Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
is an upcoming action-adventure open world video game being developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft.
It is the sixth major installment in the
Assassin's Creed series and a sequel to 2012's
Assassin's Creed III modern story and a prequel to its ancestral storyline.
Gameplay
The game will feature three main cities; Havana, Kingston, and Nassau, which reside under Spanish, English and pirate influence, respectively.
The game will also feature 50 locations to explore, with a 60/40 balance between land and naval exploration.
Assassin's Creed IV will have a more open world feel, with missions similar to those found in
Assassin's Creed, as well as fewer restrictions for the player. The world opens up sooner in the game, as opposed to
Assassin's Creed III, which had very scripted missions and did not give players freedom to explore until the game was well into its first act.
The player will encounter jungles, forts, ruins and small villages and
the world is being built to allow players much more freedom, such as
allowing players to engage, board, and capture passing ships and
swimming to nearby beaches in a seamless fashion.
In addition, the hunting system has been retained from
Assassin's Creed III, allowing the player to hunt on land, and harpoon in the water.
A new aspect in the game is the ship the player will captain,
Jackdaw. The
Jackdaw will be upgradeable throughout the game, as well as having easy access to the ship when needed.
In addition, a new underwater component is being added.
The player will also have access to a spyglass,
allowing the examination of distant ships, along with their cargo and
strength. It can also help determine if an island still has animals to
hunt, treasures to find or high points to reach for synchronisation.
An updated form of the recruit system introduced in
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood will also return
.
Multiplayer has been confirmed to return, with new settings and game modes, though it will only be land-based.
Synopsis
Characters
The main character of the game will be Edward Kenway, a British
pirate and member of the Assassin Order; father of Haytham Kenway, and
grandfather of Ratonhnhaké:ton (Connor), the two playable characters of
Assassin's Creed III. Real-life individuals that will be encountered include the pirates
Edward "Blackbeard" Teach,
Benjamin Hornigold,
Anne Bonny,
Jack Rackham and
Charles Vane.
Plot
As is the case in previous games in the
Assassin's Creed
series, the story is divided into two intertwined halves, with one in
the present day, one in a historical setting, and the events of each
influencing the other. Although the present-day story had previously
established that an Animus was required to view one's ancestors
memories, the ending of
Assassin's Creed III implies that Desmond's genetic memories have now been uploaded on to 'the cloud'.
As such, the player character is hired by Abstergo Entertainment — a
subsidiary of Abstergo Industries — to investigate a pivotal movement in
Desmond's ancestry; the
Assassin Edward Kenway.
A notorious
pirate and
privateer operating during the
Golden Age of Piracy, Kenway's story is set in the Caribbean, and mixes open-ended ship-based exploration with combat and land-based adventures on a number of Caribbean islands.
Development
In early February 2013, during its quarterly financial call to investors, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed that the next
Assassin's Creed game, due for release some time before April 2014, would feature a new hero, time period, and development team.
On February 28, 2013, Ubisoft posted their first promotional picture and cover for their next
Assassin's Creed game, following leaked marketing material days before.
It announced the title of the game as
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and featured an unnamed character holding a
flintlock and a sword with a black flag in the back ground containing the Assassin's symbol with a skull.
A reported glitch on the official
Assassin's Creed IV website suggested the game will release on next-gen consoles and October 29 as the release date,
which was confirmed by the first trailer for the game, released on
March 4, 2013 (originally leaked on March 2, 2013, but was quickly
pulled by Ubisoft).
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag was announced with a cinematic trailer on March 4, 2013. Development began in mid-2011 at Ubisoft Montreal by a separate team from the one on
Assassin's Creed III, with additional work done by Ubisoft Annecy, Bucharest, Kiev, Montpellier, Montreal, Quebec, Singapore and Sofia.
Lead content manager Carsten Myhill stressed away the sentiment that the sequel should have been a spin-off in the same vein as
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood or
Assassin's Creed: Revelations, given the ostensible similarities with
Assassin's Creed III. He stated "The whole feeling of the game is completely fresh and new. It will feel very different to
Assassin's Creed III. I think it completely warrants the
Assassin's Creed IV moniker, not only with the new name and setting, but the attitude and the tone of the experience."
Assassin's Creed IV
is the first main series numbered title to carry a suffix, a decision
which Myhill says was made to clearly distinguish the pirate theme from
the rest of the franchise.
By utilizing the AnvilNext engine, the development team is able to
work with one engine for both the next-gen and current-gen versions of
the game, as the AnvilNext engine was designed with next-gen
capabilities in mind, while still working on current-gen systems.
In addition, each system will have their own intricacies and feature
sets, with support for the different controllers and utilizing features
specific to each console.
Release
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag will be released for PlayStation 3, PC, Xbox 360 and Wii U on October 29 in the US, and November 1 everywhere else.
It was announced on March 1, 2013 that the game will also come to the
PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's next console, with release dates unknown.
Ubisoft will once again partner with
Sony to bring exclusive content to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 versions of the game.
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