While details surrounding Assassin’s Creed Mirage are few and far between, a lot of information can be inferred from the official artwork and images that fans have seen. It seems the game will have the established character Basim Ibn Ishaq as its protagonist, and the plot could very well set the groundwork for a sad tale.
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The Story of Basim in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Basim Ibn Ishaq was an integral character in the story of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, being a high-ranking member of the Hidden Ones organization that would develop over time to become the Assassin Brotherhood. Along with his student Hytham, Basim traveled to Medieval England with Sigurd and subsequently met Eivor, introducing them to the hidden blade and the more stealth-oriented tenets of the Hidden Ones.
However, it is revealed that Basim’s mind had long been absorbed and controlled by the Isu god Loki who, along with other gods such as Odin, beamed his consciousness into the human gene pool in order to survive the Great Catastrophe that wiped out the advanced Isu race. Remembering his ill-treatment at the hands of Odin, Loki dedicated his reborn physical form to hunting down Odin and enacting revenge.
Realizing that Odin has physically manifested inside Eivor in a more subtle manner, Basim acted as an unconscious vessel for Loki, who drove Basim to betray Eivor before being trapped in a form of stasis until the year 2020. Despite forming a tentative alliance with the modern-day Assassins, the trademark unpredictability of Loki will likely see him become a villain in subsequent titles, with the live-service title Assassin’s Creed Infinity being a perfect candidate.
How Assassin’s Creed Mirage Might Change Basim
As previously mentioned, it is believed that Assassin’s Creed Mirage will feature Basim as its protagonist given the official art for Mirage. Mirage may take palace before the events of Valhalla, exploring Basim as his true self, largely unhindered by the presence of Loki.
Loki probably took a lot from Basim’s pre-existing personality while maintaining his cover through everyday interactions, and it can be said that Basim in Valhalla was decidedly wise and magnanimous prior to the Loki reveal. This means players will most likely play as a Basim who embodies these positive characteristics in Mirage, and will have to watch as his selfless traits become overshadowed and dominated by Loki’s influence. With it being likely that Basim and Loki will have different gameplay segments in Mirage, this shift in character could be clearly portrayed.
In this way, Mirage could establish Basim as the model Assassin, embodying the traits of an honorable and compassionate individual, before the invasion of his psyche turns him into a more jaded and scheming figure. As previously mentioned, the positive portrayal of Basim in Mirage could have heartbreaking effects further down the line, with the rumored Assassin’s Creed Infinity possibly having a multitude of geographical and temporal settings for players to explore. The timeline of Basim is still largely unfinished due to his presence among modern-day Assassins, and a more informed impression of his prior purity will only make it all the more difficult to address Basim as an antagonist in future games.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is currently in development.
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