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Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag

Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag remake reaches unprecedented levels of leaked, despite Ubisoft’s best efforts to stomp on yapping actors

Joshua Wolens

17 September 2025

Villainy on the high-definition seas.

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(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Black Flag Remake leaks can only be called that if they come from the Montreuil suburb of Paris—otherwise they’re just sparkling Assassin’s Creed gossip. But good news: the games industry’s most open of open secrets (but that Ubi is still willing to threaten to sue its star over) has let a little more info slip ahead of its proper reveal, thanks to anonymous sources who spoke with France’s Jeux Vidéo Magazine.

The leaks, all communicated inexplicably in French, suggest that, well, this is very much an AC game, folks. But not an AC game in the old style—as the original Black Flag was—rather, Ubi is crowbarring its new, Witcher-3-by-another-name RPG style onto the classic pirate sim. Anticipate loot and an inventory, and combat that hews closer to a (much easier) soulslike than the choreographed combat of yore.
Which I gotta admit, I’m a little sad about. As one of perhaps seven people worldwide who maintain that AC: Unity showed the direction the series ought to have gone in, I rather liked Ubi’s old approach to AC, and only grudgingly tolerate the new, RPG-flavoured direction.

Related Articles

Ubisoft can’t button its yap about the not-so-secret Black Flag remake—now Edward Kenway’s voice actor is telling AC4 fans ‘You might have to beat it again’

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag actor says Ubisoft threatened to sue him for blabbing about the remake that everyone and their grandma knows is coming

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake will launch ‘very soon,’ Ubisoft exec says, but he also namedropped Splinter Cell for no apparent reason so maybe he’s still just messing with us

On the plus side, JVM’s sources suggest that Ubisoft will use the horsepower of our current generation of hardware to cleanse the Caribbean of loading screens. Plus, the studio is apparently adding even more stuff—littering the game’s smaller islands with content they didn’t have in the original. Which is… good? Maybe? It depends on the content, I suppose, but I’m not sure I’ve ever accused an AC game of not being big enough.

Another thing I don’t like (I’m pitching a column called that, by the way): the remake is said to be nixing a bunch of modern-day content in favour of more piratical adventures, some of which are made up of cut content from the original game, like a story starring lady-pirate Mary Read.

This is the original game. Imagine these guys dropping a bunch of common-tier loot and you’re pretty much there. (Image credit: Ubisoft)
Now, I’m a-okay with piratical adventures and Mary Read, but AC4 had the rare honour of being one of the only times I cared in the slightest about the series’ modern-day plot. It was clever: you played a dev at not-Ubisoft working on not-AC, gradually uncovering the whole thing as a sinister Templar plot as you went.
It was honestly pretty great, and I’m hoping Ubisoft hasn’t carved out too much of it in favour of more nautical fun.

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Anyway, JVM’s sources suggest tentatively that they’re aiming for a March 2026 release, which means there’s still a few months for a big, splashy reveal. There’s also enough time to threaten to sue another actor or two for chatting about something everyone knows is coming.

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Joshua Wolens

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News Writer

One of Josh’s first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he’s been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He’ll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin’s Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you’re all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

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Ubisoft can’t button its yap about the not-so-secret Black Flag remake—now Edward Kenway’s voice actor is telling AC4 fans ‘You might have to beat it again’

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag actor says Ubisoft threatened to sue him for blabbing about the remake that everyone and their grandma knows is coming

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake will launch ‘very soon,’ Ubisoft exec says, but he also namedropped Splinter Cell for no apparent reason so maybe he’s still just messing with us

Assassin’s Creed devs say they’ll be getting around to the whole Assassins vs Templars and modern setting stuff ‘at some point, in some fashion’

A mere 8 years on, Assassin’s Creed is bringing ‘power and violence and sex and greed and vengeance’ to Netflix as a TV show

You’re not getting the Splinter Cell you wanted in October, but maybe this’ll do?

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