- Ubisoft should keep the pirate theme and add accessible islands, more treasures, and underwater explorations.
- It should feature more challenging combat, integrate higher-level stealth, revamp the tedious tailing missions, and add a dynamic weather system.
- While it isn’t official by Ubisoft, insiders reveal that its launch could be pushed to 2026, especially due to the delay in Assassin’s Creed Shadow.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is widely regarded as one of the best entries in the franchise, consistently ranking in the top three for most fans. Its intense pirate-esque nature, open-world exploration, and naval battles all make it stand out.
Ubisoft is reportedly working on its remake, which has raised my excitement and set high expectations. The original game already had widely admired elements, which the remake could easily retain to maintain the original’s spirit.
What Not To Change
Ubisoft isn’t the only company investing in remakes. Max Payne 1 & 2, Control 2, Final Fantasy 9, and even Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell are all getting remakes. With many upcoming remakes, Ubisoft must ensure that Black Flag isn’t a quick cash grab.
Classic Pirate Theme
To prevent this, they should focus solely on keeping the original game’s most essential aspect: the pirate theme. While other titles focused more on the Assassin part, Black Flag allowed players to live and breathe as pirates.
This means that Ubisoft should retain the intense naval battles, freedom to explore and find treasure, and singing chanties while sailing around. They should enhance these features without removing or reducing them, as it would be a disservice.
Intense Naval Battles
Naval battles were one of the core of this title and although they were already good, they could be improved. With modern gaming technology, I expect ship battles to have shakier camera angles to create a sense of chaos.
Moreover, keeping the same motion blur when sailing a ship would be great since it added a sense of speed. The explosions should be more refined; the ships should have destructible parts that are scattered and fall around when destroyed.
Side Missions
Leaving the White Whale hunting side mission would be wonderful. It’s always great to live the pirate life by hunting whales the traditional way with a spear, and I would be very frustrated if they removed it by labelling it as ‘animal abuse.’
What To Change Or Improve
Combat & Stealth
Apart from nailing many things in the original, the original Black Flag lacked stealth and combat. Ubisoft should borrow ideas from Assassin’s Creed Shadows for its stealth mechanics and combat because they are extremely well done.
Tedious Missions
The ‘tailing the guards’ missions should be minimized or revamped because some of these missions were exceedingly long, where you had to spend a lot of time just waiting and crouching behind enemies, which moved extremely slowly.
What To Add: New Possibilities
The original game was based around multiple islands, but the islands that were far away weren’t accessible either by you or with the help of your ship. Given the new technology, it would be interesting to explore and access a lot of distant islands.
Detailed Underwater Experience
While the original game had pretty decent underwater exploration, but the remake could have a fully fleshed-out underwater experience. With enhanced visuals, added marine life, more explorable spots and even some mysterious sea creatures.
Yes, it might be too much for a remake, and changing or adding too many things would turn it into a sequel rather than a remake. But, still, adding some of these things in a limited amount would make it even better than the original.
Accessible Islands
We already had treasure maps, but these newly accessible islands could become new spots for more treasure hunts. This would enhance the pirate and the open-world feel of the game.
Heavy Storms
The remake is said to introduce gameplay changes, which will improve the combat and ecosystem. For other gameplay changes, I’m expecting a dynamic weather system with more emphasis on strong winds and storms.
Huge waves, reduced visibility, and stronger winds could make sailing more immersive and unpredictable. It would be even better if we had to strategize our sailing methods to counter the heavy storm winds.
Seemelss Loading
With the new technology, the remake should seamlessly load different locations of the game. Previously, there were loading screens at multiple points, which hindered the immersion, but I’m fully expecting a seamless integration for the remake.
Can We Expect Black Flag Remake In 2025?
While I’m very excited about the Black Flag remake, its release is reportedly pushed to 2026, as the Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ delay has impacted the rest of the Assassin’s Creed roadmap, including this remake.
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Moiz Banoori, with a decade of experience in gaming and tech journalism and a degree in journalism, is a notable figure in the industry. He has contributed to various esteemed platforms, showcasing his expertise in both reporting and opinion writing.
