Assassin’s Creed Mirage is launching a week earlier

Ubisoft has announced that the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Mirage has gone gold. Even more surprisingly, the game’s release date has shifted up a week, from October 12 to October 5. No explanation was given for the changed release date, though it’s unlikely fans are complaining.

Assassin's Creed Mirage has gone gold and is coming out a week early! 📀

On behalf of the entire team, we can't wait for you to explore 9th Century Baghdad with Basim.

Your journey now starts on October 5. Save the new date! #AssassinsCreed pic.twitter.com/eWAZttvjIX

— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) August 14, 2023

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is supposed to be a smaller, more streamlined Assassin’s Creed. Promotional material for the upcoming game, which is centred on Valhalla‘s Basim, reveals that it returns to the franchise’s roots by placing greater focus on parkour and stealth gameplay.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage coming sooner than expected

The “gone gold” announcement simply means that a release version of the game is complete and ready for duplication and shipping. Rather than sit on the game, Ubisoft has decided to release the game earlier. While this does suggest some confidence in the game, it doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t be getting any post-launch patches.

One of the benefits of the new release date is that Mirage gets to launch relatively early in a month which is absolutely stacked with headlining releases. Ubisoft has avoided releasing Mirage on the same week as Forza Motorsport and Lords of the Fallen, though it now shares a release week with Detective Pikachu Returns. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Alan Wake 2 are both highly anticipated sequels also scheduled to release in October.

In many ways, it feels like Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a response to some of the complaints lodged against Valhalla. If it can avoid the open-world bloat that plagued Valhalla while providing a compelling narrative for Basim, Mirage could be the breath of fresh air the franchise needs.