Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is a 2013 action-adventure game created by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the sixth major version in the Assassin's Creed series. The game’s historical events take place before those in Assassin's Creed III (2012), but its modern-day scenes happen after III’s. Black Flag was first released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U in October 2013. A month later, it was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. The game was later made available for Nintendo Switch as part of The Rebel Collection with Assassin's Creed Rogue in December 2019. It was also released for Google Stadia in September 2021.

The story is based on real historical events but includes fictional elements. It follows the long-standing conflict between the Assassins, who fight to protect freedom, and the Templars, who seek control to achieve peace. The framing story takes place in the 21st century and shows the player as an employee of Abstergo Industries, a company used by modern-day Templars to hide their activities. The player uncovers secrets about the Assassin-Templar conflict and a group called the First Civilization. The main story is set in the West Indies during the Golden Age of Piracy, from 1715 to 1722. It follows Edward Kenway, a Welsh pirate, who is the grandfather of the main character in Assassin's Creed III and the father of a main antagonist. Edward searches for a mythical place called the Observatory, which both the Assassins and Templars want. A key part of the story involves an attempt to create an independent Pirate Republic in the Caribbean.

Unlike earlier games, this version focuses more on exploring the open world by sea, while still including land-based exploration, combat, and stealth. Multiplayer is included but only has land-based modes. The game takes place in the West Indies, with major cities like Havana, Nassau, and Kingston, as well as islands, sunken ships, and forts. Players can hunt sea and land animals. For the first time in the series, naval exploration is a major part of the game, as Edward captains the Jackdaw, a ship he captures from a Spanish fleet early in the game. Extra game content (DLC) was added, including Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry, a story expansion that became a separate game in 2014. Freedom Cry takes place years after Black Flag’s main story and follows Adéwalé, Edward’s former assistant who becomes an Assassin.

Black Flag is widely regarded as one of the best video games ever made. It received high praise from critics and sold over 11 million copies by 2014. Reviewers praised the open world, naval battles, side quests, graphics, story, characters, and pirate theme. Some found the modern-day story and combat less impressive, and some historical missions were seen as repetitive. The game won awards, including the Spike VGX 2013 award for Best Action Adventure Game. It was followed by Assassin's Creed Rogue and Assassin's Creed Unity in November 2014. In March 2026, a remake called Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced was announced to be in development.

Gameplay

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is an action-adventure and stealth game played in an open world from a third-person view. The game includes three main cities: Havana, Kingston, and Nassau, each influenced by Spain, Britain, and pirates. Other important locations include Port-au-Prince and Greater Inagua, while 50 additional places, such as atolls, sea forts, Mayan ruins, sugar plantations, and underwater shipwrecks, are available for exploration. The game balances land and naval exploration at a 60/40 ratio. It offers a more open world than earlier Assassin's Creed games, with a large map of the Caribbean that connects smaller locations. Compared to Assassin's Creed III, which had many scripted missions, this game allows players more freedom to explore early on. Players can move through jungles, forts, ruins, and villages, and interact with ships by boarding, capturing, or swimming to nearby beaches. The game includes a hunting and fishing system, with gathered resources used to upgrade equipment through a crafting system.

A new feature is the Jackdaw, the ship captained by the protagonist, Edward Kenway. The Jackdaw can be upgraded and accessed by the player as needed. An underwater exploration mode allows players to examine shipwrecks at marked locations. A spyglass helps players observe distant ships, their cargo, and strength, and can also reveal if islands have animals, treasures, or tasks to complete, such as assassinations or naval missions. The game includes an updated recruit system from Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, allowing Edward to hire crew members. These crew members can be promoted to captains, earn ships, and assist in boarding enemy vessels, but they cannot fight in combat or perform long-range assassinations, as this feature was removed to increase challenge.

In the present day, players control an unnamed character in first-person view at Abstergo Entertainment, a branch of Abstergo Industries in Montreal, Quebec. The player explores Abstergo offices, listens to conversations, and completes hacking tasks without combat. Hacking mini-games, similar to puzzles from earlier games, reveal secrets about Abstergo. Multiplayer returns with new settings and land-based game modes.

Synopsis

The main character in the game is Edward Kenway, played by actor Matt Ryan. He is a Welsh privateer who becomes a pirate and later joins the Brotherhood of Assassins. Edward is the father of Haytham Kenway, who becomes a leader of the Templars, and the grandfather of Ratonhnhaké:ton, the two characters players control in Assassin's Creed III. During the game, Edward interacts with real historical figures, including pirates such as Edward "Blackbeard" Thatch, Benjamin Hornigold, Mary Read, Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonny, John Rackham, and Charles Vane.

