Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Review – Worth Its Weight In Gold
Assassin’s Creed as a series has become a mainstay in the industry since its debut in 2007 that saw nine straight years of new mainline entries before they began to release further apart due to the scale and size of games like Assassin’s Creed Origins and onward.
One of the most well-received and fan favorites of the bunch has been Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, which was released in 2013. It took the existing gameplay at the time and seamlessly mastered the naval combat that entries like Assassin’s Creed III had tried to implement.
Now, 13 years later, Ubisoft is breathing new life into the pirate-themed outing for the series with a remake titled Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced.
Smooth Sailing
Something new to this game that already debuted alongside Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the Animus Hub. Whenever you boot up the game, you do not boot directly into Black Flag Resynced, but rather the Animus Hub. For Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced and Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the Animus Hub is natively built into the game rather than being a launcher itself and then allows you to launch into any of the games since Origins that you have installed on your system currently. This is an interesting way to tie the games together, as a new function here is Synchronization, where you can get rewards for completing objectives across support games.
The Memories section is still here as a timeline of these games, showing how they work alongside one another. Then you also have the return of Projects, Exchange, and Vault as well. While this may turn into something more interesting in the future, it, for now, just feels more like another hurdle to getting into the game each time I load it up.
Far from just a minimal remaster, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag is a rebuilt-from-the-ground-up remake that features a complete asset overhaul and dynamic, destructible objects. This game is powered by the latest version of the Ubisoft Anvil engine that has more recently been used for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and even Immortals Fenyx Rising and Skull and Bones. As a result, this allows Black Flag Resynced to run smoother than ever before being run on two engines beyond what the original was. This is seen not only in the game’s gorgeous visuals, which could compete with just about any modern release right now, but also in its performance.
If you have an affinity for one over the other, you can choose Fidelity graphics mode for the highest image quality at a 30 FPS target, or Performance Mode, which prioritizes frame rate over image quality with a target of 60 FPS.
Easily the first thing I noticed about Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced was just how gorgeous the game looked compared to the original, and the original already looked quite good for its time as well. From the character models and facial expressions to the environments all around the Caribbean, the developers spent a lot of time ensuring that this game had the love and care it deserved from a graphical standpoint. Most impressive is how the open ocean looks, whether it’s when looking at it from the shore, while sailing around on your ship, or even when swimming around underwater.
As seen with the announcement of Pokémon Wind and Waves earlier this year, compared to its predecessor, water visuals and physics can really elevate a game, making it feel more realistic, and this game delivers all over. Even as a full remake of the original, you might expect some downgrades because it’s an older game, but the underwater look rivals that of most other modern games that attempt this. This version even throws in dynamic, realistic weather into the mix that makes the whole thing feel more epic.
Also pretty impressive were the game’s loading times. While it may not be quite as fast as Marvel’s Spider-Man, which showcases fast travel as one of its best features, this game is pretty solid in that regard. The series has long had loading screens after a death, where you can control the characters as they run around in nothingness, which at one point took a long time to load. In this game, though, you can expect to be loaded back into the game in about 5-8 seconds at the most each time.
You Are a Pirate
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced maintains the same story of the original, as former privateer turned pirate Edward Kenway gets wrapped up in the ongoing conflict between the Assassin’s and Templars. This starts with Edward being shipwrecked and ends up on an island with a rogue Assassin named Duncan Walpole, who ends up trying to kill Edward, so he returns the favor by killing him instead. At this point, he takes on the gear of Duncan and the items he had that are said to be delivered to higher-ups in Havana, including the Cuban Governor. He goes to this meeting pretending to be Duncan and delivers the items in the hopes of getting a massive score, but in return gets inducted into the Templars alongside a few other newcomers. Edward is all about the money and fame though, so he goes against this group and ends up working with the Assassins eventually. This sets up many stories along the way, including endangering a number of Assassins that are out there, who Edward just gave the location to the Templars without realizing it with his delivery.
