Arguably the most hyped game going into E3 2013 was Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. The latest installment in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Black Flag follows a British pirate and member of the Assassin Order pirating and plundering his way around the Caribbean. Director Ash Ismail noted during his time on Stage 1 at E3 that he “wants players to get lost” in the expansive, exotic Caribbean map seamlessly spans from land to sea with over 50 different locations. The Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag trailer video is below and it’s badass.
The storyline is still a bit of a mystery, with Ash noting that its still an “Assassin’s vs. Templars” plot, though not much else was disclosed.
The big feature is the Caribbean map which explores 50 different locations including 3 major cities, not including over 75 different beach settings however, ranging from Mayan ruins to smugglers’ dens, to dense jungles. Even better than a sprawling map is not having to break between, for example, land and sea.
In order to create one cohesive world without breaks allowing for complete immersion, the Ubisoft engineers created different mini-stories for the user to enjoy. Basically, near-all aspects in the map leads to some kind of enriched gameplay in order to motivate the user to explore all areas possible.
Ubisoft tried to make the map and gameplay so realistic that one story is actually based on the British pursuit of notirious pirate Blackbeard as he made his way about the Caribbean in an attempt to evade the British to smuggle and plunder.
As for character development, Edward Kenway is the protagonist/antagonist character–depending on your own point of view–as he takes up the bloody, age-old Assassins vs. Templars brawl.
AC loyalists won’t have to wait long to learn more, though, as Ubisoft just announced at E3 that Black Flags is due to hit the retail shelves in October on all confirmed platforms. That’s right, all confirmed platforms including current-generation Xbox 360, PS3, and PC as well as Xbox One and PlayStation 4 “whenever they’re ready.”
We already know that Ubisoft has a soft spot for Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 4 model, calling it a “perfect jewel” back in early May. Whether that bodes well for PS4 fans still remains to be seen. In the meantime, be sure to check back with BostInno for the latest updates from Sony, Ubisoft and all other gaming developers and solicitors at E3.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag trailer video
