Ubisoft made a conscious effort to avoid tropes associated with romanticized views of pirates such as crossbones, hooks, and walking the plank, in favor of creating a “grounded sense of realism, of brutality.” They looked to the films "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" and "The Mission", as well as the television series "Deadwood" for inspiration, and wanted the city of Havana to display more of the citizens' daily lives than the presence of the pirates because according to the game's lead writer Darby McDevitt: "There are pirates in this world, but it’s a much bigger world than just pirates." As a result of these imposed standards, the possibility of the Hookblade from Assassin's Creed: Revelations returning was shut down by McDevitt immediately after it was suggested by one of the developers for inclusion in the game.