Man, I’ve been in such a nostalgic mood lately for the old Assassin's Creed games that actually felt like adventures.
Booted up Black Flag last night, hopped on the ship, turned the shanties up, and just… sailed around for hours.
Man, I’ve been in such a nostalgic mood lately for the old Assassin's Creed games that actually felt like adventures.
Booted up Black Flag last night, hopped on the ship, turned the shanties up, and just… sailed around for hours.
If only they would just separate the pirate part from AC series and make a standalone pirate game...wait
I have NEVER understood one thing. We loved black flag because it was amazing pirate ship game occasionally spoilt by trying to fit in in the lore of dimension breaking assassin's creed nonsense.
Here's the thing.
Why has no developer EVER?!? Seen the scope of developing a proper adult/mature pirate/naval game?
You start off in the docks of London as a variety of characters. A slum kid . An officers son..whatever... and you develop the character through the growth and emersion of the story until you're not just a 14year old naval officer or a pirate lad but a navy captain or a ferocious pirate king in one of the golden ages of adventure.
Patrick o Brian who wrote the Master and commander series of books wrote of Nelson ... that if he'd tried to write down his heroic acts in stories people would have found the books ridiculous. So astonishing were his acts of seamanship and bravery that people would find the books unreadable. Swinging onto the gundeck of a French warship, mid battle, knife locked between teeth with sabre in hand.
Sounds too mad for us to believe. But it was true. Man was only small but a fucking madman and a legend. And too be fair apart from one incident in Italy he was magnanimous and fair. Unlike Napoleon, also a genius but one who routinely razed their enemy.
Back on track (lol). Imagine a game with aaa standards. You start as a young lad. You're sent off at 14. You could do naval or merchant options. The game develops.... your character follows a dynamic story arc leading to multiple choices. Naval pirate merchant slaver.
But here's the thing. As good as story mode is? You need to fight sea battles in a realistic way Black flag combat was good but we could do so much better.
Naval advantages vs buccaneer advantages As your character grows so your fleet does
You just described Sea Dogs. Horribly dated sadly, it doesn't even properly run on modern machines. But damn I spent so many hours sailing, trading and adventuring in that game when I was a kid. Would love to see a modern remake
Caribbean Legends is a modern remake of the game that is still being updated and added to!
Oh that’s 50pc off on steam. I’ll give that a go!
tell me how it is
me too
What the hell, that looks like such a low effort clone and obvious copy paste of the old Sea Dogs and Pirates of the Caribbean games where the original developers put so much love into. Really shameless. How dare they even release this, running on modern hardware, and why did I just buy it.
When I was a kid, I remember sitting on the beach and wishing I could get home faster from “mom’s vacation” so I could play Sea Dogs 2, which had just come out before the trip :)
Do you know if the GOG version runs ok?
Yeah, remember playing various iterations of this game from "Pirates of the Carrebean" (I had a licensed CD of this game, the original title "Corsairs 2" was covered by a sticker, which was pretty funny) to the "City of Abandon Ships". Everything outside of naval stuff in these games was junky af (the person to person fights were pretty horrible), but, boy oh boy, the naval battles where you could fight several Man'o'wars at once using various ordnance against them (buckshots against people, chained cannon balls against masts) were cherry on the top. And considering a storm could begin suddenly during the battle...
Gotta reinstall it now.
Yeh I played sea dogs 2 also known as pirates of the Caribbean.
It went well. Tried to find it for Xbox and it seems to be gone.
Suppose I should try and get it or one of its sequels for my pc.
Holy shit, nostalgic core memory unlocked.
Its only 6 bucks on GoG, and likely with their track record it works on modern machines.
Doesnt GoG often pack mod/presets to old games that require modification to work on modern games
Sid Meier’s Pirates! The 2004 version is still fun to play- I played it a couple months ago.
But agreed it needs an upgrade. I’d love to see a RDR2 style open world pirate game.
I didn’t even know there was a 2004 version! I was scrolling to see if anyone mentioned the 1987 version lol
Oh, you’re in for a treat! It’s an amazing game.
There is a huge market for a open world pirate game in the style of RDR2. I don't get why publishers are scared of it. Pirates are still big.
Pirates lifestyle also fits perfect for moral/immoral choices that a RDR2 style game promotes.
You can get the 2004 version to play on a PC?
Edit: holy crap it’s on steam!
