The first Desmond-less and prequel in the Assassin's Creed franchise is almost here, and you know what that means: launch trailer time. So AVAST ye matey! Grab the grog, get the fifteen men on the dead man's chest, head down to Davey Jones' locker, do whatever you gotta do. Just check out the launch trailer for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag below.
Buck up um...bucanners, 'cause regardless of any feelings you may have about Assassin's Creed getting a little stale, Black Flag's gonna be a big game. According to recent information, it's the 4th most pre-ordered game for Sony's PlayStation 4, and 3rd most pre-ordered for Microsoft's Xbox One.
Black Flag is the first prequel in the Creed franchise, and sees players controlling ACIII 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 are 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. It's also been revealed that players will seen Aveline again soon enough. Originally a handheld only title on the PS Vita, Liberation is going HD, and will be ported to the PlayStation 3 and is set to hit the PlayStation Store as a digital download January 14, for $19.99.
Black Flag's overseas release was recently pushed forward, and will arrive worldwide for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 29. It will hit PC on November 22, and be a launch title for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on their respective launch dates.