The new game will not import gameplay mechanics from Assassin’s Creed 3, it will import them from the franchise as a whole.
Ubisoft creative director Jean Guesdon talked about the gameplay mechanics and how the dev team wants to ensure “the player has a fun, intelligent and progressive experience from start to end”. Guesdon explained: “AC is a great franchise that allows us to learn from previous iterations. We’ve identified some areas of improvements and will definitely make sure that all systems are properly introduced and relevant to the player’s own motivations. We’re not the legacy of AC3 only but of all previous AC games and we spent a lot of time analysing the best things we could use from all of them.”
The teams wants to bring back stealth, which was not that much implemented in Assassin’s Creed 3. “We are putting a lot of effort to improve that pillar of the franchise. Being a pirate was also about taking places by surprise, and this would require stealth abilities. So yes, stealth will be back. Infiltrations, tails and exploration of islands are all part of it. We are making sure that the level design not only support but encourage stealth. We’re working hard at providing missions and environments that always allow the player to choose this type of play.”
Black Flag wants to deliver a realistic, fun, open world naval and pirate game while remaining true to the pillars of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. “Ultimately my objective with [Black Flag] is to provide a very good, polished and fun game that players will enjoy as much as we enjoy creating it. I would be thrilled to receive testimonies telling us that the way we’re depicting this period in history helped some of our audience to realize what the Golden Age of Piracy was really like.”
Former Assassin’s Creed protagonist Desmond Miles will not return as the main protagonist in the game while Ubisoft wants to continue the franchise’s meta-story in Black Flag.
Creative director Jean Guesdon said: “Desmond has been the main protagonist of the franchise so far. This won’t be the case in [Black Flag]. That being said [Black Flag] is not a reboot, neither is it a spinoff and we’re continuing to develop a consistent mythology. So yes, Desmond will be referred to as a very important legacy of the AC universe.”
There will still be present-day gameplay sections and Guesdon gave an idea of what to expect. “Abstergo Entertainment is a subset of the Abstergo conglomerate. It’s a division specialised in Entertainment providing historical content for games or movies. Abstergo Entertainment has worked closely with Ubisoft to deliver Assassin’s Creed Liberation the Multiplayer of Assassin’s Creed III. Abstergo Entertainment is [Black Flag] present playground and players will be immersed like never before in the AC universe. They will become part of the AC universe, able to meet some already known protagonists of the AC franchise.”