People have tried repeatedly to make a pirate game since seeing Black Flag and they keep flopping/fucking them up, where have you been the last 10 years? Even ubisoft fucked it up despite having direct access to everything that made it fun.
Warhorse should do it!
This is why
https://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3266
Who would have thought this whole time the Kung Fuhrer was the true savior.
Here’s the problem; management.
They would eventually require micro transactions, ads, along with personal ideas. Soon the scope creep would just turn your idea into a lump of shit.
This is like my top answer to "if you could make a game" - no clue why pirates have been so underserved in this regard
It’s an older game series but have you ever played Sid Meier’s Pirates? I grew up with the NES version but most of them are great.
Sid Myers Pirates is pretty much this.
No offence but no its not.The game i imagine is rdr2 aboard but not gta. It could be so much better.
Yeah honestly I think the pirate genre/setting is ripe for that kind of game and story where you play as outlaws on the sea and do dope pirate shit.
To be clear, I LOVE that game.
But, I think that may have been true in 2004 but not by today’s standards. The game is still great. But it’s no RDR2 equivalent.
Yeah, it would be one of the best games
But only if they take around 10 years to develop
Wouldn't work unless they pump a lot of resources into it. A triple-A game wouldn't do. It needs to be AAAA.
And you know what those ships really need? a stamina bar.
Your ship is exhausted and needs to rest
I mean, if it's a boat that involves rowing the crew definitely needs to rest lol
"Speed up your journey to the next island with gems💎"
At least we'd get it before Elder Scrolls 6
Quadruple-A
It would be one of the games*
:)
I wish that's what we got. Instead they made a microtransaction-filled nonsense co-op game trying to be something completely different.
What game are y’all referring to?
Skull and Bones.
The pirate game where they thought removing 3rd person sword fighting was a big W.
Honestly completely baffling.
the assassin part of this game was a DRAG.
the follow missions... holy shit. storyline was also pretty fucking weak. i just wanted to sail around with me hearties collecting sea shanties.
I didn’t think the storyline was terrible, but it felt like it ended sooooo abruptly.
Watching Black Sail TV series and saw this post. Does AC Black Flag actually have a lot of actual pirate and sailing content? Or is it the traditional AC game where you mostly run around?
85 percent is sailing around (at least if was for me). And its glorious
Nice I will be downloading it! Son already has this on PS4 just didn't pay attention to it lol. Thanks
You're in for a treat, one of my favorite video games of all time - rumors seem to indicate a modernized version is coming out in 2026
I bet 10 bucks its going to be a half assed remaster thats going to get glazed by everyone
If it looks a little better and doesnt have bugs then ill be a satisfied customer. They really dont need to do much lol
It’s amazing, no spoilers but you can collect sea shanties and it’s amazing. That entire game was a breath of fresh air and I wish they made another one like it.
Yeah and it might even be a AAAA game. The GTA of the sea.
Played it 11 years ago and I thought the same , fun game but didn't felt like a AC game.
I THOUGHT I HEARD THE OLD MAN SAY...
...goddammit.
clears throat
LEAVE HER JOHNNY, LEAVE HER!
Tomorrow you will get your pay...
AND IT'S TIME FOR US TO LEAVE HER!
https://youtu.be/GeaWvvJjup0?si=wdiehxtOlYuHy5Qh
lowlands….. LOWLANDS AWAY
Leave her Johnny leave her ... 😂😂
RUNNING DOWN TO CUBA WITH A LOAD OF SUGAR ♫
'way me boys to Cuba!
Runnin down to Cuba!
Rumors are the remake is going to be released sooner than later, will definitely play it again if that happens.
Hope they do it right, lately, they have a tendency to ruin everything.
Yeah gotta see it before i believe it tbh.
My expectations are inside Davy Jones' locker.
Yeah, that’s the worry.
I just tried the AC3 Remaster since it was free in PS+ but it did not feel good. I didn’t even get past the prologue missions before I put it down.
What’s wrong with it?
Not sure if he's talking just about the remaster/port (which isn't great but serviceable) or the game in general, but I will say as someone that has a real soft spot for the AC games and dips back into them from time to time I never play for all that long because time hasn't been kind to any of the games pre Unity.
They still stand on their own for what they were doing at the time, but the actual feel of a lot of them is really rough to get into 15+ years later in ways that doesn't impact every game from that era. Black flag and Brotherhood have the most going for them to me, in that it's easier to still play even with how dated they can feel at times, but even then it's a lot rougher than I tend to remember when the games were out there feeling fresh in what they were doing.
