Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag
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 prequel to 2012's Assassin's Creed III.
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 balance of 60/40 land exploration to ship battles and travel.
Assassin's Creed IV will have a more open world feel, with missions similar to those found in Assassin's Creed,
as well as less 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, the 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 that will let the player examine details of distant ships,
such as their cargo and strength, and help determine if an island still has animals to hunt, treasures or high points to climb.
A form of the Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood recruitment system will return.
Multiplayer is also returning, with new settings and game modes. However it will only be land-based.
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 Blackbeard, Benjamin Hornigold, Anne Bonny, Calico Jack 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.
In the present day, the player character is hired by Abstergo Entertainment
a subsidiary of Abstergo Industries - to use the Animus and examine the memories of Desmond Miles and his ancestors.
Although it had previously been established that the Animus may only be used to view the memories of one's direct ancestors,
the ending of Assassin's Creed III implies that Desmond's genetic memories have now been uploaded on to 'the cloud'.
Faced with this new possibility, Abstergo has requested that the player concentrate specifically on the memories of 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.
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.
