Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is out this week, much to the delight of fans everywhere. Often hailed as one of the best, if not the most beloved, from the franchise, it certainly is a bold move to rework this title. I had only played the original once when it first launched in 2013, and while it wasn’t my favourite entry in the series, I was eager to give it another go. There were many aspects of the first game that did not connect with me (naval combat being one, though I might be the outlier on this), and Black Flag was hardly my favourite entry in the series. Nearly a decade since the original launch, fans have been crying out for more Edward Kenway, and Ubisoft delivers. Additional content, including new characters and extension of previous storylines, makes this re-entry feel like an entirely new game. To me, that’s a win for any fan who has long missed what felt like a true Assassin’s Creed entry.
Black Flag Resynced has been remade from the ground up, and it shows when playing on PlayStation 5. Textures and character models look incredible. Clothing feels like separate pieces rather than a bulky body render, expressions feel intentional, and hair blows freely. The Jackdaw itself stuns with additional expanded upgradeable paths, and you can even have a pet join you on board (certainly not stressful at all when the ship goes down). Black Flag Resynced still has the Ubisoft design feel, but is more traditional than the newer entries like Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The game looks like how I remember playing it in 2013, my brain filling in the spaces of what could have been, and bringing what was imagined to life.
Caution’s nothing without charisma
Coming back to this game 10+ years later, everything already felt brand new. On top of that feeling, there is new, additional content and quest lines that breathe even more life into this remake. Fan favourites Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard have additional quest lines, as well as a brand new endgame chapter that extends the story further. There are also three new officers you can hire for the Jackdaw: Lucy Baldwin, Abel “The Padre” Galvao, and Tobias “Deadman” Smith, each bringing new objectives and upgrades for your ship.
Missions have been overhauled to be open-ended, meaning you can approach them how you see fit. And a final cool feature is that eavesdropping and tailing failure won’t cause a desync. This may seem like a lot, but it does not take away from the original experience that made Black Flag such an integral addition to the franchise. Padre has an interesting segment that lets you add the battering ram to your ship.
The juxtaposition between an otherwise peaceful man of god and his update being something that could cause so much devastation was cool. I enjoyed learning about each of these new characters and their motivations through their own mini-stories – but I wanted more from them. These segments are short, and I wanted to weave them more into the main storyline to give them greater intention. Once you finish the storylines, they just end, and that was somewhat of a letdown.
Some of my favourite aspects of any Assassin’s Creed entry is exploration. This world itself does not disappoint in this aspect. It is flush with life and activity, and the map size itself is not overwhelming. Exploration feels purposeful and not just clearing the fog to clear the fog. Familiar, yet different from what it was in 2013, with islands changed – how they are laid out, activities to complete and explore. I can spend hours traversing from waypoint to waypoint, collecting what secrets lie ahead.
No two islands are alike, providing a new adventure on each. The way you clear the islands and their tasks is entirely up to you – whether you want to sneak into warehouses for more loot, or simply just grab chests and the sync points. Because the islands vary in size, it never felt like you saw the same place twice.
Seeing where I could go and how much I could collect was half the fun. I often stopped at islands without any markers, just to see if there was anything else to be found. The ocean is fraught with enemies and fellow pirates, deep-sea diving, large, strong holds and creatures to hunt down. Defeating these strongholds further clears the map of fog, revealing what may have been missed on a first pass. The oceans are yours to explore, as little or as much as you’d like.
We fly no colours out here, but praise the lack of ’em
Travelling the ocean aboard the Jackdaw is what Black Flag fans and pirate enthusiasts alike flock to. Personally, I felt the improved sailing controls left something to be desired. Navigation of the ship itself is fairly simple, but, as in the original entry, I often felt like the boat was skidding on ice, and the hit boxes in ship fights were confusing. The clunkiness of the original naval battles is gone, but when attacking, some things hit while others did not, leaving me frustrated (and desynced) in standoffs with other vessels.
Naval battles should have been overhauled further; when I targeted, it showed that my cannons would land a hit, only to have it pass through the ship entirely without a dent. In one of my first battles, I was surrounded by four boats and nearly immediately sunk. It took me a few tries to understand this style of fighting, as I often felt I was bracing for impact and smashing into rocks rather than returning fire. To me, the naval missions don’t resonate beyond procuring crafting materials.
