Assassin’s Creed Black Flag and Assassin’s Creed Rogue will be making their way to Switch, in the form of two-game bundle The Rebel Collection, on 6th December.
Black Flag (which I formally declare to be the best Assassin’s Creed game because, mainly but not exclusively, pirates) initially released six years ago in 2013, which is far enough back in video game history that Ubisoft could probably make an Assassin’s Creed about it.
It tells the swashbuckling tale of privateer-turned-pirate Edward Kenway, who, during the 18th century’s Golden Age of Piracy, inadvertently becomes embroiled in Assassin’s Creed’s vast conspiracy following an energetic run through the jungle.
There’s the inevitable modern day stuff, transformed into a weirdly meta office-bound first-person walking sim (I’ve personally always found the series’ present day interjections a bit obnoxious, and Black Flag’s unusual variant came closest to winning me over, even if I’d still have much preferred pure pirate), but the real fun comes from the rip-roaring main adventure.
Assassin’s Creed The Rebel Collection: Announcement Trailer Watch on YouTube
Here, Assassin’s Creed’s usual parkour platforming (which, while enjoyable, was starting to show its age by the time of Black Flag’s release) combines with appropriately piratical nautical exploration, with players able to heave-ho their way around the Caribbean, searching for treasure, singing shanties, solving mysteries, and indulging in ship-to-ship combat.