Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Review

There is a distinct, nostalgic trick that our minds play on us when we think about older games. In our memories, the sparkling Caribbean waters of 2013’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag were hyper-realistic, the horizons endless, and the animations seamless. Revisit the same game today, and you’ll find rough edges, stiffer movement, and a de-saturated color palette amid what’s considered still a great entry in the series. With Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced though, this is a faithful remake that looks how you remember it being, but far more vibrant and exciting to supersede the original in every way.

The game opens with an explosive start with you playing as Edward Kenway just as his ship is attacked. After being shipwrecked on a nearby island, it’s a few survivors and an assassin. Spoilers for this thirteen year-old game, but Edward gets the best of this established assassin, and assumes his identity in believing there’s profit for doing so. What follows is some of the best Assassin’s Creed has to offer, but that’s left unspoiled or to re-discover. Though I have to say the best part about all of this is the fact that Black Flag Resynced completely excises the real-world modern-day Abstergo Entertainment storyline. There are no sudden interruptions forcing you out of the pirate fantasy to hack computers, walk through corporate hallways, or listen to exposition about the modern-day Templar conflict. The game focuses entirely on Edward’s journey, creating a streamlined, uninterrupted historical experience that keeps the momentum moving forward from start to finish.

Additionally, the most immediate and radical mechanical departure you will notice when stepping into the boots of Edward Kenway is something that isn’t there: the mini-map. In a move to solidify immersion, Ubisoft have made the game more like Assassin’s Creed Shadows. At first, this choice feels completely disorienting, however, it quickly becomes something you get you used to, especially if you’ve played the modern entries. While I wish it was an option you could enable for nostalgia’s sake, less screen clutter is something I’ll never get mad about.

Speaking of our charming pirate, Edward Kenway remains as charismatic and fiercely independent as ever, but he has some strong lungs. A hilarious, yet incredibly welcome quirk of the game’s underwater sections is that Edward can now hold his breath underwater for a full three minutes. Whether you are casually navigating an underwater cavern or swimming hard away from a predatory shark, his lung capacity defies the laws of human biology. It completely removes the suffocating frustration of the original’s diving bell sequences, letting you explore sunken galleons at your own pace without constantly panicking over air pockets (which there are). The underwater segments are some of the game’s most awe-inspiring things to do, that not only play better but look better with more underwater flora and activity.

Edward Kenway’s interaction and relationships with legendary characters like Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, and Calico Jack really cement this as the “Golden Age of Piracy”. Being able to visit islands like Havana and Tortuga let you really soak in the sun and feel the warm of these locales in ways you wish the original felt. The way this game exudes living the pirate life is still unparalleled. Resynced still retains all of its prior collectibles like the sea shanties, which you still have to frustratingly chase down like the Crackdown 2 agility orbs. Aside from those, there’s also the new Animus currency that gets used in the Animus Hub that was first introduced in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Ubisoft not only remade Black Flag in its entirety, but they’ve expanded the game with a whole new chapter consisting of eight missions. As you progress through the game’s late-game chapters, or sequences, you’ll unlock new side quests like acquiring pets, seeking treasures, taking on contracts from pigeon coops, or hunting Templars. There are also whole new locations and islands to sail to. The aforementioned lack of modern day Abstergo Entertainment segments, they have been replaced with Rifts. Rifts are “what-if” scenarios that unlock late into the game that offer new ways to experience alternate scenarios played out that you really have to see for yourself.

There’s a whole lot more new, too. Edward gets a few new tricks as well, as a perfect parry can open an enemy for a takedown that results in an instant assassination, perks and trinkets like in Assassin’s Creed Mirage. There’s now a proper dedicated crouch button, letting Edward reduce his visibility. In tandem, lighting can affect Edward’s visibility, making it harder to see him in shadows or at night. This is further enhanced when it’s raining. In a great move by the design team, Edward’s rope dart tool is unlocked early in Sequence 03. Keeping with modern traditions for the series, Edward can also utilize the newly placed ziplines for faster traversal. But that’s not all – there’s more. Edward Kenway’s ship, the Jackdaw now boasts alternate fire modes, literally and figuratively. There’s a secondary fire for things like chain shots and broadsides, but imbued with fire for extra damage. This almost feels like overkill, but it does make the naval combat sequences ever-so-slightly faster and more enjoyable.

Black Flag Resynced remains a beautifully balanced game split into two distinct parts like the original: on-foot stealth & combat, and then the high-seas naval warfare. The gameplay loop transitions effortlessly between the two. One moment you are creeping through sugar cane fields to assassinate a plantation owner, and the next you are steering the Jackdaw through a violent rogue wave to unleash a heavy broadside volley into a Spanish Galleon. The Jackdaw remains the true co-star of the show, offering an incredibly satisfying progression system. Customizing your ship with reinforced iron hull plating, upgrading the mortar range, and cosmetic changes like historical sails or new figureheads provides a powerful sense of ownership. Taking the Jackdaw from a fragile, scavenged brig to an unstoppable, legendary scourge of the ocean is just as addictive now as it was over a decade ago.

When you leave the captain’s wheel and handle business on foot, you can do it the stealthy way, relying on tools and surprise attacks to silently kill foes. Alternatively, you can enter into direct combat with large groups of enemies. The combat can be brute-forced by just spamming the attack button to break defenses, but this could lead Edward Kenway to an early grave. You’ll want to dodge, parry, chain together execution streaks that is all-together not sophisticated, but enjoyable all the same. The combat is modernized, but still of the time, allowing for some real swashbuckling action that isn’t annoying or bothersome.

The traditional hunting and crafting systems make a triumphant return, offering a classic progression loop where skinning wildlife allows you to upgrade Edward’s health bars and ammunition pouches. It is an older style of game design, but it works flawlessly within this tightened framework.

Of course, no modern Ubisoft release on PC is entirely free of technical anomalies, and Resynced launches with its own collection of bugs and quirks. During my review playtime, I encountered several moments where the ambient music was seemingly missing, leaving scenes in eerie silence. The NPCs can also misbehave, occasionally clipping into the deck of the ship or walking mid-air above the tavern docks. The parkour system also brings back its signature frustrations; while mostly fluid, Edward will still occasionally decide to climb a random fence post or tree trunk when you are desperately trying to sprint down a straight path. None of these issues are game-breaking, but do surface from time to time.

Utilizing the latest Anvil engine, the game looks incredible, giving the game a massive overhaul with color, lighting, textures, and scene density. Water rendering, crucial for a game spent largely at sea, features gorgeous screen-space reflections and realistic wave physics that make naval travel breathtaking. Yet, it manages to retain the exact artistic profile of the original. Performance-wise, I was staggered by. On Linux, I was getting over 80fps with everything maxed, except the Ray Tracing was set to ‘Medium’. Now, the same build of the game using NVIDIA GameReady drivers provided by Ubisoft on Windows, could barely go above 60fps with the exact same settings. It’s entirely possible the Windows version won’t have this issue at launch, but the game runs incredibly well on Linux, and without compromise.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is an exceptional celebration of what made the original game a masterpiece. By removing the pacing speedbumps of the modern-day segments, stripping away UI clutter, using the Anvil engine to the fullest, and adding new content, Ubisoft has delivered the definitive version of Edward Kenway’s journey. The sheer joy of sailing the Caribbean freely and engaging in its chaotic naval combat remains unmatched. It looks like how you remember it, plays better than before, and is an absolute must-play for those looking to return to the high seas. We’ve spent over a decade calling Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag the undisputed high-water mark of the entire series, and with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, it unleashes an absolute juggernaut that completely blows the original out of the water.