Black Flag Resynced is probably the most “Assassin’s Creed” that the franchise has been since 2017’s Origins. While it’s not the best game in the series, far from it. And while it doesn’t surpass the original either. What it does accomplish is to be an earnest attempt at creating, or shall I say recreating, the charm, the subtlety, and well, the simplicity of the older AC games.
And in that respect, Black Flag Resynced is easily the best AC game I’ve played in a long, long while. And that, honestly, shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, the original Black Flag was one of the best games in the series featuring a protagonist that rivals the likes of Ezio and Altair.
However, it’s also the first game in the series that tried to stray a bit too far from the traditional “Assassin’s Creed” identity. At its core, Black Flag has always been a “pirate game” that features a rather compelling Assassin’s Creed story.
Much like Resident Evil 4 Remake, I think a lot of players will eventually call Resynced a “soulless” cash grab. And don’t get me wrong, I can understand those notions. After all, why would Ubisoft choose a game like Black Flag for a “remake” when there are other games, such as the original AC or Rogue, that can benefit more from a remake treatment like this?
Well, the answer is simple, really, which is the broader appeal of Black Flag and its cultural impact on the series. However, at the same time, Resynced is far from a “soulless” remaster. There’s a real sense of passion and love for the original game that I could feel while playing through it. It’s a game made with a lot of care and thought put into every facet of its gameplay and story.
Although it’s not perfect, Resynced is a game that made me fall in love with Assassin’s Creed once again. And what really impressed me here is the game’s simplicity. It’s not an RPG that wants to keep players playing for hundreds of hours. Instead, it’s a game that delivers a quality open world, fills it with meaningful and impactful stories and side content, and calls it a day.
And honestly, after playing through games like AC Valhalla and Shadows, it genuinely feels liberating to not bother myself with yet another “XP-driven” open world AC. Resynced harkens back to the times when the franchise used to be a narrative-driven adventure first, and a “insert historical archetype” fantasy second. And you know what, that’s precisely the best aspect of this game.
A classic Assassin’s Creed adventure without any RPG “bloat.”
Now, before I get into the nitty-gritty of the gameplay, the story and everything in between, let’s get the boring stuff out of the way first, i.e., the performance. We played the pre-release build of the game, and while Ubisoft did release a day-one update during the review period, most of our time was spent playing the “unpatched” version of Resynced.
However, with how well the game was running, I was honestly surprised it didn’t include the day-one update. Now, we only got access to the PC version of the game and tested it out on 3 GPUs: RTX 4060, RTX 4070, and RTX 3070 Ti.
And all of these GPUs were running the game perfectly fine at 1080p and 1440p with High preset and Ray-tracing set to Standard. This means we were using rasterized lighting for the most part, and only indoors and towns were using RTGI. On the 4060 and 4070, the performance was rock solid, with only minor dips to the upper 50s during hectic naval combat sequences.
On the now ancient 3070ti, however, there were some noticeable frame rate spikes. But it still played the game perfectly fine at a solid 60fps, with DLSS set to Quality. That being said, we did run into a handful of bugs during our time with the game (and this was with the day-one update installed).
There was one time during my playthrough where the frame rate suddenly dropped to the 30s, and never recovered. I had to restart the game to get it back to normal. There are also some instances of stuttering that I faced when arriving at Havana. However, apart from these, the only bugs we faced were visual glitches like enemy corpses T-posing or vanishing into thin air.
We also had one quest-blocking bug where an NPC did not appear during one of the Templar Hunts, which forced us to restart from the last checkpoint, resulting in a loss of a few minutes of gameplay. Other than these few things, Resynced is a rather well-optimized and polished offering from Ubisoft, which is…. shocking, I know.
Resynced adds a lot new, without undermining the old
Now, coming to what’s new in Resynced compared to the original, well, there’s a lot, but I don’t think any of it is substantial enough. Let me explain. The biggest new addition, which has been the focal point of the game’s early marketing, was the new Officers. These are essentially new crew members that Edward can enlist for the Jackdaw, albeit with a bit more personality than a throwaway NPC.
There are a total of 3 of these Officers, and each of them comes with their own dedicated questline as well as gameplay perks. My initial thought was that the Officers will have a more tangible impact on Edward’s story and naval combat. However, that did not turn out to be true. Once you unlock an Officer, they’re permanently situated on the Jackdaw and give you access to their gameplay perks.
