Video game review
I’m of two minds when it comes to “Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced” — which is kind of ironic considering the “Assassin’s Creed” franchise is all about you reliving the memories of someone else.
A remake of 2013’s “Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag,” the sixth major entry in the historical fiction-meets-science fiction Ubisoft series, “Resynced” modernizes one of the franchise’s best games, giving it a gorgeous visual overhaul and smoothing out some of its rougher edges. But across my 28 hours of pirating on the open seas and getting involved in an age-old struggle between chaotic liberty and restrictive order, I found myself asking the same question over and over again: Why?
Not why I kept playing the game, because that’s an easy answer: It’s fun, with a great story anchored in a selfish man’s personal evolution and an enjoyable gameplay loop that keeps you entertained between story beats. But all that was there in the original game, considered one of the best of all time, and most of what “Resynced” adds just feels superfluous — some to the point of worsening the overall game.
If you didn’t play the original, the player character relives the adventures of Welsh pirate Edward Kenway as he seeks fortune and status in the West Indies during the Golden Age of Piracy in the early 1700s. (The story used to involve a modern-day element, too, but we’ll get back to that.) Edward’s motives are simple at first, greedy and myopic, but throughout the game his view on what makes a life worth living evolves, especially as he becomes enmeshed in the ancient struggle between the Assassins (who value liberty) and the Templars (who want to impose order).
“Resynced” generally sticks to that same narrative, which also involves trying to establish a pirate republic and uncovering an ancient structure hiding an immensely powerful artifact. It also adds expanded and generally worthwhile storylines for several characters, including recruitable officers for your ship and some well-known pirates.
However, continuing a disappointing trend, the remake strips out the modern-day sequences, which explained how you were reliving the memories of a pirate from 300 years ago and how the events of the past were affecting the present-day Assassins and Templars. One of my favorite elements of the franchise as a whole, these sequences offered a sort of narrative rigging throughout the series, connecting each game to the others through a larger narrative. Ubisoft has been moving away from any modern-day sequences for a while — they were all but nonexistent in 2025’s “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” — so it’s no surprise, but I’m still left forlorn over that decision.
But some of the other elements “Resynced” stripped out make the game a more streamlined and engaging experience. Gone are the instant-fail stealth and tailing missions; same with the mission objectives that served no real purpose. In effect, the pacing feels much tighter and much more focused on Edward’s story.
Now for what was added: Along with the new story missions, most of which revolve around characters other than Edward, “Resynced” also updated quite a few technical and mechanical elements — some welcome, others … not so much.
As mentioned, “Resynced” gives “Black Flag” a stunning visual upgrade. Despite a few bugs here and there, the game looks amazing, from its character models to the vast seas you sail through. (The water is on another level, which fits, considering you spend about half the game in it or on it.) And the audio effects are excellent, particularly in combat.
Combat itself, however, got a pretty miserable change: a parry system. Where most updates made the game progress more quickly, the combat now takes longer to get through, disrupting the otherwise much-improved pacing. (I often found myself simply running from encounters because I didn’t want to get bogged down in them — again.)
And some things didn’t change but really should have: The parkour still feels like it’s out of 2013, sticky and unintuitive and leaving me frustrated that Edward jumped to his death rather than just hop off the ledge. And the camera is a total nightmare, often pointing you in every direction but the one you want.
All that being said, I’m glad I got to sail the thrilling open waters of “Black Flag” once again. It’s a weird amalgamation of doing too much and too little, but all of “Resynced’s” changes — good and bad — don’t mitigate the fact that the core game is still phenomenal and well worth playing. When Ubisoft remakes its next “Assassin’s Creed” game, and you know it will, may it spend a little more time figuring out what should be cast away — and what shouldn’t.
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