Sometimes, you got to take the good with the bad. While Ubisoft's decision to push back the release for Watch Dogs' is no doubt a disappointment for fans (not to mention creating havoc for anyone who pre-ordered a bundle for Sony's PlayStation 4 or Microsoft's Xbox One offering the game), there is a silver lining in the clouds.
Originally slated to arrive in the UK and Europe on November 1, Ubisoft has pushed Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag's overseas release forward to October 29, matching it with its stateside release. Granted, three days isn't exactly cause for celebration, particularly in light of Watch Dogs being pushed back 'til spring, but at least it's something. Unfortunately, the game still won't hit the PC until it arrives for next-gen systems, November 22.
The game's Lead Designer, Jean-Sebasiten Decant, recently explained the game's PC delay as the result of the team needing time to adapt it for that particular platform.
While nothing changes for American gamers waiting on the new Creed, Ubisoft has released a new trailer for the game, focusing on the game's protagonist, privateer turned Assassin, Edward Kenway. Check it out below.
Black Flag is the first prequel in the Creed franchise, and sees players controlling AC3 protagonist Connor's grandfather, Edward Kenway, a former Royal Navy man for the British crown turned pirating privateer in the blue waters of the Caribbean. The game takes place somewhere around 1713, long before the last time we saw any vestige of the assassins, the American Revolution. The colonial frontier of the new world has traded in for the warm waterfronts of Nassau, Havana, and Kingston, with historical figures such as the infamous pirate Blackbeard, Calico Jack, Charles Vane, and others set to appear.
Like in the Vita exclusive Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation, Desmond Miles doesn't have a role in Black Flags, having been replaced with an Abstergo researcher.
For both the PlayStation 3 and 4, Ubisoft has promised additional, exclusive content in the form of extra missions with the heroine of Liberation (which is getting its own PS3 port), Aveline de Grandpre. The first female assassin will be featured in as many as three bonus missions.
In a posting on the game's official blog, Black Flag's lead writer Darby McDevitt wrote, "It's a ways forward so Aveline is a bit older. It's not directly related to the end of her story. If Assassin's Creed IV is like a novel, Aveline's missions are like a short story." He added, "The present-day is set in Abstergo Entertainment - which is this fun, hip company to work for... at first. You are able to access the Aveline stuff because your coworkers are working on retrieving different genetic memories from all kinds of different people."
Similarly, Director Ashraf Ismail told Joystiq that missions will continue telling Aveline's story after the conclusion of Liberation.