A long-rumoured Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remake is being discussed again, but leaks are leaving some fans uncertain about both the direction of the game, and the franchise as a whole.
The presence of the modern day storyline in Assassin’s Creed has often split opinion – it was usually spoken about in the early games as the weakest part of the series, leading to it disappearing entirely in later titles.
However, as the modern day has diminished and lost a sense of cohesion, fans have discussed what the series loses as a result. With the upcoming remake, the modern day segment that existed in the original release of Black Flag is rumoured to be cut entirely.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Leaks
The leaks, courtesy of Jeauxvideo, state that the game will be released in 2026 without any of the modern sections that were present in the original.
This was the first game after the Desmond storyline, and the modern day elements mixed things up by having the player be a silent protagonist in first-person segments where they worked at a fictional, Abstergo-driven alternate world version of Ubisoft.
While this was hardly the most popular part of the game, some audiences wonder how the central storyline around the character will make sense without these crucial details.
The leaks also say that the character of Mary Read will be given new story material, and combat and gear systems will be overhauled to feel more in line with modern entries.
Where Has the Modern Day Story Been Left?
The most recent thread began with the soft reboot of the series, Assassin’s Creed: Origins, in 2017, where a new modern day protagonist marked the beginning of a new story.
However, this had ultimately concluded (for the most part) by the end of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla’s string of DLCs. Ubisoft has stated in response to questions about the open-ended nature of storylines that they aren’t finished with the modern day story, just that they opted to pivot the focus away from it in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows — the second best-selling game in the US this year.
Will Assassin’s Creed end?
Another reason why the modern day storyline might have been gradually abandoned is that it narrowed the scope for the future of the series.
Desmond’s storyline in Assassin’s Creed and Assassin’s Creed 2 felt as though it’s progressing towards plot revelations, a large conflict and an ending. It’s easy to see that plans had changed by the time that Assassin’s Creed 3 rolled around, and while it concluded the story, it also opened up a new one with the release of Juno, a supernaturally powerful villain bent on conquering the world.
These stop-starts indicate that there is no longer a long-term plan for the series’ narrative, and that it might simply continue until it stops being profitable.
