Assassin’s Creed Mirage has been confirmed as the next game in the Assassin’s Creed series. It takes the series to Baghdad and seems to be a more traditional approach than recent entries. We know that Mirage feels like a decidedly different experience, focusing on stealth and exploration on a smaller scale.
Featuring Basim Ibn Ishaq from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage takes us to Baghdad, 20 years before the events of Valhalla, and takes the decades-long franchise back to its roots. This means a more self-contained play area and a renewed focus on kills and stealth mechanics. From what we’ve seen, it looks like it has more in common with the first game than any released in the last few years.
This, of course, is music to the ears of some Assassin’s Creed fans, many of whom felt the series was moving further and further away from the core mechanics that initially defined the series. Whether it sticks to landing remains to be seen, but so far everything sounds promising. To help you keep up to date with all things Assassin’s Creed Mirage, this page will give you all the latest news and rumors. Here’s what you need to know.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: get to the point
- What is this? An Assassin’s Creed game set in Baghdad
- When can I play it? 2023, exact date TBC
- What can I play it on? PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S and PC
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: Trailers
Announcement Trailer
We got our first official look at Assassin’s Creed Mirage at the Ubisoft Forward Digital Showcase in September 2022. While it doesn’t feature gameplay footage, it did provide a cinematic look at Mirage’s story, which you can watch in its entirety below:
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: Release Date and Platforms
Assassin’s Creed Mirage will appear in 2023, although we don’t have a specific release date yet. Ubisoft has confirmed the game’s existence and release window following multiple leaks regarding the upcoming title.
When it comes to platforms, Ubisoft has confirmed that Mirage will be a cross-generational release. As such, expect to see it on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC, and Amazon Luna’s cloud streaming service. Unfortunately, there’s no free cross-gen upgrade, but it’s also cheaper than the last major releases, starting at $49.99 / £39.99 RRP.
We may well see a Nintendo Switch release, given that Assassin’s Creed Odyssey hit the handheld hybrid via cloud streaming. It’s worth noting that this was limited to the Japanese market, so we can’t say for sure one way or the other.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: gameplay and settings
Assassin’s Creed Mirage brings the series back to its basics: set in Baghdad 20 years before Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Basim Ibn Ishaq, who was introduced in Valhalla, takes center stage. According to reports, Mirage started out as a Valhalla spin-off before evolving into its own full-fledged entry.
Basim belongs to the first Brotherhood of Assassins, and Mirage takes us on one of his earlier adventures. Here he is taught by Roshan, a Persian assassin played by Shohreh Aghdashloo. Instead of the open-world RPG gameplay of recent years, Assassin’s Creed Mirage refocuses on stealth and parkour.
As such, expect a lesser experience overall, probably around 15 to 20 hours. When asked about the length of the game in an IGN (opens in a new tab) interview, executive producer Marc-Alexis Côté said, “Not everything has to be a 150-hour RPG, right?”, confirming:
“It’s a smaller Assassin’s Creed project. It was made up [and] built to celebrate the 15th anniversary. That’s why we’re using our modern Valhalla engine to create a smaller game that pays homage to our original game, focusing more on stealth, melee combat, parkour, and a denser city that goes back to our roots in the Middle East with Baghdad at the center of it.”
While we haven’t seen the gameplay yet, Ubisoft has confirmed that Baghdad is the only city in the game divided into four zones, although we also visit Alamut. Each features a boss ready to be thwarted, but it’s unclear how the game progresses. What we do know, according to narrative director Sarah Beaulieu, is that this story will feature various historical figures.
As for how to get around Baghdad, Assassin’s Creed Mirage lead producer Fabian Salomon said in an interview with Arabian equipment (opens in a new tab) (by computer gamesN (opens in a new tab)) that Mirage’s parkour will be inspired by Assassin’s Creed Unity mechanics:
“We are seriously trying to reach this level with Mirage, and since Baghdad is dense as I mentioned, we want players to enjoy their time in the city through parkour, which was and still is one of the important pillars we relied on in the Assassin’s style game Creed Mirage”.
In fact, as part of a return to the franchise’s roots, Salomon said that Mirage would take inspiration from other early titles. This includes the return of assassination contracts from Assassin’s Creed II and Brotherhood. However, it also mentions “new and different ways to interact with the Baghdad environment,” including “new mechanisms” for hiding and mob killings.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: news and rumors
It’s not just for adults
Following the announcement of Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, the game was marked as Adults Only on some store pages due to the inclusion of “real gambling”, which would mean that “the player may gamble, including betting or wagering real money or currency”.
This was, however, as confirmed by Ubisoft, a mistake. In fact, the game is still pending evaluation. In a statement to Eurogamer (opens in a new tab)Ubisoft said:
“After the announcement of Assassin’s Creed Mirage during Ubisoft Forward, some store pages incorrectly displayed the game for pre-orders with an ESRB rating for adults only. While Assassin’s Creed Mirage is still pending review, Ubisoft wants to reassure players that no real gambling or loot boxes exist in the game.”
Assassin’s Creed Mirage officially presented
We got our first look at Assassin’s Creed Mirage during the September 2022 Ubisoft Forward presentation.
Offering a “unique presentation of Assassin’s Creed”, Ubisoft confirmed many previously rumored details, such as the setting in Baghdad, the return of Basim as a main character, and how it takes us back to the roots of the franchise through stealth and parkour-style gameplay. But that’s not all for the fans, we soon discovered that Assassin’s Creed Mirage is just one of three newly revealed games in the series.
In addition to the news about the final Assassin’s Creed Valhalla DLC, two new projects in Assassin’s Creed Infinity have also been revealed. Currently code-named Red and Hexe, Red takes us to feudal Japan in a new open-world RPG where we play as shinobi. Meanwhile, Hexe seems to focus more on 16th-century witch hunts, according to recent leaks Try hard games (opens in a new tab).