Welcome to On The Radar: the home for in-depth conversations around the world's biggest games on 12DOVE. We've spent some time with Ubisoft Bordeaux to bring you this celebration of Assassin's Creed Mirage.
For the upcoming Assasin's Creed adventure, we traveled to Ubisoft Bordeaux, the studio that's heading up the new project.
The game follows Basim Ibn Ishaq, a character we were introduced to with Assassin's Creed Valhalla who has quite a complicated narrative. But, this is his origin story, a tale of rags to riches as Basim goes from street thief to master assassin in the ranks of the Hidden Ones.
Release date: October 4, 2023
Platform(s): PS5, Xbox Series X, PC, Xbox One, PS4
Developer: Ubisoft Bordeaux
Publisher: Ubisoft
We spent some time walking the streets of Baghdad, tumbling across rooftops, and speaking to the creative minds behind this return to roots experience. The team at Ubisoft Bordeaux is incredibly passionate about taking Assassin's Creed back to its stealth-focused origins for this adventure, particularly when the last few years have seen the series moving to a larger, more player-choice-driven RPG structure with the likes of Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed Odyssey alongside Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
Assassin's Creed Mirage is a huge endeavor for Ubisoft Montreal. This is a studio that has spent its time creating amazing DLC like Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Wrath of the Druids and supporting on huge Ubisoft projects, but Assassin's Creed Mirage marks the first time the studio has taken charge as lead developer.
For the next week, we'll be bringing you deep dives into the team's vision - from creating the city itself, our hero Basim and the characters who help define him like his mentor Roshan, and even the now-iconic logo. Be sure to keep this page bookmarked and return all throughout the week for more explorations of Assassin's Creed Mirage leading up to the review embargo on October 4.
Creating Baghdad
Assassin's Creed Mirage's recreation of 9th Century Baghdad is so accurate it made a historian cry
We sat down with art director Jean-Luc Sala and other members of the Ubisoft Bordeaux team to talk about making 9th-century Baghdad, the circular city, from scratch.
Introducing the Alamut - the lorehunters' paradise
We're about to step foot in the Alamut for the very first time in the Assassin's Creed series. Here's why heading into the legendary fortress is so exciting for lore fans.
Going behind the Basim
We chatted to actor Lee Majdoub, the man behind the voice of the up-and-coming Assassin's Creed hero.
Introducing Roshan, Basim's mentor and devout Hidden One
As soon as the iconic Shohreh Aghdashloo was announced as the voice of Roshan in Assassin's Creed Mirage, we knew they were onto something special. Now, speaking to Aghdashloo herself on the role, we're even more convinced. Aghdashloo even goes as far as to say that Mirage is doing more to represent the fight for women's rights in the Middle East than other modern media.
Creating the iconic Mirage logo
How the Assassin's Creed Mirage logo and its celebration of Arabic calligraphy came to life
Art director, Jean-Luc Sala, knew that the logo was the perfect opportunity to really draw attention to just how beautiful the Arabic calligraphy is, and boy was he right.
Celebrating Arabic in Assassin's Creed Mirage
Assassin's Creed Mirage isn't even out yet but it's already received praise for its Arabic depictions. Whether that's the accurate depiction of the Islamic call to prayer, which is one of the most important parts of worship for Muslims, or the Baghdad city trailer that showing off its Arabic dub. You can watch that above too. You could say Assassin's Creed Mirage takes the series full circle with its complete Arabic dub.
Meet Ubisoft Bordeaux, the team behind the Mirage
How the passion for the series let Ubisoft Bordeaux take the lead on Assassin's Creed Mirage
Discover the story behind Assassin's Creed Mirage going from a Valhalla DLC to a fully-fledged game, and the team behind that vision.
Assassin's Creed Mirage gameplay is a return to the series' roots
An exploration of the original Assassin's Creed, an overture rooted in method acting
We've got a wonderful retrospective look at the original Assassin's Creed here from our friends over at Edge Magazine, and why it remains such an iconic start to the series.
The final Assassin's Creed Mirage preview
Assassin’s Creed Mirage parkour feels like coming home, and that’s exactly what I’d hoped for
We spent three hours with Assassin's Creed Mirage ahead of the game's release, starting with some early missions before Basim joins the Hidden Ones, through to taking our first tentative steps under the hood. This was followed by a small jump in time to a narrative-drive black box mission where we were tasked with discovering the identity of someone known as The Treasurer.
Dive in further to the world of Assassin's Creed Mirage
