This opinion piece from GamesRadar+ reflects on Ubisoft's remake of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, arguing that the series has lost something by stepping away from the modern-day framing narrative that accompanied the original 2013 game. The writer admits they did not anticipate missing this present-day layer, but feels its absence in the remake highlights how the franchise has shed a distinctive element of its identity. The point matters to fans because the modern-day thread has long been a defining, if divisive, feature of the Assassin's Creed formula.

In the original Black Flag, the modern-day sections cast the player as a nameless employee at Abstergo Entertainment, exploring a corporate office and reliving the pirate Edward Kenway's memories through the Animus. The author suggests these interludes, though often criticised, added flavour and context that the remake and more recent entries have diminished by moving in a different direction. The article is framed as personal commentary rather than a news report, using the remake as a springboard to discuss the wider evolution of the series.