Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag Started a Trend That Has Plagued the Franchise for 13 Years

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A remake of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag is coming soon, which is great news for fans. Many consider it the best game in the Assassin’s Creed series, or at least the high point of the earlier games. These titles were more focused on classic action-adventure gameplay before the series shifted towards the open-world RPG style of Origins and later installments.

Despite being called Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, it’s actually the sixth main game in the Assassin’s Creed series. It came after Assassin’s Creed 3, which wasn’t universally loved, and was quickly praised as a return to form. Black Flag truly captures what Assassin’s Creed aims to be: a thrilling blend of historical fiction and action-fantasy. The game features a captivating story, a beautiful and expansive Caribbean world filled with things to do, and wonderfully crafted environments based on real places like Havana and Nassau. While I consider it the second-best game in the series after Assassin’s Creed 2, even I admit Black Flag offered the most immersive historical experience within the Animus – the device used to relive memories – of any game up to that point. The parts of the game outside of the Animus could have been stronger, and its success might have unfortunately encouraged some of those weaker elements in future installments.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag Phones In Its Modern-Day Sections

Earlier Assassin’s Creed games featured a strong story about Desmond Miles and the modern-day conflict between Assassins and Templars. However, Black Flag significantly shifts focus. The game introduces a new, nameless character who works for Abstergo and is simply used to find a mysterious object. The portions of the game set in the present day feel like a basic exploration game, mostly involving walking around, reading notes, and solving very easy puzzles.

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While Black Flag was a fun game, its shift away from the strong modern-day story found in earlier Assassin’s Creed titles made it less compelling. Unfortunately, it set a pattern. Later games like Unity and Syndicate continued this trend, turning the modern-day character into an unimportant background figure. Even when the series tried to recapture the Desmond experience with Layla Hassan, those modern segments didn’t receive the same focus. In recent games like Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, the modern-day story feels like an afterthought, and in Mirage and Shadows, it’s practically nonexistent.

The upcoming remake of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, now officially titled Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag Resynced, is reportedly removing the modern-day storyline. This suggests developers view those sections as unnecessary and poorly integrated into the original game.

It’s Feasible for Assassin’s Creed to Have a Good Modern-Day Story

It’s a common opinion that the present-day sections of Assassin’s Creed games have always been weak. However, while the first game’s modern gameplay feels a little slow, the parts featuring Desmond in later games are actually quite good. Seeing Desmond develop from a helpless captive into a capable assassin is enjoyable, and the way his story alternates with the historical gameplay keeps things interesting. These modern sections are often where Ubisoft tries out the most innovative ideas, and they originally felt like they were leading to a larger, exciting story.

Even though the ending of Desmond’s story wasn’t entirely satisfying, there’s still a lot of hope for the future of Assassin’s Creed. The core idea – traveling through time and getting involved in world events – is really strong and has plenty of room for new and creative stories.

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2026-04-03 13:04