At what point do games enter the old, or retro, or classic camp? Or better yet, at what point does a game need a remake? Apparently 10 years is the answer, since a remake of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag (aka the best one) is reportedly in the early stages of development at Ubisoft, at least a0ccording to a report from Kotaku. If true, this means it’s joining The Last Of Us Part 1 as 2013’s other maybe-too-soon remake.
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Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag was always one of the better-loved entries in the series, taking the stealthy shenanigans onto the high seas. The formula of chasing map markers remained the same as always, but the big differentiator was all the fun pirate stuff: customising your crew and ship, sinking enemy fleets, and hunting for treasure (and whales.) The real-life Abstergo stuff was also in first-person, which is the only reason I remember that part existed.
Details are scarce on the rum-fuelled remake, but a team at Ubisoft Singapore, who have worked on almost every AssCreed entry, will be “heavily involved” in the game. That makes sense since Ubisoft Singapore are also the lead developer on the perpetually-delayed Skull & Bones which is also, of course, a pirate adventure that rips out the AssCreed sea combat into its own game. The team could potentially use their cool new ocean tech to spruce up Black Flag’s sailing or – more likely – the publisher wants to recoup some of the costs sunk into Skull & Bones’ lengthy production.
While Skull & Bones doesn’t have a release date yet, the live-service game is holding a closed beta this August. Although the team are seemingly restricting work from home for employees, and encouraging developers to work longer hours, according to an internal email seen by Kotaku.
There’s no word on whether the AC4 remake will incorporate the newer RPG stuff added in Odyssey and Valhalla. The original game was already pretty stellar, though. Our Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag review said: “after four over-similar, increasingly flabby games in a row, Hey Ho Let’s Go was very much the right response. I’m not sure it could get away with it again, though.” We’ll see if the series can dig up the same treasure twice in a few years.
