The year is 1715. Pirates rule the Caribbean and have established their own lawless Republic where corruption, greediness and cruelty are commonplace. Among these outlaws is a brash young captain named Edward Kenway.
User reviews:
Recent:
Very Positive (425 reviews) - 85% of the 425 user reviews in the last 30 days are positive.
Overall:
Very Positive (16,366 reviews) - 88% of the 16,366 user reviews for this game are positive.
Release Date: 19 Nov, 2013

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About This Game

The year is 1715. Pirates rule the Caribbean and have established their own lawless Republic where corruption, greediness and cruelty are commonplace.

Among these outlaws is a brash young captain named Edward Kenway. His fight for glory has earned him the respect of legends like Blackbeard, but also drawn him into the ancient war between Assassins and Templars, a war that may destroy everything the pirates have built.

Welcome to the Golden Age of Piracy.

Key Features



  • A BRASH REBEL ASSASSIN Become Edward Kenway, a charismatic yet brutal pirate captain, trained by Assassins. Edward can effortlessly switch between the Hidden Blade of the Assassin’s Order and all new weaponry including four flintlock pistols and dual cutlass swords.

  • EXPLORE AN OPEN WORLD FILLED WITH OPPORTUNITIES Discover the largest and most diverse Assassin’s Creed world ever created. From Kingston to Nassau, explore over 75 unique locations where you can live the life of a pirate including:
    • Loot underwater shipwrecks
    • Assassinate Templars in blossoming cities
    • Hunt for rare animals in untamed jungles
    • Search for treasure in lost ruins
    • Escape to hidden coves

  • BECOME THE MOST FEARED PIRATE IN THE CARIBBEAN Command your ship, the Jackdaw, and strike fear in all who see her. Plunder and pillage to upgrade the Jackdaw with ammunition and equipment needed to fight off enemy ships. The ship’s improvements are critical to Edward’s progression through the game. Attack and seamlessly board massive galleons, recruit sailors to join your crew and embark on an epic and infamous adventure.

  • EXPERIENCE THE GRITTY REALITY BEHIND THE PIRATE FANTASY Stand amongst legendary names such as Blackbeard, Calico Jack and Benjamin Hornigold, as you establish a lawless Republic in the Bahamas and relive the truly explosive events that defined the Golden Age of Piracy.

  • THE BEST ASSASSIN’S CREED MULTIPLAYER EXPERIENCE TO DATE Put your assassination skills to test and embark on an online journey throughout the Caribbean. Discover a brand new set of pirate characters, and explore exotic and colourful locations. Additionally, create your own game experience with the new Game Lab feature – craft your own multiplayer mode by choosing abilities, rules and bonuses. Play and share your newly created mode with your friends.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • OS: Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8 (both 32/64bit versions)
    • Processor: Intel Core2Quad Q8400 @ 2.6 GHz or AMD Athlon II X4 620 @ 2.6 GHz
    • Memory: 2 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 or AMD Radeon HD 4870 (512MB VRAM with shader Model 4.0 or higher)
    • Storage: 30 GB available space
    • Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card with latest drivers
    • Additional Notes: Windows-Compatible keyboard and mouse required, controller optional.
    Recommended:
    • OS: Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8 (both 32/64bit versions)
    • Processor: Intel Core i5 2400S @ 2.5 GHz or better or AMD Phenom II x4 940 @ 3.0 GHz
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 or AMD Radeon HD 5850 (1024MB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0) or better
    • Storage: 30 GB available space
    • Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card with latest drivers
    • Additional Notes: Supported video cards at the time of release: Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or better and GeForce GTX 400, GTX 500, GTX 600 and GTX 700 series. AMD Radeon HD4870 or better and Radeon HD5000, HD6000 and HD7000 series. Note: Latest GeForce drivers tested: 327.23 for all series. Latest Radeon drivers tested: 13.1 for Radeon HD4000, 13.4 for Radeon HD5000, HD6000 and HD7000 series on Vista and 13.9 for Radeon HD5000, HD6000 and HD7000 series on Win7 and Win8. Laptop versions of these cards may work but are NOT officially supported.
Customer reviews
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Recent:
Very Positive (425 reviews)
Overall:
Very Positive (16,366 reviews)
Recently Posted
Coldkillerhawk
( 18.1 hrs on record )
Posted: 15 August
Overall this game is awesome! There is so much you are able to do, from sailing the high seas and whale hunting to sneaking through a city to assassinate a Templar! The is so much to do you will never get bored!
Helpful? Yes No Funny
GameOver
( 1.7 hrs on record )
Posted: 15 August
GOODS !!!!!!
Helpful? Yes No Funny
WoodenDOOM
( 106.4 hrs on record )
Posted: 15 August
I mean it's Assassin's Creed. If you don't know what you're buying at this point, I don't think a review is gonna change anything.

