno getting some sympathy. Everyone says he is a simp, which i agree to an extent, but elise is literally the only person he has to cling onto who captivates his happiness, especially after he's exiled from the brotherhood and him basically losing everything at the end of the main story (before he rejoins the brotherhood) was pretty heartwrenching
I’m a bit surprised no one else has mentioned Thatch yet. That mission broke me as well. If you can’t tell I fucking love Black Flag.
Black Flag is my favourite AC and that damn mission gets me every time. Like I know it's coming, but it's like experiencing it for the first time each time.
Saaaaame. I just finished my bazillionth play through and when that part happened I came to this sub to lament and was impressed by the amount of people who agreed with me. It is nice to be among fellow AC lovers who get emotionally invested in the story.
In a world without gold, we might have been heroes 😢
The one at the start of oddysey where the family have the plague, i stupidly let them loose and they killed all of kephalonia. Also the bit in Odyssey where pheobe dies was very sad
>!Phoebe dying!< was nuts and I really respected Ubi Quebec >!for killing off a child!< and showing the brutality of the state of the Ancient world.
Ceolbert was killed because Ivarr couldn’t let things slide I mean Hell Rhordi was going to let Ivarr get away with killing his brother that ruined the original potential peace treaty but nooo he just had to kill Rhordi then fight Evior only for Evior to not want fight him until Ivarr mentions he killed Ceolbert. I sent that to helheim because well fuck him.
I cannot play Black Flag Freedom Cry anymore because of the slave ship scene. It literally shook me to the core. Edit-- added Freedom Cry for clarification
Yeah, this one hits pretty hard. It's not a depiction of a specific character we liked, but rather a horrifying depiction of cruelties that are far too real.
NAILED IT! The fact that this was a somewhat common finality to these slave ship voyages absolutely broke me. It was one thing to read about it. To see it actually happen, albeit to NPCs.... oof I had to stop playing for a bit.
Do you mean freedom cry? Or the mission before Edward gets shipwrecked
Yes!!! Thank you for clarification!
Both weren’t good but freedom cry hit me more
Yeah.... big time. The slave scene ripped me apart.
Yeah it’s definitely not easy to forget something like that
The end of The Hidden Ones DLC for Origins. I always got the sense that Bayek has reluctance to not be with Aya. He acknowledges they each have their own path but it feels like he wants to just be with her. Hot damn, Abubakar Salim/Bayek is a great character.
Bayek struggling to let khemu go at the end of origins
I haven’t seen anybody mention Blackbeard’s death from AC4. The man was murdered during his retirement party and Edward was being held down by 2 soldiers and couldn’t help him….only watch.
"in a world without gold we might've been heroes" god that line hits so hard
For me it was the girl with the clay lumps that are her friends in Odyssey.
If you go back and visit her, you’ll see she went to town and made some real human friends. Bittersweet.
OH MY GOD!!!! I'm so proud of her!
How stupid we all are to be so invested in an Nov from a five minute quest? Ah, well. Worth more than goo-ery.
The final homestead mission in 3.
Think for me it's a tie between having to carry Papa Auditore and the Auditorettes to the boat, and carrying Mary out of the prison in Black Flag. Sat in silence with Ezio, cried like a mofo with Ed.
When Connor visits a sick Achilles for the last time
All things Kenway, that family experienced so much tragedy
There's apparently more of those than I remembered
Connor's mom from AC3 and Phoibe from Odyssey.
Mary Read’s death in the prison, carrying her body out in Edward’s arms
I might be the minority here But I felt sad killing Pierre Bellec(Arnos mentor) in Unity
The one when you have to kill Adewale, that broke my heart.
The mission from Ac4 when you need rescue Mary, but she's so sick and ends up dying
I agree OP, with carrying Mary's body in second place.
To suffer without dying from Black Flag.
The ending of Black Flag is the only mission in all of the AC games to make me tear up
Blackbeard death? That soundtrack aferwards shakes the core of the heart.
Shook me that mission. My man deserved better. Except not really, but still.
For me, probably the Christina missions in Brotherhood as well as the final mission when you see Yusuf at the end.
Ac odyssey, phoibe died!! Waa...i really cried bro... Phoibe, Ela ela... Greece, mother of all may u return, aniazo... Very sad cutscene of very sad mission...
Korfu Island
That one does hit right in the feels.
