How Assassin’s Creed Mirage captured the Islamic golden age – in a disused New York power station

Composer Brendan Angelides was cautious about agreeing to write the soundtrack for the latest edition of Ubisoft's blockbuster. But then he met Palestinian composer and orchestrator Akram Haddad

I think, initially, Ubisoft approached me because of my electronic music background - my live career, my albums, my touring. But I didn't know if I was the right person for the job, you know?"

Composer Brendan Angelides has never worked in video game music before. You might know him better as Eskmo or Welder, or perhaps as the mind behind the music of TV shows 13 Reasons Why or Billions. When Ubisoft approached him to be the composer for its sort-of reboot of the Assassin's Creed franchise, Mirage, he had doubts. The game is set at the height of the Islamic golden age, and centres around Baghdad: a hub flowing with the lifeblood of a changing world, a cultural centre of art and science, old and new.