Assassin's Creed 4 Fort Attack Gameplay Trailer Conquers The Caribbean

Ubisoft has released a new walkthrough video for Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag focusing on the naval combat of the game. It depicts what should be a very common activity in the game: bombarding and taking over a coastal fort.

The massive game world of Assassin's Creed 4 is divided up into zones. Each zone is protected by a fort. By taking over a fort, the player will remove the fog in that zone in order to reveal side missions, treasures and collectibles. This optional content, in turn, gives players the means to improve their ship. Furthermore, this fort will now become friendly and attack enemy ships in the region.

The walkthrough video begins with Edward Kenway and first mate Adewale chatting about what they'll do with their shares of the treasure. We learn that Adewale was born in Trinidad but wouldn't return there with his riches. Instead, he's content with his pirate life. While Adewale will be at Edward's side for all sorts of adventures, he'll also go off on his own journeys in the game's post-launch DLC.

Before launching his assault on the fort, Edward scopes out its defenses. He sees two towers in the fort and a couple nearby ships. All of these defenses will have to be taken out before the fort can be captured. This is early in the game so this is a relatively easy base to take over. Harder zones will have larger forts with a bigger complement of ships. Players may also have to deal with stormy weather during assaults.

To knock out the fort's defenses, Edward relies on a number of weapons in addition to cannons. The mortar allows him to rain down heavy firepower on both towers and ships from a great distance. Fire barrels dropped from the rear of the Jackdaw inflict heavy damage on the enemy brig trying to ram them. The Jackdaw could ram the brig in turn but currently doesn't have one equipped. Alternately, they could board the brig and kill the crew in a swordfight but instead Edward decides to send them to Davey Jones' locker.

Once the two towers have been destroyed, the fort is vulnerable to capture. Edward jumps overboard, swims to the shore, and climbs up the ruins of the fort wall. There's no loading screen here. Game director Ashraf Ismail, the narrator of the gameplay video, says that they wanted to make the transition between naval and ground combat as seamless as possible to keep players immersed.

Edward enters the fort to find his crew battling against the soldiers stationed there. He wades through this battle to find the commander. After a short chase, he finishes the officer off. With their commander dead, the remaining troops surrender. The fort now belongs to the pirates.

It looks fun but I'm wondering whether capturing forts will still be as thrilling the ninth or tenth time around. Will there be enough variety in these battles to keep this activity interesting? We'll find out this fall when Assassin's Creed 4 launches worldwide.