Yeah, this is a good explanation of where I’m at as well. I’ve played every entry in the series either on release or shortly after, but trying this one again after all those years means it had to compete against my own nostalgia.
I ran face first into this hard with the Oblivion remaster. The game was pretty but so much of the game and quest design just felt terribly dated
Micro transactions to skip the ass creed bits, of which there's now waaay more
Edit, basically you got to actually work the desk job to earn time on the pirate simulator, or just straight up pay for the time
Ubisoft legitimately has the ability to make good games. They’ve made plenty of great ones. They also seem to be riddled with leadership that makes bad decisions
its always leadership
The leak said it's planned for Q1 2026 so should be out by April
Same here. If the remake drops, I’m diving right back in.
I wonder if the remake would make exploration more like Odyssey where every piece of land is explorable.
It’s the modern engine, so yes
Might be a weird take but I would hate if they updated the combat in Black Flag remastered to that of newer AC games. Newer games don’t let you just absolutely run through people seamlessly, old Black Flag you could take on 15 people at once lol
Can't wait (please don't screw this up). AC2 and Black Flag are my favorites in the series.
One of my all time favorite games
Also check out Assassin's Creed Rogue if you haven't already. Worse in some ways, better in others, but it's good at the piratey gameplay.
The ship mechanics were great in Rogue.
The fact that the Templar's were now acting like the Assassin's, and the Assassin's were now acting like the Templar's, really killed the story for me, though.
You are still working for the Assassin's, with the same agenda the Assassin's have had throughout the entire franchise, but for this one story, they call themselves Templar's. It was not a Templar story, but an Assassin story, just with the names switched. That irked me so bad.
Yeah the story didn't quite live up to the promising concept. There's a lot of interesting directions the AC storyline could have taken the assassin vs. Templar morality but they basically always drop the ball and it usually boils down to the boring Templar=bad and assassin=good thing.
The part where they made assassins break into a fistfight over a minor disagreement to make them look undisciplined and immature was just... dumb.
I like the ship battles. The ship had new weapons that felt fresh and super fun. It was also super cool to stalk people that could also hide
I have played it, overall, it is a good game. I totally agree with you.
I completely skipped rogue when it first came out (limited funds means i got unity instead), but i just played rogue last year for the first time. 1. Its a beautiful game, it just looks good. 2. It is everything that i wanted from ac3. It did the natural exploration so much better
I thought this game had the best story of any Assassin's Creed. Really added some needed depth to the Assassin v Templar war that Ubisoft immediately abandoned.
Freedom Cry - Short, but well worth it for BF fans :D
Black Flag is such a standout to any game at its time and even now.
Sailing around, exploring islands, naval combat - all 10/10
Waaaaaayyy haaaay and up she rises, waaaaaayyy haaaayy and up she rises, waaaaaaay haaaaayy and up she rises, early in the mornin'.
EARLIE IN THA MOR-NIN
hhhhhhhWhat will we do with a drunken sailor
It still amazes me just how badly Ubi fumbled Skull and Bones. Like, how hard was it to just ctrl+C, ctrl+V the ship system from AC4 into a new game with some tweaks and more features?
And miss the chance to be AAAA game?!
until you get to a million shitty stealth missions.
“Stop having fun as a pirate! Go wander around this poorly lit corporate office instead!”
Everyone fantasizes about what life would be like as a Montreal SaaS company intern right?
for me that wasnt even the worst part, the stay in range and stealth it are the literally worst or stay out of sight and stealth it. Fucking idiotic
And of course the constant escort missions with people that walk faster than you walk but slower than you run
And the stealth boat missions even.
Feels like calling these stealth missions are the new Navi from Ocarina of Time. Cause as repetative or boring some of them were, they never felt this outright awful or annoying.
for me they did.
Hopefully they don't botch the remaster. The current version isn't that great (on PC), its locked to 60fps and as far as i know its not possible to to unlock the frame rate at all.
I really loved that game. Also Ubisoft, for the love of god don't put stupid RPG mechanics in it, please.
Here's the thing: typically RPG stuff in AC series is loot-based and repetitive. If RPG meant "different ways to complete missions, dialogue checks" or some other meaningful non-linearity, I'd be down with that. At least for some titles.