However, this iteration of the series adds a much bigger open world, and sea-faring. It's pretty neat. Multiplayer is also kinda fun as well, but I dont know how many people play it now.
Helpful? Yes No Funny
ShrekIsLoveShrekIsLife
( 119.7 hrs on record )
Posted: 15 August
amazing game my favorite assassins creed yet !! *****
Helpful? Yes No Funny
RoxasTheHunter
( 41.9 hrs on record )
Posted: 14 August
10/10 Best pirate simulator i have ever played.
Helpful? Yes No Funny
[TGU]SOL
( 88.8 hrs on record )
Posted: 14 August
I'm not a great AC fan to be honest but this is a little hidden gem , the only grime on it's badge of greatness is a silly jarring jump to the Future and the game dev levels which are flat and utterly pointless, bar that this is a rip roaring yarn .

It is Free roam to an extent with sections of the map locked until you attain a certain story mission progression, usually when a game tries to do naval combat with sails it end's badly , but the naval combat and general sailing about is actually not just easy but fun..wow new concept to games .fun!

You have the usual AC underlining story , but the pirate world is top notch with a few hostroical and non histroical figures flung into boot and the sense of immersion is top notch for a open world game . you can capure strongholds and make traveling about easier , like most games there is also a fast travel option which i rarely used the only other game that manages to stop me hiting the transporter button is the GTA Series, again this says much about the atmosphere of just sailing ,the weather, the sea shanties...... (which you can find a ton of in game)

You have the usual jumping about and stealth but you can also go full tilt postal and still have fun. I wont go much further and spoil anything if you have missed this please try it it will surprise you.

To me this is a game I felt comfortable playing and enjoyed messing about in as much as playing , where as most games these days feel like I am ethier grinding out exprience or constantly focusing on the next objective never enjoying the journey.

4.5/5 -0.5 for the stupid Game Dev slap in the face every now and then
Helpful? Yes No Funny
Jim
( 3.6 hrs on record )
Posted: 14 August
If I turn everything off, 60 fps
otherwise... nah
Helpful? Yes No Funny
Ryu
( 73.0 hrs on record )
Posted: 14 August
Black Flag lead me to Assessin's Creed world, since playing this game, I have fallen in love with AC series, so I have played all of Ac sreries.
This is the best game of AC world, you must play at least Black Flag although you are not fan of AC series.
Helpful? Yes No Funny
xsuffer
( 39.6 hrs on record )
Posted: 14 August
Best AC that I played since Brotherhood.
The ship battles really sucked me in.
Storywise it's typical AC - You go from Plotpoint to plotpoint without ever knowing what's really going on.
Fighting system is again very counter heavy but OK.
All in all the carribean City and all the ship-related things are what makes this game very enjoyable.
Helpful? Yes No Funny
Most Helpful Reviews  In the past 30 days
33 of 33 people (100%) found this review helpful
5 people found this review funny
Recommended
15.4 hrs on record
Posted: 25 July
I orignally played AC2 on Xbox 360 back in 2009, this lead to my love of Assassins Creed as a whole.
AC2 has always been the golden standard for many verteran AC players like myself. Brotherhood while excellent and its superb multiplayer introuction to the series back in 2010, many people still held AC2 as the very best. For me personally, from Brotherhood to Black Flag, I always loved the multiplayer in this series and the story equally.

Assassin Creed 4 Black Flag is by far my favorite Assassins Creed experience overall. From its story to multiplayer, I have to put this over the beloved AC2 for me. I just hope that the multiplayer comes back, despite not being hevaily populated like the likes of Borderlands, Halo, Call of Duty, Battlefield. Assassins Creed has always has this class and maturity to it when it came to the overall community.

I will always love Assassins Creed even when Ubisoft makes mistakes like Unity for example, I still choose to forgive them and have high hopes that the franchise can come back stronger.

Assassins Creed Black Flag gets a 9 out of 10 for me.

