Assassin's Creed Mirage is a 2023 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Bordeaux and published by Ubisoft. The game is the thirteenth major installment in the Assassin's Creed series and the successor to 2020's Assassin's Creed Valhalla. While its historical timeframe precedes that of Valhalla, its modern-day framing story succeeds Valhalla's own. Set in 9th-century Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age—in particular during the Anarchy at Samarra—the story follows Basim Ibn Ishaq (a character first introduced in Valhalla), a street thief who joins the Hidden Ones to fight for peace and liberty, against the Order of the Ancients, who desire peace through control. The main narrative focuses on Basim's internal struggle between his duties as a Hidden One and his desire to uncover his mysterious past.

Originally envisioned as an expansion for Valhalla, the game was reworked into a standalone title to expand its scope. The design philosophy behind Mirage—the first game to be developed primarily by Ubisoft Bordeaux, previously just a support studio—was to return to the series' roots by focusing on stealth, parkour, and assassinations over the role-playing elements featured heavily in recent installments. As a result, the game is much smaller in scale than its predecessors and combines elements introduced in them with those found in earlier installments of the franchise.

Mirage was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 5, 2023. A mobile version is also scheduled to release for iOS on iPhone 15 Pro models in early 2024. Upon release, the game received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its world design and focus on stealth, though some criticized the characters and reliance on previous installments in the series.

Gameplay

Assassin's Creed Mirage is an action-adventure stealth game intended to be reminiscent of older Assassin's Creed titles, being more linear and story-focused and reducing the number of role-playing elements present in recent installments of the series. Parkour, close-quarter combat, and stealth are core elements of the gameplay. For assassination missions, Mirage adopts the "Black Box" design previously seen in Assassin's Creed Unity and Assassin's Creed Syndicate, where players have to explore the environment to find different ways to reach and eliminate their targets.

The game is set principally in the city of Baghdad, which is divided into four districts—the Round City, Karkh, Abassiyah with its House of Wisdom, and Harbiyah—but also features several smaller towns like Anbar, located on the outskirts of the city. Alamut, the fortress headquarters of the Hidden Ones, is also featured in several missions, but is inaccessible outside of the storyline. Baghdad is much smaller than the worlds of recent Assassin's Creed titles, being closer in size to Unity's and Revelations' depictions of Paris and Constantinople, respectively.

Similarly to previous Assassin protagonists, the main character, Basim, has a large arsenal of weapons and tools at his disposal, including the signature Assassin Hidden Blade, smoke bombs, throwing knives, and poison darts. Both weapons and tools can be upgraded through a skill tree which allows different effects to be applied to them. Basim also has access to both Eagle Vision and an avian companion named Enkidu (after the character from Mesopotamian mythology), an eastern imperial eagle that can be used to scout nearby areas. Unlike previous Assassin's Creed games which featured avian companions, enemy archers can detect and shoot at Enkidu.

Mirage introduces a new ability called "Assassin Focus," which allows the player to eliminate multiple enemies simultaneously and is recharged by performing stealth assassinations. When the ability is activated, time stops and the player can mark up to five enemies who will then be automatically killed by Basim in quick succession. Another new feature are various poles located around Baghdad, which can be used to cross wide gaps. Furthermore, moving and running animations have been refined to improve mobility and fluidity, with the development team taking inspiration from "samurai, ninja, and even Jedi to a certain point."