Today's Ubisoft Forward event has revealed a first glimpse at Mirage, next year's new Assassin's Creed adventure - although we're still waiting for a look at gameplay, and there's still no firmer release date than "2023".
Still, we now know much more about Mirage than we did through this year's drip-feed of leaks from around the internet - and from Ubisoft itself. And this week, I sat down with several of the game's Bordeaux-based development team for a deeper dive into what was shown publicly today. Read on for details of djinn, a popular rumour seemingly being denied, and more details on that Prince of Persia crossover.
Mirage is set in Baghdad and begins in the year 861, when the city enjoyed a golden age where it was a commercial and cultural crossroads. It was home to all manner of faces from all parts of the known world - a perfect cast for an Assassin's Creed game - and also, of course, future Master Assassin himself, Basim Ibn Ishaq. When the game begins, we meet Basim several decades before his journey to England and arrival in the story of 2020's Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Here, on the streets of Baghdad, Basim begins as a petty thief, who catches the eye of the Hidden Ones.