Highlights
- Assassin's Creed Mirage takes place in 9th century Baghdad, making it one of the earlier games in the series timeline.
- It is preceded by Assassin's Creed Odyssey, set in Ancient Greece, and Assassin's Creed Origins, which showcases the formation of the Hidden Ones.
- The protagonist of Assassin's Creed Mirage, Basim Ibn Ishaq, has a complex storyline that connects to a civilization from over 70,000 years ago and continues in Assassin's Creed Valhalla some years after AC Mirage.
The vast majority of the Assassin's Creed franchise takes place in completely different time settings, in completely different locations, with each entry usually focusing on a new historical protagonist. From Renaissance Italy and Third Crusade Jerusalem to Revolutionary War America, Ancient Egypt, and Ancient Greece, the Assassin's Creed franchise has covered a lot of time periods in the last 15 years, and with usually very little to connect each entry, it's only natural that some fans are a little confused on where Assassin's Creed Mirage fits on the timeline.
Designed to be a throwback to the very first game in the series, some fans might think that Assassin's Creed Mirage takes place around the same time of that original game, and while it's pretty close, it's still a few hundred years out. Taking place in 9th century Baghdad, Assassin's Creed Mirage is far from the most chronologically recent game in the franchise, but it also isn't the first, with a few entries taking place before it.
Where Assassin's Creed Mirage Sits on the Series Timeline
Beginning in the year 861 AD, Assassin's Creed Mirage is actually preceded by two previous games in the Assassin's Creed timeline. The very first game in the Assassin's Creed chronological timeline is Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Set between 431-404 BC, Assassin's Creed Odyssey sees players control either Alexios or Kassandra, a Spartan mercenary that fights in the Ancient Greek Peloponnesian War. Along the way, Odyssey's protagonist unravels various hidden plots, most of which revolve around the Cult of Kosmos, a very primitive form of the Templar Order.
Set a few hundred years later between 49-43 BC, Assassin's Creed Origins is up next. Putting players in the sandals of Bayek, Assassin's Creed Origins sees the formation of the Hidden Ones, the organization that would go on to be known as the Assassin Brotherhood. Assassin's Creed Mirage takes place about 900 years after Assassin's Creed Origins, and sees players control Basim Ibn Ishaq, a thief living on the streets of Baghdad. After a fatal incident in the Winter Palace, Basim is recruited by the Hidden Ones and trained to be an assassin.
Over the next few years, Basim ventures back out to Baghdad and attempts to rid the city of the Order of the Ancient's corruption. Though the bulk of Assassin's Creed Mirage does take place around 860 AD, those who have played Assassin's Creed Valhalla will know that Basim's story isn't a completely linear one, with the character having a deep connection with a civilization that once lived over 70,000 years ago, so Assassin's Creed Mirage's timeline can get a little convoluted by its end.
With Basim originally appearing in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, it's only natural that the last RPG entry in the franchse takes place a few decades after Assassin's Creed Mirage, as it began in 872 AD. Though Basim's journey mostly takes place in Assassin's Creed Mirage and Valhalla's historical past, the character's journey doesn't end there. In Valhalla's present-day story, Layla and the rest of the modern Assassin crew find Basim's body hooked up to Yggdrasil, an ancient Isu piece of technology that let them pass down their consciousness to humans. Layla is tricked into freeing Basim, and with the help of the Staff of Hermes, he regains his physical body, and agrees to help the modern Assassins.
Assassin's Creed Mirage is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.