After the incredibly successful bow to fans’ demands of a setting with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ubisoft is back with another release that had been long rumored (and finally confirmed only a few months ago) with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. A remaster of one of the most beloved games in the series, it makes use of the same Anvil Engine that has powered various of the company’s latest releases, including the incredible Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and for the most part, it’s definitely the best way to play Black Flag, unsurprisingly.
It’s been over a decade since I got to review the original version, and past the shock of acknowledging that I’ve been doing this for so long comes accepting that I don’t really recall much of that one. Outside of the fact that it stars Assassin’s Creed III’s protagonist Connor’s grandfather, ups the ship shenanigans which were easily the best part of that game, and that Ubisoft made it the whole crux of Skull & Bones, zero are my past memories. The latter might have made me incredibly excited to preview it, most definitely, but thanks to it taking so long to come out due to its deeply troubled development, by the time it was available, all the warm and fuzzies had died down.
And that was my state of mind getting into Resynced, with feelings both of controlled nostalgia and familiarity, alongside the notion that I would be playing an “old school” Assassin’s Creed game with a new coat of paint. After seeing what was done with Mirage and its blend of both current and past concepts within the series, and finally dipping my toes here, while not as heavily implied this time around, the changes come for the better in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. Not only does it retain the feeling of scale that it kickstarted back in 2013, which kept growing in later games past the point of no return, but in its limitations in comparison to Odyssey and Valhalla, it shines even brighter.
As Edward Kenway, a pirate who happens to stumble upon a rogue Assassin during a raid and eventually ends up stealing their identity, Black Flag doesn’t waste much time getting into the core of what makes an Assassin’s Creed game fun. Minutes into your adventure, you’re already given your own boat and crew, with a fairly large map to explore and cause chaos in, on your quest to get rich and famous. Within the convoluted overarching story that the series had going at the time, this entry was the first that mostly detached itself, with a more laid back excuse of a story – where you were an employee of Abstergo, the fictional company that ironically mimicked Ubisoft itself, who stumbled into the Animus program containing Edward’s memories, to be used as an entertainment device – something that’s even further diluted in Resynced.
And that’s for the better, really. For as much as Desmond’s tale initially promised, its delivery got staler with each new sequel. If we’re going to play around in different historical periods, let’s just cut to the chase if there’s nothing substantially good holding it all together, right? Plus, Edward’s such an entertaining character to be dicking around as in the Caribbean, someone who had nothing to do with the Assassins-Templar conflict and ends up trying to use the big magguffin in the story for his own benefit. Sometimes it’s fun to just be dishonest.
While, yes, obviously, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced looks substantially better than its original outing – not a big surprise, really – it doesn’t escape from feeling like a brushed up older game. Especially when it comes from visual glitches, which during the time I played for review, were plenty. From floating debris to characters seemingly disappearing to the ether, something weird was always going on during my travels.
The supposed improvements to combat which were supposed to line this new iteration of the game with the more current Assassin’s Creed didn’t really excite me either since it basically boils down fighting to bashing on the counter button and then attacking nonstop. It’s a duller approach to the Batman: Arkham Asylum system that was all the rage years ago where even Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight did a way better adaptation of recently.
Then again, some of the new things do give Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced an edge. Mission design borrows from the investigation mechanics introduced in recent chapters, making snooping around and scanning the environment more vital this time around. Navigating waters on Edward’s boat, the Jackdawn, continues to be one of Black Flag’s highlights, as surprisingly challenging and rewarding an experience as ever here.
If you’ve gotten your fill the first time around, all the bells and whistles that are featured in this updated run of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag will only get you so far. It basically boils down to this: if you want more Assassin’s Creed after, say, tearing through Shadows, but aren’t looking to commit as many hours and want a smaller map and more focused objectives, then it’ll suit your needs just fine.
