He feels there ”hasn’t really been a good pirate game,” and Ubisoft have worked ”very, very hard” on the swashbuckling in Black Flag. It’s ”all tied together very smartly,” he said.
Ubisoft has already revealed many of the activities we can pursue, from the more traditional Assassin’s Creed distractions to harpooning us some sea life.
”There’s no competition!” laughed Darby McDevitt, asked if Beyond: Two Souls and Uncharted were rivals.
”This is the best pirate game ever made! Maybe even the best Assassin’s Creed game ever made. Maybe Wind Waker HD. Very different tone, though! But I think there hasn’t really been a good pirate game, and we worked very, very hard to make that economic loop very robust.”
”There are lots of upgrade options, the loop is all tied together with crafting, hunting, harpooning, looting other ships, getting wood, metal and money to upgrade yourself, your ship - you even have a hideout in this game,” he added.
”It’s all tied together very smartly, so that no system feels superfluous, so we hope at the end of the day it’s the best pirate game ever made.” Ubisoft has recently shown some gameplay footage of neutralizing an enemy sea fort, which can then be refortified to help the player lure enemy vessels into deadly traps.
McDevitt earlier described how AC IV goes back to the more ”open-ended assassinations” of the original.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag releases on Xbox 360 and PS3 October 29th in the US, November 1st in EU. Xbox One, PS4 and PC versions arrive later. Black Flag is powered by Ubisoft’s AnvilNext engine.