The Assassin's Creed Mirage release date has now been and gone - the game is now out in the wild!
As a result, and if you want to get a clearer than ever look and feel for how the much-hyped game is going to play once you get it in your hands, then check out our Assassin's Creed Mirage review for our complete take on Basim's story.
For some in-brief context and information, the most important thing to know, however (after the release date, of course) is that Mirage took the behemoth series back to its stealthy roots. As had long been mooted before the game's reveal and formal announcement, the game was designed to evoke the style and play of those early games in the series. What this means in a more practical sense is action that's got an emphasis on true stealth and assassinations, social stealth (think crowds and benches), skills and abilities that follow the game's story, and less of a focus on all-out combat.
If you're in need of a brief reminder, Assassin's Creed Mirage takes us to 9th-century Baghdad and stars Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Basim as its central protagonist. We see his rise from street thief to an assassin in a game with a single-city (and its environs) setting, offering a lot of what the earlier Assassin's Creed games offered and focused on. Here's everything we know about Assassin's Creed Mirage in its run-up to release.
Assassin's Creed Mirage: cut to the chase
- What is it? Assassin's Creed stealth-action game set in Ninth-Century Baghdad
- When did ti come out? October 5, 2023
- What can I play it on? PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC
- Who is making it? Ubisoft - specifically Ubisoft Bordeaux
Assassin's Creed Mirage release date and platforms
Assassin's Creed Mirage was released on Thursday, October 5, 2023.
In terms of platforms, Ubisoft saw fit to make this a cross-generational release and brought it to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC, and cloud streaming service Amazon Luna.
Assassin's Creed Mirage gameplay
Ubisoft laid out the groundwork for the game before release by stating that Baghdad is the only city in the game and would be split into four zones - though we would also be visiting Alamut.
Well before the game was released, we also knew, largely, how we would navigate Baghdad. Lead producer on Assassin's Creed Mirage Fabian Salomon said in an interview with Arab Hardware (via PCGamesN) that Mirage’s parkour will take some inspiration from the mechanics in Assassin’s Creed Unity.
“We are seriously trying to reach this level with Mirage, and since Baghdad is dense as I mentioned, we want the players to enjoy their time in the city through parkour, which was and still is one of the important pillars that we depended on in the style of playing with Assassin's Creed Mirage”.
In fact, as part of going back to the series’ roots, Salomon confirmed Mirage would be taking inspiration from other early titles. This included the return of Assassination Contracts from Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood. He also, however, mentioned “new and different opportunities to interact with the environment in Baghdad”, including “new mechanics” in hiding and in assassination among crowds.
The gameplay reveal shown in the summer of 2023 confirmed this by showing Basim stalking a target, using tools and traps to dispatch enemies. As well as the above walkthrough video, Ubisoft also released a video with developer commentary breaking down the in-game action. You can check that out below.
The first gameplay trailer we had, however, was shown during the May 2023 PlayStation Showcase that showed off protagonist Basim's infiltration of Ninth Century Baghdad. In this trailer, we saw a first proper look at the game's return to the series' fundamentals, placing an emphasis on stealth and traversal over combat.
Assassin's Creed Mirage trailers
In the run-up to release, Ubisoft was not shy in publishing trailers around Mirage. From stealth tips to chats with the actors, and to timeline explainers, the publisher released loads of videos to help the hype train. You can see some of our favorites below.
The trailer titled 'The Round City of Baghdad' gave us our best look at the city yet and even reveals an enemy wielding a flamethrower. We see Basim using the rooftops to execute stealth kills and some examples of how social stealth is returning to the series in a big way. Check it out below:
The 'Master Assassin' trailer details Basim's story, specifically, where he will start off. It seems we'll be dropped in 12 years before the start of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Customization and leveling are also touched on. Watch it below:
The story trailer released by Ubisoft did a superb job of setting up him and his story. We knew he would go from street thief to master assassin, but this trailer divulged more of his journey - and some key moments in it.
If you're looking to complete the set, then there are a bunch of other trailers for Assassin's Creed Mirage on Ubisoft's official YouTube channel.