Big thing I don't like is that AC series seems to get stuck in ruts from a game design standpoint.
LOW LANDS LOW LANDS AAAWAAAAAAYY ME JOHN
I can hear the Opening Theme!!!
Except for the opening theme, it has great shanties too.
Leave her Johnny... Leave her!!!!
This was my favorite pirate game
I DREAMED A DREAAAM THE OTHER NIIIIGHT
LOOOOWLAAANDS LOWLANDS AWAAAAY ME JOHN
... When hope was high and life worth living!
(No? Wrong song?)
I never played the story in this game I turned off all HUD and just went from Island to Island looting everything I possibly could the only time you could see anything is if you went to the eagle point and then you have to try to memorize where everything was. Once an island was complete it would turn gold on the map I had the entire map gold
That’s crazy I just booted mine up too! Those ship battles are addictive lol
The game was also so stunning for the time. Truly an awesome game.
I really think things like sea shanty’s are why it feels so good, it made the boat alive and I think that would be a key element to any desecrated sailing/pirate game
Lowland’s away
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW LANDS
HELP ME BOB I'M BULLY IN THE ALLEY!
Way way up she rises
That game fucked
Age sail ship combat and the sea shanties. That's the draw here.
Last good AC game and it's barely even about Assassins vs Templars.
Black Flag is best AC
I totally agree.
Just did this did on my ps4 too. Its been fun
This is a personal issue. I find a lot of AC games have way too cluttered worlds. I find black flag came off way less cluttered. Didnt they confirm this game is getting a remake?
Today on images you can hear. I liked sea shanties before they were cool.
I’m playing it again right now and I am aware of the nostalgia tinted glasses but holy shit I love this game. Sometimes it’s fun to zone out, put a podcast on and say, I’m gonna get all the chests and shards on this island and other times I’m full game audio because I’m immersed in Edward Kenway’s story. Also the introduction of ship battles in AC, along with the management of your fleet, so much fun.
I spent sooooo many hours just driving the boat, and listening to the pirate songs.
I see Black Flag I upvote
Tried it got bored after exploring 2 or 3 islands
Just give me a cool sailing game with amazing exploration and fantasy elements, I'm begging you.
Right?! Black Flag is eternal. Those shanties and ship battles never age...
It's on switch these days. Looks and plays well
My favorite game of all time. Every two years or so I do another playthrough.
Peak gaming, I miss that time so much.
It is fun being a pirate, but boy did they hide the one piece realy good, I haven't found it yet tho.
assassin creed gameplay is so repetitive.. I can't stick with it long
Back then it was still great IMO
AC died with Syndicate
I love every second this game isn't doing assassins creed things
i mildly dislike the assassins creed things
i want to slowly peel the skin off my face everytime there is "real life" missions, because at least i would be feeling something
It's a blast until you get fucking sucked into office life and are trapped doing hate quests from your cubicle
Yes! I used to play this game all the time, gunna have to fire it up again
I hop on every three years or so and go wire to wire. Still just as perfect as day 1.
Just looking at this pic and I can hear all the sea shanties that would play when sailing the seas.
Bro I just lost 95 HOURS of a save file on PC because 🤷♂️. Second time it's happened, the first was only ten hours. I'm quite pissed because I had a full ship, the hideout, all the legendary ships, more money than the king of Spain, the Templar outfit.... I might get a copy for the 360 and play that because it doesn't need U Connect bullshit to go nuts. If you're on PC, remember it's not a cloud save and it's all saved in U connect, NOT steam or Black Flag
Who in their right mind thinks this game needs a remake that will turn it into a bloated RPG?
I can hear the shanties and smell the salty air from here. I love it.
Thought about playing it just today… just a great title
I regularly replay this game. Fun naval gameplay, sea shanties, and some of the best characters that the franchise has ever had.
I loved the app where you could continue to make money and send ships out when you were not around. Wished they released the source so we can continue to homebrew that stuff.
Man a remaster would slap, but I just dont have faith in Ubisoft to not fuck it up.
Man, I really liked this one, especially Edward, the dreams sequences are so good.
Damn good, game-friendly sailing mechanics. A lot of more recent sailing games do not feel as good as Black Flag. I’m quite surprised at War Sails though.
For an old game engine, Tale Worlds put out an addition to BannerLord with medieval naval combat that feels just right.
