AC Mirage writer on Basim's "tragedy" and her favourite indies

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Beaulieu told us about her childhood love of Nintendo's Game Boy and Sega's Mega Drive, and she even explained to us the complicated process through which today's sprawling AAA games are written.

When we asked Beaulieu to describe the story that fans can expect from Mirage, she told us that Basim's origin tale is nothing short of a "Shakespearean tragedy". You can watch the clip below!

"Yeah, it's a tragedy," Beaulieu told us, with this downbeat tone being plotted since the game's earliest days of development when the core 'pillars' of Mirage were laid out.

Beaulieu explained: "I mean, that was one of the pillars, and we stick to it. So we even called it Shakespearean tragedy."

She also said, "The story of Basim is the story of a young street thief in the streets of Baghdad who is slowly becoming this master assassin."

Of course, if you played Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which is set later in Basim's life, you'll know that his journey doesn't exactly have a happy ending.

Beaulieu said, "For people who played Valhalla, they know that Basim has a very specific fate, and we tell the origin story of Basim and how he became this person we meet in Valhalla."

As for the themes of the game, Beaulieu explained, "I would say it's about identity first, how you slowly understand who you are, who you're supposed to be... who people want you to be.

"It's about freedom and the meaning of freedom in general. That's something that all the Assassin's Creed games tend to do. This theme, freedom.

"And in the case of Basim, it's really going to play a big role into his evolution and his transformation, I would even say. So, yes, the player is gonna live this evolution with Basim."

She even said, somewhat ominously, "So, you're the one who is actually, you know, uh, slowly leading Basim to his tragic fate..."

Elsewhere in the interview, Beaulieu told us about her favourite story-driven games and her love of experimental indie games. If you're a fan of AC, you won't want to miss this chat!

Assassin's Creed Mirage is out now, and so is the latest episode of our One More Life podcast.

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