Crafting Assassin's Creed Mirage with Cultural and Linguistic Authenticity

Assassin's Creed Mirage stands out as one of the few AAA games to feature Arabic audio and text, including classical Arabic, which was prominent during the golden age of Baghdad, the game's setting. According to Ubisoft's localization manager and cultural consultant, Mohammed Alemam, the goal of localization is to capture the language's intent while maintaining cultural relevance. Alemam and art director Jean-Luc Sala emphasize that incorporating classical Arabic was a key part of the game's development. Sala notes, 'Our approach to localization is to create an immersive experience where players don't notice the translation from the source language.' The game is fully voiced in Arabic, a deliberate choice inspired by the success of games like Ghost of Tsushima, which allowed players to experience the game in Japanese. The team believes that playing in Arabic, even for non-Arabic speakers, enhances the game's authenticity. The implementation of Arabic began early in the game's development, with classical Arabic being readily available and still widely used in academia, entertainment, and media. To ensure cultural accuracy, Ubisoft collaborated with localization and language service provider Arlation and eight linguistic experts, as well as experts like Dr. Raphaël Weyland and art historian Glaire Anderson. Other Ubisoft staff, including Maya Loréal and Malek Teffaha, contributed to the project, which also involved the company's humanities and inspiration taskforce. Alemam highlights that cultural experts were present during each voice recording session to guarantee authenticity. This effort is significant, as Assassin's Creed Mirage is the first title in the series to be fully localized in Arabic. The game's English voice cast also reflects a commitment to authenticity, with some actors being of Arabic heritage and speaking the language. For the Arabic version, Ubisoft cast Eyad Nassar as the voice of protagonist Basim, an actor known for his work in historical dramas in the Middle East. The English cast includes Iranian and American actress Shohreh Aghdashloo and Lebanese-Canadian actor Lee Majdoub. While the game's development presented challenges, particularly in scaling back to a more focused, city-based setting after the open-world experience of recent Assassin's Creed games, the team's open-minded approach facilitated a collaborative process. Alemam and Sala look forward to player feedback, especially the debates between those who prefer the English voiceover and those who enjoy the native Arabic audio with subtitles.