It’s time to ready your hidden blades once again, assassins, because a brand new entry in the Assassin’s Creed series is upon us. All the leaks and rumors have turned out to be true, and the next installment in the franchise has been officially revealed as Assassin’s Creed Mirage. This franchise has undergone some major changes in recent entries, and the next game seems poised to shake things up yet again.
First officially revealed during a Ubisoft Forward in September 2022, Assassin’s Creed Mirage will be the next mainline game in the series after 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. While each game typically only has smaller, less prominent ties to one another (at least after the series moved on from the Desmond arc), this game bucks the trend in that regard. From plot to gameplay changes and more, here’s everything we know about Assassin’s Creed Mirage, an upcoming PlayStation 5 game we have our eye on.
Release date
Assassin’s Creed Mirage was originally set to launch on October 12, 2023, but it actually got its release date moved up. The official X (formerly known as Twitter) account announced that the game has gone gold and will now be coming out a week earlier than expected, on October 5.
Platforms
Assassin’s Creed Mirage will still be available as a cross-generational title. You can get it on your PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Trailers
The premier trailer for Assassin’s Creed Mirage is only CGI, which is very common for the AC franchise in general. Even so, a lot of details can be learned and inferred based on what was shown.
The first major reveal (unless you’ve been following the leaks) is that Basim from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be the protagonist of this title. It opens with him appearing to be initiated into the Brotherhood of Assassins in a ritual before cutting to a bright and lively market in the new setting of Baghdad.
Basim wanders through the market, pickpocketing a merchant, but he is noticed and forced to flee. He parkours his way through the streets, knocking over stands to delay the perusing guards. This is a younger Basim, though, and he is unable to escape. Before he can be captured or killed, an assassin slays the guards and offers him her hand. This is how he joins the Brotherhood and begins his assassin training.
The trailer shows him sparring with other assassins in a castle still under construction, which they use to practice more parkour movements.
Cutting back to the ritual, Basim silently uses a red hot knife to remove his left ring finger, as all old assassins did.
A massive city shot shows off a stunning vista as Basim sends an eagle out to fly from his arm. A man, presumably a target, walks through a street while beggars plead for money as we hear the tenants of the Assassin Order. One beggar is actually Basim, catching the guards by surprise and dispatching them with little effort. When his target realizes what is going on and sends the other guards after him, a red smoke bomb goes off, allowing Basim to dispatch the guards with a sword and dagger.
Another group runs at him, leading to a chase into an alley where another trap, this time a deadly poison gas, is released. Basim and his eagle track his target, not running to escape, with one guard using explosive bombs to attack. Basim catches up to his target, steals his golden mask, and finishes him off with his hidden blade.
The trailer ends with a scene not featured since the first Assassin’s Creed games, where the assassin uses a feather to collect some blood from their target as proof of their kill.
Outside the trailer, we learned from the Ubisoft Forward that the woman narrating the trailer, and the assassin who recruited Basim, is his mentor named Roshan. She is a 50-year-old Persian who escaped slavery before joining the Brotherhood. Because the game is set 20 years before Basim would appear again in Valhalla, we do know that, whatever the main plot of this game ends up being, Basim at least will survive.
Another major change for Assassin’s Creed Mirage is that it will be the first mainline title not to have any modern-day story elements at all. This makes sense considering the game was reported to have started off development as a DLC expansion to Valhalla before being turned into a standalone title. The entire game will take place around 850 AD.
Gameplay
Being based on a DLC, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is noted for being a much more focused, somewhat linear experience compared to the massive open-world RPGs the last three games have been. The entire game is supposedly going to be in the 15-hour to 20-hour range, as executive producer Marc-Alexis Cote said in an interview with IGN: “Not everything has to be a 150-hour RPG, right … It is a smaller Assassin’s Creed project. This was conceived [and] built to celebrate the 15th anniversary. So that’s why we’re using our modern Valhalla engine to build a smaller game that pays tribute to our original game by focusing more on stealth, close-quarter combat, parkour, and a denser city that goes back to our roots in the Middle East with Baghdad as the centerpiece.”
The main city of Baghdad will be divided into four districts, as well as a smaller area outside called The Alamut, which serves as the Assassin’s headquarters.
With the game going for a more classic approach to gameplay, stealth and parkour have been heavily emphasized. Both of these systems are said to have been vastly improved from past iterations thanks to the new engine used from Valhalla. You will also be able to choose what order you want to assassinate your targets in. There are also multiple ways to go about stalking your target, such as bribing guards, facing them directly, or simply sneaking by.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage will ditch a few mechanics as well, such as gender options and dialogue choices. However, Eagle Vision and controlling an eagle to scout areas used in Assassin’s Creed Origins and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will return.
In terms of weaponry, the hidden blade is featured, but your options will also include tools like smoke bombs and throwing knives. Basim also can dual-wield weapons, such as a saber and dagger, to pull off devilishly brutal executions.
A new ability Basim uses is called Assassin’s Focus, which allows you to tag and assassinate multiple targets in one fluid motion.
For traversal, camel riding was shown, but new parkour mechanics are the real star here. Climbing, leaping, and swinging are all present, but a new Pole Vault move to cover large gaps hasn’t been done yet.
Preorder
Now arriving in October, you can reserve your copy of Assassin’s Creed Mirage by preordering one of the three editions of the game. There’s the Standard Edition, Deluxe Edition, and Collector’s Case, which cost $50, $60, and $150, respectively. Here’s what each one contains:
Standard:
- A copy of Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Deluxe:
- A copy of Assassin’s Creed Mirage
- The Deluxe Pack (Prince of Persia outfit, eagle, mount, and weapon skins.)
- Digital Artbook
- Soundtrack
Collector’s Case:
- Assassin’s Creed Mirage Deluxe Edition
- Selected Game Soundtrack on CD
- Exclusive Steelbook (final design to be selected by fans)
- 32cm Basim figure
- Baghdad map
- Mini Artbook
- Basim’s Brooch
- Downloadable Content
- Deluxe Pack (in-game Basim outfit, eagle + mount + weapon skins all inspired by Prince of Persia)
- Digital artbook
- Digital soundtrack
