Recs.
Updated
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Cool naval combat against other pirates out on the open seas
Naval battles with your own ship and crew are expanded here in Black Flag after they were first introduced in Assassin's Creed III. You're a pirate this time, so you get to explore the open world with your ship as much as you want.
The bread and butter of the game involves you as the captain of your ship, navigating out in the open waters to get from place to place, as well as getting hands-on with the full mechanics of steering while firing off cannons at enemy ships. There's a full crew aboard with you, helping to give plenty of liveliness to your surroundings as they shout in anger, sing shanties, and cheer in victory as you go along, along with dynamic weather like raging storms that adds to the realism and intensity. It's a lot of fun and serves as a nice way to break things up from the usual stealth missions on foot.
Cons
Con Multiplayer is pretty much dead
Unfortunately, the multiplayer is all but abandoned by the player base. Even though the multiplayer itself is really cool and fun, you won't find too many people playing it these days. Since the game originally came out in 2013, it's quite old now, and it doesn't help that the devs don't actively update it anymore. The Assassin's Creed multiplayer base in general is also splintered between this game and the other installments with online play. So if you're a new player trying to get into things, don't be surprised if it takes a long time to find a match.