The story has two parts that happen at the same time. One part takes place in the present day, and the other is set in the past. Previously, players needed an Animus device to explore their ancestors' memories. However, the ending of Assassin's Creed III shows that Abstergo can now view genetic memories by analyzing DNA. For this reason, an unnamed player character is hired by Abstergo Entertainment to study the memories of Edward Kenway, a famous pirate from the 18th century. His story is set in the Caribbean and includes ship-based exploration, combat, and adventures in Cuba, Jamaica, and other Caribbean islands, as well as parts of southern Florida and eastern Mexico.

In 2013, after Desmond Miles sacrifices himself in Assassin's Creed III, Abstergo Industries uses samples from Desmond's body to explore his genetic memories with new technology. Abstergo Entertainment hires the player to examine Edward Kenway's memories for an interactive film project. In reality, Abstergo, which represents the Templars in the present, is searching for an ancient structure called the Observatory hidden in Edward's memories.

As Edward, the player uncovers a secret plan by high-ranking Templars in the British and Spanish Empires. These Templars pretend to fight piracy in the Caribbean to find a man named Bartholomew Roberts, who can lead them to the Observatory. The Observatory can monitor people worldwide using a blood sample, which the Templars plan to use for spying and blackmail. Edward becomes involved after killing a rogue Assassin named Duncan Walpole. He takes Walpole's place at a meeting with Templars in Havana, meeting Woodes Rogers and Cuban Governor Laureano Torres. His actions endanger the Assassins, leading him to chase Roberts from the Yucatán Peninsula to Jamaica, where he finds Roberts on the island of Príncipe.

At the same time, a group of pirates, including Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Benjamin Hornigold, Mary Read, and Charles Vane, dream of creating a pirate utopia. With Edward's help, they seize control of Nassau and build a pirate republic. However, poor leadership, lack of resources, and disease cause the republic to nearly collapse. Edward tries to fix the situation but fails to stop the Templars from taking advantage of the chaos. This leads to Blackbeard's death, Hornigold joining the Templars, and Vane going mad after a mutiny by Jack Rackham.

Eventually, Edward and Roberts find the Observatory and retrieve the artifact that powers it. Roberts betrays Edward, and the British arrest him. Edward is rescued by Ah Tabai, an Assassin Mentor, who also saves Mary Read and Anne Bonny. He learns that Rackham and Bonnet have been executed, and Vane is in prison. Mary dies after childbirth, and Edward decides to join the Brotherhood. He defeats Roberts and the Templars, returns the artifact to the Observatory, and seals it away. He receives a letter informing him of his wife's death and the arrival of his unknown daughter, Jennifer Scott. Edward returns to England, promising Ah Tabai he will continue fighting the Templars. Years later, he attends The Beggar's Opera at the Royal Opera House with Jennifer and his son Haytham.

In the present day, John Standish, an information technology manager at Abstergo Entertainment, convinces the player to investigate secrets hidden by their employers. With John's help, the player hacks Animus terminals and shares the information with Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, Assassins working undercover at Abstergo. After the hacks are discovered, the facility is locked down, and John directs the player to access the Animus's core. There, Juno, a being from the First Civilization, appears in a non-physical form. She explains that the world is not ready for her and that she cannot control the player as her agents intended.

John is revealed to be the reincarnated Sage, who tries to kill the player to hide Juno's failed return. He is killed by Abstergo security, and his role in the hacks is exposed. Earlier, as Roberts, the Sage told Edward he does not support the Assassins or Templars and instead helps whoever best serves his goals. After the Sage's death, the player is contacted by the Assassins, but neither side can explain his presence or identify his followers, the Instruments of the First Will.

Development

In early February 2013, during a meeting with investors, Ubisoft's CEO, Yves Guillemot, said the next Assassin's Creed game, planned for release before April 2014, would have a new hero, time period, and development team. On February 28, 2013, Ubisoft shared the first promotional image and cover for the game, following leaked marketing materials. The game was named Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and showed an unnamed character holding a flintlock and sword, with a black flag in the background that had the Assassin's symbol and a skull. A reported error on the official website suggested the game would release on next-gen consoles and October 29, which was later confirmed by the game's first trailer, released on March 4, 2013 (originally leaked on March 2, 2013, but removed quickly by Ubisoft).

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag was introduced with a cinematic trailer on March 4, 2013. Development started in mid-2011 at Ubisoft Montreal by a team separate from the one working on Assassin's Creed III, with additional help from Ubisoft studios in Annecy, Bucharest, Kyiv, Milan, Montpellier, Singapore, and Sofia.

