Step aside *50 Cent: Blood on the Sand*, as *Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced* emerges with the latest promotional effort featuring an oddly costly and flashy skull. This time, however, you have the chance to possess this skull yourself, but only if you opt to pre-order a $40 treasure hunt and embark on a search in the Caribbean Sea.
Ubisoft has collaborated with the leading treasure hunt organization Unsolved Hunts to create Gold & Crystal – The Lost Treasure of Edward Kenway; a scavenger expedition that demands you to unravel fifteen riddles and then journey to an undisclosed Caribbean location to unearth a genuine treasure chest filled with “pure gold coins” and a rock crystal skull decorated with an opal, valued at approximately $500,000.
To participate, you’ll need to invest a minimum of $40, with an option to pay up to $230 for additional items like a notebook and a board game. The oddest aspect of the campaign is that none of the available tiers, including the $230 “Pirate Lord” tier, actually offers a copy of *Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced*. You can obtain a flag and a gold treasure coin marked with the *Assassin’s Creed Black Flag* insignia, but that’s about all.
Even more peculiar, this is a pre-order for a treasure hunt, as “all other components of the game will be delivered to you by November 9,” at which time the “full hunt” will be accessible. The Gold & Crystal FAQ mentions that the treasure hunt “is projected to last between 2 and 5 years,” leaving me uncertain how the week-long advantage granted by pre-ordering will serve as a “decisive advantage.”
It’s undeniably a fascinating concept, don’t get me wrong, but I’m just not fully convinced about the target audience for this initiative. Frankly, if I wished to LARP as a pirate and venture to the Caribbean in search of hidden treasure, I’d simply pre-order *Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced*—ooh, very clever, Ubisoft. You got me.
