A bit of artwork from the long-rumored Assassin’s Creed Mirage appeared to leak last night. Then this morning, Ubisoft finally confirmed that the game is real, maybe earlier than it had intended to make the official reveal. It’s quite a leaky ship over there.
Late yesterday, a piece of artwork that appeared to be related to an upcoming entry in Ubisoft’s long-running stealth-action series popped up online. Sporting an “Assassin’s Creed Mirage” logo, it depicts a white-hooded figure staring down a shadowy form wielding a curved sword. The exact context is unclear, but it’s possible the leaked image is tied to future downloadable content planned for the just-announced game.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage, previously codenamed “Rift,” is the follow-up to 2020's viking-themed Valhalla. Set in 9th century Baghdad and originally planned as an expansion to Valhalla, Mirage will put Valhalla supporting character Basim Ibn Ishaq in the lead role, feature a more condensed world to explore, and focus primarily on stealth gameplay.
Many of these deets were already uncovered by Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier in February, with Schreier purporting that the game will land sometime in spring 2023. Now, between the leaked image and Ubisoft’s official announcement tweet, we’ve got our first glimpse at what Mirage will look like, and while it isn’t much yet, it at least looks like quintessential Assassin’s Creed.
As you can see in the images above, the leaked art shows our hooded assassin equipped with a short sword and the iconic hidden blade. They are standing in what appears to be a sandy crypt of some sort, preparing to face off against someone with a curved sword. Emblazoned over one of the images is the text “The Forty Thieves Quest,” which refers to a Middle Eastern fable about a prince taking revenge against Mongol invaders.
The style of the leaked image is identical to the style Ubisoft has previously used for promotional artwork tied to DLCs in other Assassin’s Creed games, such as Valhalla’s The Legacy of Beowulf. It’s the sort of image you’d see advertising add-on content on an Ubisoft game’s official store page.
Some believe Ubisoft itself accidentally leaked the artwork through its store. On the other hand, an exchange Schreier had with someone on Twitter suggests the leak may have been the work of some external party. Either way, Ubisoft is cracking down on the leaked piece of artwork, issuing takedown notices and scrubbing it from the internet as fast as it can. You know how that goes, though.
In any case, it’s possible the image leaking late last night is the reason Ubisoft decided to officially confirm Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s existence, setting, and protagonist this morning, 10 days ahead of the game’s planned appearance in the Ubisoft Forward presentation on September 10 at 3 p.m. ET.
When reached for comment, a Ubisoft representative simply pointed Kotaku to its official tweet as confirmation of Mirage’s existence.
Mirage isn’t the only Assassin’s Creed game Ubisoft is working on right now. The studio is also developing a live-service project codenamed Infinity, which will reportedly feature different but interconnected Assassin’s Creed games, with ongoing content updates adding more settings and timelines. However, other details have been revealed about this project as of yet.