There’s no choice to be made on which Officer you prefer over the other. Also, while each of the 3 Officers does have a compelling backstory, their quests altogether aren’t anything special. These quests feel very much like the ones we had in Valhalla and Shadows, with pockets of good character writing and a ton of filler dialogue.
That said, I did like Lucy Baldwin’s quest, as it felt a lot like a Templar Hunt without the nuanced animation work of the original’s Templar Hunt quests.
And since we’re talking about animations, let’s address the elephant in the room, i.e., motion-captured cutscenes. One of the biggest concerns I’ve had with the recent Assassin’s Creed games is, well, the cutscene quality. In the older games, the cutscenes, even for side content, were always mo-capped, which offered a sense of quality and prestige to these titles and their presentation.
Hell, as someone who has been playing Assassin’s Creed since Revelations, it was the cutscenes and storytelling in these games that made me a fan of them. Even games like Unity, which were released as technical nightmares, had fully mo-capped cutscenes that immediately immersed you in the stories, the world, and the characters.
Unfortunately, that’s something I cannot say about the mainline Assassin’s Creed post-Odyssey. Even AC Mirage, which touted itself as the “return to the roots” Assassin’s Creed experience, had cutscenes straight out of the depths of Valhalla. The robotic, stilted, and borderline ugly animations are the reason I divorced myself from modern Assassin’s Creed games.
Thankfully, this isn’t the case with Black Flag Resynced. Ubisoft Singapore left the original cutscenes untouched, and I’m honestly really thankful for that. All of the cutscenes from the original game are back in Resynced, and yes, that also includes the Templar Hunts, with the only change being the lighting engine.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it was the sheer quality of the cutscenes that kept me hooked to the main story of Black Flag, even though this is probably the tenth time I’m replaying the game. There are also a few new cutscenes sprinkled throughout the main story, such as the one you get pretty early after leaving Havana.
And I was honestly surprised that these “new” story animations were fully mo-capped. That said, there are also a fair few robotic cutscenes as well, especially in the Officer quests. However, these are few and far between and don’t really affect the game’s immersion factor.
Apart from these cutscenes, another new addition to Resynced is the “endgame.” In the original Black Flag, after completing the main story, the only activities worth doing were the Legendary Ships and maybe the Mayan Stelae for that Isu Outfit. However, with Resynced, the endgame, as they say, has been expanded.
There are a few more Legendary Ships for you to hunt, new Forts to capture, as well as new Contracts to tackle, that should give you ample reason to return to the game for just a few more hours, after you’ve rolled the credits. The collectibles, obviously, do make a return, and are relatively unchanged from their original format.
A perfect middle-ground between classic and modern AC combat, for the most part
With all that said, the biggest change in Black Flag Resynced is the combat system, for better or for worse. In the original Black Flag, the combat was on-rails, akin to the Batman Arkham games. It wasn’t anything complex, but if it’s one thing the older “Kenway saga” combat excelled at, it was making you feel like a truly “badass assassin.” This is something we lost with the series pivoting to a more RPG-like combat.
With Mirage, Ubisoft did try to course correct, but it was still far from the glory days of older AC games. And now with Resynced, I think we’re finally getting close to the older combat system. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still not fully sold on Resynced’s combat system. It feels clunky and even unresponsive, which aren’t the terms I’d use for the original Black Flag’s combat.
However, at the same time, I also think the combat in Resynced is probably the best iteration of the hitbox-based system. Much like Mirage, you don’t get access to multiple weapon archetypes here; instead, you’re given access to just your dual swords and a pistol. The complexity in the combat system comes from the counterplay options, i.e., dodges and parries.
If you time your parries right, you can immediately break an enemy’s stance, opening them up for a critical attack, which is just a basic ARPG affair. However, at the same time, some enemies cannot be parried (unless you’re using specific Trinkets). And to take down these enemies, you need to fire your pistol and then perform a finisher.
It’s not a very complicated system, but I don’t think the franchise needs super complicated combat mechanics to begin with. Now, with that being said, I do have my fair share of gripes with the gameplay in Resynced.
Firstly, the parry and dodge animations are not always reliable. There have been times where Edward outright refuses to parry an attack even if I mash LB as aggressively as humanly possible. Also, much like the recent AC games, i.e., the RPG ones, the combat in Resynced is clearly designed with the “one-target-at-a-time” philosophy. And as a result, it immediately falls apart once you’re surrounded by multiple targets.
