‘Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag’ Offers 80 Hours Worth of Content

It’s rare these days that a game gets by without gamers knowing approximately how long it takes to complete the experience. With dozens of games to choose from and each of them costing $60 a pop, gamers want to know that their investment will be worth it.

With that in mind, we bring news of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag – one of the most anticipated releases of the Fall season, if not the year – specifically regarding the game’s completion time. And let us say, that those who want to explore all that Ubisoft has packed in to the game will have their work cut out for them.

According to Assassin’s Creed 4‘s Lead Game Designer Jean-Sebastien Decant, the main campaign in Black Flag should take gamers somewhere in the vicinity of 20 hours to complete. That includes killing all of the game’s captains, which Decant says are like in-game bosses, completing all of the Animus sequences, and playing through any of the present day missions/levels.

As far as seeing/completing/collecting everything the game has to offer (a.k.a. getting to 100% completion), Decant says that there is between 50 and 60 hours of additional content not directly tied to the main campaign. Gamers will need to complete some of those side missions in order to upgrade Edward Kenway’s ship, the Jackdaw, but most will be purely optional. Just sailing from one side of the game’s sprawling map – which includes 3 main areas, a handful of islands, and plenty of nooks and crannies – will take players, on average about 15 minutes.

Clearly, Ubisoft has packed plenty of content into Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, enough to keep gamers busy for several days. It always takes some time for me to get acquainted with the landscape – to poke and prod at all the various side content – before it becomes clear just how long I want to devote to the game. And, with Assassin’s Creed 4 taking players to the Caribbean, there’s a very real possibility that gamers will spend hours exploring the seaside – getting into naval battles and whatnot.

Of course, 80 hours of content does not take into account the multiplayer experience, which could offer several more days worth of entertainment. In other words, for those who want to dig deep into Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag – either on current-gen or next-gen platforms – plenty of content awaits.

How much time do you plan to invest in Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag? Do you mainline the campaign or explore some of the side content?