Assassin’s Creed Mirage is officially real, and it’s coming for players in the near future. The first title for the franchise since the massive Valhalla, Mirage has long been rumored to be a smaller, stealthier version of the Assassin’s Creed formula than the game has produced in its last several titles.
The official announcement of Mirage followed a long string of leaks regarding the title, which was rumored to originally be a spin-off of Valhalla, that’s since evolved into its own standalone game. The rumors also pointed to Valhalla NPC Basim as the main character of the new game, a leak that was confirmed by the official artwork posted by Ubisoft featuring Basim in a white Assassin’s hood and wielding a hidden blade.
Perhaps more important than the main character of an Assassin’s Creed game is its setting. From Renaissance Italy to Istanbul and the colonial Caribbean islands, the historical places where Assassin’s Creed games are set have always been a main draw of the series, which has built up its brand on communicating a slightly altered version of famous historical events and people.
So, where is Assassin’s Creed Mirage set?
What is the setting for Assassin’s Creed Mirage?
Assassin’s Creed Mirage will take place in Baghdad. This location was central to many of the leaks about Mirage, and Ubisoft confirmed the setting in its Assassin’s Creed presentation during Ubisoft Forward.
Of course, just as important as “where” in the Assassin’s Creed games is “when.” The developers have said that the beginning of Mirage happens around 20 years before the beginning of Valhalla, which begins in the year 872 AD. This would put Mirage around 850 AD, a time when the Abbasid Caliphate stretched from western India and the Middle East to parts of present-day Turkey, Egypt, and northern Africa. Given that the game will take us through Basim growing up and joining the Hidden Ones, it seems likely that the events of Mirage will also depict the end of the Abassid Golden Age and the start of the Anarchy at Samarra, a time of war and political upheaval in the region.
Judging by the images shown in the trailer, Mirage‘s Baghdad looks like a massive and dense city, a far cry from the rolling plains of Valhalla or the ever-present oceans of Odyssey. While this game’s map might be “smaller” than those two predecessors, don’t expect yourself to get bored too quickly running around and over the mazy city streets.
The trailer also revealed another setting that Mirage players will get to visit, and it’s a significant one: Alamut, the birthplace of the Assassins in the northern mountains of Iran. In the trailer, the citadel looks like it’s still in the process of being built, and according to the developers, it is in this place that the Hidden Ones will eventually become the Assassins, roughly 100 years after the events of Mirage. For longtime players, the similarities to the Assassin stronghold Masyaf from the original Assassin’s Creed games are clear, and between that and the Middle Eastern setting of the game, they should feel right at home.
