It goes with the territory, but as gamers, we find ourselves staring at screens for hours at a time, seemingly days on end. As such, we need to consider how we tackle those gaming sessions – we need to be comfortable, we need to take breaks, we need to be wearing some GUNNAR Optiks glasses.
We first happened upon GUNNAR Optiks a few years ago, massively taken in by their Lightning Bolt 360 frames. As a prescription optic wearer, those glasses came suited and booted, set up to allow our eyes the very best opportunity at coping with the screens thrust in our face, killing the blue light as it went. We were very impressed.
Since that time, GUNNAR have pushed out multiple other frame and lens types to the market. Their ESL Blade frame covered the eSports angle, whilst we loved the look of a collaboration with Ubisoft as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla immersed us into its world.
And now we’ve got a similar collab, as GUNNAR and Ubisoft team up again for an Assassin’s Creed Mirage offering. We’ve been eyes-on and yes, once again, we’ve been mighty impressed. In fact, we’ve been so impressed that we’re not sure anyone sitting in front of a screen for the majority of their waking hours should be doing so without GUNNAR accompanying them, no matter whether that person usually wears glasses or not.
The GUNNAR glasses we’ve been using for the last few weeks have been that of the Intercept, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage Edition. It takes the Intercept range that GUNNAR have previously provided and whips up a stealthy storm, adding some Assassin’s Creed Mirage branding to the arms. And of course it infuses GUNNAR’s USP – a lens that helps with reducing eye strain, prevents dry eyes, minimises glare and aims to improve your sleep.
A style that we can personally get on board with, the Intercept is of fairly rectangular style, slightly curved to fit. It’s pretty classic glasses stuff if we’re honest, but oversized; these are extremely deep, top to bottom with a thick set frame. They won’t suit all, but with a fixed nose bridge they should look good on a number of face styles and sizes. GUNNAR themselves reckon these are perfect for ‘most medium’ faces, but those classic vibes should allow for it to reach many gamers.
The Assassin’s Creed: Mirage Edition of the Intercept doesn’t change things up too much. It comes with an indigo coloured frame (although if we weren’t told that, we’d go with ‘black’), with the front-facing aspects looking pretty much the same as any other Intercept offering; a small GUNNAR logo hidden up in the corner of the lens. But it’s in the arms where the magic happens, whisking us off to Baghdad and Assassin’s Creed Mirage with some super cool orange details. An Assassin’s Creed logo sits on the hinge, followed by that of GUNNAR’s own branding. For us – a fan of the orange and black combo – it works brilliantly; subtle, but ensuring there’s a knowing nod to the source material.
The internals of the arm are all orange, again hit up with some branding – you’ve got the Intercept name, that of Assassin’s Creed Mirage and the iconic bird front and centre. Will you ever see this part, as it rests on the side of your head? No, but that’s besides the point…
What’s more important is the weight. The GUNNAR Intercept is made of some precision engineered polymer frame material, but they aren’t the lightest frames we have ever used. They run on the scales at just 28 grams, which is far from heavy, but that does put them on the heftier side of things when we compare them to our usual every day glasses at 22 grams. Admittedly, those are multiple times more expensive and come from one of the world’s leading glasses brands, so for GUNNAR to get within 6 grams is some going.
What’s also nice about the GUNNAR Intercept, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage Edition is that of the amber tint lens, complementing the orange arm detailing magnificently. It’s that lens which blocks out 100% UV light, as well as the all-harmful blue light that we – as gamers and screen users – should already know all about. The lens is also anti-reflective, smudge resistant and oleophobic. In fact, the only thing it doesn’t do that we would personally like, is to switch shades as we step out into the light. We’re big fans of glasses that switch between light and dark – a la photochromic – and that is pretty much the only thing missing with what is on offer here. There is no option to run interchangeable lenses either.
However, we’ve been using these as a prescription set of spectacles for gaming and working, and have found them to be precise in what they are offering. Our own prescription details are complex – far too unique to go into details here – but GUNNAR have had no issues covering our requirements. And with the blue light killing aspect, running a bit of an amber tint; it promises to block out 65% of blue light at 450nm. This is the same tint as we’ve used previously and have found it to be pretty darn effective.
There are other options though. GUNNAR have a ‘Clear’ lens which blocks 35% of blue light, a ‘Sun’ offering which kills 90% and a big old 98% ‘Amber Max’ – you’ll only really want this one if you have extreme photosensitivity or are looking for something to help with sleep control. Our advice? Go with that ‘Amber’ and enjoy the 65% block.
Further to that, and pretty much as standard, these GUNNAR glasses come with a lovely AC Mirage-themed pouch to store the glasses, as well as a nifty Assassin’s Creed Mirage logo’d microcloth.
So in all, can we recommend GUNNAR’s Intercept Assassin’s Creed: Mirage Edition glasses? Without a shadow of doubt, yes. We feel that any and all gamers should be aware of blue light issues, and GUNNAR will be happy to sort out anyone concerned. With prescriptions available, and a crackingly classic frame style in the Intercept range, if you’re an Assassin’s Creed fan looking for some new glasses, we’d not hesitate to push you in the direction of the GUNNAR Intercept Assassin’s Creed: Mirage Edition.
Huge thanks go out to GUNNAR for providing us with their Intercept Assassin’s Creed: Mirage Edition glasses for review. Hit GUNNAR up direct if you want to check out their range of blue light killing glasses.
