Disclaimer: I beat Black Flag some years ago, late 2019 or early 2020. I foolishly didn’t write down my thoughts upon completion, which I always do… so I’ve decided to revisit this title for a while (plus rewatch the cutscene movie) before starting the next game in the series to jog my memory. This may have impacted my impressions to some degree, although I can’t say how much. As an additional note, I’ve already reviewed every main-line AC game up to this one, so if you like this review check those out, too.

Black Flag is a great departure from Assassin’s Creed 3. Considering Assassin’s Creed 3’s ending, this was inevitable from a story point of view, but Ubisoft changed more than they certainly needed to, and many of those changes were successful pivots! Black Flag de-emphasizing the modern-day story was not to my particular liking, as I think the conclusion of AC3 was very exciting, although it seems to be for many others (I will touch more on this later). But the new addition of sailing as a fundamental aspect to the game was incredible.

When it comes to sailing in games, the approach can be more like Sea of Thieves, in which the basics of sailing (like opening and closing sails, bucketing water, repairing the hull, etc.) are all fairly involved tasks, or more arcade-like, like in Windward. Black Flag takes a more arcade-like approach, where the fundamentals are simple. This may seem lackluster, but Black Flag succeeds because in lieu of involved gameplay it mastered the atmosphere of being a colonial age pirate. And although it probably need not be said, I’ve never been a real pirate lol, I just mean as an onlooker. The combat is intuitive and fun, the ocean is alive and interesting, and the shanties are thematic and so great. There’s a real reason why people say, “The only game where you don’t fast travel”, and it’s kind of true! Sailing between the main story missions is almost better than the story missions themselves!

But many also say, “Not a real Assassin’s Creed game”, and I take umbridge with that, because= the core Assassin’s Creed missions are still present here, and lots of them. Lots of combat, lots of freerunning, and a decent amount of stealth action. While the stealth missions can be frustrating at times, as they often are in many games, my real frustration is that the dialogue occurring during them feels less substantive than other games in this series. I don’t mind tailing/stealth missions, as long as what I’m tailing and listening in on actually matters. As clunky and frustrating of a game as the original AC is, it does a much better job in this regard. The conversations between characters that you spy on feel crucial to the story.

But the freerunning is phenomenal in this title. AC3 had the issue of brand-new environments (and I think a new engine?) shaking up the fundamentals of movement. Here, movement is more consistent and Edward goes where you tell him, as well as doing so with near unmatched fluidity. He feels awesome to move with. Combat has maintained its extra simplicity as in AC3 and works well with simple moves and flashy animations.

Present as ever in the series up to this point is an inundation of collectibles and what I have consistently referred to as endemic feature creep. Board games, ship upgrades, assassin’s contracts, treasure maps, animus fragments, etc. Most of all of this isn’t bad. It plays fine, but Black Flag is not without its fair share of bugs, graphical/audio glitches, and roughness around the edges. While Black Flag is nearly always fun to play, it suffers from the typical Ubisoft approach, which is massive content, lackluster polish. This grates at times, and you can’t so easily buff out the game’s scratches like you can damage to your ship’s hull. These annoyances add up.

Those annoyances though don’t detract from what is/was one of the best AC games in the series up to this point, however. The new and satisfying sailing, plus streamlined action that makes the game what it is make this a solid entry into the series, although not a particularly good entry point.

That may be because of the story, which a mixed bag here. For me, the beauty of the AC games, while having at most times, fun gameplay, has always been rooted in the intrigue of the interlinked storylines. Black Flag is a sort of soft-reboot for the series. Things ended very intensely in AC3, and while the plot picks up seemingly from a brand new place, it still references its predecessor. The plot is moving forward here, but it’s at a snail’s pace, and almost feels like Ubisoft were toying with a massive shift when this game was made. Edward’s story, while good, I feel has pacing issues. I think it gets caught up in way too many things that don’t have as much impact, and a more concentrated templars and assassins storyline would’ve been better, because even during that time the relationships could’ve been built.

I can’t say for certain, as I’ve yet to play the next games in the series, but I hope future titles have more to tell on the modern-day story. This title, while not as much like the prior AC games in its gameplay, isn’t distanced enough to make newcomers immediately get all the moving parts, so it sits in a slightly awkward position.

All in all, this probably ends up as one of the best AC games I’ve played so far. It goes without saying that voice acting, score, and visuals are very strong in this game. It has nearly all the ambition that AC3 has, but without as many of the massive missteps. It has typical Ubisoft annoyance, but the fun-frustration scale is still massively tipped in fun’s favor.

8.5/10