What it is
Mirage follows Basim in ninth-century Baghdad before the events that make him central to Valhalla. It is a historical origin story whose full meaning depends on the modern framing around it.
Desmond's early games, Abstergo's later research, Layla's trilogy and Basim's return all ask the same question: who can access ancestral memory, and what right do they have to use it? Nexus VR revisits historical memories without replacing the main modern continuity.
Baghdad connects the Hidden Ones' past to the modern story through Basim, whose identity forces the series to treat memory as both testimony and danger. The city is not simply an origin setting; it is where loyalty, reincarnation and political intrigue shape the person later seen through the Animus.
Baghdad's dense political life lets Basim's personal uncertainty unfold through mentors, missions and a city whose factions all offer different forms of belonging. That texture matters when his modern actions are later judged.
The short version
- Release order is most useful for the modern-day plot.
- Mirage is Basim's pre-Valhalla historical story.
- Nexus is a VR chapter spanning multiple established historical memories.
- Basim's Baghdad story makes the present-day conflict feel like a consequence of a life with competing memories and commitments.
The story in 6 steps
- Step 1
Follow Desmond
The first games use the Animus to connect historical assassins.
- Step 2
Meet Layla
Origins through Valhalla shift modern focus to a new researcher.
- Step 3
Understand Basim
Mirage and Valhalla reframe his role across eras.
- Step 4
Read Nexus as a bridge
VR memories expand the archive without replacing the core arc.
- Step 5
Read the past into the present
The route asks how much a person's past can explain them without allowing that past to erase the choices they make now.
- Step 6
Follow a person before the revelation
Read Basim's human commitments in Baghdad alongside the Isu memory, so neither side of his identity is allowed to erase the other.