The announcement of Ubisoft's coming Star Wars game marked the end of EA's exclusive term with the license, opening it up to more ideas and influences. Not much is known about the project, apart from the fact that Ubisoft is making a "story-driven, open-world" Star Wars experience. To nail this concept, the company should pull from one of its best open worlds: Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag.
The Ubisoft studio making the Star Wars title, Massive Entertainment, previously developed both Tom Clancy's The Division games and is creating the upcoming Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. It's a promising resume, but many Ubisoft open worlds have been criticized for being overly formulaic - lush environments, an abundance of collectibles, enemy strongholds to liberate, RPG upgrade paths to chase, and nothing too inventive. Still, this formula has produced great games, including series-best AC 4.
Set during the golden age of piracy in the mid-18th century, AC 4: Black Flag focuses on the exploits of Edward Kenway, a pirate and Assassin. It's a solid entry all around, but by far its biggest highlight is its naval gameplay. As a major improvement on the mission-based sailing mechanic introduced in Assassin's Creed 3, AC 4 lets players explore the Caribbean by ship, traveling to many islands and completing a variety of activities throughout, like hunting, diving, and plundering.
What Ubisoft's Star Wars Game Can Learn From AC 4: Black Flag
It's easy to see how many parts of AC 4 could translate to a Star Wars game. Players could travel around the galaxy like Black Flag's sea, visiting planetary "islands" with different peoples and points of interest, engaging in ship-to-ship "naval" combat in space, and even "diving" for treasure in derelict ships along the way. The Ubisoft Star Wars game could also put a similar emphasis on the player's ship itself; AC 4's Jackdaw is fully customizable, with plenty of upgrades and cosmetics to invest in. Starships are an iconic part of of the franchise, but no modern Star Wars game has managed to give players a level of control over their vessel needed to make something as iconic as the Millennium Falcon or Boba Fett's starship.
Aside from exploration and customization, Black Flag can also provide lessons in nailing a game's inspiration. It's brilliant at capturing a sense of atmosphere, with its many nods to pirate culture both historical and fictional. The game's sound and world design is also excellent, and even something as fundamental as AC 4's impressive water physics help make its world feel authentic. Perhaps its most beloved flourish is giving Edward's crew an entire catalog of sea shanties to sing while sailing. There might not be a direct Star Wars equivalent to this, but Massive could give players something else to engage in while traveling, like in-universe radio stations, live podracing broadcasts, or games of holochess. Borrowing nearly any element from Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag could offer opportunities to make the Ubisoft Star Wars game memorable.