My history with the series - Played every Assassins Creed game on Xbox 360, except Libeartion and Rouge. I've hit max level 50 in Brotherhood back in 2010, hit prestige 2 in revelations, max level 50 in AC3, max level 50 in AC4 on PS4, and now have plans on doing it again on AC4 with PC.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
9 of 11 people (82%) found this review helpful
7 people found this review funny
Recommended
59.8 hrs on record
Posted: 21 July
Product received for free
"Trailing Mission: Pirate Edition" is the fourth installment in ubisoft's critically acclaimed Trailing Mission game series. In this game you play as Edward Kenway, grandpa of Connor Kenway. it's very clear that theyre related to the Auditore/Miles bloodline because, like his predecessors and successors, Edward just can't seem to do anything else but follow people around. Occasionally he kills people and makes jack sparrow references



9.7/10 its ok
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
4 of 4 people (100%) found this review helpful
1 person found this review funny
Recommended
25.5 hrs on record
Posted: 19 July
I think the running around parts got, if anything, slightly worse... tailing people is less interesting since blonde pirates have X-Ray vision, and aside from that there's not much new to it other than grenades and more hiding spots. However, the game also introduces the whole sailing thingamabob, which is the most actiony rendition of sailing a big hulking ship I've ever seen.

Story-wise, the pirate main character is quite different from the previous protagonists, which is refreshing and fun, but the present-day parts do a bad job at convincing me to be interested in the new impending apocalypse that Desmond replaced the old one with at the end of the last game. Perhaps that's why they stopped numbering them after this one: because they too couldn't be bothered to care about the modern-day plot any more.
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4 of 4 people (100%) found this review helpful
2 people found this review funny
Recommended
56.1 hrs on record
Posted: 12 August
At first, I'd like to mention that I only played the first game for a couple of hours, therefore, I don't have any knowledge or experience with any other Assassin's Creed game.

The story was nothing special but not necessarily bad. It's just like any other pirate movie with a goal to find the treasure. It had many interesting characters, especially in the beginning. On the other hand, I strongly disliked every single one of those Abstergo office walking simulator parts. Who thought it was a good idea to bring that in?

Gameplay is fantastic. It's full of naval battles, stealth, chasing, eavesdropping, exploring, collecting, etc.

Combat system is almost identical to Shadow of Mordor, Mad Max and Batman games. There's a reasonable amount of weapons for various situations: hidden blades, swords, pistols, blowpipes, darts, ropes, smoke bombs and so on. It just leaves you with a choice to either sneak around and assassinate your target or just jump right into the brawl against the whole crew. Besides fighting, you're free to complete challenges and side missions, hunt, explore cities, ruins, jungles or deserted islands while freely moving around the obstacles.

Sailing. That's where the game shines the most. Being an open world game, Black Flag let's you freely travel through the sea and engage in naval combat. Since you're the captain of your ship, you're able to fortify it. Some of those upgrades are cosmetic, others are mostly weapons, armor and space expanders. Your weapon arsenal while on the ship consists of mortars, fire barrels, swivel guns, chain shots, broadside and chase cannons, heavy shots and a ram. You can attack any ship that isn't an ally. Of course, you should evaluate its strength first as you won't be easily taking down Man o' Wars and Legendary ships early in the game. Once the ship is weakened you may board it or sink it and take its loot. Other activities involving ships are harpoon fishing, diving and developing your own fleet which carries and trades your goods with other countries.

I can't say much about the multiplayer since I played it just for a few hours. It seemed fun in certain modes but kind of confusing for a newcomer like me. Plus, I really enjoyed the variety in skills, wide customization and character models.

Pros:
● Open world
● A lot of stuff to do (side missions, collectables, etc.)
● Excellent ground and naval combat
● Freerunning
● Decent upgrades
Perfect music
● Beautiful graphics
● Fun multiplayer
● Your own fleet simulation
● Storms/tornadoes/strong winds and waves
● Sea shanties

Cons:
●"Meh" story
● Kinda repetitive
● Can't change your ship
● Uplay is necessary to play
● Poor optimization
● No Captain Jack Sparrow


Black Flag attracted my attention due to ships, mostly because I am a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean. I had high expectations and they were fulfilled. I'd recommend getting this on sale.
8/10
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3 of 3 people (100%) found this review helpful
Recommended
15.1 hrs on record
Posted: 28 July
good game fun and quite cheap would recomend
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
3 of 3 people (100%) found this review helpful
Recommended
64.1 hrs on record
Posted: 5 August
Stats at the Time of Reviewing

  • Hours on record: 64

Reviewer’s Note

In this review, I will be focusing on the singleplayer portion of Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag. This is a deliberate choice, as it, in my opinion, is the main meat of the game, and I would rather use my limited space to discuss that.

