On the one hand, it’s not difficult to understand why Ubisoft chose Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag as the first game in the long-running series to receive a deluxe, high-production remake.
Originally released in 2013, the pirate-themed adventure breathed new life into the historical series after a disappointing third outing. Critics and gamers loved it.
On the other side, Black flag not that old by gaming standards. It can still be played on modern consoles and PCs – unlike many older games that have been remastered because the original versions are out of print and hard to find.
Remakes remain all the rage in the gaming industry as big bets on new properties seem riskier than ever. But just as beloved as the original Black flag it does it Assassin’s Creed black flag sync updated good remake?
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At its core, the game still tells the story of Edward Kenway, a Welsh privateer turned pirate, set in the early 1700s—the so-called Golden Age of Pirates. He initially joins a pirate republic in semi-independent Nassau before being drawn into a war between the Assassins and the Templars, shadow organizations representing individual freedom and peace through tyranny, respectively.
From a technical point of view, Resync this is a completely new version Black flagcreated using Ubisoft’s Anvil engine, the same technology used in later versions. Assassin’s Creed games.
WATCH | From Gamespot: Comparison of the original Black Flag and the resync:
The benefits of this technological leap are immediately obvious: Resync looks absolutely great. The main characters have convincing facial expressions when they speak. The glassy eyes of the original and the unnatural shine of people’s skin have been replaced with realistic light and shadows.
Kenway runs, climbs and jumps from tall buildings with fluid animations, an improvement that felt like a revelation back in 2017. Origin of Assassin’s Creed but remains impressive today.
Melee combat has also been reworked. Kenway can leap over enemies to attack from behind and use a rope dart to pull an opponent towards him, much like Scorpion’s “Come Hither” move. Mortal Kombat.
You’ll spend most of your time in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced aboard the pirate ship Jackdaw, exploring the West Indies circa 1710 and battling warships from the English, Spanish, and Portuguese navies. (Ubisoft)
Old disappointments persist
Sad, Resync doesn’t quite fix many of the headaches of the original. Despite the improvements in hand-to-hand combat, it’s still not all that fun in practice.
The worst thing is when you capture an enemy ship. The camera struggles to find focus as a dozen or more bodies swarm around each other in a disorienting melee. Enemies often drop out of the screen, meaning that by the time you spot them, it’s too late to parry.
The old frustrations of running and climbing also returned. You might chase someone while jumping from rooftop to rooftop, only to end up stuck hanging from a balcony railing. Trying to climb the mast of a ship can just as easily result in jumping from the top into the ocean.
Melee combat has been updated in Black Flag Resynced, but the biggest battles are still disappointing. (Ubisoft)
Despite being a fan-favorite character, I never liked the series’ naval exploits, and Resync did little to change my mind. Ship-to-ship combat looks great, but flipping the Jackdaw’s lumbering hull is a chore. The brig takes up so much screen real estate that it’s easy to collide with another ship or run aground on a nearby island.
It’s charming to have your crew singing shanties on a calm sea, but getting anywhere takes so long that the zen experience becomes boring. Unlocking fast travel points that allowed me to teleport between islands was a blessing because it meant I would no longer have to sail the same routes.
A charming but poorly told story
Main part Black flag history can be considered a modern interpretation General history of piratesthe source of many popular pirate legends, most of which are almost certainly fictional.
Such famous personalities as Edward “Blackbeard” Thatch, “gentleman pirate” Stede Bonnet and female pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny appear in the game. Fortunately, they are all comrades, friends or occasional allies of Kenway.
Blackbeard threatens friends and foes alike in Black Flag Resynced (Ubisoft)
Despite such a colorful team, the game’s scattered open world structure undermines what might otherwise be a more cohesive narrative.
Players can explore the map and play through different storylines in almost any order. Only the main story missions follow a clear timeline, presenting key episodes from Edward’s life in the early 1700s.
The result is a disjointed collection of key plot points and standalone stories. It’s a little like watching a long-running TV show in syndication—sometimes out of order and with the nagging feeling that you’ve missed the episode that explains a character’s motivations before a major twist or betrayal.
Key characters never appear in additional side stories because they could be your allies, enemies, or even dead, depending on when you choose to play them.
Players can dive anywhere in West Indian waters, although there isn’t much to see outside of a few spots where you can search for sunken treasure. (Ubisoft)
Longtime Black Flag fans will be especially disappointed by the removal of two storylines: a modern intermission set in a Montreal video game studio run by the fictional evil corporation Abstergo, and Cry of freedom an epilogue that follows Kenway’s lieutenant Adewale as he attempts to free slaves throughout the West Indies.
In their place are some entirely new storylines, and this is where Resynced really shines. Edward can recruit three new crew members, including surly shipwright Lucy Baldwin and a pirate turned repentant priest named “Padre”, whom players meet at the beginning of the game.
Their relatively short quests make them some of the most developed characters in the entire game. The two short chapters on Blackbeard and Bonnet are also beautifully written and offer surprisingly poignant reflections on the characters.
Black Flag Resynced introduces several new crew members with their own story episodes, including shipwright Lucy Baldwin. (Ubisoft)
Goodbye, goodbye, well
So we return to the original question: although Black flag re-synced remains a very good game in many ways, is this a good remake?
It feels more like a director’s cut than a complete re-imagining, with the biggest changes being more technical than narrative.
People looking for their first entry in the series can find later releases such as Valhalla And Shadows more accessible. But the historically dark era of pirates remains one of the series’ best settings, and Edward remains one of its best protagonists.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is now available on Xbox Series X&S, Sony PlayStation 5 consoles and Windows PC.