Gold Over Purpose, an Adventure over Meaning: Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Review

Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, originally released in 2013, and is thought by many to be one of the best Assassin's Creed games. While there was nothing inherently “unlikable” about Black Flag, it was one of the more boring experiences I’ve had playing a game. Sprinkling in moments of hope that the story would get better, combined with repetitive gameplay, the world would seemingly improve, then it would, at points cave in on itself.

I can put myself in another gamer’s shoes, and understand why Black Flag is so loved. I just couldn’t find the fun in it after a certain point. There’s only so much of the same repetitive assassinations I can take before closing the game and moving on to something more intriguing.

Just to clarify, I did finish Black Flag. Do I have free will and can stop at any time. Also yes, but I also want to give you all a solid review from the perspective of someone who's playing Black Flag for the first time.

The underlying story of Edward and the struggles he faces mentally are vastly more interesting than the swollen Assassins Creed formula that still has me in exhaustion from Valhalla.

Swollen, Repetitive, and Unfocused…

If stolen identity were a person it would be our main protagonist (who sometimes acts like an antagonist) Edward Kenway. Since this was my first time playing Black Flag I thought right off the bat, what an interesting start for an Assassin to become what they’re destined to be. It caught me off guard I’ll admit, how Edward sort of fell into being something he never wanted, but chose because of the man he killed.

My first Assassins Creed experience was Valhalla, and it was a fantastic story that was contained in a behemoth of a game. Somehow while playing Black Flag, it still felt like there was too much to really feel like I was enjoying it. Yes, I get that it seems weird to critique that there is a lot to do in a game, but that's the problem. Black Flag runs into the same issues that Valhalla did, in a different way. Valhalla's story was incredibly well written, Black Flag’s story was all over the place focusing more on the missions rather than the Edward’s mental struggles. Focusing on what he faces mentally in becoming a pirate and leaving his home would have made the story ten times better. There’s also the swollen factor of there being way too much crammed into the world of the game. This  was the same thing I experienced in Valhalla that made the experience exhausting.

Another issue I had with the game was that I was in a tutorial for what seemed like a lot of the time. It wasn’t until This Old Cove where I felt like there was some freedom and wiggle room in how I experienced Black Flag and the story it was trying to convey. The mission This Old Cove is also where you obtain the location for your first safe house. By that point its already mission fifteen.  Now I do want to address that I did play a bit of the original Black flag, and I mainlined the remake so I could get this review out in a timely manner. Do I need to mention this, no but transparency is something I value.

Getting to play the remake is a better way to play this than the original. The controls are optimized, and the quality of life is just better in how the game performs. I may not have enjoyed the remake, but I respect the work that was put into the resynced version of Black Flag. It was incredible to see the ocean, hear the sea shanties, and play with modernized controls that worked flawlessly!

I Saw So Much Potential:

Sailing the seas, listening to the shanties, sinking ships that by today's standard cost a fortune, Black Flag has flecks of gold throughout. I see the potential in its repetitive nature, I see the things it was trying to accomplish. There’s so much to be said for the story that it was trying to tell, and how the inclusion of the discussion of racism during the time period we’re experiencing played a tremendous role in how the story was told. Adewale is an incredible character that was Edward’s consciousness I feel, in constant battle with the devil that fed his ego.

This is a game that's simply hopping from story to story without focusing on the main one at hand. All of the missions, all of the ways in which this game was crafted was to tell a story seemingly bigger than Edward and what we perceive at first. As the story and the world expands, the objective and impactfulness of the game shrunk. Where this game really shined was in the music, seeing glimpses of Edwards backstory, and the history of the pirates incorporated from Blackbeard to Mary Read.

Disguising herself as a man to work and be in the military during the golden age of piracy is an astonishing level of heroism that took place during that time. I wish I liked Black Flag more than I do, I wish the grandness of it and how people love it was somehow injected into my brain so I could feel that same awe. Several times setting sail, waiting to arrive at my destination, a storyline and mechanics that were repetitive and lacking for me in so many ways. I’ll say I’m glad I had the experience, but I’m also glad it’s over.