Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced was perhaps one of the worst-kept secrets in the gaming industry prior to its official unveiling earlier this year. I already knew so much about the game by the time Ubisoft finally decided to make it real, and since then, the developer-publisher has continued to release gameplay videos, behind-the-scenes breakdowns, screenshots, and more. In other words, there was very little left to surprise me ahead of my hands-on preview with the team in May at Ubisoft’s event space in San Francisco. And after roughly three hours with the game, yeah, I was correct – nothing really surprised me, but that’s okay. Black Flag Resynced is a textbook definition of a remake: modernized controls and visuals, quality-of-life tweaks and updates, and some added content to entice returning players to the glow-up. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, the original 2013 game, is my favorite in Ubisoft’s long-running stealth series, mostly because it’s the best pirate action game ever made.
So, to get a remake that doesn’t attempt to change what made it great but enhances what’s already there? Well, that’s the best-case scenario, mate.
Black Flag Resynced is gorgeous, as trailers and screenshots you’ve likely seen indicate. But it’s so impressive in motion. This Caribbean is gigantic, the second biggest explorable setting in Assassin’s Creed history (second only to Odyssey’s Ancient Greece), and it’s eye candy all around. Birds hang low in the distance as they glide over the masts of galleons and warships in the distance; turquoise waves crash against sun-kissed beaches, and explosions of green paint lush jungles while traces of hidden Mayan treasures and architecture ever so slightly peak out from the vegetation; blue-gray clouds bring raptures of rain that legitimately lowers visibility on the sea, but the golden sun behind them soon breaks through, and protagonist Edward Kenway, crewmate Stede Bonnet, and our crew begin singing one of the new shanties Ubisoft has added to this remake. Rose-tinted glasses often distort old memories, but Black Flag Resynced is what I’ve always seen in my head when I reminisce on this 2013 adventure – in that sense, this is a remake done right.
Edward is still a hulking, formidable presence compared to his Assassin counterparts. However, modernized controls have finally given him a combat system that reflects that. Instead of waiting and countering a dozen enemies who, for some reason, choose to attack one by one instead of all at once, I take control of the scene with Edward’s new action-heavy attacks. I’m sure some players will bemoan the addition of a parry, but it’s a welcome one, though its explosive sound queue could be tuned down. Using Edward’s sword, pistols, leg sweeps, and kicks let me fight back with the rigor of a pirate rather than the bones of every other Assassin’s Creed protagonist of this time, and it’s perhaps my favorite update in the remake. This extends to the parkour, too, which borrows the latest advancements in Ubisoft’s tech to bring Edward’s aging 2013 moves in line with last year’s feudal Japanese Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
The overall gameplay experience, with its reworked action, vibrant, updated visuals, and re-recorded voice lines, is a treat and an excellent proof of concept for Ubisoft’s first-ever remake. I’m cautiously optimistic about the complete package, as tweaks to the modern-day story and the new endgame missions that add to Edward’s already-complete narrative remain to be seen. Still, I’m already confident Black Flag Resynced will replace the original game’s icon on my desktop this July.