Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is an open-world treasure that you'd want to loot, packed with secrets and missions that will have you navigating through its compacted depiction of the Caribbean sea for hours!

Assassin's Creed IV was a crowning achievement for Ubisoft and remains one of the most rewarding experiences for fans of the saga. It was the Assassin's Creed that would reinvent the series in terms of gameplay and world design.

This was the first Assassin's Creed to bring naval combat to the fore, and also the first one to feature an open world in the most literal sense, whereas previous titles consisted merely of a series of smaller open areas that had to be unlocked as you progressed through the story.

Subsequent releases would largely be built upon Black Flag's novel formula, but those who played this game back in 2013 may remember how different this game was from the rest of Assassin's Creeds available at that time. Regardless, those spoiled by the technical aspects and features of most modern AC entries might feel a bit underwhelmed.

The game does show its age in the graphical department. After all, it's been almost 10 years and 2 entire generations since it first saw the light of day, so you shouldn't expect ray tracing or anything of that sort. 

Aesthetically speaking, though, it's a sight to behold. Vast and lush tropical forests, turquoise waters, and iconic representations of colonial-era Havana, Nassau, and Kingston will surely draw your attention, especially if you're into pirate lore and exotic locations.

The game was, for all intents and purposes, a cross-generation game, as in, one that was developed with the next generation in mind, while not being fully next-gen. It genuinely pushed the boundaries of the PS3 and the Xbox 360, as these consoles struggled to deliver a consistent framerate and quality. For this reason, this game should be best experienced with next-generation hardware (PC and PS4/Xbox One or newer).

In terms of gameplay, Assassin's Creed IV focused heavily on exploration. While its predecessor would be the first to flesh out wilderness expeditions, Black Flag would take that to a whole new level. 

The Frontier in ACIII, for all its virtues, got boring awfully quickly and you were pretty much stuck with completing the main missions for the most part. The map in Black Flag, on the other hand, was a huge leap from the previous title, offering lots of exploration options, activities, and treasures to discover across the islands. We'll expand upon this a bit more as we analyze the gameplay component in more detail below.

Lastly (and not surprisingly), ACIV likewise takes place in a specific historical timeframe, with the Animus immersing the player in XVIII century Central America this time around, in the midst of disputations between the British and Spanish empires over the area. Abstergo Industries, a present-day Templar corporation, would again play a central role in the plot, and Desmond Miles would also make a comeback, though in a "peculiar" way that we'll rather not disclose.