If you ask ten random people about their favorite Assassin’s Creed game, 30% of them will mention the second game in the series, one of them will run away in fear, and the other six will clearly state that 2013’s Black Flag, the pirate-themed magnum opus released at the dawn of the PS4 and Xbox One’s launch, is their favorite. That game took the handful of most praised elements introduced by its predecessor, Assassin’s Creed III, shoved them into a much more interesting and pirate-focused setting, and became a gigantic hit, as it not only allowed you to play as a snarky pirate ninja of sorts, but also let you become your own pirate captain, sailing the Caribbean in search of loot and glory, whilst singing some sea shanties with your maties.

Was there a truly logical reason to remake Black Flag and come up with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced? To be fair, no. The original game still holds up. But at the same time, it is already nearly thirteen years old. We’ve seen other games being remade after just a few years. There was a way to improve the game and bring it to the (surprisingly decent) standards of more modern Assassin’s Creed games, so Resynced IS a welcome addition to the series’ catalogue. It is also a smart way to make Ubi earn some much needed goodwill with an easy win, so I more than understand the thought process behind this remake.

Not a scent of Skull & Bones in sight. Thank the maker.

The first thing you’ll notice is that Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, just like every other modern Assassin’s Creed game, runs through that pointless Animus launcher. It’s just a mere detail, but that also showcases another element that was vastly changed from the original game: you don’t have any section or interaction with the modern timeline. It’s 100% focused on Edward’s story, which is, indeed, helpful in terms of pacing. Ubisoft figured out this is what we’re here for, and we’re not to be bothered about it.

As for the game itself… look, it’s very similar to the original. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced feels more of a remaster than a “from the ground up” remake, but let me emphasize that this isn’t, in a way, a bad thing. The core elements that made Black Flag so famous were already strong, and hold up to this day, so they didn’t need to be changed anyway. This game feels more like a remaster that improves the presentation, fixes some issues, and grants a classic some well-needed quality of life enhancements.

The visuals will impress you right from the getgo. Sadly, character models look robotic.

The most noticeable improvements are the graphics. The environments, lighting effects, they’ve all received a massive boost. Everything looks more colorful, more vibrant, like a Caribbean setting should. At the same time, when you go through a storm, everything gets stupidly dark, damp, scary as hell. Add in the vastly improved framerate, and surprisingly competent optimization for PC (I was averaging 70 frames per second on an RTX 3060 with an entire GB of VRAM to spare), and what you get is a pretty commendable visual enhacement over the original game.

But then there’s the issue regarding character models. Yes, they were improved as well, but they don’t look really impressive. There’s something odd about those models. They looked a lot better in games like Shadows or Origins. I don’t know if the 2013 skeletons were reused, but they just don’t look as great as the rest of Resynced‘s visuals.

Famou last actions for these Spanish lads.

I gotta mention the improvements in the combat, which has been streamlined to something a bit more akin to more modern Assassin’s Creed games. Parkour is also more similar to more modern titles; just hold down A and see your pirate run away and climb everything in sight with ease. The overall level design is largely the same, despite the movement and combat changes, so it will just feel like an easier and more streamlined way to play around a map you’re already familiar with. As for the ship combat… it’s still the same, but to be fair, I feared they’d make it more akin to Skull & Bones; keeping that gameplay as it once was felt relieving.

There’s also a handful of other changes and/or improvements, like the removal of multiplayer elements (not like anyone would care), new sea shanties, improved loading times… all in all, as previously mentioned, an impressive package of quality of life enhancements whilst keeping the core gameplay loop intact. Any issues I’ve had with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced are more of a consequence of the original game’s design, such as taking quite a while for you to become the captain of your own ship, and an overall fatigue towards open world Ubisoft games.

This Havana needs more Camila Cabello.

It didn’t feel like a revolutionary remake, and that might actually be for the best. Ubisoft didn’t try to change too much of what made Black Flag so iconic. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is more of a package of small quality of life enhancements, as well as vastly improved visuals, than a brand new recreation of the iconic title made from the ground up. Better visuals, improved controls and some modern sensibilities make the game more streamlined than the 2013 original, but everything you’ve loved about it, such as the story, setting, ship combat and so on, is still intact. I don’t consider it to be a mandatory acquisition, as the original Black Flag still holds up, but it’s a successful relaunch of one of Ubi’s most acclaimed games.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X and PC.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB.

A copy of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced was provided by the publisher.