We got a closer look at Assassin’s Creed: Mirage today during Ubisoft Forward, and long-time fans of the franchise will recognize the numerous ways in which it recalls the original Assassin’s Creed’s setting, formula, and tone. But in some respects, Mirage is also an opportunity for Ubisoft to make improvements to old ways of doing things – and one of the most important elements it aims to improve upon is representation.
Over the years, the original Assassin’s Creed has faced some criticism over certain aspects of its representation of Middle Eastern culture and people. For example, the game includes no significant female characters, and voice actor Philip Shahbaz plays main character Altair with an American accent (which he dropped in subsequent games). To some, these may seem like fairly small critiques in a series that has largely done historical accuracy better and better with each subsequent entry. But as a result, the Ubisoft of 2023 has higher expectations placed upon it than the Ubisoft of 2007.
We’ve already seen some of its efforts in the trailer, which has multiple women front and center in Basim’s story. But what about the rest? Speaking to IGN, narrative director Sarah Beaulieu says she’s “really proud” of the team’s efforts working with historians internally and externally on a daily basis to ensure everything about Mirage was as authentic to 9th century Baghdad as possible.
And that extends to casting, too:
“We wanted actors who came from Middle East or whatever the characters they were playing were from,” Beaulieu says. “So for example, Basim, his origins are never told in Valhalla. We know that he was born in Samara. And back in the days, especially in Baghdad, people would come from everywhere. So you have people coming from Middle East, but also from other countries. And we have this diverse city that we wanted to portray. So again, we had experts from every field, and I'm really proud of that aspect, really, because I think we did a great job on portraying this diverse city with all the people in it.”
Assassin’s Creed: Mirage has been a welcome announcement to many fans of the original Assassin’s Creed games, which were far more stealth-focused and had fewer dense action-RPG mechanics. Mirage purports to hearken back to the original Assassin’s Creed, with a shorter, more linear story progression and a Middle Eastern setting.
It’s also similar in gameplay, where players are engage in “black box missions” where they spend time gathering intel, listening in on conversations, and otherwise plotting how they’ll approach an assassination target. Once they know what they’re up against, players can use stealth and parkour to approach and complete the assassination. Full hand-to-hand combat, while possible, is more of a last resort when other options have failed.
We got a much longer look at Assassin's Creed: Mirage earlier today during Ubisoft Forward, which you can read about here. We also have a full roundup of everything shown at the showcase, and plenty more to come from IGN's Summer of Gaming.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.