With an official reveal already well and spoiled days ago, all that’s left to analyze are the finer details surrounding Ubisoft’s sixth mainline installment of Assassin’s Creed. Settle in, there’s a lot to sift through.
Black Flag rewinds the historical clock a couple of generations before Revolutionary Times, dropping us in the middle of the Golden Age of Piracy — a period modern writers have fictionalized into the ground, portraying a romanticized but irrevocably distorted version of the truth. Ubisoft wants to show us the era as it was; a gruff, bloody, self-enterprising corner of history in which armadas ruled the sea and pirates fought, killed, and plundered for nothing more than profit. Tonally, Ubisoft says Black Flag is less Pirates of the Caribbean and more Sons of Anarchy. How could I not love the sound of that?
Pulled Trailer Reveal’s ACIV: Black Flag’s Release Date
Really, though, I feel like I just beat Assassin’s Creed III…Well, I’m guessing I’m going to have to adjust to that sensation about this time every year as Ubisoft elevates their blockbuster series to annual status.
With a full-on reveal of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag scheduled for Monday, practically forever from now, you can always count on the internet to open its presents early. Not completely our fault (this time). The official trailer for Black Flag (accidentally?) made a brief stint when it was leaked onto YouTube. I would link you to it but Ubisoft put up the blinders post haste.
Damage done, however, as we now have a release date pegged as well as the alias of our new assassinating buccaneer. Starring a Mr. Edward Kenway — a “devil dressed as a man” who even has the infamous Blackbeard shivering his goddamn timbers — fans will first get their hands on Black Flag October 29th; likely the new target date for future installments.
What’s more is the fact Assassin’s Creed IV will be the first entry gracing next-gen consoles along with current hardware. If it makes it in time for the PS4’s Fall ship, Black Flag will certainly be one hell of a high profile launch title. Once again, see you on Monday with more details.
Assassin’s Creed IV Rumor Promoted to Official
Following a marketing leak that revealed a poster for the game, Ubisoft shot an affirmation of Black Flag’s existence to IGN today along with this swanky art.
Ubisoft dumped the confirmation like a body into a canal and darted back into the shadows, whispering, “March 4th…” Come on back Monday for a less vague peek at Black Flag.
High Seas Swashbuckling Revealed in Leaked Assassin’s Creed IV Poster?
The curious piece of supposed marketing you see above may be our first sneaking glimpse at the next installment of Assassin’s Creed.
Sent in to Kotaku by a daring reader, the poster, if legitimate, confirms the game’s title as Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and the artwork — which many are positing is by Todd McFarlane’s hand for no other reason than it just resembles his style — not-so-subtly suggests pirates of the “Yo-Ho” variety are a focal point of the story. The marketing is alleged to start circulating stores by March 4th.
Ubisoft recently revealed that we’d see a sequel sometime before March 2014 and, unlike the chain of spin-offs featuring Ezio after ACII, would revolve around a brand new assassin instead of ACIII’s Conner (sorry, brother). While its protagonist may be bucked from the spotlight, one would figure Assassin’s Creed III’s surprisingly fun naval warfare can find a more fitting home in the seemingly pirate populated ACIV.
More to ponder, it’s interesting to see Ubisoft pump out another numbered title so soon considering it was once promised a hard number wouldn’t be present unless the game in question significantly advanced the series’ concept. How significant of an evolution can Black Flag make with an impending March announcement given that ACIII just hit shelves last October?
Who the hell are we kidding? This is obviously an elaborate hoax perpetrated by Todd McFarlane.
2014’s Assassin’s Creed: Different Period, Dev, and Hero
Shocker: Ubisoft has more Assassin’s Creed planned. Legitimate shocker: it’s ditching Conner, the Revolutionary setting, and has itself a completely different development team sculpting it.
Rather than branching off with ACIII’s freshly introduced assassin, Ubisoft’s CEO, Yves Guillemot, said we can anticipate both a brand new hero and different time period for the next installment, which will be “another major leap forward for the franchise.”
Under the tutelage of an unnamed Ubisoft creative team the sequel is expected out sometime before 2014, though it’s unclear whether it will remain within this console generation or roll out for the next-gen. Until Sony and Microsoft’s Next Big Things step from out of the shadows, we’re going to have to sit pretty for an answer.
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Survey: Co-op and a New Game Next Year?
Once upon a time ago, Ubisoft revealed that after Assassin’s Creed III hit shelves and wowed the public, the franchise would fall into dormancy between installments in order to break its annual release streak and relieve gamers of any creeping IP fatigue that may have started to set in their joints.
I’m going to go ahead and call bullshit on that one thanks to an Ubisoft survey The Gaming Liberty kindly shared on their site which asks participants several very telling questions which point to another installment of Creed hitting our consoles in the very near future.
Some of the more prominent questions measure how accepting survey takers would be to seeing the next game return to the Frontier (with ACIII’s protagonist Conner front and center) and whether or not they would want current-day Assassin Desmond Miles make the cut for another entry despite Ubisoft’s claims that his story has come to an end. But the utmost percolating questions gauge how much fans would want their friends to be able to jump into their game “any time during the solo mode” and how likely it was for participants to want to purchase a new Assassin’s Creed sequel “if it was to become available next year.” Welp, you heard it here first: Co-op Assassin’s Creed confirmed for 2013!
Okay, I’m jumping the gun, but you must admit those’re some goddamn mighty intriguing questions for Ubisoft to be asking. As a gamer that lacks even a single competitive cell in my body, a co-op option is one of my top requests for any game featuring multiplayer. I imagine (and hope) Ubisoft would be taking several cues from Rockstar if they implemented open world co-op since Red Dead Redemption is one of this generation’s gleaming examples of the feature. If this one comes to pass, we’ll keep you posted.
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