Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag will inject a stronger progression system into the series, requiring players to upgrade the ship Jackdaw if they want to advance through the game, according to a post on the official Ubisoft blog quoting game director Ashraf Ismail.
"We have something previous Assassin's Creeds didn't, which is progression," Ismail said. "You can't really have enemies with a million hit points. We have enemies that will destroy you in two seconds at the beginning of the game. If you face a Man-of-War, you're toast."
According to Ismail, the Jackdaw allows the developers to implement "a really deep progression system," with the water-born craft, featuring a "lot of different weapons with a lot of upgrades." Protagonist Edward Kenway's weapons, number of weapons and health will also upgradable.
According to the post, written by communications manager Gary Steinman, players will need to visit certain locations and acquire specific items in order to upgrade components, such as the ship's cannons.
"This really ties everything together," Ismail said. "It gives us a reason to travel the world. It gives us a reason to find collectibles."
Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag launches on Oct. 29 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U, and Nov. 19 on Windows PC. Black Flag will be available at launch for PlayStation 4 on Nov. 15 and Xbox One on Nov. 22.