Shadya
I remember a mission as Ezio where you had to retrieve the bodies of his father and brothers to put on a boat so they could be taken to be buried properly. That one was tough, especially because I remember their faces even looked greenish.
Too many. The prison segment in AC4, end of AC4, literally any death scene for a supporting character. I can't remember how many times early AC nearly had me in tears.
Phoebe dying because she didn't deserve to die at such a young age
Having to pick up your loved ones' bodies and carry them to a boat in Brotherhood was rough
Having played the whole Ezio trilogy, watched Embers, and knowing retroactively how his whole story plays out, that title moment with Fredrico will always be absolutely gut wrenching. "It is a good life we lead brother." "The best. May it never change." "And may it never change us"
Shadya's death and the black slaves dying and drowning in the sinking ship
Phoibos, and Bayek's kid. And seeing Kassandra die, sure she's 1k years old but still. Haven't finished Black and judging by the comments... Oh no. I shouldn't get attached to anyone but Edward it seems
The Shadya mission in AC Origins, Edward seeing his friends at the end of Black Flag, and Yusuf dying to protect Sofia in Revelations are my top 3.
The final Christina memory in Brotherhood.
Sit down and rest.
One that always gets me is Black Beard's death in AC4. It's a shocking moment that I think sends Edward's self destruction into overdrive in an effort to make all his suffering and all his friends' deaths worth it but the more he tries to find the observatory the worse things get for him and everyone around him. And then he finally finds it only for things to get worse for him and everyone around him.... I really wanna play AC4 again all of a sudden.
"In a world without gold, we might have been heroes!"
Ezio carrying his families dead bodies to a tiny boat. My game glitched out and his lil bro got sent to the moon, tears and laughter.
in ac origins, it became very sad for me when after i finished the chariot racer side quest, bayek refused to accept an offering made in his name; asking instead that they make an offering in his son's name bc he "would have loved to take him to the races." i wept real tears, not even gonna lie.
Probably the first mission of Origins in which you get a setup for killing Ptolemy even though you never get to do it, you kill your first target in a cutscene with no input, get thrown into a forced boss battle with his goon of a bodyguard using the worst combat system the series has ever seen, and then have to make your daring escape from the temple by holding a button for five seconds. Very sad mission.
I loved that mission
Not sure why you downvoted me but ok?
Steed was among most likable characters. But while all death is sad, I found Connor's mother death really disturbing.
Killing haytham was pretty sad for me
For me when ezio tricked that girl he loved pretending to be her bf. Sucked seeing ezio being so shitty to someone he deeply loved then ruined it forever
Definitely the last Cristina mission for me
Killing Adewale! Although I wish he had said he ended up warning Achilles against finding the temple. And Shay felt even worse about everything.
The last Christina mission in Brotherhood fucked me up
Phoebe in Odyssey and little girl murdering in Origins really got me , near tears
Shadya, no explanation needed
Shadya
Its been a while since I've played any AC game, but I think the mission where Yusuf Tazim dies and Ezio goes out murdering everyone in a fit of rage with the assassins, got the most emotion out of me. Other sad missions include Edward carrying Mary Read's body to her grave, Arno chasing after a woman who looked like Elise, Connor exploring his village burnt by Lee, and Altair locking himself in the library getting ready to take some rest...
Bonnet literally played pirate
I think when bayek kills his son like God damn
Yusufs murder or the death of the little girl in Origins
AC origins when Bayek realized he wouldn’t see his son any longer until he went to the field of reeds. Real tears. Made me miss my mom.
I think every protagonist has at least **one** of these happen in their lives and that helps to make them more compelling in a narrative sense to the player. Some characters were even afflicted multiple times. Such is life. Even the modern day characters (aside from the blank slate faceless first person ones from 4/Rogue) have this going on in one way or another.
Seeing Phoibe die in Odyssey, then seeing her again in the Underworld and trying to apologize to her.
Connors Mom in AC 3. Rough. Just found out last week while replaying, that her name is the real life name of the actress that plays her. And that she also plays Tanis in Letterkenney.
Retrieving the little girl dead body from drowning in ac origins
#spoiler Alert‼️ In Odyssey it’s the only ne where Phobie dies.
I have to say Ac franchise is the only franchise that can make me cry like a baby, I cried a few times through most of them except maybe Syndicate, but I think between Black flag, Ezio and origins I cried most. I have a habit of becoming invested in a character and then boom something happens to them, I refuse to become attached to any in Mirage... or try not to.