Assassin's Creed Mirage: Everything we know about the new Assassin's Creed
Details on Assassin's Creed Mirage's setting, story, world size, protagonist, and more
Want to know everything about Assassin's Creed Mirage? Assassin's Creed is 15 years old, and it's going back its roots with Assassin's Creed Mirage. It will take place in Baghdad, following Basim Ibn Is'haq prior to his appearance in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and have a renewed focus on the stealth-assassination roots of the franchise. That means those who played Valhalla shouldn't expect a similar experience with Mirage, despite having clear story connections.
If the above information on Assassin's Creed Mirage has piqued your interest, then you can take a deep-dive into the details below. On this page, you'll find everything you need to know about Assassin's Creed Mirage, including info on the gameplay, release window, setting, story, size, protagonist, and various editions available for preorder.
On this page:
- Assassin's Creed Mirage release date
- What is Assassin's Creed Mirage?
- Assassin's Creed Mirage gameplay
- When will Assassin's Creed Mirage release?
- Assassin's Creed Mirage editions
- How big is Assassin's Creed Mirage?
- Assassin's Creed Mirage setting and story
- Who is Basim in Assassin's Creed Mirage?
- Will Assassin's Creed Mirage have gambling or lootboxes?
Assassin's Creed Mirage release date
Assassin's Creed Mirage is due to launch on October 12th, 2023 on PC, as well as current- and last-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles. The planned release date was confirmed during May's PlayStation Showcase.
October 12th is a Thursday, so maybe consider saving up your annual leave to make it a long weekend if you're eager to get stuck into some digital tourism in ninth-century Baghdad.
What is Assassin's Creed Mirage?
Assassin's Creed Mirage is the next game in Ubisoft's venerable Assassin's Creed series, after 2020's behemoth Assassin's Creed Valhalla. It's being developed by Ubisoft Bordeaux, and it marks a departure from the massive open-world RPGs of recent Assassin's Creed games, and a return to the more streamlined stealth and assassination focus of the very first AC games.
Assassin's Creed Mirage will take place in Baghdad in the 9th Century, and follows the journey of Basim, a major character from Assassin's Creed Valhalla, several decades before the events of that game.
Assassin's Creed Mirage gameplay
Mirage will have a renewed focus on assassinations, parkour, and stealth as an homage to the original Assassin's Creed. Rather than the high-action open world loot crawls that have become so familiar to those who played Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, Assassin's Creed Mirage will lean heavier into stalking enemies, bagging a kill, and darting back into the shadows without detection.
While hunting enemies, you'll be able to make use of the many parkour opportunities throughout the dense city of Baghdad. We can expect Mirage to be much more urban than the recent open world titles, which had cities and towns spread across vast open worlds. Mirage's map will be more "intimate" (read: smaller) than those of the recent AC games, and that's no bad thing! Baghdad will still have plenty to explore, with the city split into multiple districts, but traversal will be much more focused on parkour.
As we mentioned, the developers hopes for Mirage are for it to celebrate that earlier time in the franchise. So, while we likely have many more Assassin's Creed open world projects to come, expect Mirage to feel more similar to earlier games in the series.
When will Assassin's Creed Mirage release?
Assassin's Creed Mirage doesn't yet have a fixed date for release, but Ubisoft has confirmed that they expect the game to release sometime in 2023. At release, Mirage will be available to play on PC through either Ubisoft Connect or the Epic Games Store; and it will also be playable on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One.
Assassin's Creed Mirage editions
Buyers can choose between three Assassin's Creed Mirage editions at launch:
| Standard Edition | £44.99/$49.99/€49.99 | Base game |
| Deluxe Edition | £49.99/$59.99/€59.99 | Prince of Persia-inspired outfit, Eagle, Mount skins, weapons, and more; plus digital artbook and soundtrack |
| Collector's Case | £129.99/$149.99/€149.99 | Basim figurine, selected game soundtrack, exclusive steelbook, Baghdad map, artbook, and Basim's brooch |
In addition to the above content, those who preorder Assassin's Creed Mirage will also receive access to an exclusive quest in-game called "The Forty Thieves". You'll get access to this quest regardless of which edition you choose to preorder.
How big is Assassin's Creed Mirage?
