As the always knowledgeable Jason Schreier (Bloomberg) claims, Assassin's Creed Mirage was originally intended to be an expansion for Valhalla. Finally, Ubisoft would have made the decision to make it an episode in its own right to fill a schedule qualified as skinny internally. Unlike the last two opuses which left the choice to embody a man or a woman, Mirage will slip us into the skin of Basim Ibn Ishaq, a central character of Assassin's Creed Valhalla whose past includes some gray areas. Taking place twenty years before the adventures of Eivor, Assassin's Creed Mirage is therefore an opportunity to discover how Basim joined the ranks of "Those we do not see". Moreover, Ubisoft took advantage of this first contact with the game to unveil a trailer which shows that the man could never have become a Master Assassin without the benevolence of his mentor, Roshan (voiced by the Iranian-American actress Shohreh Aghdashloo), a woman in her fifties who experienced slavery in Persia. It is still too early to draw a parallel with the illustrious Ezio, but the youth and ardor of Basim – then a street thief – is reminiscent of the Italian hero who was having a good time before grasping the magnitude of the fight against the Templars. We notice that in the portrait of Basim, it is indicated that he is plagued by nightmarish visions, which undoubtedly refers to Loki.
With Assassin's Creed Mirage, the series wants to return to the fundamentals that have allowed it to build its legend over the past fifteen years.
Assassin's Creed Mirage will immerse the player in 9th century Baghdad (861). At the time, the city – under the Abbasid dynasty – was considered by many to be the capital of art, knowledge, innovation, power, science and even commerce. Of course, the developers have documented themselves in order to offer a faithful reproduction of Baghdad at the time, especially since the city was completely destroyed five centuries later. “Players will be able to explore a city that is both dense and dynamic, where the inhabitants react to your every move,” explained the artistic director. They will have the opportunity to discover the secrets of four districts such as Karkh or the lush gardens of the Round City. Naturally, this desire to provide a credible context extends to the protagonists. “As in any Assassin's Creed, we have integrated many historical characters, underlined Sarah Beaulieu. For example, there will be political leaders, but not only. Indeed, Basim will also be able to count on childhood friends, the director of narration specifying that each meeting will be likely to impact the destiny of the hero. "Some of them could have a much bigger role than it seems," she insisted.
BAGHDAD COFFEE
In addition to Baghdad, the game will allow you to explore Alamut, a highly symbolic region since it is there that the famous fortress of the Brotherhood was built and that the Credo finds its roots. Note that this is the first time that the castle will appear in an Assassin's Creed game, knowing that it will be under construction during the events of Mirage. The rumors were true: unless we misunderstood Ubisoft Bordeaux's intentions, the dynamic dialogues were put away to make way for a more direct plot. “The narrative structure is closer to that of the first Assassin's Creed in the sense that it is more linear than what the players experienced in the last episodes, confided the director of narration. However, at certain times in the story, it will be possible to take part in the missions in the order of our choice. The story of Assassin's Mirage was written with a definite beginning and end. If the RPG aspect does not seem to have been retained, the fact remains that Basim will indeed evolve over the quests. Indeed, certain outfits will show his progression within the Brotherhood, without it being known for the moment if each of them will be accompanied by additional attacks. In this regard, it was explained to us that the hero would be able to slow down time, and thus mark and remove several opponents at once.
"Basim has a very close bond with his eagle," added Jean-Luc Sala. It is a young imperial eagle, specific to this region, named Enkidu. As we can guess, our winged companion will be of great help in flying over the surroundings, and tagging guards and resources. In order to reinforce the infiltration dimension of Assassin's Creed Mirage, archers will be able to attack Enkidu directly if they see him. We will then have the choice either to remove them to clear the way, or to sneak into the opposing camps without air support. It will be interesting to see if the archers will represent a real threat to our eagle, or if they will only shoot two or three arrows at random to create an illusion. Social stealth, back in Valhalla, should be on point, and Ubisoft has promised that the AI will be up to par. "We have reworked the detection system so that players can know who is chasing them and at what distance," said Jean-Luc Sala. We have also integrated tools favoring infiltration such as mines or the blowpipe. Beyond Basim's abilities, we were assured that Assassin's Creed Mirage's level design would lend itself perfectly to stealth. The same goes for parkour, which had clearly lost its influence in the last episodes, and which the developers at Ubisoft therefore wanted to put back at the heart of the gameplay.
Beyond Basim's abilities, we were assured that Assassin's Creed Mirage's level design would lend itself perfectly to stealth. The same goes for parkour, which had clearly lost its influence in the last episodes, and which the developers at Ubisoft therefore wanted to put back at the heart of the gameplay.
We would tend to forget it, but free-running is not just about running on rooftops, rolling on the ground or clinging to walls. It's about becoming one with the environment, in particular using a whole bunch of acrobatics that will return in Mirage – we think of the corner swing, for example. There are also the tall masts which the hero can use to overcome many obstacles like a pole vaulter. By the studio's own admission, all of this will be done at a pace that has been revised upwards in order to transcribe Basim's agility and grace. Introduced in Unity, before being taken up recently in Valhalla via the extension "The Siege of Paris", the Black Box missions - eliminating a major target taking into account the different opportunities available to us - will also be part of the game. , with a whole host of new animations to make every kill as visceral as it is searing. Given that we have not had the opportunity to talk to the developers, some points remain to be clarified. For example, we do not know if the fights will continue to play Dark Souls or if Ubisoft Bordeaux has decided to return to the initial formula. We could not ask them either about the presence or not of a level system, even if according to the leaks, Assassin's Creed Mirage should do without it. What about the interface, the size of the map and the contemporary era through the Animus?
On the other hand, we know that Assassin's Creed Mirage will be released on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, PC and Amazon Luna. In addition, the game will be available in three versions: Standard (50€), Deluxe (60€) and Collector (150€). The latter will contain, among other things, a 32 cm statuette bearing the effigy of Basim, an artbook, the soundtrack of the game, a map of Baghdad, the DLC "The Forty Thieves", or even a Steelbook case; all neatly stored in a box. Finally, this presentation of Assassin's Creed Mirage allowed us to gather some information on the future of the series. Thus, Marc-Alexis Côté (executive producer of the franchise) has formalized the development of Assassin's Creed Jade, an episode designed for mobiles and whose adventure will take place in China. The particularity of the game is that it will allow you to create your own character, a first in the history of the saga. We are guaranteed that all known mechanics of Assassin's Creed will be there, but adapted to touch controls. There's also Assassin's Creed Red (code name) which is in development at Ubisoft Quebec, the studio behind Odyssey. The French publisher seems to have heard the prayers of the fans since it is feudal Japan which has been retained as historical context. For its part, Ubisoft Montreal is at work on Assassin's Creed Hexe (codename), which will offer a radically different experience and atmosphere from other games released to date. The way the logo appears immediately brings to mind the Blair Witch Project; and that's good, since according to the leaks, the adventure would take place at the end of the Holy Roman Empire, with the backdrop of a witch hunt. Red and Hexe will be the first two games to integrate Assassin's Creed Infinity, a kind of hub that will bring together different types of experience revolving around the Assassin's Creed universe. And since several players will be able to connect to it, the developers are thinking about how to integrate multiplayer. As for Assassin's Creed Valhalla, it will host a final free DLC, namely "The Last Chapter", not to mention the live action series designed with Netflix.
