Highlights
- Assassin's Creed Mirage connects multiple time periods and Assassin's Creed games, creating a complex and intertwined storyline for fans to unravel.
- Basim's journey in Assassin's Creed Mirage leads him to discover his true identity as the reincarnation of Loki, an ancient Isu who passes down his consciousness through human DNA.
- The memories of Basim's past life, represented by his childhood friend Nehal, guide him to a technologically advanced Isu facility where he learns about his tortured past and seeks out Odin's reincarnation.
Major Spoilers Ahead for Assassin's Creed MirageOn the surface, the Assassin's Creed franchise is a fairly straightforward set of standalone stories, with each one focusing on a new protagonist in a new historical setting. And while the vast majority of Assassin's Creed games can be enjoyed with that approach in mind, that simplicity isn't quite true. While most of Assassin's Creed is technically an anthology series, there are pretty large portions of the story that connect across different entries, and that's exactly the case with Assassin's Creed Mirage.
Designed to hearken back to the very first game in the series, Assassin's Creed Mirage has a fairly simple plot to begin with, but by the time players roll credits, they may be scratching their chin and wondering what they've just seen. A simple tale of good versus evil quickly takes a Tokyo Drift-level turn that ties together multiple time periods, and multiple Assassin's Creed games, which is a lot for any fan to take in.
What Happens in Assassin's Creed Mirage's Ending
Assassin's Creed Mirage's main story sees Basim joining the Hidden Ones, and working alongside the rest of the Brotherhood to hunt down the Order of the Ancients that are corrupting the city of Baghdad. Along the way, Basim is plagued by constant nightmares of a shadowy figure he refers to as the "Jinni," which only grow stronger the more targets he assassinates. Though she disappears for a while after he joins the Hidden Ones, Basim reunites with his childhood friend Nehal, who encourages him to seek out the source of the Jinni.
Eventually, Basim's journey takes him to the Round Palace at the heart of Baghdad, where his final Order of the Ancients target awaits, the head of the order, The Snake. Upon finding her in the palace, The Snake tells Basim that he's special, and that to find the truth about his identity he needs to unlock the chamber underneath Alamut Castle, the Hidden Ones' training ground. Before she can say anymore, The Snake is killed by Basim's mentor Roshan, who warns him against going back to Alamut.
With Nehal's encouragement, Basim returns to Alamut Castle and finds it under attack by the Caliphate Guard. Basim finds the underground chamber and after a brief duel with Roshan, he opens the chamber's door with his own blood, being instructed all the while by Nehal. Once inside, Basim sees that the chamber is actually some kind of technologically advanced structure, and long-time fans of Assassin's Creed will recognize it as an Isu facility, a race of ancient beings that lived 70,000 years ago and play a vital role in the rest of the series.
Making his way through the Isu facility, Basim discovers that it's some kind of prison, and upon opening a large sarcophagus, he finds Nehal inside. It's then revealed that Nehal was never actually a real person, but instead just the memories of Basim's past life breaking through his subconscious to bring him to this place and time. In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, players learn that Basim is actually the reincarnation of Loki, who was an ancient Isu who managed to pass down his own consciousness through human DNA. Nehal is the representation of Loki's memories in Basim's subconscious.
After touching an Isu disc - the same artifact that kicked off the start of Basim's journey - Basim sees this past version of himself being tortured by an unknown figure. Though his identity isn't revealed, it seems likely that this torturer is Odin, the Isu that imprisoned Loki after he poisoned his son Baldr, which was revealed in Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Dawn of Ragnarok DLC. Basim then discovers that the Jinni that's been haunting him is actually the memories of this torturer. Assassin's Creed Mirage ends with Basim joining hands with Nehal, and thus becoming the complete reincarnation of Loki in the process, who will go on to seek out the reincarnation of Odin, Valhalla's own Eivor.
Assassin's Creed Mirage is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
