![]() ![]() What struck me as the most significant change was what developers called "systemic gameplay" in a "true open-world." He also said the open-ended assassinations, which felt all but stripped from AC3, will return. ![]() Stealth, he said, will be useful for the infiltration and the exploration of islands. In a later conversation with a Ubisoft publicist, I was told the developers were putting a lot of effort into improving stealth, which they believe is a pillar of the franchise. The developers promise to drop these characters and our hero into notorious events like Bartholomew Roberts' assault on a fleet of 42 Portuguese ships and the wreck of the Spanish Armada.īy this point in the meeting, it hit me that we'd heard nothing about tall landmarks or crowded streets. Instead, Ubisoft has adopted a Metroid-like design philosophy that will make accessing certain areas extremely difficult without first beefing up Kenway's vessel with upgrades found using Black Flag's ship customization system in order to prepare it for the battles to come.Īnywho, those pirates include Blackbeard, Charles Vane, Calico Jack, Anne Bonny and Ben Hornigold - all of whom were real people. The open-world design of Assassin's Creed 4 offers players the chance to explore their way across the Caribbean without the traditional barriers of loading screens. Like its predecessor, Assassin's Creed 4 will allow players to customize and upgrade their ship with additional cannon and improved defenses to take on foes of increasing difficulty however, ship customization becomes all the more important in Black Flag. This vessel is Kenway's primary means of travel and his only means of survival against enemy galleons throughout this meditation on naval warfare. While Assassin's Creed 3 was the first in the franchise to initially introduce ship mechanics, Black Flag pushes ocean combat and exploration into the center of the series and turns it into an even more significant feature in this game. This sort of on-the-nose sexuality has been pushed to the back of the franchise, so now it's disorienting seeing a God of War-style nude scene appear in promotional materials.)Įdward Kenway might be taking the lead as Black Flag's assassin, but his ship is being described as the secondary character of Assassin's Creed 4. The reveal feels as though it's meant to be shocking - Two women! Two races! - but it just reads tawdry. A publicist followed that up later, saying Ubisoft is giving pirates "the HBO treatment." That's marketing speak for serious and mature drama ensconced in violence and sex - the latter of which is hinted at in the trailer when Edward gets out of bed with a naked white woman and then a naked black woman appears from behind her. ![]() ![]() "Their true stories, rough and unvarnished," says the voiceover in one of the trailers. Where the earlier games exaggerated real history, the marketing materials for Black Flag attempt to legitimize legend. And the setting is the Caribbean, a collection of small island towns separated by hundreds of miles of azure ocean water and emerald jungle. The enemy now is the collective of rival pirates - one of history's great anti-establishment groups that operated on the periphery of civilization. The hero, Kenway, is a member of the Assassins, but his allegiance seems to lie mostly with himself. The game will feature Templars, we're told, but in what capacity is unknown. At first blush, there's no carefully crafted subtext or political intrigue. The controlling power (church, state) and location (Middle Ages Israel, Renaissance Italy) changed, but the basics held true: lots of climbing, familiar cities, and a damn-the-man attitude.įrom what we've seen, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag will zig where its predecessors zagged. About those first five Assassin's Creed games: released within only six years, they were about the members of a secret guild of assassins who thwart the conservative powers that be throughout history by climbing up tall landmarks and parkouring through crowded cities. ![]()
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