It is the sixth major installment in the Assassin's Creed series, a sequel to 2012's Assassin's Creed III's modern story and a prequel to its historical storyline. The story is set in the early 18th century Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy, and follows notorious pirate Edward Kenway, grandfather of Assassin's Creed III protagonist Ratonhnhaké:ton, who stumbles upon the conflict waged by the Assassins and Templars. Unlike previous games, gameplay elements focus more on ship-based exploration in the open world map, while also retaining the series' third-person land-based exploration, melee combat, and stealth system. Multiplayer also returns, albeit with only land-based modes and settings.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag received positive reviews, with critics praising the open world gameplay, side-quests, graphics and naval combat. The story received a mixed response, while criticism fell on aspects of the story missions which were considered repetitive. The game received several awards and nominations, including winning the Spike VGX 2013 award for Best Action Adventure Game.
Gameplay
The game features three main cities; Havana, Kingston, and Nassau, Bahamas, which reside under Spanish, British and pirate influence, respectively. The game also features 50 other "unique" locations to explore, with a 60/40 balance between land and naval exploration. Assassin's Creed IV has a more open world feel, with missions similar to those found in Assassin's Creed, as well as fewer 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 fish in the water.
A new aspect in the game is the ship that the player captains, the Jackdaw. The Jackdaw is upgradeable throughout the game, and is easily accessible to the player when needed. In addition, a new underwater component has been added. The player has access to a spyglass, allowing the examination of distant ships, along with their cargo and strength. It can also help determine if an island still has animals to hunt, treasures to find or high points to reach for synchronization. An updated form of the recruit system introduced in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood has returned, allowing Edward to recruit crew members. While Kenway's crew will remain loyal to him, and can be promoted to captain acquired ships, they cannot assist in combat or perform long-range assassinations, as in previous games. Ubisoft removed this aspect of the brotherhood system, believing it allowed players to bypass tense and challenging scenarios too easily.
In the present day, at the offices of Abstergo Entertainment — a subsidiary of Abstergo Industries — in Montreal, Quebec, players engage in modern day pirating through the exploring of Abstergo's offices, eavesdropping and hacking, all without combat. As well, various "hacking" games, similar to previous cluster and glyph puzzles, are present, that uncover secrets about Abstergo.
Multiplayer also returns, with new settings and game modes, though it is only land-based.
Characters
The main character of the game is Edward Kenway (Matt Ryan), a Welsh privateer-turned-pirate and eventual 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 Edward "Blackbeard" Thatch (Mark Bonnar), Benjamin Hornigold, Anne Bonny, Calico Jack and Charles Vane (Ralph Ineson).
Thatch, Edward, Hornigold
Setting
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. Although the present-day story had previously established that an Animus was required to view one's ancestors memories, the ending of Assassin's Creed III reveals that Abstergo can now view a host's genetic memories simply by sequencing the host's DNA. As such, the player's character is hired by Abstergo Entertainment to investigate a pivotal character in Desmond's ancestry, 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, as well as parts of southern Florida.
Your personal Animus. You can hack other peoples Animuses too.
Plot
Samples taken from Desmond Miles' body in the moments after his death have enabled Abstergo Industries to continue to explore his genetic memories using the Animus' newfound cloud computing abilities. The unnamed player character is hired by Abstergo Entertainment to sift through the memories of Edward Kenway, an eighteenth-century pirate, the father of Haytham Kenway and the grandfather of Ratonhnhaké:ton. Ostensibly, this is to gather material for an Animus-powered interactive feature film, but in reality, Abstergo—the Templars of the present time—are searching for a First Civilization structure known as the Observatory, and are using the memories of Edward Kenway to find it.
As Kenway, the player must unravel a conspiracy between high-ranking Templars within the British and Spanish empires who, under the guise of cleaning up piracy in the Caribbean, have used their positions to locate the Sage—later identified as Bartholomew Roberts—who is the only man that can lead them to the Observatory, which they intend to use to spy on and blackmail world leaders. Kenway becomes an unwitting player in their plot when he kills a rogue Assassin, Duncan Walpole. Seeing an opportunity for profit, Kenway takes Walpole's place at a meeting of Templars in Havana. His recklessness endangers the entire Assassins' Order, prompting him to pursue the Sage and the conspirators from the Yucatán Peninsula to Jamaica, eventually catching Roberts on the island of Príncipe off the African coast.
Meanwhile, a band of notorious pirates—including Edward "Blackbeard" Thatch, Benjamin Hornigold and Charles Vane, among others—dream of a state where man is free to live beyond the reach of kings and rulers. With Kenway's help, they seize control of Nassau. However, poor governance, a lack of an economy and an outbreak of disease bring the pirate state perilously close to collapse, with the founders divided on the best way forward. Kenway attempts to resolve the dispute, but is too late to stop the Templars from exploiting the situation for their own ends.
Eventually, Kenway and Roberts uncover the location of the Observatory and retrieve the artifact powering it, but Kenway is betrayed by Roberts at the last moment. After a brief stint in prison for the crimes of piracy, Edward escapes with the aid of Ah Tabai, the Assassin Mentor, and elects to join their Order. Chasing down Roberts and the Templar conspirators, Kenway retrieves the artifact and returns it to the Observatory, sealing it away for good. He is left facing an uncertain future with his newfound convictions until he receives a letter informing him of the passing of his wife and the imminent arrival of his hitherto unknown daughter, Jennifer Scott. Kenway travels back to England, promising Ah Tabai that he will one day return to continue the fight against the Templars.
In the present day, the player is contacted by John, Abstergo Entertainment's information technology manager. John convinces the player that their employers knows more than they are telling, and encourages them to investigate in more detail. He arranges for the player to access the Animus' core, at which point Juno materialises into an incorporeal form. She reveals that although it was necessary to open her temple to avert disaster, the world was not ready for her, and she is unable to affect it or possess the player character as her agents intended. John is unmasked as the reincarnated form of the Sage and attempts to murder the player to cover up the failed attempt at resurrecting Juno, but is killed by Abstergo's security before he can do so. As Roberts, the Sage admits to Kenway that he owes no allegiance to the Assassins or the Templars and instead uses whoever he thinks represents his best chance of achieving his ends. With the Sage dead, the player is contacted by the Assassins as they continue their infiltration of Abstergo, but neither side is able to explain the Sage's presence or identify his followers, the Instruments of the First Will.
Minimum System Requirements
Operating System: Windows 7 (32-bit)
Operating System: Windows 7 (32-bit)
CPU: Core 2 Quad Q6400 2.13GHz, Athlon II X4 620
Memory: 2GB RAM
Hard Disk Drive space: 30 GB
Graphics Hardware: GeForce 8800 GS or Radeon HD 3870
Direct X: DX 10
Direct X: DX 10
Network: Broadband connection for multiplayer connectivity
Recommended System Requirements
Operating System: Windows 7 (64-bit)
CPU: Core i5-2400S 2.5GHz, Phenom II X4 940
Memory: 4GB RAM
Hard Disk Drive space: 30 GB
Graphics Hardware: GeForce GTX 470, Radeon HD 5850 1024MB
Direct X: DX 11
Direct X: DX 11
Network: Broadband connection for multiplayer connectivity
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