The Assassin’s Creed series has had its ups and downs with lead protagonists, including heights like Ezio Auditore, and Edward Kenway is easily in that top-tier group. At the start, he is just a money-loving adventurer looking for that next score after he gave up his love, Caroline, to pursue these endeavors. With him getting roped into major conflicts involving the Assassins and Templars, Edward features a lot of growth throughout the story that feels natural and genuine. He’s also very charismatic too, so that helps thanks to the portrayal by Matt Ryan.
One of the best changes in this remake is the removal of the Abstergo storyline entirely that always felt like a waste of time in the post-Desmond entries where it felt much more connected. While there were probably only about 30 minutes or so of this content in the original, trimming that fat out makes the game all the better since the story can focus entirely on Edward and his adventures rather than the weird misadventures at Abstergo that were going on at the time with the Animus.
Instead, these have essentially been replaced with much more interesting stories known as Rifts. Rifts serve as what if scenarios based on four different parts of the story that you can experience after reaching certain parts of the game. Specifically, these are available after sequences 4, 8, 11, and the epilogue. The Rifts are actual portals found in the world that will transport you to a different gameplay experience for each one. For instance, the first one of these is found on South Inagua and tells the story of if Edward had not broken his promise to Caroline and returned to her after two years as a Privateer. For these sequences, you take control of a digital construct as you end up making your way through the story, in this case, as Edward trying to make his way back home. These are a mix of a digital landscape and a mind trip at times as you make your way through, while also tying in some Abstergo stuff too in subtle ways. The gameplay here is different from what you’re usually used to, so it’s a nice change of pace too. I really enjoyed the inclusion of these, especially since they’re sort of hidden treasures to come across in the game.
Combat in the Assassin’s Creed series has evolved over the years, starting out quite basic and becoming more intricate. The Black Flag era was at a point where it had grown quite a bit and this time it’s been upgraded even further for the better. If the game had kept the original combat, it would probably feel pretty stiff and out of date by now, so the developer found a nice mix of the old style and the modern for a new feel all around. A major part of the combat now are parries and perfect parries that you can pull off with precise timing. This can lead to chain takedowns that are always a ton of fun. Something new is a new way to use the Hidden Blade in combat by chipping away at an enemy’s health, which then allows you to execute a takedown on that enemy. In the past, you could use your Hidden Blade as a weapon in combat, but it has been removed entirely from use there, but instead used at the end as a takedown maneuver.
The Hidden Blade also gets plenty of use in the shadows as you try to stay stealthy and take out enemies. I never get tired of sneaking around in the bushes and luring enemies to Edward by whistling and taking them out one by one in an area. Even better is when you can sneak up on two guys and pull off a double assassination, especially if it’s from above. These are still the cathartic moments of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced that I will keep coming back for more and more. Even better, the overall stealth system has been modernized here to use technology from more recent entries, where light and darkness mean more than ever. I even like that you can put your hood up or down at any time, since it doesn’t affect stealth.
Similar to the combat, traversal in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is also better and smoother than before. A manual jump has been added that makes running around in parkour all the better, mixed in with faster interrupts in your movement from one way to the other. In the past, once you made a decision in the air you were pretty much locked in, but here you can make changes in your movement on the fly much more easily. The game has even added ziplines into the mix, which I didn’t even remember the original not having at first it was added in so naturally.
These all come in very handy for the level of exploration this game offers, with even more explorable areas than in the past. The original game was already massive with the large sea to explore full of islands, alcoves, and hidden treasures. Now you can stop and dive pretty much anywhere in the game to explore the beautifully redesigned ocean. Unfortunately, unless you’re near an island or something, all you’re really going to see underwater is blue, since you’re in the open sea.
