It’s been a humongous leak related to the development details of the Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remake. And boy, some alterations would really create a rift. The original Black Flag somehow has managed to be deemed the best of the best. That pirate life, pirate shanties, and glorious ship combat-esperably. Hence, Ubisoft is now going against the flow, and players are literally divided one-half on one side and another on the other side.
From a source that was allegedly reliable, a scrapping of all the modern-day narrative sequences, aside from just sidelined, is allegedly happening in AC Black Flag remake. They are, instead… being replaced with lots of added content in Edward Kenway’s pirate star, about 3-4 extra hours of gameplay than the original. Eh, not the worst idea. The modern-day scenes in Black Flag always kind of felt a little bit… boring: just walking around an office building hacking some computers. More pirate stuff? Hell yeah.”
Then it kind of gets spicy: the gameplay leans more toward RPG! Loot and gear for Edward and attributes; goodness, inventory systems and combat leaning toward the RPG implementation rather than choreographed combat of the former.
The community is from this completely losing their heads.
One player just opted “rpg? fuck ubisoft,” totally the mood. Then there was, “Aaaaaand instant turn off” after reading about the RPG changes. And there are bona fide concerns that these RPG mechanics are just a cover-up to shove in pay-to-win microtransactions and time savers on the XP. With Ubisoft track record… yeah, that makes sense.
But it ain’t all bad! Another good thing: there are no loading screens for transitions between ship and land. The map will remain unchanged in size but turn up with more activities and side content on the islands. They will also be given support to the uncut version, like bits of Mary Read’s storyline dropped back in 2013. Solid 10 for the OG fans there.
The new Anvil Pipeline engine is being used by the game (same as upcoming AC Shadows), and is not considered a big-budget remake like Resident Evil 2 or Silent Hill 2, though. It is more of a faithful reimagining with the updates-a few assets are reused from Skull & Bones for cost cuts; nevertheless, the leaks state that won’t really be noticeable to players. Currently targeting early 2026 for release (March, most likely), although some say late 2026 could even be a possibility.
The reception in the gathering is varied. Excited groups are fewer. One stated, “I’d normally agree. But in this case I’ll make an exception for one of my favourites.” Another said cautiously, “I’m ok with the RPG style if it’s done RIGHT!!!!!” But mostly people seem apprehensive about the changes to combat and movement; “If the parkour and movement is anything like the rpg games then i’m simply not playing it. The parkour and movement in those are horrendous,” one fan stated.
There is also some juicy discussion on the modern-day removal. Some players argued that since the modern-day storyline “doesn’t lead to anything you might as well remove modern day entirely,” while others are defending the original Desmond storyline. A whole thing.
On the same note? I am kinda feeling the worry. Recent RPGs haven’t been with everyone; the direction itself is one of a very few where many a cult classic of the classic AC formula felt dangerous to dig into. But more Black Flag content? Restored cut storylines? No loading between ship and land? That sounds exciting to me. The real question is will those RPG elements add to or take away from the original magic?
With a few years’ gap for rollout and for their information to be extracted, they could come about anytime. Though, with these leaks, it seems Ubisoft might just stir one more hornet’s nest. Black Flag means a lot to a lot of players, and any tampering with that formula will ooze reactions. Then let’s cross our fingers that they manage to balance prowess that does justice to what made the original good while adding something new to the table. Or at the very least, they don’t ruin naval combat because that was downright perfect.
