The story of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag has been largely obscure since its announcement back in early March. However, some light has been shed on the game's plot, after Polygon sat down with lead scriptwriter Darby McDevitt.
The Black Flag trailer only gave us a small amount of information. Within the few flashes of material we were shown, it appears that there was a lot more than meets the eye – namely in the form of those naked ladies. McDevitt says that this sort of debauchery plays a key role in the story of Edward Kenway, the game's protagonist.
"Edward Kenway is a raucous and bawdy chap," McDevitt says, "but he's also a married man, and one of his primary motivation in Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is to get rich and prove himself a ‘man of quality' to his family and betters. So there is a special woman in Edward's life, but there are also other not-so-special women as well."
Though the previous entries into the Assassin's Creed series has allowed the use of courtesans to seduce on-duty guards and the like, it's fair – at this point – to say that the gameplay mechanic will serve as more than just a distraction.
"While this scene in the reveal trailer was clearly designed hint at the pirate lifestyle, there is a gameplay element here, to show that you can use certain NPC characters to more effectively achieve your goals. You might have noticed that the woman in the foreground seduced his target at the end of the trailer."
McDevitt was adamant about the game's open-world philosophy. She claims that the game will be more open than ever before, even though the luxury of player choice still won't be available. With that said, it's easy to assume that Ubisoft is set on maintaining as much control over the franchise's story as possible. While that might sound bad at first, it could be looked at as a form of quality control. The series has been fantastic so far, and as the old addage goes: "If something is working, don't fix it!"
McDevitt remained tight-lipped regarding the Templars and their involvement with the game, but the report suggests that this entry into the series will focus more on the pirate side of the story.