Assassin's Creed Mirage story and setting
Assassin's Creed Mirage starts 12 years before Assassin's Creed Valhalla and is set in Baghdad. Basim Ibn Is'haq, who was introduced in Valhalla, takes center stage. According to reports, Mirage began as a Valhalla spin-off before escalating into its own fully-fledged entry.
Basim is part of the first Assassin Brotherhood, and Mirage takes us on one of his earlier adventures. Here, he's being taught by Roshan, a Persian assassin portrayed by Shohreh Aghdashloo. Rather than the open-world RPG gameplay of more recent years, Assassin's Creed Mirage focuses on stealth and parkour once again.
As such, Mirage is a more-focused affair and comes it at less than 20 hours for the main story and a few extras. When asked about the game's length in an IGN interview before release, executive producer Marc-Alexis Côté said, "Not everything has to be a 150-hour RPG, right?”, confirming: “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, on close-quarter combat, on parkour, and a denser city that goes back to our roots in the Middle East, with Baghdad as the centerpiece.”
Mirage's story follows Basim from when he was a young thief living on the streets, to an apprentice in the Brotherhood, and onwards to being a master assassin.
Assassin's Creed Mirage news
The Assassin's Creed Mirage release date is brought forward by a full week
On August 14, Ubisoft revealed that the game had not only gone gold, but it was bringing the Assassin's Creed Mirage release date forward by a full week, to October 5. A surprise but a most-welcome announcement.
Microtransactions looks to be revealed in leaked screenshot
In early August, our sister site GamesRadar+ covered what seemed to be a picture of an Assassin's Creed Mirage window or screen displaying outfit packs to acquire. This is a possible indication of microtransactions being present once again in the latest Assassin's Creed game. It's not a huge surprise as the in-game purchases have appeared in the last major releases in the series - and proved very popular with players. To be clear though, this is not certain and has not been confirmed by Ubisoft.
Assassin's Creed Mirage will take about 25-30 hours to fully complete
It has been close to common knowledge that Mirage would offer a more streamlined experience compared to its immediate RPG-style predecessors in the series, but now we have confirmation of that in terms of hours. Fabian Salomon, lead producer on Mirage confirmed recently that the timings appear to be around 20 hours if you mainline the story and around 30 hours if you do every mission. This will be music to some fans' ears given Odyssey and Valhalla could easily have 200-odd hours sunk into them to do everything.
Assassin's Creed Mirage will get a haptic vest that can enable you to feel combat
In a rather unexpected move, to say the least, the first piece of licensed Mirage 'hardware' has been revealed in the form of a haptic suit. As reported by our sister site PCGamer, this suit is being made by the brand Owo, which will set you back about $500 and will let you feel all the stabs, beatings, and parkour impacts that Basim will feel in game.
There are no plans for any Assassin's Creed Mirage DLC "for now"
Chatting to fans in a recent Reddit AMA, and spotted by VGC, the game's creative director Stéphane Boudon said that "For now, Mirage has no plan for DLC or extensive post-launch."
Assassin's Creed Mirage will feature a thorough codex to teach you the history of Baghdad
Echoing - but not following exactly the same suit - as previous Assassin's Creed games, Mirage will offer players a means to swot up and take a deep dive into the history of the game's setting, Baghdad. In the form of a codex, players will be able to learn about everything from religion and beliefs to daily life and science of 9th century Baghdad, absorbing a whole heap of information that's been put together by experts and from museum collections.
Progression and customization are tied to the story
During the recent 'Master Assassin' trailer, it's revealed that progression is entirely tied to the story, ditching the XP-based system from the last few games. Basim will receive new gear as you progress, and can then be customized with dyes, instead of being bought. As you complete missions, new tools will become available too, while Skill Points will allow you to customize Basim even further.
Assassin's Creed Mirage to get a full Arabic dub
In what's a first for the series in all its years, Mirage will be the first game to ship with full Arabic localisation. As reported by our sister site GamesRadar+ at the end of May, while the news of the dub itself was quietly announced previously, it was only recently confirmed that Middle East film and TV star Eyad Nassar will start in the Arabic dub - something rightly bringing the localisation back to the headlines.
For a look at other games that are still on their way, check out our upcoming games 2023 page.
