Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is an open-world action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal set in the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy. Players sail the seas as Edward Kenway, a privateer-turned-pirate, plundering merchant ships, hunting whales, and uncovering an Assassin conspiracy across a vast maritime open world.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is an open-world action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft, released in October 2013. Set between 1715 and 1722 across the Caribbean, it follows Edward Kenway — grandfather of Assassin's Creed III's Connor — a Welsh privateer who stumbles into the conflict between Assassins and Templars while pursuing fortune on the high seas. The game is framed by a modern-day meta-narrative set inside the Abstergo Entertainment offices, with the player as an unnamed employee reliving Edward's memories.
The defining addition of Black Flag over its predecessors is its naval system. Edward captains the Jackdaw, a brig that can be upgraded with heavier cannons, reinforced hull plating, and swivel guns. Sea battles involve manoeuvring into broadside range, timing volleys between rolling swells, and boarding vessels to claim their cargo. The Caribbean map spans dozens of islands, coves, and forts — each explorable on foot, by rowboat, or by diving for sunken treasure in underwater sequences that are among the game's most atmospheric moments.
The open world hums with activity: merchant convoys to raid, man-o'-wars to bring down for their upgrades, shanties to collect from hidden locations that the crew will then sing on deck, and legendary ships — colossal warships requiring careful preparation to defeat. The loop of sailing, raiding, and reinvesting plunder into the Jackdaw gives the game a momentum distinct from any other entry in the series.
Edward is a departure from the series' more ideologically committed protagonists. He joins neither faction by conviction — he is in it for gold and adventure — and the game takes time to interrogate that position. His friendship with the historical pirate Blackbeard grounds the story, and his arc from self-interested rogue to someone who comes to understand the stakes of the Assassin–Templar war gives the narrative more emotional texture than the series often managed.
Black Flag was the best-reviewed Assassin's Creed entry in years on release and remains one of the most fondly remembered. Critics praised its naval design, the freedom of its open world, and Edward's characterisation. It is frequently cited as the peak of the series' long run and one of the best piracy games ever made.