Ubisoft's new Assassin's Creed entry is all about stealth and subtlety, but main character Basim still gets a ridiculous special move.

It's called Assassin's Focus, and it allows you to freeze time and paint a reticule over multiple enemies to teleport between them all and murder them in quick succession. It's like Red Dead Redemption's Quickdraw mode, except you're physically knifing people in the neck with every bullet.

At the beginning of Assassin's Creed Mirage, you can only pull off this effect with two enemies at a time, but with further upgrades you're able to expand this effect to quickly end a whole group of foes at once.

To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings 11 things you need to know about Assassin's Creed Mirage.Watch on YouTube

It's a dazzling move, made more eye-popping by the visual effects involved - which make it look like the game is glitching out.

Why does it look so broken? It's all down to the fact you're playing in a simulation, Ubisoft says - accessing the memories of main character Basim using an Animus device. And, simply put, Basim was so quick at killing, the Animus struggles to compute.

"I asked Ubisoft Bordeaux about this," GameInformer's Wesley LeBlanc said, shedding more light via a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"And while yes, it exists because it's fun/cool, they did say lore-wise, Basim was so fast/efficient that the Animus struggles to keep up with his memories sometimes, hence the glitch effect."

I asked Ubisoft Bordeaux about this when I visited the studio for my Mirage cover story and while yes, it exists because it’s fun/cool, they did say lore-wise, Basim was so fast/efficient that the animus struggles to keep up with his memories sometimes, hence the glitch effect. https://t.co/gpsi7IT7d7

— Wesley DracuLeBlanc (@LeBlancWes) October 7, 2023To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings

So there we have it. The effect is not a bug and is all on purpose - just like Assassin's Creed Mirage's chromatic aberration, which players are now modding the game to get rid of.