Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag’s Modern Setting Will be about Exploration

The Assassin’s Creed franchise is known as a historical action-adventure, but with the unique twist of having gameplay split between the past and the present. The upcoming Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag will continue that premise.

During the main story you play as Edward Kenway, a British privateer turned pirate.  The gameplay is anticipated to be similar to past AC games – open world exploration, stealth, combat, item collecting, and hunting. But there is a new innovation, first teased in ACIII, which is the ability to command a ship into battle.

Another change in Assassin’s Creed IV’s gameplay was just announced. The modern day setting will feature no combat, and lead writer, Darby McDevitt, said it’s

“all about exploring, eavesdropping and hacking.”

Gamers will play as a new employee of Abstergo, an antagonistic corporation located in Montreal, Quebec. Information can be found through eavesdropping and hacking and old characters will be making a return – but from a different point of view.

McDevitt also stated that the modern protagonist does not need a relation to Desmond or any of his previous ancestors to explore his family’s memories. McDevitt wrote,

“Abstergo’s tech has improved. They have genetic memory cloud servers that allow anyone to dive into another’s memories.”

The writer also mentioned that player choice will be significant to the fight between the Assassins and the Templars/Abstergo, though it will be through subtle decisions.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag will be released on October 29 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and Windows PC. The game will also be released on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.