Art is defined as the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination to be appreciated primarily for beauty or emotional power. Typically, when one thinks of traditional art forms, paintings and sculptures are the first things to come to mind. However, over time, other mediums have been accepted under the art umbrella. Music, literature, and photography have, over time, been lumped into the art category and, most recently, movies and television have joined the ranks. Now, in the 21st century, we have a new medium that is just as large and impactful as those previously mentioned: video games.
Compared to the other forms of art mentioned, video games are most like movies and television. They combine elements of other art forms to create a new type of art. The difference between video games and movies and television, though, is how they are consumed. The participatory nature of videogames allows consumers to take a more active role in the way they interact with this particular art form. After all, they are games, but they sometimes are much more. In this piece, I examined a specific game whose artistic qualities reach this higher plain. Today’s game is Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag.
PIRATE SIMULATOR
Assassin’s Creed had a set style with minor variations up until the premiere of Origins in 2017. It was then the franchise turned more to RPGs than stealth-based games. However, four years prior, Assassin’s Creed made its first big divergence though it didn’t yet change the direction of the franchise. The result was Black Flag and in 2020 it still holds a special place in many gamer’s hearts.
To be blunt, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag is a PG13 pirate simulator. Players sail across the Caribbean doing many of the things pirates were famous for all the while encountering famous figures from history and skipping over the uninteresting minutia. There are epic sea battles, exploration, treasures, gambling, drinking, heists, and all the other fun things one sees in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie with a bit more swearing.
It is the gameplay that takes center stage in Black Flag. The story the developers tell is admittedly forgettable, but it is actually more of a credit than a criticism in this particular case because the gameplay is so engaging that one can easily be distracted from the main story for hours.
In a way, Black Flag operates a lot like a mobile game. It gives players just enough fun things to do at perfectly balanced intervals to make players want to repeat the process over and over again. The Batman: Arkham franchise has mastered this as well with their balance between exploration, combat, and stealth. But what really separates Black Flag from mobile games and the Arkham franchise, besides the obvious, is that players have more freedom to create their own narratives through exploration. In this regard, the game is a lot like Skyrim but not as diverse.
What makes Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag so appealing is that it hit a sweet spot in game design. It’s not overwhelming with the things you can do and it doesn’t force players to do one thing for too long. It encourages exploration and, by extension, the creation of a personal narrative. While it is to the detriment of the main story somewhat, it also is what makes the game stand apart. All of these things combined to form what is now essentially the model for modern pirate video games and it still contends with newer releases of a similar style. This is why Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag IS Art.