Assassin's Creed IV: Assassins of the Caribbean

No doubt you've heard already that the next Assassin's Creed adventure will be set on the high seas. It will also, oddly, be a full-fledged numbered installment in the series, which is highly unexpected. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is set to release this holiday.

If there's two things I love, it's Cowboys and Pirates. I know that might seem like an Ironic Internet Thing, but I truly cannot get enough of either genre. There's just something so...romantic about those two genres. And up until the 2010 release of Red Dead Redemption, good videogame adaptations were few and far between.

And now it appears I may finally be getting my wish for a high-quality pirate game. ACIV is expected to take place primarily in the Caribbean islands, with detours to Florida along the way. If you've played the naval battles in Assassin's Creed III, you'll likely agree they were one of the high points of that somewhat disappointing game.

The protagonist is rumored to be the grandfather of Connor, the Assassin featured in ACIII. This would be the first time the series has moved backwards through time, and I suspect Ubisoft has a few tricks up their sleeve when it comes to the full scope of this game. As the end of ACIII suggests, there's far more to the Animus than Desmond, and his timeline.

Here's the few images that have leaked out so far:

Map of ACIV.

Purported screenshot.

Promo poster, with art by Todd McFarlane.

Chris Linendoll is ready to walk the plank! Follow him on Twitter!