After finishing Liberation, I needed some time to catch my breath from the constant dose of Assassin's Creed and I took my time with Black Flag to fully immerse myself in the experience to make a review that at least tries to aim for objectivity. As I mentioned before, the earlier installments of this franchise are beloved because many people played them religiously back then. My time with Black Flag was a very enjoyable ride but I feel that nostalgia was a massive influence once again when I look at the score here.

What does Black Flag offer compared to 3? Well, this one is about pirates and it is part of the "Kenway Saga", meaning that you will play as the father of Haytham from AC3. Black Flag's protagonist aside, the game is heavily influenced by the naval combat from 3. Combat on the sea is the meat and bones of this game, pretty much the main reason why so many people enjoy it in the first place.

Despite the heavy reliance on naval combat, the standard on-foot gameplay is the same, except that the parkour got a weighty feel to it and it became more clunky. This "heavy feel" can be felt throughout the whole game, as the movement feels oddly different, yet somehow the same. It is a weird at first, but you'll get used to it. The combat is pretty much the same, some new additions like the blowpipe were in Liberation, so I was not surprised seeing them return.

What I was surprised by is the large amount of things you can do in this game, which are mostly varied and enjoyable. You can dive, destroy fortresses, search for treasure, seek ancient ruins and collect shanties. The last one is particularly important as you will travel a lot and you need some good tunes for that.

Even the parts in the present were fun! I was surprised how much I enjoyed them and the returning characters. So.. what was my problem with the game?

Well, I found the writting really messy as the writers tried to focus on way too many things. The Sage, the end of piracy, Edward's relationship with Caroline, Blackbeard, Abstergo's inner fights and the list goes on. The game focuses on too many things and everything feels rushed to the last few sequences feel like a nosedive in quality, only for the adventure to end in a sad note to remind the player of the journey and all the things Edward did.

Also I hated the fact that some missions required you to upgrade your ship to a certain extant in order to make them easier. I was really behind at one point and my ship was quite in a bad condition, and I needed to manage through these sections, only to realise that if you upgrade the ship enough, these naval fights are easy as hell. This is true to the on-foot combat on general. I bought a sword at the beginning of the game and I never looked back, I used it until the end. The combat is really easy and the character upgrades are useless to some extant.

Overall, Black Flag is a good time aside from the messy writing and the too much naval stuff. I would say that the experience could have been improved with tighter writing and less sequences.

I liked what I played of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag but it sort of dragged on for me and I really don't enjoy the sailing, so I ended up abandoning it and watching the rest of the story on YouTube.

This game plays pretty well. They have all the tools established and the island environments lend themselves well to the stealth-combat arenas Assassin's Creed likes to employ. There isn't a ton that is new or stands out in comparison to past games, but among the Assassin's Creed 3 era of these games (that I have played) I think this one has the best execution.
I didn't like the sailing in AC3 and I still don't like it here, but it is put much more front and center, which I found to be a bummer. It always seems to boil down to sailing in circles and having a more powerful ship rather than doing anything interesting.

I like the narrative here. We follow a pirate named Edward Kenway as he comes into conflict with the Templars, tracks down some ancient super advanced device, and eventually becomes an Assassin. He spends all his time with pirates, so there is plenty of opportunity for mayhem and betrayal, most of which is predictable, but fun. However, things do sort of go on for a bit too long, with one or two too many instances of "oh no! Edward was left for dead!" This is the main reason I lost interest and abandoned the game and I would have liked it more if it were about half the length, I think.
Kenway is an interesting, morally grey character who has a bit more agency and personal motivation than I am used to with these games. He is sort of out for his own benefit the whole game and has some real character growth into becoming an important part of the Assassins. The protagonists that are less of a blank slate are just more interesting in this series, I think.

Black Flag is a bit long and has a bit too much sailing, but it is a solid entry that explores a cool part of the world and tells an interesting story.

Muita gente acha esse o melhor da franquia, eu entendo o pq, já que ele realmente tem um mundo muito legal de se explorar, cheio de coisa pra fazer, a jogatina de barco é muito bem feita, da muita vontade de ficar saindo por ai arrumando briga com quem vier. O ambiente em terra pra se explorar é muito bem feito também, pelo menos pra mim que costumo passar mais rápido por esses locais e num vou muito atrás de olhar detalhes. Gostei do combate, mesmo algumas vezes eu ficasse um pouco confuso do pq num tava funcionando os botão que eu apertava, mas nada preocupante, e de longe os dardos são uma das coisas mais úteis desse jogo e grazadeus tem como criar eles sem precisar ficar comprando sempre. Falando em criação, eu demorei um pedaço bom pra achar o menu que tinha as melhorias pro Edward e criação dos dardos, num consegui relacionar muito a palavra "Oficio" a isso, mas tudo bem, no final, num precisei upar muito o personagem. Quanto a movimentação, achei estranha no começo mas consegui me acostumar, eu tinha jogado já o AC Unity antes desse e lá eu considero a movimentação bem mais fluida, mas não deixou a desejar, os problemas maiores foram a movimentação pelas paredes que achei um pouco complicada pois alguns espaços parece muito que da pra subir mais, mas num vai de jeito nenhum, e um problema que tem no Unity também que é correr em linha reta sem ficar subindo sem querer nas coisas, num sei se é algo que tô fazendo de errado, mas incomoda as vezes.

A história é bem legal de acompanhar, no começo não me prendeu muito, mas da metade pro final ficou bem mais interessante e consegui me apegar aos personagens.

No fim, o jogo faz jus ao titulo de melhor da franquia segundo muitos, eu ainda prefiro o Unity, mas não deixa de ser um bom titulo. A exploração de mapa é um ponto muito forte do jogo, não me senti muito com vontade de sair pra explorar e completar mais o jogo fora a história principal, mas não tô nesse pique no momento, acho mais legal fazer esse tipo de coisa durante o desenrolar da história, mas pra quem curte, creio ser um prato cheio.

A unique entry to the series. Black Flag lets you play as a pirate turn assassin. You can drive a ship. Engage in combat with enemies. Collect the resources after you hijacked them. For me, this entry is my favorite when it comes to story. Man, the epilogue is so touching. I had tears in my eyes. Being a pirate commanding a ship and taking down enemy ships from the easiest ones to the troublesome ones, it's definitely one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. But that's where the problem lies. This is not the best game if you want to be an assassin. I had trouble with its gameplay. Particularly in stealth. As someone who played AC Syndicate as their first AC game, the ability to crouch without entering bushes is very missed. Also, as someone who likes to complete side missions before the main ones, the rope assassination introduced in the endgame was barely used.

As of writing this review, there's a rumor that Black Flag will get a remake. In my opinion, it's not necessary because the gameplay still holds up to this day. But if it happens, please fix the stealth.

Reviewed on May 7th, 2024.