Assassins's Creed 4 News: Director Discusses Cutting Naval Multiplayer Mode

The Assassin's Creed series has been one of the most popular and critically acclaimed series for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era of consoles, and "Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag" figures to continue that legacy on both those current gen consoles as well as the next gen platforms.

Black Flag promises to give players a huge open world to explore on land and sea, as well as an extensive multiplayer mode for players to compete in.

However, the naval battles that play in heavily to the single player mode will not be available in multiplayer portion of the game.  Creative director Ashraf Ismail was at a panel discussing the game at PAX Prime attended by Gamespot, and he revealed that, while the prototypes for a multiplayer naval battle mode was "awesome," ultimately it was cut from the game, which still haunts him.

"I lost a lot of sleep over that one...It really broke my heart the day we decided to cut it from the game," he said.

This mode would have truly been epic, as footage of naval battles from the game are some of the highlights of the preview videos Ubisoft has released. The game will enable users to upgrade their ships in a variety of ways, and users can trade cannonball volleys with enemy ships, maneuver around the enemy to try to gain a tactical advantage, or jump aboard the enemy ship and take out the captain and crew one on one. While it is disappointing users will not be able to take their ships and fight it out online, Ismail did hint that if "Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag" is successful, a similar game mode could be put into a future game in the series.

Ismail was also asked about potential future settings of the series, specifically about a game set in the future. However, Ismail stated that "history is our playground" and that they will continue to explore different areas of the world at different times rather than look ahead into the future and build a game around that. One potential setting for a new "Assassin's Creed" game would be 19th Century India where a new graphic novel is taking place, along with the longstanding rumor that the series will explore Feudal Japan at some point.

Look out for more "Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag" news as the game prepares for launch on October 29 for current gen consoles, as well as being a launch title for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One when they are released in November.