Assassin's Creed Mirage takes the series back to its roots

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Ubisoft teased the future of the Assassin's Creed series during its weekend Forward event. This included revealing more details about its previously teased flagship title, Assassin's Creed Mirage. As many speculated after Ubisoft's first image, the game takes the series back to where it began: the Middle East in medieval times.

The game is set in Baghdad in 861, during the Abbasid Golden Age. Mirage stars Basim Ibn Ishaq, the mysterious man who befriended Eivor in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Mirage follows his childhood as a thief. Roshan, an experienced Hidden One and former Persian slave voiced by Emmy-winning actor Shohreh Aghdashloo, takes him under his wing. Under her tutelage, he becomes a Hidden himself (the precursor of the Syrian Assassins of which Altaïr was a part).

During the reveal, narrative director Sarah Beaulieu explicitly stated that Mirage is a return to the series' roots: a story-driven single-player action adventure game that focuses on stealth and parkour . It will remove some of the common tropes from previous games - notably, the player character is actually a member of the titular Assassins, or at least their Hidden One precursors. While Basim will have side missions and storylines, his main tasks will apparently be stealth target hunting missions in a city divided by district…just like the good old days.

This, however, hints that it doesn't completely dispense with the plot threads of previous games. Without spoiling Valhalla, there's more going on with Basim than meets the eye, and Mirage will explore that. It also retains some of the most recent gameplay developments. Like Eivor, Alexandra, and Bayek before him, Basim has a bird companion called Enkidu for aerial support.

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Ubisoft Bordeaux developed the game, with the help of its partner studios in Kyiv, Odessa, Montreal, Singapore and elsewhere. The studio has hired over 400 employees since its inception in 2017. It is currently offering the game for pre-order. Assassin's Creed Mirage will be released in 2023 for all consoles and PC. Ubisoft also revealed that this is the first of several upcoming Assassin's Creed games.

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