New Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag details surface
In a Tweet-based Q&A session hashtagged #AskAsh, Ubisoft Game Director Ashraf Ismail gave up a galleon’s worth of info about Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag via the game’s official Twitter account. In case you missed it, we’ve dedicated this post to getting you up to speed.
Here’s a breakdown of Ismail’s most noteworthy statements for your reference:
- Black Flag’s narrative will take 15-20 hours to complete, but will give players many reasons to lose themselves in its Caribbean world long after concluding it
- Black Flag will feature assassin tombs like those found in Assassin’s Creed II. Ubisoft has listened to its fans and brought back several elements from ACII and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood – hire groups, for example, and tools that allow you to manipulate the crowd in fun ways
- You can stealth your way through approximately 85% of the game, but some segments will force you into combat
- Guns will permit free aim
- Naval combat and greater exploration are the most significant differences between Black Flag and the AC series’ previous titles
- The present day storyline continues immediately after the events of Assassin’s Creed III, “but now we’re inside Abstergo researching Edward Kenway because he does something important”, said Ismail
- There is no character customisation in the present day, but you can “have a bit of fun” with your Animus workstation (whatever that means)
- Black Flag’s landscape is bigger than ACIII’s, providing lots of cohesive secondary activities and side missions to take on
- All optional activities will be unlocked within the first four hours of play, leaving you free to choose which ones you accept when. Completing each will reward the player with something “tangible”
- You always dual-wield either cutlasses or Hidden Blades, but you can quickly switch to other weapons in the middle of combos
- Like the Outposts ins Far Cry 3, Plantations you claim can be reset so you can raid them again
- If you live in the US, you can pre-order a Season Pass for Black Flag for $19.99 here, which will give you access to extra single-player missions, multiplayer content, and new ways to personalise your experience – saving you $20 in the long run
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag comes to current generation consoles in North America on October 29th, with European, PC and next-gen versions expected sometime in November. If you’ve yet to watch the gameplay demo Ubisoft presented at this year’s E3, we strongly recommend you do before you leave.
Charles
June 21, 2013 @ 5:44 am
The Assassin Creed franchise died with Assassin’s Creed 3 for me.. I’m not even a little bit excited for this. Ubisoft is blatantly riding on the fact the AC3 had good naval warfare.
Taylor Parolini
June 24, 2013 @ 12:02 pm
I’m interested. I enjoyed Assassin’s Creed 3, save for how buggy it was. I just really think that given the short period of time between releases, the title’s obvious reliance on mechanics from the previous title, and even the protagonists direct ties to Connor from the last game, that this should have been Assassin’s Creed 3: Black Flag.