Keep in mind that my impressions are based on my experiences playing with an XBOX 360 controller.


Summary

Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag (AC4) is an excellent open-world adventure game in the Assassin’s Creed series. Even though it has the usual flaws of said series, it manages to stand out on its own via its meaningful progression, big variety, wonderful ambience, non-linear and open nature and its great and refreshing focus on naval combat. I highly recommend this to you looking for something fresh from the AC-series, but even if you are looking for more of the same, I would not advice you to ignore this entry. An excellent game.

The Bad

AC4 is poorly optimized. Does that mean “AC4 will run poorly on your computer”? No. It means that AC4 runs poorly on systems, which should handle a game of its size and graphical fidelity well. For example, my GTX680 (4GB) and i5-3570K (3,4 GHz), which ran everything major in the year of AC4’s release (2013), and the year thereafter, maxed out with no issues, have huge frame rate issues if I do not turn down certain options. Texture- and environment quality can be maxed without problems, but some other options like PhysX will make the FPS drop like crazy. People with modern high-end computers are also reporting similar issues, which should definitely not be the case. Make sure that your computer can handle the game before purchasing, and be prepared for some messing around in the graphics menu to get the most out of your experience.

In AC4, most of the bad related to the actual game is the same that plagues every main AC-game. I do not want to waste space going through that again, so if you do not know the recurring flaws of these games, you can read up on them in my Assassin’s Creed III review, which can be found here.

The So-so

It is time for the plot. Surprising, considering that it is usually the strong point of the series. However, AC4’s story just is not that great. It is definitely not bad by any means, and opinions will differ, but I have reasons for finding it quite the disappointment. The pirate part is amazing; the forced assassin part is not. Playing as the self-centered and greedy Edward developing into a wiser man not driven by coin, we do get satisfying character development. However, it feels forced. Most of the game, we chase Edward’s dreams of fortune, but when he does change, it feels as if it was done to fit the creed in there and sell more copies under the Assassin’s Creed banner. I believe that the game would have been much better off a pure pirate game. In the end, though, it is still not a bad story and it holds up well enough not to detract from the experience.

The Good

Walking past a bustling tavern or sailing on the waters with your crew, there is singing, shouthing and activity granting the title a superb atmosphere and a world to want to go back to. Wherever you go, excellent ambient sounds and visuals make the world feel alive and it is a big part of what makes exploring the world of AC4 enjoyable.

The game is remarkably open compared to most Assassin’s Creed games. Is it because of the world’s size? No. To explain: Once you have completed the short introductory part of the game, you are given your ship and gain access to pretty much the entire world. Only a few certain islands and one fort are locked until you go further in the story. Some tools and the diving activity will also require you to play more of the main missions. However, once you are set free on the waves, you can go and do what you feel like. Do you wish to collect money from chests in Havana to purchase some of the best personal equipment right away? You can. Do you wish to instead spend that money on your ship? You can. Do you wish to “waste” all of it on mostly pointless, cosmetic hideout upgrades? You sure can. Before I even did the story mission to capture a fort, I had maxed out my ship excluding the elite upgrades and taken every other fort in the game. Why? Because you can, and because doing things other than the story missions is very enjoyable! AC4 is an incredibly non-linear game and it benefits greatly from it.

To back the open nature of AC4 is a big, rewarding time sink called its progression system. There are lots of upgrades for Edward that need to be crafted. To do that, you will need materials acquired by hunting or buying them. If you would rather hunt ships than animals, you can do so, sell the cargo and buy the materials needed for crafting. Another example of nice, open design. However, your ship is your main project. It will require large amounts of materials and money to reach its highest potential and ignoring the ship will not get you very far, as the ship combat is not “press one button to win with your hidden blades without any challenge”. You will want to upgrade your ship properly, especially if you plan on taking down the legendary ships, which offer a nice late-game challenge. This is a great thing; progression is actually meaningful, unlike in most Assassin’s Creed games. Then you also have various outfits (quite a few, actually) to unlock, as well, which complements the stat-based progression of your ship and gear nicely.