That being said, I do prefer to spend my time scrounging for collectables and interacting with the story beats rather than sailing the Caribbean. As I remember fondly, there is a beauty to heading to your next destination and listening to the shanties your crew sings. I also enjoy hearing the castaways calling for help as you pass them by, as I could not recall that being in the original. A welcome touch that made the world feel more alive.
The team behind Black Flag Resynced reworked the combat mechanics marvellously, adding perfect parries and dodge systems that make you feel more in control of combat. The changes in these fighting segments became something I looked forward to, rather than a necessity. Being spotted and combat quickly ensuing, I found I needed to keep an eye on all enemies, as they no longer waited for their turn. I was locked in, perfecting my takedowns and blocks, feeling more organic and realistic. It’s completely modernized and, at times, virtually seamless, doing away with the clunky basic moves of the original.
And while it isn’t as in-depth as something like Valhalla or Shadows, the combat is enjoyable and fluid. It removes the monotony of lining up bodies to take them down, opening me up to wanting to participate in these moments rather than run away, hide, and reset. It feels fluid and comfortable; each fight is very different from the last.
The targeting, however, I found incredibly frustrating. Oftentimes, activating without choosing to do so (though this may be a performance error, rather than a control issue). One instance of mine: facing a horde of guards in a fort, I couldn’t break away to reassess my surroundings because it kept targeting one enemy after another. I found it hindered the flow more than helped, leading to Edward being taken down due to not seeing an enemy coming up behind. If a targeting system is to be implemented, I would only use it for one-on-one boss battles.
In my opinion, traversing the city rooftops is still a pain. It has always been an aspect of Assassin’s Creed that frustrates me, never feeling truly changed from one entry to the next. Parkour can feel clumsy at times, where if the joystick is tipped slightly in the wrong direction, you’ll have to start your climb over again.
Specifically with reaching synchronization points, the climb can be confusing. Trying to move Edward upwards often resulted in him shimmying to the side or back, leaping off a building. Do not get me started on chasing the shanties. I felt that running on rooftops was often impossible, which led Edward to leap in another direction, even while staying on the mark. I gave up chasing a lot of them because of this. Parkour, in other respects, is less infuriating but still feels broken to some degree. It was bad in 2013, and it’s bad now. It’s still manageable, but chasing something on the rooftops where your path is unclear would make anyone break a controller or two.
Everything is permitted? I like the sound of that
Playing the main storyline, mission after mission, does feel like something is being lost. I found myself exploring the area, completing a variety of side content between mainline missions to really flesh out the experience. It can almost be jarring to time-skip in this way, and it really detracts from Black Flag’s incredible narrative adventure. There are many other aspects of the game to enjoy, such as assassination contracts, naval missions, and hunting down Templars.
I completed a few, and sometimes these side missions can feel more like fetch quests; there are enough of them to break up the monotony, and they are worth the time. There is, however, a large hole where the original game’s DLC used to be. As the devs have said, though, this game is about Edward and focuses on the “pure, story-driven adventure.” But the connecting throughline within the initial titles was something I always loved discovering (the throughline in this game remains a core memory til this day), and how this game bleeds into the other feels more like an afterthought.
This might be a controversial take, but I miss the modern Abstergo missions. The reason for their removal in Black Flag Resynced is to focus on Kenway and his story. However, there was something about the modern-day moments that leaned more into the mystery and discovery of what became of the world after Desmond’s sacrifice in the original.
To me, that was Assassin’s Creed at its core, blending the modern day with the memories. It is disappointing to see that aspect of it removed and relegated to data files. The story itself holds up, experiencing Edward’s growth through the loss of his cohorts and his realization that he doesn’t need all the money in the world to feel rich. Edward is a sympathetic character, trying to do what he thinks is best, all while losing what is most important.
Playing Black Flag again ten years later, the story resonates with me more now, and Edward should be recognized as one of the better Assassin characters. A self-proclaimed lover of all the AC titles, I had Black Flag lower on my list for a long time. Coming back to it after all these years, modernizing it and fine-tuning it, I see why it is so beloved. Black Flag had never been my go-to for Creed games, but it has earned more of my respect now.
Verdict
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is like discovering a lost treasure. So much could have gone wrong in bringing this behemoth back from the depths, but Ubisoft does so with tremendous care and respect. Protecting the artistic vision and integrity of the original while modernizing it in a way that would entice even the most hesitant of players.
The world is rife for exploration, absolutely stunning to look at, and full of secrets and new experiences. While I do think that the naval battles are sometimes overly complicated, they’re a challenge worth the time. This is the type of Assassin’s Creed the fans like me want to play.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