Lead content manager Carsten Myhill said the game would not be a spin-off like Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood or Assassin's Creed: Revelations, even though it shared some similarities with Assassin's Creed III. He explained, "The game feels completely fresh and new. It will be very different from Assassin's Creed III. It deserves the name Assassin's Creed IV because of the new setting, name, and the overall experience." Assassin's Creed IV is the first main series game to include a subtitle, a choice made to clearly show the pirate theme. Director Ashraf Ismail designed the game's open world based on Super Mario 64’s use of a central hub with smaller areas filled with content.

Using the AnvilNext engine, the development team created versions of the game for both next-gen and current-gen consoles. The engine was designed to work on new systems but also function on older ones. Each console version had unique features and supported different controllers. The PC version included support for Nvidia's TXAA.

In November 2013, Ubisoft funded the exhumation of the remains of the Spanish corsair Amaro Pargo to reconstruct his face for a possible appearance in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. This exhumation led to important discoveries about the corsair's appearance.

The original game soundtrack for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag was composed by American composer Brian Tyler, who also worked on Far Cry 3. Additional music was created by Sarah Schachner, Omar Fadel, Steve Davis, Mike Kramer, Jeremy Lamb, Matthew Llewellyn, and Robert Lydecker. The soundtrack was released on Amazon MP3 and iTunes on October 14, 2013. Other soundtracks included:

• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (Game Soundtrack — Sea Shanty Edition), featuring 16 sea shanties, released on October 29, 2013.
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (Game Soundtrack — The Complete Edition), including all previous soundtracks and the multiplayer soundtrack by Joe Henson and Alexis Smith, released on December 2, 2013.
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (Game Soundtrack — Sea Shanty Edition, Vol. 2), featuring 25 sea shanties, released on June 16, 2014.

The soundtrack for the Freedom Cry DLC was composed by French composer Olivier Deriviere. It was recorded at Avatar Studios in New York with La Troupe Makandal, a group focused on Haitian music, and at Galaxy Studios in Belgium with the Brussels Philharmonic.

Marketing and release

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag was released worldwide for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 29, 2013. The Wii U version was released on October 29, 2013, in North America, November 21, 2013, in Australia, November 22, 2013, in Europe, and November 28, 2013, in Japan. The Wii U version in Europe was delayed from its original November 1, 2013, release date. On March 1, 2013, it was announced that the game would also come to the PlayStation 4, and on May 21, 2013, that it would release on the Xbox One. Both versions were launch titles, with the PlayStation 4 version releasing on November 15 and 29, 2013, in North America and Europe, respectively, and November 22, 2013, worldwide for Xbox One.

Ubisoft worked with Sony to add special content to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 versions of the game, including three missions featuring Aveline de Grandpré, the protagonist of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation. The Aveline expansion, written by Jill Murray, continues Aveline's story after the events of Liberation. This content is also available on PC through the Uplay Gold Edition.

On June 21, 2013, it was announced that the Windows version of the game would be delayed "a few weeks" from its planned release on October 29, 2013. The new release dates were November 19, 2013, in North America and November 22, 2013, in Europe. Lead designer Jean-Sebastien Decant explained that the delay occurred because the team first focused on creating a "master version" of the game for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 before adapting it for other consoles.

On October 31, 2013, Ubisoft announced that the Uplay Passport requirement would be removed from Assassin's Creed IV and all future games. Uplay Passport was included with new copies of the game and was needed to access multiplayer and the Edward's Fleet minigame. Owners of used copies could download Uplay Passport for a fee before the removal.

A Japanese manga adaptation of the game, written by Takashi Yano and illustrated by Kenji Oiwa, began appearing in Shueisha's Jump X magazine on August 10, 2013. However, the manga story differs from the game's actual storyline, even though it is based on the game.

On October 8, 2013, Ubisoft announced that a Season Pass would be available for purchase at the game's launch on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC. The Season Pass includes a single-player story expansion called Freedom Cry, the Kraken Ship pack, and additional single-player and multiplayer content.

Freedom Cry follows the player as Adéwalé, a freed slave from Trinidad who becomes Edward Kenway's quartermaster and later joins the Assassin Brotherhood. The story takes place thirteen years after the end of Black Flag and is written by Jill Murray. Freedom Cry was released as a standalone title on February 18, 2014, in North America and February 19, 2014, in Europe, and later on PC on February 25, 2014.

Blackbeard's Wrath and Guild of Rogues both add three new characters to Black Flag's multiplayer mode. Blackbeard's Wrath includes Blackbeard, The Jaguar, and The Orchid, while Guild of Rogues features The Shaman, The Siren, and The Stowaway. Blackbeard's Wrath is included in the Season Pass.

