Two years and one Assassin's Creed Shadows later, Ubisoft is giving AC Mirage a "surprise" free DLC after saying it was done with the game

Now that Assassin's Creed Shadows is in the wild, you'd think Ubisoft would be tunnel visioned into its DLC roadmap. Random as ever, the publisher's instead found the time to squeeze in some "surprise" additions into the last, slightly overlooked game in the series: Assassin's Creed Mirage.

"Assassin's Creed Mirage players, we have a surprise coming your way later this year," the company announced via a social media post. The free DLC will include a "new story chapter and missions set in 9th century AlUla," an ancient Saudi Arabian city, as well as "gameplay improvements for the base game and the new location." Our only official look at the whole thing is the concept art down below.

What makes this all so interesting is that Ubisoft said it had "no post-launch content" planned for AC Mirage in April, 2024. "Mirage [has been designed] as a standalone experience without any [DLC planned]," narrative director Stephane Boudon said at the time. "However, we have ideas on how we could extend the story of Basim, surely."

What changed between then and now? It's hard to tell, but the Mirage DLC was seemingly leaked a few months ago by a Les Echos report which also claimed the new content was born out of a partnership between Ubisoft and Savvy Games Group, a gaming conglomerate formed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, which might explain the game's new location.

Fans have been feeding off more Mirage-shaped breadcrumbs, too. Notably, Assassin's Creed Mirage's Basim said he wants to be in Netflix's show, and fans think this could be "part of a calculated audience warm-up."

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