While sailing was a massive part of the Assassin's Creed Black Flag experience, the devs say it was a trial to get it working in the first place.
While sailing was technically introduced earlier in the series thanks to some segments in Assassin's Creed 3, it became the whole basis of the next game in the series. Speaking to Retro Gamer magazine, Jean Guesdon, creative director on Black Flag, explains, "One of the first key decisions was to reuse everything we could."
Despite a test-run in AC3's American Northeast the year prior, Guesdon says it wasn't quite as simple as bringing that over into the next game. This was mainly thanks to the scale of the sailing being expanded. He adds, "We had a lot of teething difficulties trying to move from focused naval missions to a seamless naval experience."
Of course, it wouldn't be the end of sailing, as Ubisoft would soon go into the Skull and Bones mines for about a decade before releasing that to… being released. But its development probably helped in the creation of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced this year, so piracy lives on once more.
While I'm admittedly not really into Ubisoft's biggest series, I have always had a very big soft spot for Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. Maybe it's because, in many ways, it really doesn't feel like an Assassin's Creed game as the pirate fantasy elements take center stage. I don't even think I finished it entirely as I just enjoyed sailing the high seas and singing with the fellas too much.
If you're yet to play it yourself, you can read our Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced review to see how it compares to the best Assassin's Creed games.
