Assassin’s Creed Mirage seems like a return to the franchise’s roots, paying tribute to the original Assassin’s Creed game from 2007 with its aesthetic and gameplay, and it looks like fans are excited about this return to form. With that in mind, Mirage should be the stepping stone that Ubisoft uses to explore familiar times and locations but under a new lens, starting with Spain. The story of the Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins is deep and worth exploring, and the country’s best lore overlaps with the Assassin’s Creed 2 era of games, making it the perfect potential followup to Mirage.
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Assassin’s Creed Mirage Could Kick Off a Series of Throwback Games
Assassin’s Creed Mirage tells the origin story of Basim, an Assassin first encountered during Eivor’s journey in Valhalla 20 years after the events of Mirage. Mirage takes place in Baghdad during the 9th century when the Levantine Assassins were at the height of power and operated as a unified Brotherhood instead of the scattered cells struggling to stay afloat in later games. The parallels between Assassin’s Creed Mirage and the original Assassin’s Creed start taking shape when comparing the two. It’s a return to the Middle East during the early Medieval period and is another exploration of the Levantine Brotherhood of Assassins with their iconic white robes, lore, and all; however, this time through a different lens. Assassin’s Creed MIrage feels like an “homage game,” for lack of a better term.
Mirage’s announcement shows that the time is right to start retreading old ground in the series. Fans have been receptive to Mirage’s first trailer, and many are happy to see the series shed its RPG gameplay for at least one future entry. What’s more, Assassin’s Creed has always had a treasure trove of lore that is impossible to get through in only one game, so the fact that Ubisoft is going back and digging deeper into some of its most iconic time periods is great for fans of the franchise who love learning about this type of stuff. But there is no reason Ubisoft should only make one of these “homage games” and stop there when there is so much lore still left to explore, particularly in the Assassin’s Creed 2 era and how it relates to Spain.
For a country that played such a significant role in the world throughout the events of Assassin’s Creed 2 and Brotherhood, Spain has undoubtedly received the short end of the stick as far as mainline entry games are concerned. For example, Ezio briefly had ties with the Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins during the events of Assassin’s Creed 2: Discovery, but it is still very much an Ezio game. And while the Assassin’s Creed movie did take place in Spain, Ubisoft has mostly buried the project and claimed the game’s lore overwrites that of the film. All this is to say that an Assassin’s Creed Mirage-style game using Spain as a fresh-but-familiar setting while paying tribute to Assassin’s Creed 2 makes sense.
The Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins Is Full of Lore
Diving into the lore of the Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins reveals that Ubisoft could easily choose some great characters for a game in Spain. One of the most notable Assassins in the country during the Renaissance era was Horacio de Heredia, a character who shares many similarities with Ezio but is different enough to feel like a fresh protagonist. Much like Ezio, Horacio descended from nobles and was a high-ranking man before the Inquisition executed his family at the request of the Templar Order. In another similarity, his quest for revenge would be what leads him to the Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins and later cements him as a notable figure in the order. Not much is known about Horacio de Heredia past his initiation into the Brotherhood; however, his story’s open-ended nature makes him a great candidate for an Assassin’s Creed game based on Spanish history.
The Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins has the lore and the background to create a perfect jumping-off point to tell Horacio’s story. During that time, plenty of turmoil was happening in Renaissance Spain as the Inquisition had eliminated almost all the Assassins before Ezio found himself there during the events of Assassin’s Creed Discovery. Assassin’s Creed: Rebellion also has a substantial cast of Renassiance-era assassins that could join the cast, if not star in their own games. What’s more, during this time, the Assassins were involved in a plot to assassinate Queen Isabella - as described in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and Project Legacy - but details were left rather vague. Needless to say, taking down corrupt monarchs is Assassin’s Creed’s bread and butter and could easily be used as the center point of a 16th-century game set in Spain.
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Spain Could Set Up the Future of the Assassin’s Creed Universe
Spain’s importance could also make it one of the best places for an Assassin’s Creed game set later in the timeline and into the modern era. Further down the line, the Spanish Brotherhood of Assassins found itself active during the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s and was host to one of the most extraordinary Assassins in the whole series: Ignacio Cardona, a Spanish Anarchist and Republican. During the Spanish Civil War, the Spanish Brotherhood and Ignacio banded together to locate the Koh-i-Noor, a powerful Piece of Eden capable of finding every other missing Piece of Eden in existence. While Ignacio’s story has only been explored in the Assassin’s Creed: Uprising comics, he could take the franchise in an exciting new direction while fitting into the homage off-shoot mold that Assassin’s Creed Mirage is forming.
As a franchise that is generally very single-character-focused, an ensemble cast of Assassins would be a great way to expand the franchise’s storytelling range while also going back to a tighter, more-organized Assassin Brotherhood like in the earlier games. The Koh-i-Noor is also a significant Piece of Eden that is still missing and should have serious implications for the franchise’s future. What’s more, Ignacio Cardona’s story during the Spanish Civil War is more grounded than the mythological-fantasy stories of Assassin’s Creed Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, making it a good fit for another back-to-basics game. While Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a bit of a smaller experiment for the franchise, its “homage game” precedent has plenty of room to expand into something more in the future.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage releases in 2023 for Luna, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
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