Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag tells the story of Edward Kenway, a young British man with a thirst for danger and adventure, who falls from privateering for the Royal Navy into piracy as the war between the major Empires comes to an end. Edward is a fierce pirate and seasoned fighter who soon finds himself embroiled in the ancient war between Assassins and Templars. Set at the dawn of the 18th Century, the game features some of the most infamous pirates in history, such as Blackbeard and Charles Vane, and takes players on a journey throughout the West Indies during a turbulent and violent period of time later to become known as the Golden Age of Pirates.

Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag features a vast open world with more than 50 navigable locations. Combat combines the weaponry of the Assassin’s Order with armaments of the era, and rewards both daring and stealth. And the series’ acclaimed multiplayer experience is more varied and ruthless than ever in Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag.

Three editions of Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag will be available for PC:

• The Standard Edition, available as retail or digital formats.
• The Deluxe Edition, a premium edition including the game, as well as bonus in-game content including new locations to discover and explore, additional customization items and a new adventure starring Aveline as the main character.
• The Uplay Deluxe Edition, an exclusive digital package including all the contents from the Deluxe Edition, plus an additional in-game pack, Pride of the West Indies. This bonus content is exclusive to the Uplay Deluxe edition.

The Standard Edition and Deluxe Edition are both available in a digital PC download format. Players who pre-order the PC download version of these editions will get additional in-game bonus contents. The Uplay Deluxe Edition is only available in digital format.

A Season Pass is also available for PC, including a package of downloadable contents, for a 20 percent savings off the regular unit price of these DLC to be released until March 2014.

Players who pre-order Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag Uplay Digital Deluxe Edition from the Uplay Shop will be granted an additional 25% discount off the Season Pass.

Ubisoft and NVIDIA have worked closely together to create a fully optimized version that runs on GeForce GTX graphics cards. The result is that gamers with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics card will get an Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag experience that features a wealth of NVIDIA's advanced gaming technologies such as TXAA and more. The extra performance means more immersive gaming including life-like environments, realistic combat and spectacular, cinematic visuals.

'NVIDIA engineers work with their Ubisoft counterparts across the globe to ensure that PC games are the best they can be ' and 'Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag' is a great example of that,' said Tony Tamasi, senior vice president of Content and Technology at NVIDIA. 'We've integrated advanced, PC-specific technologies into the game to give mood and depth to scenes and bring buildings and landscapes to life. The end result is an unparalleled visual treat, and set to be an absolute PC blockbuster.'

Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag will feature several NVIDIA Technologies:

• God Rays, which allowed Ubisoft Montreal to paint beams of light that illuminate a scene from above,
• horizon-based ambient occlusion + (HBAO+) for more detailed and realistic shadows around objects that obstruct rays of light,
• percentage-closer soft shadows (PCSS) for more lifelike contact hardening shadows,
• temporal anti-aliasing (TXAA) for smoother edges.

With the addition of enhanced 4K textures, there's never been a better time to take to the high seas.

For a limited time, buyers of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN, 780 Ti, 780, 770, 760, 660, 670, 680, and 690 from participating retailers and e-tailers will receive a complimentary copy of Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag in addition to Ubisoft's other blockbuster title, Splinter Cell: Blacklist.