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It’s funny that Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced finds itself in a similar position to the original game did when it launched back in 2013. Prior entries in Assassin’s Creed III and Assassin’s Creed Shadows failed to live up to fan expectations, and the general future of the franchise feels somewhat unknown in terms of how far the Assassin’s Creed formula can go before it runs out of steam. The context is slightly different here for a few reasons, but it’s hard not to shake the fact that a lot is riding on the success of Resynced, not just for Assassin’s Creed, but for Ubisoft at large.
After spending three hours with Resynced, I can assure you that it’s more Assassin’s Creed IV. This ground-up remake of what is perhaps the best game in the franchise is faithful to the nth degree, capturing the spirit, world, ideas, and themes of the swashbuckling original with a new spray of paint. There are a few elements that concern me, given how close we are to launch, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to keep exploring the reimagined seas of the West Indies.
The first portion of the preview kicked off right at the beginning of the game, following an 18th-century pirate assassin called Edward Kenway. Edward accidentally becomes embroiled in a conspiracy involving high-ranking Templars after killing an assassin and chasing after a profit opportunity. This section is still a wonderful intersection of narrative setup and gameplay tutorials, seamlessly weaving parkour, combat, and stealth in a way that feels intuitive and natural.
The first thing that stuck out to me is the voice acting and how it feels virtually unchanged all these years later. Much of this is due to original voice talent returning, including the ever-charismatic Matt Ryan, who doesn’t miss a beat as Edward Kenway. Even with newly recorded lines, the time I spent with Resynced effortlessly captured the tone, vibes, atmosphere, and ideas that are core to Black Flag’s identity.
After this short tutorial section, I made my way over to Havana, where sailing returns in all of its glory. Unfortunately, this means that if you didn’t like it in the original, I very much doubt you’ll like it in Resynced. I, for one, am very pleased with its attempt to recreate what has become something of a trademark for Ubisoft Singapore. Naval combat remains strategic and impactful, and there’s nothing quite like boarding an incapacitated enemy ship and dismantling its crew.
Speaking of which, ground combat is one aspect of Black Flag that’s been substantially shaken up here. My time with it suggests that this new combat system is an attempt to combine elements of combat from prior Assassin’s Creeds with those of the more recent RPG titles. The result is something of a mixed bag. There’s a significant focus on parrying, with perfect parries opening enemies up for instant takedowns that can be chained several times depending on your equipped weapons. Edward also has some tools to employ in altercations, like his pistols and the rope dart.
There are also a few new abilities baked into Kenway’s kit, like a frontal kick and a leg sweep that can knock enemies back or take them off their feet entirely. If there’s a single word to describe Resynced’s combat based on what I’ve played so far, it would be jank. Battles with multiple adversaries are messy affairs that never really settle into a flow. Playing defensively and waiting for a parry opportunity feels too slow, but going on the offensive often leaves you open to attack due to a complete lack of animation cancelling, meaning you can’t parry mid-strike.
I can see the vision here; combining Edward’s tools and weapons to string together a stylish chain of takedowns in lethal fashion. The problem is that combat never presents itself in a manner that incentivizes doing this, and the way in which you can abuse the sweep and frontal kick to stagger enemies for a free takedown is absurd. I can only hope these issues are ironed out ahead of release, because it’s the one part of Resynced that feels like a definitive downgrade so far.
Exploring Havana felt great, though. It’s incredibly lively and filled with stuff to do. Parkour feels much faster than the original, though, much like the combat, it can sometimes feel a bit janky. When it comes together, it feels fantastic to chain side and back ejects, swing off of posts and run around rooftops at high speed. It’s also just really nice to play an Assassin’s Creed game with a world that feels designed around the acrobatic capabilities of its protagonist.
The next section I moved onto involved one of the new naval officers in Resynced, Lucy Baldwin. While it’s hard to get a grasp on how she and the other new naval officers will fit into the broader narrative of Black Flag, I enjoyed much of what Lucy brings to the table. Without spoiling too much, her motivations are interesting, and she fights right in with the rest of the crew. She doesn’t feel out of place in the slightest, and I can only hope that rings true for the other naval officers and the ways they’re woven into the plot.
This mission also encouraged using stealth, which is much improved from the original, thanks to the inclusion of a crouch button. You no longer need to be in foliage to take a low profile, which is a nice change when you want to take a sneaky approach. My only real gripe with it is that the enemy AI feels pretty dumb, and it can trivialize certain combat interactions with little risk.
Resynced’s biggest upgrade is in its rebuilt visuals thanks to the Ubisoft Anvil engine. There’s no two ways about it; Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced has to be seen to be believed. It retains the visual identity of the original while bringing the West Indies to life in ultra-high fidelity. I was especially awe-struck by the game’s implementation of Ray-Traced Global Illumination. Havana looks mind-bogglingly beautiful when set against a sunset-coloured hue, each detail painstakingly crafted with shadows that dance with the shifting sun.
This visual overhaul only helps to bolster the scope and environmental elegance of sailing through the West Indies. The crystal blue waters of the sea are gorgeous from above, and even more so when diving into its depths. The real-time weather effects are nothing short of impressive in their realism and interactions with the broader world. This did come at the cost of some frames on the PC build we were playing, but nothing that dropped to egregious lows. I did encounter a couple of strange bugs during my time, but nothing that hugely impacted my time with the game.
If my hands-on time with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is anything to go by, it’s clear that Ubisoft is trying to deliver the most faithful experience possible. Aside from some general jankiness and a middling new combat system, Resynced is shaping up to be a definitive step-up from the original. Even in its new content, this remake feels like it hasn’t lost sight of what made Black Flag so special all those years ago, complete with a technical overhaul that I just couldn’t get enough of.
The article’s author was flown to Singapore by Ubisoft to attend the preview event for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced.