Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced review: A Pirate’s Life for Me, Again!

The original Assassin’s Creed Black Flag launched back in 2013 for the PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PS4 generation of consoles, and boy, oh boy, was it one of the best for its time. I have fond memories of Edward Kenway as the protagonist, but after playing the game at launch, I never went back to it. Since 2013, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has undergone dramatic changes, becoming a full-blown RPG, visiting different historic times, and having its own share of hits and misses.

While Assassin’s Creed Mirage was a throwback to the “older” style of the games, the last mainline entry, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, took a dual-protagonist approach to Japan. So while I have fond memories of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, I didn’t remember it completely. If you quizzed me about the story, I’d tell you bits and pieces. I remember some frustrating follow segments and some amazing naval combat. Does Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced do justice to my memory of the game? How good is this title for those venturing into this pirate adventure for the first time? Let’s find out.

Table of Contents

A Pirate’s Tale: Story and Characters

Kicking things off with the story, you don the role of Edward Kenway, a pirate in search of treasure and “wanting to make a quick buck” who finds himself in the midst of the Assassin and Templar war. He is the perfect embodiment of a character who doesn’t care about the war between the two factions and is only looking to exploit them for his own ends. That is, until his moral compass aligns him to do the right thing.

It is quite unlike most other AC games, where the protagonist is either born into the world of the Assassins, trained to be one, or comes upon it for reasons of justice and revenge. It’s this unique perspective, and the setting of being a pirate, that make the story so much more fun than other games in the franchise, and that still holds true today.

Throughout the journey, Edward meets a host of characters from history, such is the trait of Assassin’s Creed games, and some fictitious ones as well. Let’s just say, despite being a story from 2013, it is far more fleshed out here, adding some much-needed depth to characters and extended endings for iconic figures.

Sights and Sounds of the Seven Seas: Graphics & Audio

When it comes to the graphics, the game looks stunning. It is running on Ubisoft’s latest Anvil engine, the same one that powered Assassin’s Creed Shadows. I reviewed the game on the PS5, and while you have the option of Performance Mode (60 FPS) and Quality Mode (30 FPS), I was fortunate to enjoy the game on a TV with HDMI 2.1 capabilities, which got me a buttery smooth 40 FPS on the Balanced mode with stunning, ray-traced visuals. The details in hair, texture, skin, and environments are absolutely gorgeous even on the base PS5, and I easily forgive the minor pop-in in favour of focusing on the sheer beauty of the game. Furthermore, exploring these beautiful cities is completely seamless now, with zero loading screens interrupting your adventure.

The wind, water, and weather effects deserve a special mention, especially when you are out at sea and a tornado forms or lightning strikes. These weather systems also directly tie into the gameplay now; rain heavily obscures enemy vision, providing natural cover for stealth.

When it comes to sound, special credit goes to the voice acting. Edward Kenway’s raw emotions are incredibly well-portrayed, only to be enhanced by the updated character models. The background score effortlessly evokes the inner Jack Sparrow in you, especially when you are out on the open water. The bangs and thuds of your cannons and the swish of your blade are signature Assassin’s Creed, making you feel right at home.

Parkour, Pistols, and Plunder: Gameplay & Naval Combat

Most of the moment-to-moment gameplay is exactly what you’d expect from a modern Assassin’s Creed game, but significantly tightened up. The free-running is fluid, featuring a new manual jump button, quicker move interruptions, and the brand-new addition of ziplines to make traversing the Caribbean a breeze. While the map is filled with icons, it’s not like the entire world map is cluttered from the get-go. Every time you visit an area or reach a sync point, you see the local activities you can do.

Stealth has seen massive quality-of-life improvements. Beyond the addition of a dedicated crouch button, there is a new visibility meter and the ability to toss coins or break objects to organically attract guard attention. Furthermore, the infamous “follow” and eavesdropping missions do not trigger a hard game-over state if you are detected; rather, they switch the objective dynamically based on your detection, which is a lifesaver.

Combat has also been completely overhauled. You have the standard light and heavy attacks, but you can now execute Perfect Parries that lead to iconic, fatal chain takedowns. Edward can kick foes into walls, sweep them to the ground, or use heavy strikes to end combos with his cutlass or pistol-sword. You will need these new moves, too, as new enemy archetypes like the “Demolitionist” (equipped with a blunderbuss and grenades) keep you on your toes.

However, what you might have missed in your playtime is that Resynced actually adds over 6 hours of brand new content to the game! This includes 8 new end-game missions in a chapter called ‘A World Without Gold’, where you hunt down a new antagonist named Maynard. You also have the ability to recruit three brand-new Naval Officers (a Shipwright, a Weapon Master, and a Master-at-Arms) to the Jackdaw through specific side quests, unlocking entirely new abilities. As an extra fun bonus, you can even recruit two new pets—one found in Havana and another in Great Inagua—to ride alongside Edward on the Jackdaw!

Speaking of the Jackdaw, the naval battles are back and better than ever, featuring an arsenal of modernised weapons and secondary firing modes. Naval combat truly shines when you unlock these upgrades: you can unleash rapid Heated Shots from your broadsides, drop a ‘Deadman’s Cohort’ from your mortars, or deploy devastating Shrapnel Barrels to tear apart pursuing ships. The swivel gun has also been updated to an AC Rogue-style manual aim, giving you far more precision when finishing off weak points.

Finally, while the divisive “modern-day” sequences from prior games are thankfully gone, they have been replaced by “Rifts”. These are four optional, narrative-driven “what-if” quests stored deep within the Animus—such as exploring what would have happened if Blackbeard accepted the King’s pardon, or if Edward kept his promise to Caroline. It’s a fantastic twist that adds incredible emotional depth to the pirate fantasy.

The Captain’s Verdict

Overall, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is a must-revisit for fans of the franchise and a remarkably worthy addition to the modern Assassin’s Creed universe. There is a bit of the standard Ubisoft open-world bloatware, but considering the overall quality of the package on offer, it can easily be ignored in favour of the high seas adventure.

Editor’s Rating: 9 / 10

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