Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - 9 Years Later

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With the polarising releases of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the Assassin’s Creed fanbase have a new challenge to face. They must now juggle treating each other like rabid apes with holding onto their childhood. The solution? Playing the older games, it’s frankly the only reason most of us continue to purchase the newer games. A diminishing hope that maybe this time we will get a return to what made our memories so good, a return to quality, a return to what Assassin’s Creed is. Because surely, Assassin’s Creed isn’t about vikings or spartans, it’s about Assassin’s. But perhaps that very identity, one that becomes blurier with each new entry, as it adds a gaussian to the legacy of these games, isn’t as clear as we once thought.

The Assassin’s Creed games have been anything but consistent, and as I’ve replayed the games I have found myself struggling to nail an identity to Assassin’s Creed, which is something I’ve never faced before. Growing up, the Assassin’s Creed games have always had an identity in movement, finesse, charm, and maturity. It’s these qualities that made me appreciate the first 4 entries and to an extent the 3rd game. Even if looking back I realised the games aren’t as good as I remember, the sentiment is the same, I have fond memories of collecting all those damn feathers, and sneaking down to the basement in the middle of the night to upgrade my villa, praying that the floorboards don’t creak loud enough to wake my parents. It’s this very mindset that made me reject Assassin’s Creed IV. It wasn’t an Assassin’s Creed game, it was a pirate game. This is a flawed mindset, and one that initially challenged me when I actually played Black Flag. There was so much here that I thought I wouldn’t like that, when I did eventually play it over a year after its release, I was blown away at how much of a fool I was.

This game wasn’t a traditional Assassin’s Creed game… it was better. This game made me realise that I have to try something before I knock it, and while there are still some Assassin’s Creed games I don’t want to go back to, Valhalla I’m looking at you, it’s worth taking a chance because this might actually be my favourite Assassin’s Creed game, period. So let’s talk about the game, it’s identity, the series identity, and what this game means to the Assassin’s Creed Legacy. This time, we travel to the West Indies with a band of pirates who are jacks of the same trade and serve one master, gold. While Edward might be on the cover, do not mistake yourselves, the main character here is gold. Greed is the main antagonist and it’s Edwards consistent battle against his own greed and that of others that eventually leads him to the middle of an ideological war zone between two factions we know all too well. This fight prompts Edward to finally mature, even if it is at the cost of everyone and everything. But rather than stalking from the shadows as an Assassin frequently does, Edward prefers a louder approach, that involves a lot more liquor, and a hell of a lot more gunpowder. Through this swashbuckling spyglass lens we see something we've never seen before, the Assassin Templar conflict, from an outsiders view, and an outsider that couldn’t care less.

Chapters -
Introduction: 0:00
Ch. 1: Jumping Ship: 10:43
Ch. 2: Tails of Culture: 22:01
Ch. 3: Assassin Shackles: 40:54
Ch. 4: Not an AC Game: 56:16
Post-Script: 1:09:27

Black Flag is NOT an Assassin's Creed Game. This is an Assassin's Creed Black Flag critique and an Assassin's Creed Black Flag analysis. This Assassin's Creed Black Flag retrospective will answer what is The best Assassin's Creed Game, as it is one of the last games in my Assassin's Creed retrospective. I know many of you have been waiting for a That Boy Aqua Black Flag video so here it is. I didn't want to go with a Assassin's Creed Black Flag Years Later video as I use this game more as a vehicle to discuss what makes an Assassin's Creed game an Assassin's Creed game. This is still a Assassin's Creed IV critique, AC IV review, AC IV critique, and a majority of the video is an Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag critique, an Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag review, and an Assassin's Creed analysis. Video by That Boy Aqua.