And unfortunately, you’re frequently asked to go up against multiple enemies at once, especially when boarding enemy vessels. That said, there is still the multi-takedown system in Resynced that functions mostly similarly to the original. It’s essentially the only viable option that helps against bigger skirmishes. However, in my experience, the multi-takedown mechanic here isn’t as fluid and intuitive as it was in the original.
In fact, most of the time I was boarding the enemy ship, I didn’t even get the chance to perform multi-takedowns due to how cluttered everything got with Edward’s crew joining the fight. To deal with the clunkiness of the combat, I ended up relying on the age-old technique of “smoke-bombing.” Just drop a smoke bomb in the middle of a group and just blindly press Triangle to see the magic happen!
The real Quadruple-A naval combat simulator
Now, while I am somewhat mixed on Resynced’s “assassin” part of the gameplay, I am completely sold on naval combat and the improvements/additions made to it. A quick refresher for those who might not be familiar with the developers of Resynced, Ubisoft Singapore. This studio was a support developer for the original Black Flag, and mostly helped polish the ship combat sections.
The studio ended up enjoying the ship combat stuff so much that they pitched and started working on an expansion for Black Flag that was simply focused on the naval aspect of the game. This expansion eventually ballooned into a full-fledged standalone game, and in Ubisoft’s own words, the world’s first “Quadruple-A” game.
And no, I’m not talking about Just Dance’s Pirates of the Caribbean DLC. Instead, I’m talking about Skull and Bones. Now, I won’t blame you if you’ve completely forgotten about the game; even I did. While not a bad game per se, Skull and Bones wasn’t anything special, and surprisingly, even after the “AAAA” status, it didn’t really feel like an upgrade to the naval combat and exploration systems we had in Black Flag and Rogue.
With that in mind, I did have my reservations with Black Flag Resynced’s naval combat sections, knowing the history of the studio in charge of developing it. However, I am honestly pleasantly surprised with the naval combat in Resynced.
Not only did Ubisoft Singapore manage to retain the essence of the original game’s naval systems, but they also made some really impactful and meaningful changes to it. And as much as I like the original Black Flag, I do have to give it to Resynced for offering what is easily the best ship combat in any video game to date, period.
For the most part, the naval system in Resynced is left unchanged, and so is the progression around it. You get your ship, i.e., the Jackdaw in Sequence 3, and from there, you’re free to do naval exploration and combat as you see fit. Plundering gets you raw materials which you’re going to feed to Jackdaw’s upgrades, making it viable against even bigger Briggs, Frigates, and ultimately, the Man-o-War roaming the West Indies.
There’s a certain charm to being a pirate, exploring vast stretches of the ocean, plundering vessels as you please, and going about doing “pirate things.” And Black Flag Resynced understands this and delivers just that.
Now, as for the new elements, the biggest features are ammunition types and quick switching. Essentially, the Heavy Rounds now have an alternate option, i.e., the Flaming Rounds. The Flaming Rounds don’t have the range of the Heavy Shots, but they do pack a mighty punch and also are incredibly effective at creating weak points. Also, you get access to upgrades like Mortar and Puckle Gun pretty early in Sequence 4.
Also, it might be just me, but I do think the speed of combat while piloting the Jackdaw is ever so slightly increased in Resynced, compared to the original, and I feel this is for the better. I mean, a good chunk of my 40 hours of play time was spent exclusively on naval exploration and combat, and for good reason. The naval combat is just that good.
If you were a fan of the original Black Flag’s naval system, then trust me, you’re going to have the time of your life with Resynced. However, if you didn’t click with naval warfare in the original, I do firmly believe the improvements made in Resynced can change your mind.
A pirate’s life for thee
Even outside combat, the naval exploration in Resynced is as great as it was back in the original, if not more. There were times during my playthrough where I just stopped doing the quests or collectible hunting, just to go out and explore the vast stretches of the Indian Ocean, not in search of prizes and booty, but just for the sheer joy of exploring.
You know there are times in life where you just want to forget what you’re doing, what you’re working towards, your goals, ambitions, the deadlines, and whatnot, and just immerse yourself in the moment, enjoy it, savor it, maybe go out on a drive without any predetermined destination? Yeah, playing Black Flag often felt like that.