At the game's original release, the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 versions included an exclusive DLC called Aveline, also written by Jill Murray. This DLC follows Aveline de Grandpré in a new adventure set years after Assassin's Creed III: Liberation. It was later made available on PC in the Uplay Digital Deluxe Edition and Jackdaw Edition, and on the Nintendo Switch as part of the Rebel Collection. The game was ported to Google Stadia on September 14, 2021.

A Game of The Year version called the Jackdaw Edition was released in the UK exclusively on Amazon.co.uk. It was later made available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. The edition includes all previously released downloadable content. No similar editions were created for regions outside the UK.

Reception

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag received mostly positive reviews from critics, according to the website Metacritic. Reviewers praised the game's open world, side-quests, graphics, and naval combat. In November 2013, Hardcore Gamer ranked Black Flag as the 70th greatest game of the seventh generation era.

Many critics said Black Flag was better than Assassin's Creed III. Joe Juba of Game Informer noted that Ubisoft fixed problems from the previous game. Matt Gilman of CVG called it "a return to form for the franchise," and Mikel Reparaz of Official Xbox Magazine said it was "exactly the shot in the arm Assassin's Creed needed." Conrad Zimmerman of Destructoid said the game had "impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems" but was still worth playing. Two days after its release, IGN ranked Black Flag as the second-best game in the Assassin's Creed series, behind Assassin's Creed II.

Reviewers praised the game's open world structure. Edge said it "sets new benchmarks for open-world gaming," and Eurogamer called the open world "a surprising breath of fresh sea air." The game's large-scale open world was described as "beautiful" and "gorgeous," with IGN calling it "one of the best looking games of 2013." Reviewers also praised the side-quests and collectibles, saying they encouraged exploration. GameSpot said the game "presents a world full of adventure and opportunity." Many said the side-quests were better than the main missions, and IGN noted that the game was "at its best" when players explored on their own.

The naval combat system received much praise. Reviewers said it improved on Assassin's Creed III by offering more freedom to explore, fight, or sail. The Escapist said the game allowed players to "explore, fight, or sail whenever they wanted," and GameSpot said the naval combat was "as important as running around on dry land." Features like boarding ships and attacking forts were highlighted as improvements.

The stealth system was praised for being more flexible than previous games, but some critics said the controls were clunky and frustrating. Fighting as Edward Kenway was compared to previous games, with some saying it was too easy and repetitive, while others called it "fluid and lively." The enemy artificial intelligence was criticized for being unimpressive, but the crafting system was praised for being simpler and inspired by Far Cry 3.

The story was generally well-received. Reviewers called it "engrossing" and said it explored pirates in a sympathetic way. However, some criticized the story's pacing and said the main plot lacked a strong antagonist. The story missions were mixed in reception, with some reviewers calling them repetitive and others finding them challenging. Eavesdropping and tailing missions were heavily criticized for being frustrating.

Many reviewers said Black Flag felt more like a pirate game than an Assassin's Creed game. They praised its light-hearted tone and simple pirate story, which avoided the complex plots of earlier games. Edward Kenway's character as a self-motivated pirate was described as a "refreshing change" from previous protagonists.

In the United Kingdom, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag became the best-selling game in its first week, surpassing Battlefield 4. However, its sales were 60% lower than those of Assassin's Creed III in 2012. Ubisoft said the drop in sales was due to…

Legacy

The year after the release of Black Flag, two follow-up games were launched. Assassin's Creed Unity, which takes place in Paris during the French Revolution and includes a new story and characters, was released worldwide on PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on November 11, 2014. Assassin's Creed Rogue, set during the French and Indian War in North America before the events of Assassin's Creed III, includes characters who appeared in previous games, such as Haytham Kenway and Adéwalé. It was released worldwide on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2014, and on Windows on March 10, 2015.

A multiplayer expansion for Black Flag, intended to expand the game’s naval system, began development at Ubisoft Singapore in late 2013. As work continued, Ubisoft decided to make the expansion a separate game, initially named Black Flag Infinite, before changing the title to Skull and Bones. This decision was partly due to the game’s technology becoming outdated. Development faced challenges, including frequent changes in direction, which caused the project to cost more than planned and experience many delays. Skull and Bones was finally released on February 16, 2024, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows.

In early 2025, rumors suggested a remake of the game was in development. Ubisoft’s CEO, Yves Guillemot, confirmed that the company plans to remake several Assassin's Creed games in the future. In March 2026, Ubisoft announced that a remake, named Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced, was under development.