Absterg-who?
Creaking masts, churning waves and salty sea spray. A ragged crew, belting out their shanties. The grimy streets of old Havana. There was a certain vibe to Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag that’s as hard to fully describe as it has been for other games to recreate. Many have tried, some to moderate success, others… well, the less said about them the better.
We’ve known that Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced was coming for some time, but when Ubisoft finally announced its worst kept secret in March this year it generated plenty of buzz. It goes without saying that it’s no mean feat to remake a game as beloved as Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag.
For many the original is one of, if not the most, beloved of the entire AC franchise – taking the open world, action-adventure series to the high seas and capturing the wanderlust of the golden age of piracy.
Nearly 13 years have passed since the launch of Black Flag though, and Ubisoft has thrown everything it’s learned into Resynced to create a worthy remake. Boasting overhauled systems, improved combat and a swathe of new content – including a whole new chapter – there’s plenty to be excited about when the game launches come July this year.
That’s all marketing buzz though — how well does that translate into the finished product? Well, Stevivor got invited to Ubisoft’s Singapore HQ recently to check it out, so let’s dive in.
One of the hallmarks of any good remaster or remake is when it captures the way the game exists in your memory. There, with the rose-tinted glasses of time and nostalgia, our favourite titles live on – both looking and feeling better than they really were at the time. While some have tried (and failed) to recapture that sauce, Black Flag Resynced is the perfect example of a remake done right.
Visually, Resynced is truly stunning. Rebuilt from the ground up on the latest version of the Anvil engine, and utilising extremely fancy sounding technologies like micropolygons, Ubisoft has absolutely nailed the look and feel of Black Flag.
The scenery is a feast for the eyes, chock full of bright and beautiful vistas full of rich colours. NPCs are immaculately rendered, with special attention paid to the main characters like Blackbeard. Edward himself looks indistinguishable from my memories, though in reality he’s obviously much improved. All of this comes together to create what is, visually at least, a faithful recreation of the Black Flag that lives on in my brain.
Of course, as I mentioned, it’s not just the visuals that have been overhauled but the combat system too. While fine for its time, Black Flag‘s combat definitely doesn’t hold up to modern standards – it’s slow, clunky and a bit too easy to cheese. Resynced has thankfully left that relic behind, and instead opted for a much faster system with a big focus on parries and flow.
At its core, Resynced is an action-adventure game. This is a much-belaboured point by Ubisoft – the publisher really wants us to know that it’s not an RPG, and the combat is designed with that in mind. Gone are skill trees; your chosen weapons now dictate how you approach a given encounter rather than where you’ve allocated some earned XP.
Overall though, the combat feels a bit too reliant on parries and takedowns. In the couple of hours we spent with the game, across varying snippets of progression, it quickly became apparent that a more passive playstyle was king.
Perhaps this will change come the full release, but rather than committing fully to, say, an Arkham-series style of flowing combat, Resynced instead sits on the border. It’s undoubtedly an improvement over the original, but still feels like they’ve left something on the table.
Resynced is a remake that is overflowing with love for the original. From the brief time we spent playing, it’s clear that Ubisoft has approached it with a focus on capturing all that made the original so iconic. Not content to just recreate, they’ve taken things further by knocking off some of the original’s rough edges while simultaneously building upon it further.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is shaping up to be a blast, and I can’t wait to dive in when the game launches in July later this year.
This article may contain affiliate links, meaning we could earn a small commission if you click-through and make a purchase. Stevivor is an independent outlet and our journalism is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.