It’s tough to explain since I’m not a developer. I think it has to do with the physics of the ships motion, the motion of the water. War Sails got that part right. Why they ever changed the UI is beyond me. Black Flag also gave me that feeling of “This is it! They figured it out!”
Best Assassin's Creed hands down.
Relatable af, same here 🎮
My son and I both loved this game. Currently replaying it myself, only this time I got it on my Switch. Still fun, use it when I travel for work. Agree I would love an open world pirate game that was just pirating, with lots more shanties, and please keep it single player.
i see....its a cool game i ll download it too....how much gb it is + are there other cool games too?
Dude, I’m currently playing it as well, and hear me out. This is was the last AC game that was fun, adventurous, and enjoyable to play! Love this game :)
This game was fun! while it lasted.
Only AC I ever played
I finished it a few months ago, the first AC game I've played. I loved it and would play more in that genre.
Better than a AAAA game that came out from the same studio
O Sally Brown, she’s the gal for me boys!
The visuals and the gameplay holds up so well. If only it didn’t have so many tailing missions
That's why old tv shows, games and movies are GOAT. Since every entertainment media is falling and burning to the ground, I enjoy these old relics and take a sip of tea and watch corporates burn. It's an amazing feeling.
This is just awesome
Whats the gameplay loop hour to hour in black Flag?
I always hear about how amazing it is but its mostly memes and sea shanties not actually talking about what parts are fun
its basically a pretty weak AC game with a thin storyline, tagged on after brotherhood and making space for a future of AC games noone asked for. BUT as a pirate game it is great, you can free roam as a pirate cross the oceans and capture ships to grow a fleet. you can make a hideout later on as well. it is really the peak open world pirate game. weirdly nothing comes close. even a decade later.
Would love to have played it on my PC but my 50% save got deleted after they updated the game several months back. This has happened to a lot of people, too.
As sometime who only played Brotherhood, I feel the urge to try the series again
this was the only AC game I actually completed, was really really good!
This was the first game I played when I finally bought a PlayStation 4. I had played the previous AC games on shitty laptops with small screens that could barely run them. Also got myself a big TV.
It was like entering a whole new world of gaming and the sea, sunshine and colourful world in this game really made it even more impressive.
I think it's still my favorite AC game in the series. I wish there would be more pirate games out there. I was hopeful for Skull & Bones but haven't even touched it based on the bad reviews.
Apart from AC Black Flag, Sid Meier's Pirates is probably the only other good pirate game I know. Would love to have a modern game with some of the elements from that game, like strategy land missions, treasure hunts, trading, building up a crew, some RPG elements, different factions, romance,...
Why is no one making such a game. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants that, so I assume there would be a market for it. Instead it seems we've gotten a lot of Samurai games lately. I like that genre too but after the third or fourth game it does get a little old.
Black Flag is one of the best AC games out there
imo…this is the only Assassin Creed game that is worth to be played. Legendary game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1HICfXbFBM
The sad thing is, if you're not an AC ultra, then after playing 3 AC games you've had enough and it just repeats itself. For me, Black Flag was the title that made me quit. At release, it was also full of bugs and memes like the ship that turned into a submarine or the hole in the sea. It's a shame, really, because I've only heard positive things about it.
Gameplay was great, the story not so much. It was fine but it didn’t fit into the assassins creed universe IMHO
Over a decade old and somehow the mechanics and sea texture is still the best.
My all time faveoure game AND sound track.
Unbelievable.
I did the same thing last year. I did a 100% completion because I was having so much fun. The interesting thing is that I also 100%ed it back in the day, so this stands as the only game I’ve ever 100%ed more than once.
Chanties! 🎶
Bought the pack with AC black an AC rogue on switch for like 12€, not the same experience without a 60 gps but I clearly enjoy this games like I did in the past, the sea battles are juste 60% of those games and damn it's great
Friendly reminder - if you want more Black Flag, check out AC Rogue. It's like if AC3 and Black Flag had a tiny baby. Still fun but not as big. Had a couple of remasters for last gen.
One of the best AC games for sure. Maybe even the very best. The only bit I wasn't a fan of were the underwater "stealth" bits where you were avoiding sharks.
H
Shoutout to the Kraken Club!
Both Black Flag and Valhalla would have been better games if all that sci-fi stuff was cut out. In case of Valhalla, it would require redesigning as what should have been super entertaining mechanic of river raiding and monastery plundering got boring fast.