08/18/2023 A new developer deep-dive on Baghdad has dropped and Ubisoft has seemingly confirmed what the article claims. The copy has been updated to reflect that.
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage is paying homage the series’ origins in more ways than one and it’s going to be quite a bit shorter than Valhalla – the most recent Assassin’s Creed game. However, the Assassin’s Creed Mirage map might actually be a little bigger than first thought. A physical map spotted online by eagle-eyed fans suggests that there will be quite a few Assassin’s Creed Mirage locations to explore as Basim – including Baghdad and Alamut, of course.
Spotted on Amazon by Assassin’s Creed content creator ‘Access The Animus‘, a retailer-exclusive launch edition of Assassin’s Creed Mirage comes with a physical map listing a total of five locations that look like they will be available to explore in-game. The locations labelled are Baghdad (of which the Abbasiyah, Haribiyah, and Karkh districts are highlighted), Alamut (which has been confirmed as a place you will visit in some capacity during Mirage), Dur-Kurigalzu (located north-west of Baghdad), Al-Anbar (which will be where Basim starts out as a street thief), and Jariariyah (located to the south-east of Baghdad).
We know this screenshot doesn’t make reading what the map says easy, but you can check out an image of the map in question below:
Of course, this could very-well be a map of Baghdad and the surrounding areas with no relevance to the playable space. However, when videogames do ship with physical maps, they almost always show the playable space available. Not only this, but a lot of the wide-angle shots we’ve seen in Assassin’s Creed Mirage trailers – and a number of shots that are clearly outside the close-knit streets of Baghdad – do seem to show Basim in some areas that look like they could be situated on this map.
For a game without post-launch DLC plans, we expect quite a lot of what you can see in Assassin’s Creed Mirage to be explorable. It also wouldn’t make much sense to give players a map that looks like it shows the playable area in a videogame without that playable area being available.
Discussing this map, Assassin’s Creed fans have also highlighted that this doesn’t seem like a historically accurate map. The city of Baghdad itself does bear some resemblance to what we accept the city of Baghdad looked like in the 9th century. However, this area outside the city walls is where there are differences – namely, the fact that there are two rivers surrounding the landmass where the city is located.
If you want a little more proof, the 01:58 minute mark of the new Recreating A Lost City behind-the-scenes look at Assassin’s Creed Mirage shows a map with an explorable area beyond Baghdad city center. This confirms what the leaked physical map suggests.
Ubisoft bending the historical accuracy rules when it comes to map design isn’t something anyone who’s ever played an Assassin’s Creed game should find surprising, particularly in recent releases. In the same way we’re going to see a number of Assassin’s Creed Mirage landmarks in the upcoming release, every Assassin’s Creed game is packed with historical landmarks and points of interest. However, they’re not always accurately placed and spaced-apart from one another – which isn’t a bad thing when it comes to player experience.
Is this new physical map more evidence that Assassin’s Creed Mirage is going to be one of the best Assassin’s Creed games yet? Well, it’s safe to say that it’s far from a bad thing; although, Assassin’s Creed Mirage can’t escape the RPG era’s heavy microtransactions. Still, we can’t wait for the Assassin’s Creed Mirage release date to roll around and you can find out more about Assassin’s Creed Mirage early access here.