In order to keep the progression fresh, AC4 has a large variety of activities to do. Aside from the story missions and random free-roaming, you have hunting on land and sea, diving for treasure, naval contracts, assassination contracts and a large amount of collectibles to keep you occupied. Then you also have the 4 legendary ships (technically 5) to take on once your ship is strong enough. The game also has a “fleet” for you to build and manage, similar to, but better than, the convoy system in AC3. You can capture ships and send them on missions to earn you money and cosmetic upgrades for you, your ship and your hideout. All in all, Assassin’s Creed IV displays an excellent variety which keeps the game fresh and serves to satisfy the player’s hunger for content.

The arguably strongest point of AC4, however, is that it is not really much of an Assassin’s Creed game. I like the series, I do, but it is getting really old. The same formula is used over and over again and only the stories and settings really keep them fresh. Here, however, most of the focus lies on the ship and naval combat. The ship handles very well and is fairly easy to use in most situations. It is still a much greater challenge than the traditional AC-gameplay and it is fresh and satisfying to let the cannons rip and board the enemy vessel for a quick encounter before claiming your prize. The ship has multiple means of attacking the enemy, including the broadside cannons, mortars, swivel guns, chain shot, heavy shot and fire barrels. These give the ship an overall well-rounded and appreciated kit much more fun to use, in my opinion, than the now overused hidden blades, swords and guns.

The Verdict

Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag is my new favourite entry in the series, with tonnes of variety, meaningful progression, non-linear and open nature, excellent atmosphere and a refreshing, its enjoyable combat system. It still has plenty of the usual AC-content as well, but this is a title that I primarily recommend to those looking for something different from the usual song and dance of the Assassin’s Creed series. An excellent open-world adventure game.
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2 of 2 people (100%) found this review helpful
Recommended
27.5 hrs on record
Posted: 20 July
Not much to say, just a genious game, so both thumbs high! Each level, a new surprise and all the staff you can do, outside of main missions, is very nice. Hunting bull shark is just wow and I cant do it to often with my age, without risking a heart attack :D This game ist just to recommend! Buy it in sale, or out of it, this game is worth every cent.
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1 of 1 people (100%) found this review helpful
Recommended
87.2 hrs on record
Posted: 21 July
Absolutely amazing. Frankly, I would hardly call this game Assassin's Creed. It's just so different from other entries in the franchise, and it's just so much better. I love this series, even despite bad entries like AC3 or Unity, and this game is exactly the reason why. This game proves that Ubisoft actually isn't a bunch of idiots. This game ditched the overly preachy Assassins v Templar shtick that all the other games had, sure both of these are still present, but they are pushed so far to the background that they hardly matter. This game is really about PIRATES. You don't see Assassins or Templars or historical figures on either side taking the stage for this game, you see the famous Caribbean pirates of the 18th century. Edward Kenway, who is the first main character of an Assassin's creed game to not even be an Assassin in any way, takes the spotlight, befriending such characters as Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Bart Roberts, all famous pirates of the Caribbean. You won't be confined to a single large city or multiple small cities like previous titles, instead you'll be able to set sail across the Caribbean, attacking other ships and exploring small islands. The story, as usual, isn't much to look at, but the gameplay and characters are FANTASTIC. To anyone who felt burned by other entries into the franchise, I implore you to try Black Flag.
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1 of 1 people (100%) found this review helpful
Recommended
73.9 hrs on record
Posted: 24 July
As someone who found running over roofs in previous AC games repetitive and boring, I was actually pleasantly suprised with the Black Flag. It's still the same "busywork" game we are used to from Ubisoft but the range of activities is so wide that you won't get bored anytime soon.

I liked change in the enviroment from just plain cities to wilderness and sea (I haven't played AC3, so I don't know about that), very refreshing. There is so much things to do, ship battles with eventually managing your own fleet, diving to shipwrecks using diving bell, hunting using harpoons and I could go on. Mentioned running across rooftops has been put behind a bit on behalf of these things, so there's just a couple of "cities" that are nowhere near the size of AC2 cities. But I didn't mind, didn't really missed them.

Graphics is great and runs ok with occasional framerate drops in cities or wilderness (vegetation causes this, I presume). Ubisoft Montreal really managed to make a nice, tropical world in which you could imagine living, which is a sign for me of great work.

Story is a bit weak but you'll have fun nontheless.

Giving that the pirate theme is not being used much in games, this is one of the best pirate games you can get. I wouldn't hesitate to say even the best.
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1 of 1 people (100%) found this review helpful
Recommended
99.1 hrs on record
Posted: 25 July
Best Assassin's Creed game since Assassin's Creed II. Tons of fun
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