Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag to have darker, more serious plot

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is all set to be a really dark and serious game. Ubisoft recently told MCV UK that it wants to “redefine piracy in modern entertainment.” The new Assassin’s Creed game will take place during the pirate era, and the company is going to make the game more serious than the pop-culture go-to examples for pirates—Treasure Island and Pirates of the Caribbean.

“We have a fantastic opportunity for pirates in video games,” said Lead Content Manager, Carsten Myhill. “Certainly when Assassin’s Creed III naval came out, there was a clamour from the fans for a pirate game. There’s no-doubt that the people want it. But it’s not easy. It takes a very talented team, a lot of experience and great tech. It’s one thing having good naval combat, but combining that with good boarding and land-based gameplay in a seamless way, is hard to do."

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Black Flag looks like it'll bring a load of improvements and innovations. The biggest new feature of the game is that it won’t have any loading screens at all. Associate Producer of the game, Sylvain Trottier, said, "At any moment, you're going to be able to get close to the coast of an island you never saw before, dock your boat, dive in the water, walk on the beach and start discovering, all of this without any loading. This is true from sea to ground but it's also going to be true from ship to ship."

It will also feature something the developers refer to as "seamless systemic naval adventuring." This essentially means that you don't have to line your ship up to an enemy's to get to the sweet spot that will let you board their ship. You can sail up to an enemy ship at any angle and still raid it.

The game is set to feature three cities—Havana, Cuba; Nassau, The Bahamas; Kingston, Jamaica. One of the developers’ major goals is to have the player always know where they are as soon as they come to a city. This possibly means making each city distinguishable from the other by having different architectural styles or environments.

For combat, instead of the hidden blade, the emphasis this time seems to be on the character’s ability to dual-wield swords. It is yet to be seen whether the combat system will be a repeat of Assassin’s Creed III’s Batman-esque system, or if Ubisoft will be going for an altogether new style.

And while naval battles may be returning, it looks like land travel isn’t going away. One of the screenshots shows a lush forest where you can presumably go wild with your parkour abilities, much like the frontier in Assassin’s Creed III.

The new protagonist is set to be Edward Kenway—father of Haytham Kenway and grandfather of Connor Kenway.