It’s not unheard of for a mostly modern game to get a remake. Dead Space and The Last of Us received them and, now, we can count Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced among them. Like the other two, there certainly are changes for the better and this really is a superior version of the game, but the original didn’t at all need a remake to begin with. Still, this is mostly the same game that I’ve enjoyed for over a decade that adds some welcome adjustments, making it one of the best Assassin’s Creed games and one that thankfully lacks the bloat of more recent entries.

Through the Past Darkly

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is mostly still the same story as ever. You still play as Edward Kenway as he fights to make a fortune by attempting to find a location called the Observatory ahead of the Templars, the Assassins’ longtime adversaries. In a mostly welcome move, however, the original game’s first-person present-day sections are gone. The game just drops you in via the same linked Animus menu of recent games. Purists will probably object (and will be right to mention that content has been cut) but I didn’t mind this, as I do prefer this angle.

The fact that the number “4” has been dropped from the title is telling, as the game is now divorced from the messy handling of the overarching storyline of the early games that went nowhere and fizzled out. The Animus itself is really just a few menus for getting extra stuff here and there, either by accruing points from doing daily events (sink this ship, kill this guy) or by trading in Animus Keys for gear. If you’ve played Assassin’s Creed Shadows then you already know exactly how this works out. It is a bit weird to see one of the more fiercely unique series entries homogenized like this, though.

What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor?

Outside of the different framing, there are naturally other major changes. Combat sees the biggest overhaul here. The original game’s combat was incredibly simple for the most part. You had an extremely forgiving parry that let you instakill nearly every enemy with ease. The combat here is more in line with the basics from Shadows. You have regular and heavy strikes, perfect parries and dodges (signaled by blue and red indicators on enemies), and guns return. Thankfully, the game doesn’t throw RPG mechanics or skill trees at you.

There are some new abilities, though. Edward can sweep kick an enemy, which will again let him instakill them, plus he has a kick that can push them away. If you kick an enemy into a wall, you can also instakill them this way. The rope dart makes its return, as well. Enemies block a lot, but they have a guard meter which, you guessed it, allows you to instakill your foe once broken. The combat isn’t necessarily great here, but it’s definitely a big improvement on the original, even if it still mostly allows you to easily dispatch enemies instantly without much trouble.

Now You See Me

Stealth has also seen some welcome improvement, but it’s much smaller scale than the combat’s. Edward can now crouch walk, which makes stealth better even if it’s still mostly a small change. Being able to more easily hide behind objects grants a finer degree of user agency. There’s still tall grass and plants to crouch in all over the place, of course, but it’s an overall more amenable experience in terms of sneaking due to this one major change.

The original game often ruffled some feathers with its tailing sections where you’d instantly fail if spotted. Now, you’ll typically have an option to just outright kill whoever you’re tailing upon being sighted, as you can just take whatever info you need off of their corpse. This was a really excellent choice, in my opinion. Black Flag Resynced really does sand off some of the rough edges and make for a game that’s simply smoother across the board.

Open the World

One seemingly minor change that I greatly appreciated is that cities are no longer instanced. Before, you’d dock and be met with a loading screen. Now cities are part of the world, which leads to the map feeling less static and overworldy. The game is rather lovely too, as you might expect (since the original has still held up nicely), although many of the changes here do somewhat step on the toes of the art direction. This remake is very close in most ways, though, even if it doesn’t always try to be 1:1 in various ways. Various placements, such as chests, are completely different, for instance.

There’s still an excellent time to be had here. Even if you’re cross about the removal of some playtime with the lack of modern day segments, there are some additional quests, such as questlines for new crew members. These aren’t too long and all they really do is add additional skills, such as timing your crew bracing on your ship to further reduce damage or giving you a powerful boost while ramming enemy ships. Aside from these, the members are ever-present standing on your ship’s deck, but they don’t really do much else, making them feel akin to window dressing much like this version’s new pets, like a cat or monkey, who just hang out on the railing.

Ship Shape

Then there’s the sailing and ship combat. Unlike fighting on foot, very little is different here. You can still fire upon an enemy from the front and broadside (with two types of regular cannon shots and un-aimed heavy shots), plus you can drop explosive barrels from the rear and launch mortars at foes. Upon doing sufficient damage to an enemy vessel, you’ll board it and deplete its morale until you take it. Doing so allows you to add it to your fleet, repair your own ship, reduce your wanted level, or take the captain’s lockbox for some extra money.

The ship combat thankfully didn’t need a rework, as it was one of the highlights of the original game. It’s far faster than actually maneuvering a ship would be, of course, but it’s still very satisfying. It can be somewhat awkward when you’re attempting to position yourself, plus avoiding islands or rocks can be somewhat vexing, but the naval combat is still one of the game’s strongest attributes. Blowing up weakpoints with your swivel guns is also still as satisfying as ever, even if using the swivels during boarding is as underwhelming as ever.

Editor’s note:

I’m playing Assassin’s Creed Black Flag resynced on base PlayStation 5, and I haven’t played the original. I’m blown away by its ambitious scale and how beautiful the game runs on the system. Some of the facial and hair animations are a bit rough, and I absolutely echo Andrew’s sentiment that sometimes maneuvering Edward to where you want to go just does not happen some times. And it can be incredibly frustrating. Ship combat is extremely fun, and I appreciate its level of difficulty and friction it adds to the overall experience. It’s a massive game, but straying off the beaten path is crucial if you want to see more story beats and unlock more abilities, and so no. It’s a good thing that the game makes it incredibly fun to do so.

Verdict

While I enjoy Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced’s improvements, I do wish more improvements had been made to its parkour. It’s wild to me that the series’ central conceit is still this rigid after all these years. There are still too many moments when Edward just won’t do what you want him to. At least this game isn’t as climb-heavy as most others, so this isn’t the biggest dealbreaker. Ubisoft really needs to fix this up one of these days, regardless. 

Overall, this is a very good remake that wasn’t really needed, as an effortful remaster likely would have sufficed. It’s hard to take too much umbrage at getting a better version of one of the best games in the series, though, and I did enjoy my time with it nearly as much as I did back in 2013. It’s a shame they didn’t include the Freedom Cry expansion and I’m not torn up about multiplayer being gone, but this is a great way to experience a modern classic.

Andrew’s score: 8/10

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced launches July 9 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Reviewed on PC and PS5, review codes provided by the publisher.