2023-10-10 23:30:00
Three years after taking us to Norway on the trail of the Vikings, the saga Assassin’s Creed now catapults players into 9th-century Iraq, where they can explore the “best recreation of Baghdad ever created,” according to historian Raphaël Weyland.
Like the previous chapters of the saga, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage is in no way a documentary simulation, nor a purely historical product. The plot that unfolds in Mirage is full of fiction, just to make it a fun creation. But despite these liberties taken in the name of entertainment, it remains firmly anchored in History, revolving around true and verifiable facts.
Raphaël Weyland worked for more than a year and a half to ensure this.
“We try to be as close to reality as possible to provide players with as authentic and immersive an experience as possible. But we obviously have to make changes – we moved buildings, mountains and rivers – for gameplay or narrative reasons. Our goal is to make History a great playground,” explains the historian.
Before arriving in stores last week, the game Assassin’s Creed: Mirage leveraged the work of 12 different studios around the world. Of the 550 employees mobilized, 120 are Montrealers.
Anchor points of the saga
For several days, players have been able to head towards the Middle East via their console by taking on the features of Basim Ibn Is’Haq, a young thief from Baghdad. Our hero will quickly be recruited by “those we don’t see”, a secret society which will become, two centuries later, the legion of assassins. He will then try to restore order in Iraq, which has been weakened by the Order of the Ancients, a group spreading corruption throughout the city.
Photo provided by Ubisoft
The mechanics used to achieve his goals are well known to fans ofAssassin’s Creed: Stealth assassinations, parkour, climbing and complex combat once again serve as anchors for the internationally renowned saga.
But today we are pushing the exercise even further. For the sake of authenticity, Mirage becomes the first chapter of the saga entirely playable in Arabic. And even if we choose to live the adventure in the language of Molière – or that of Shakespeare – the dialogues remain peppered with words and expressions of multiple origins: we think, among others, of Greek or Persian with which the exchanges between characters.
“All these languages coexisted in Baghdad in the 9th century. We paid particular attention to Arab culture, Islam, and the reality of the Middle East at the time,” explains Raphaël Weyland.
A culture not so distant…
And if Baghdad in the 9th century may seem distant to current players, it is less so than some might believe, explains Raphaël Weyland. The influence of this society has spanned the centuries, so much so that Quebec bears its traces today.
Examples? The historian notices some of them in his daily routine.
“It was in Baghdad that the first perfume distillation process was created. So every day, when my wife puts on her perfume, there is a little bit of this city on her,” he emphasizes.
“Same thing for the stories of Jean de la Fontaine; one of his great inspirations is a book of animal fables written in Baghdad in the 9th century. When I read The Milkmaid and the Milk Pot to my six-year-old son, in Longueuil, in 2023, it’s inevitably a bit of that Baghdad that is with us,” continues Raphaël Weyland.
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