It wouldn’t be E3 without a new Assassin’s Creed game, and now that Ubisoft appears to have learned not to linger too long in one time period, the games have grown more and more exciting.

One of the most popular new features of the last game,
Assassin’s Creed III, was by far the naval gameplay. Interest in the game ignited after that incredible naval gameplay demo was shared at last year’s E3, and Ubisoft is smartly capitalizing on that with Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. The new game will let us be something most people have dreamed of or pretended being as a kid: pirates!

Continue below to see the first gameplay demo for Assassin’s Creed 4.

Assassin’s Creed III was one I had little expectations for, and ended up being completely blown away by the size and amount of detail that went into creating it. It is truly one of the best video game worlds I’ve been able to explore, and people who think they rush these games need only trot around it on a horse for a couple of hours to realize it’d be impossible to rush something that intricately designed. Ubisoft is a massive game company, and in fact they have multiple teams working on each new AC game for multiple years—it only feels rushed because we get a new one every year. But so long as the quality is there, I say go nuts.

As you can see in the video below, they went all out in creating what you’d expect a pirate environment to be, and one new thing we see is a seamless transition from land-based gameplay to naval gameplay, and that could mean a hell of a lot of good times for we the Assassin’s Creed players of the world.

The only strange thing is and has been the fact that this is a prequel to Assassin’s Creed III, with you playing as the father of Hatham Kenway and grandfather to Connor. I suppose it doesn’t matter much when all of this is actually a simulation, but still, a sequel number on a prequel story is odd. No matter, bring on the rum!

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