Ubisoft has been in the news for all the wrong reasons of late. An ailing brand, making a slew of aggressive layoffs, and cancelling major projects along the way. You might ask yourself, how do you correct course in such a tumultuous storm?
Simple really. You loose the topsails, short the cable, man the capstan, and sail headlong into the past, aiming to recapture the magic of a former great.
Ubisoft have been in desperate need of a title that effectively translates to printing money, and AC Black Flag has always been there as a ‘break glass’ option. However, that option to pull hard on the nostalgia lever also comes with the risk of souring fans on what is considered by many as the flagship title in the long running series.
A risk to say the least, but if done right, Black Flag Resynced could just be the salve to the wounds that the company needs. So, building from the ground up, we all have a chance to board the Jackdaw again, make Nassau a pirate’s haven, and sing a few sea shanties as we go. An opportunity I was all too keen to sail towards.
A Fine Vessel Indeed
While some may disagree when looking back now, I feel that AC Black Flag is one of the few PS3 era games that still visually holds up today. It’s absent of that piss filter most games had in that era, and it pushed the envelope on what an open world could look and feel like to explore.
That said, it’s undeniable that Resynced makes the original look like a relic by comparison. This new iteration is a gorgeous revamp that really brings the world to life, with dynamic weather and lighting effects, reworked animations, higher fidelity across the board, atmospheric touches that feel like more than just set dressing. Plus, you have the eyecatching water physics that are tantamount to a good pirate game.
Everything looks sharper, cut scenes and facial expressions are more cinematic and detailed. But above all, everything feels a lot smoother in transition, whether that be boarding a ship, running around rooftops, or skulking around a plantation. Simply put, there’s less opportunity for that pirate’s life immersion to break, allowing you to fully give yourself to Kenway’s story.
Ubisoft, with their Anvil engine doing the heavy lifting, has actually altered the Black Flag experience pretty extensively, and mostly for the better.
I will concede that, at times I did feel that the ambient sound and score was, at best too quiet, and at worst, completely absent at times where it would have added to the affair. Plus, there are the occasional rubbery textures, or buggy movements that perhaps haven’t truly been ironed out. Not to mention the trade-off of non-mo-capped new content that feels second rate to all the reused and revamped cutscenes.
But all in all, you have to give it to Ubisoft, they have polished a gem to make it shine even brighter.
Resynced, Revamped, Refined
Graphical improvements and comparison shots are obviously what many will focus on, as it’s the most point-blank comparison one can make between the two versions. However, this is far from a quick touch-up job. Ubisoft, with their Anvil engine doing the heavy lifting, has actually altered the Black Flag experience pretty extensively, and mostly for the better.
While I had mixed things to say about Assassins Creed Shadows, one thing I loved was the stealth systems, as it offered freedom and gave each encounter a sandbox quality that older AC games struggled to do. Black Flag was one such game, but it certainly isn’t anymore.
Modern changes make sneaking around, choosing your routes carefully, utilising parkour, and picking off enemies feel as satisfying as ever. Akin to games like Ghost of Tsushima, but without ever making the combat quite as involved as the samurai-epic. It’s more accessible, and doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but still has more than enough depth for skilled players to get creative. All we really needed was a dedicated crouch button this time around, but this upgrade is a blessing.
Alongside this, parkour feels a lot more responsive than the older release, allowing Kenway to move with more fluidity, move faster, and move with more precision so you don’t end up leaping to your death or running up a wall with no handholds in a clutch situation. That’s not to say that it doesn’t still happen occasionally, and that’s not to say that Black Flag is a parkour heavy outing in the series. But when called upon, it feels smooth and satisfying.
All this, while removing a lot of the frustration that came with older AC titles. You no longer have to worry about desyncing during tailing missions, as the game has added new outcomes to keep the ball rolling. Chests always have something of value rather than a arbitrary amount of gold, and no loading screens.
Truly, this is a brilliant rebuild from the ground up. Something I scarcely believe, but this isn’t a decieving smudge on your spyglass. This is the real deal.
No Dirty Pirate Tricks
The changes to the Black Flag formula are almost unanimously positive across the board, modernising the game and dragging it into the current generation. However, I would argue that the best aspects of Black Flag Resynced are directly linked to all the things that the developers didn’t do.
For one, the developer has taken out almost all reference to the modern day, meaning you don’t need to work through those boring Abstergo scenes, or endure a side narrative that we all know today, falls devastatingly flat. Allowing you to focus on what matters, Kenway’s story.
Alongside this omission, the developers have not done something I had feared they would push forward with. They haven’t crowbarred in any skill trees, grind-intensive gear systems or level-based gatekeeping. All the aspects of modern day, open world AC games that makes my blood boil.
Instead you have a game that gives you the vast majority of your abilities up front, and allows you to go anywhere and everywhere right from the get-go. Sure, you still have the addition of rather egregious in-game micro transactions, as Ubisoft continues to push this interconnected Animus nonsense for their own financial gain. But thankfully, it’s easy enough to ignore in favour of the content that actually has substance.
Plus, into the bargain, you have the naval combat that has mercifully remained almost entirely untouched. This served as the most unique and engaging aspect of the original, and that remains the case in this remake, offering naval combat that has arguably never been topped years on.
Minor changes have been made, but they are all small alterations for the better, such as secondary fire options, new crew abilities, and smoother boarding of ships. So, all in all, you don’t need to worry about some sort of Skull and Bones copy and paste.
Weathering The Storm
I’ve mentioned that almost all things have either been altered for the better, or left well enough alone. But, the most divisive change for most players will almost definitely be the combat.
Combat in this game essentially plays as a middle-ground between the original and modern AC games. Not quite feeling like a Souls-lite, but also not feeling the classic AC. I’ll say immediately that some will like this, but personally, I feel like it’s missing something.
On the positive side, changes like the ability to use the Rope Dart very early on is a welcome change. As is the addition of dedicated difficulty settings for traditional combat, naval combat and stealth.
But, despite these minor wins in the combat department, it does feel like the one aspect of the game that Ubisoft couldn’t help but modernise for the sake of it. The game no longer allows you to use other weapons beyond your dual-swords, and you have no access to hidden blade combat.
I’ll be the first to concede that classic AC combat was basic, and painfully repetitive at times. But, this Arkham-esque combat was still phenomenal for the time, and served it’s purpose. So, to change it takes away from the nostalgia many of us are seeking from remakes such as this.
This wouldn’t have been quite as hard to stomach if the new combat was undeniably perfect, but the reality is that the parrying feels inconsistent, and you can’t break enemy attacks leading to cheap hits.
There’s still a lot of enjoyment that comes from fighting huge groups of enemies, but due to stealth and parkour feeling much more satisfying by comparison, you’ll likely avoid combat where possible in favour of a more subtle approach. Admittedly, the approach an assassin should take, but that really should be the player’s choice, not one they feel pushed towards.
Reviewed on a PS5. Review code provided by the publisher.
The biggest compliment we can pay Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is that it feels like the definitive way to play this swashbuckling adventure. A gorgeous, refined and expanded version that changes a lot for the better, while leaving things that made the original great well enough alone. Not all changes are for the better, but overall, this is a successful remake, and one that truly feels like an Assassin's Creed game of old, with a modern facelift.
The Good
- Visually flawless
- Loads of positive changes to original
- Additional content adds value
The Bad
- Combat gives and takes away
- New cutscenes aren't as refined