Assassin's Creed Mirage is meant to be a shorter game with a significantly smaller world than recent open-world behemoths of the series such as Valhalla and Odyssey. Mirage represents the first step in Ubisoft's plan to diversify the Assassin's Creed games, with some releases being large-scale open-world RPGs, and others telling smaller, more linear stories.
With Assassin's Creed Mirage, it seems like Ubisoft Bordeaux are focusing on quality over quantity. 2023 is the 15th anniversary of the first Assassin's Creed, and the game is meant to be a throwback to the original in many ways, including scale. So you should expect a playtime of perhaps 20 hours, rather than 200 hours.
Assassin's Creed Mirage setting and story
Assassin's Creed Mirage is set in Baghdad in the year 861, 12 years before the events of Assassin's Creed Valhalla begin. The story follows a younger Basim, who you may know from the Valhalla storyline, as he evolves from a common street thief into "the most versatile Assassin in franchise history" after joining the shadowy Hidden Ones and receiving the tutelage of master assassin Roshan.
While Assassin's Creed Mirage will be far from the largest ever Assassin's Creed game, Ubisoft have promised the setting of the Golden Age of Baghdad will be "dense and vibrant", and filled with inhabitants who "react to your every move". The city will be divided into four districts - among them Karkh, the industrial district; and the far more floral Round City. But you'll also be able to journey away from Baghdad and for the first time in Assassin's Creed's history explore the fortress of Alamut, the Hidden Ones' legendary capital.
Who is Basim in Assassin's Creed Mirage?
Basim Ibn Is'haq is the main character of Assassin's Creed Mirage, and we already know a fair bit about him thanks to his major role in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Here's what Ubisoft's official site for Assassin's Creed Mirage says about Basim's background:
Originally born in Samarra, Basim lost his mother at a young age and grew up on his own in the streets of Baghdad. Basim admires the Hidden Ones, and dreams of joining them.
But as Assassin's Creed veterans will know, there's far more to this character than meets the eye.
Major spoilers for Assassin's Creed Valhalla below!
Basim was revealed in Valhalla to be the human reincarnation of the Isu (god) Loki. Yes, that Loki. After realising his true nature and recalling the imprisonment of Loki's children at the hand of fellow Isu Odin, Basim confronted Eivor (the protagonist of Valhalla and the reincarnation of Odin) at Yggdrasil, but was defeated and trapped inside The Grey - a mysterious afterlife-esque digital realm that has been previously referenced in several Assassin's Creed games.
Basim stayed trapped in The Grey for centuries until his release in the year 2020, which makes him a very important character whose life spans many of the eras covered in the series' history. But Assassin's Creed Mirage will take players back to Basim's life before he realised his true nature, where he begins his journey into the world of master assassins.
Will Assassin's Creed Mirage have gambling or lootboxes?
There will be no lootboxes or gambling of any kind using real money in Assassin's Creed Mirage. This may seem like a strange question to ask given that there has been no history in the series of Assassin's Creed games incorporating lootboxes or similar mechanics; but it makes more sense when you understand the following context.
After Assassin's Creed Mirage was unveiled at this year's Ubisoft Forward presentation, viewers of the world premiere trailer noticed that the game appeared to have an ESRB 18+ rating which indicated "real gambling" as the reasoning behind the rating. This prompted widespread discussion around the possibility of loot boxes and other forms of gambling using real money.
It didn't take long for Ubisoft to pipe up with the following statement in response to the outcry from players:
Following the announcement of Assassin's Creed Mirage during Ubisoft Forward, some store pages mistakenly displayed the game for preorders with an Adults Only ESRB rating. While Assassin's Creed Mirage is still pending rating, Ubisoft wants to reassure players that no real gambling or lootboxes are present in the game.
If you want to read more about the whole shortlived misunderstanding, check out CJ's post on the matter.
That's more or less everything we know so far about Assassin's Creed Mirage. If you're hungering for more details on the latest Assassin's Creed game before its release, you can read up on Alice B's thoughts about the announcement. You might also want to take a look at our primer on the upcoming Assassin's Creed Infinity hub, which won't include Assassin's Creed Mirage but will act as a jumping off point for every future AC game.