All Hands on Deck
While initially introduced in Assassin’s Creed III, Black Flag is where the series’ naval combat was really taken to new heights as a major component of the game. This was always one of my favorite parts of the original game, and Black Flag Resynced takes what was already great about the naval combat and makes it even more robust. First of all are the new secondary fire modes for each of the firing types that you can swap between mid-battle on the Jackdaw. You can now swap your regular Round Shot on the broadside for Heated Shots that help set enemy ships on fire and deal more damage. There are also secondary variations of Mortars, Chain Shots, and Fire Barrels, giving you much more options at the your disposal when taking part in ship combat. Even the Swivel Guns have been upgraded to allow manual aiming, taken directly from the incredibly underrated Assassin’s Creed Rogue. Each of these new weapons are worth checking out, as you’re going to need your best weapons as your side to take on the strongest Fortresses and ships in the game.
Beyond weapon upgrades, you can also recruit three new Naval Officers during the game by completing a series of sidequests for each. These are new stories added into the game with these characters, such as the new Shipwright Lucy Baldwin, as well as a new Weaponmaster and Master-At-Arms that you meet later in the game. I really enjoyed playing through these extra segments that helped flesh out the world as a whole and added more personality to your ship over time by recruiting additional crew members.
One of the most important aspects of the game is still improving the Jackdaw, as you will struggle mightily to survive against stronger Fortresses and ships with your minimum setup. This will require you to not only earn lots of Reales (money) in the game, but also to find various supplies like Metal and Wood. Supplies can be found by looting in the open sea or, even better, by taking down enemy ships and boarding them for their loot. Using your spyglass lets you see what each ship is carrying ahead of time, so you can be the ultimate pirate by scouting for what you need and taking them down.
Like most Assassin’s Creed games, Black Flag Resynced also has other areas that you can build up for your own throughout the game. Great Inagua becomes your main hub pretty early in the game as your own personal island you hope to build into a paradise for pirates in the future. This includes a manor you take control of and upgrade, with options to place artwork and more. The game also maintains its Fleet Planning mini-game, where you can build up a fleet of ships by capturing them in battle and then use them to send off to complete missions on their own. You will have to take down at least one Fortress in each of the five sectors to unlock that area and start doing missions here. This is something you can skip if you don’t want to, but it’s a fun passive mini-game that you can take part in between the story missions and other content.
Beyond the manor, Great Inagua itself has plenty for you to build and upgrade to make the town all you want it to be. This includes building a tavern, a general store, a Harbormaster’s building, and even a brothel. These aren’t cheap though, especially if you’re also spending money on upgrades to the Jackdaw and Manor, so you’re going to have to be doing a lot of side quests and ship combat to earn lots of Reales. The building up of this island as part of Edward’s story fits quite well and makes you really want to do everything instead of just running through the story very quickly.
Brand new to Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is a new endgame chapter known as “A World Without Gold.” This Blackbeard-focused content is quite lengthy, with eight additional missions to complete, helping flesh out the role of Blackbeard in the game more than before. There are also treasure quests for Blackbeard, and even a new post-game story quest about Stede Bonnet that you meet very early in the game. I really appreciate that they brought in the same voice cast, including Matt Ryan as Edward, to do new mocap and voice acting for these scenes too, which make them feel right at home with the rest of the game’s content.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced also adds some quality-of-life features to make the experience even better. One that I quite enjoyed was the ability to speed up time to move the time of day. This allows you to quickly switch from day to night and back again, whichever you are looking for at the time. There are also plenty of alterations you can make in the menu, such as UI and difficulty settings.
The Verdict
With how the series has evolved over the last decade, especially, it’s always a pleasure to go back and play a more traditional Assassin’s Creed game once in a while. Even after all these years, Black Flag remains a treasure worth digging up, all the more so now with all the upgrades it has received. With improvements to combat, both as an assassin and on your ship, as well as plenty of new content, including new story missions, naval officers, and more, there is something here even for those who have 100% completed the game in the past. Still proving itself to be one of the crown jewels of the Assassin’s Creed lineup, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is a voyage well worth setting sail on once more.
Pros
- Gorgeous visuals and smooth performance
- New story content and characters
- Upgraded combat all around
- Removal of present-day Abstergo sections
Cons
- Ubisoft formula may feel old for those used to newer AC games
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.
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