Despite the number of things I planned to do, be it to collect the Mayan Stelae, or clear out the Plantations, or hunt the fifteenth Humpback Whale to craft that Pouch upgrade, I often found myself lost in the moment, just exploring the waters, listening to shanties and watching the time fly by.
All in all, the naval stuff in Resynced is as good as I remembered back in the original Black Flag. And if you were worried after Skull and Bones that Ubisoft might fumble the ship combat in Resynced, well, this should assuage any doubts you might’ve had.
A story that transcends its age
Now, coming to the other major highlight of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, the story. Well, what can I even say about it, to be honest? It’s Black Flag, as we all knew and remembered, just with a new coat of paint. I’m genuinely thankful that Ubisoft didn’t try to “reimagine” the story in Black Flag, and left it as is.
Every addition made to the story is superficial at best, and can be easily ignored, should you choose to do so. The core of the original story, characters, and scenarios are left untouched, which is probably for the best.
As much as I like the Ezio Trilogy, I do think the writing in those games does show its age. I mean, just boot up AC2 for instance, and go through the first couple of sequences. Compared to that, Black Flag has a much more mature narrative, something I think should’ve been the norm for modern AC games.
It’s a story about a reckless Privateer turned Pirate, who starts as any other money-hungry scoundrel but eventually becomes an inspiration. And guess what, unlike most modern character tropes, Edward’s growth isn’t speed-tracked. Instead, the story eventually builds up to it.
I won’t go into spoilers, as even though Black Flag is more than a decade old, it’s still a story that should be experienced first-hand and not in a review. It’s a pirate story that’s less Pirates of the Caribbean and more The Iron Giant.
The modern-day is as lacklustre as it gets
With that said, I do have one major complaint with the story, that being the modern-day, or lack thereof. It’s no secret that Ubisoft has been dropping the ball when it comes to modern-day aspects of Assassin’s Creed since 2014’s AC Unity. It’s something that the studios clearly don’t prioritize over the immersive historical segments.
And as much as it pains me, I do think minimizing the modern is the right call since not even Ubisoft’s writers can keep track of the jumbled web of storylines across games, comics, novels, and more. However, what irks me is the sorry excuse of modern-day elements that are added in Resynced.
Same as AC Shadows, the modern-day in Resynced is basically a walking section with some elementary-grade puzzles thrown in for good measure. It doesn’t add anything to the experience outside of confusing the player and just wasting their time.
At least in the original Black Flag, the modern-day segments had a purpose to them, i.e., the revelation that the Sage is connected to Juno. But in Resynced, we don’t get that original modern-day sequence. Instead, there’s this Dark Animus thing that’s been hinted at back in Shadows, which I don’t feel to be all that entertaining.
The only silver lining here is that the modern day in Resynced is completely optional, and honestly, I would just recommend skipping it.
Lastly, I should mention that yes, Black Flag Resynced does have microtransactions for cosmetics and in-game resources. Although the Store was online during the review period, it did not feature the pricing of the cosmetics on offer. And yes, all of it is optional and, frankly, completely uncalled for in what is otherwise a very good single-player video game.
Thankfully, none of the MTX affects the game’s main story or progression, which helps ignore it, for the most part. You’re still going to get bombarded with the Store’s offerings when you boot up the game, which certainly isn’t ideal. But hey, at least there are no “XP Boosts” this time around.
Conclusion
Overall, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced ended up being way more enjoyable than I anticipated. With Ubisoft’s recent track record, it’s very easy to dismiss their games as open-world shovelware. However, it’s in rare moments like this that Ubisoft ends up surprising its fanbase, be it with roguelike gems such as Prince of Persia The Lost Crown or a “remake” of one of its most beloved titles in the Assassin’s Creed series. Which is why we are giving Black Flag Resynced an 8.5 out of 10.
With that said, the remake is clearly a game made for fans of the original. As such, I don’t think it’s going to appeal to anyone who isn’t already a fan of the original Black Flag or even the Assassin’s Creed IP as a whole. At the end of the day, it’s still an open-world game, complete with “collectibles,” map markers, and a fair share of mundane side content.
If you’re not a fan of Ubisoft’s cookie-cutter open-world formula, I don’t think Resynced is going to change your mind. However, if you’re one of those jaded fans of the series (like me) who got disenfranchised with Assassin’s Creed with its pivot to a more RPG-focused structure, I do think you’re going to enjoy Black Flag Resynced.
