Even though people are now enjoying Assassin's Creed Shadows, Ubisoft is about to drop a substantial new update for Assassin's Creed Mirage, the previous installment from 2023. Adding another area and a fresh story chapter alongside other changes to the main game, the patch is practically free DLC, and players are celebrating the value.
The 1.1.0 update brings a prequel, following protagonist Basim, who "hears rumors that his long-lost father may still be alive," and makes his way to a mysterious corner of the world, known as AlUla. This region, located in Saudi Arabia and known as the Valley of Memory, is split into two parts, the Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead.
Nothing ominous about those pseudonyms at all! You'll find the usual rigmarole of missions and side-quests dotted around AlUla, providing lore and other insights into the background of Mirage.
Besides this, there's a new hardest difficulty, Ultimate Assassin, alongside another more middle-of-the-road setting, and the possibility to make your own custom difficulty. These features are in addition to a slew of quality-of-life tweaks, such as tying all rewards to each individual player's account rather than the particular save file, and the ability to end a Chain Kill after you've started it.
Fans are praising Ubisoft for such substantial support this late in a game's life. "[Ubisoft] Bordeaux is doing God's work, please ignore any hate they get and give them funding for a full budget AC game," says one commenter on Reddit.
"This feels incredibly generous for a free update," another top comment reads. "Say what you will about Ubisoft, but they tend to support their games post-launch more so than others. Like [Avatar:] Frontiers of Pandora is getting a third expansion two years later," a third Redditor adds, referring to From the Ashes, a tie-in to Avatar: Fire and Ash coming December 5, 2025.
Ubisoft's association with Saudi Arabia for this add-on has proven controversial. Besides the content itself, it was revealed during an event in the country, and the publisher has taken funding from Saudi Arabian sources for the update's development, though the exact extent of their collaboration is unknown.
"This title update to Assassin's Creed Mirage was made possible thanks to the support of local and international organizations, through access to experts, historians and resources to ensure the creation of an authentic and accurate setting," Ubisoft said in a statement in September, in response to questioning over its Saudi Arabian partnerships.
