I have always been hot and cold on the Assassin’s Creed series. I remember almost missing the first one entirely at the time of its release, but then watched a mate ascending towers and witnessing the incredible world around him, prompting me to rush to my local game store and grab a copy that very afternoon. According to my many (many) friends, I bounced off the series right when it got good, but I’d argue that having experienced Assassin’s Creed Black Flag during the prime of its release was a cracker of a way to finish up with the series for a spell.
But when the call of the sea arises again, Ubisoft rolls out a red carpet that is soaked with saltwater and invites me to check out Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced at its Singapore office. Ubisoft Australia must know that my sealegs are itching for a wobble, setting me loose to go hands-on with the title for a few magical hours, and speak with the Game Director on the project and the talented folks in the audio and visual departments.
It’s a hell of a project, tackling the lofty task of delivering easily the most requested Assassin’s Creed remaster SLASH remake ever. Built on the latest iteration of the in-house Anvil engine (the same tech powering Assassin’s Creed Shadows), this remake isn’t just a simple coat of paint. From my short time at the helm, it is a massive mechanical, narrative, and technological overhaul designed to deliver the ultimate swashbuckling fantasy.
In a presentation, I was told about how the developers focused on three distinct pillars: faithfulness, visual overhaul, and brand-new content. That first pillar is an important one given that Black Flag is a well-loved title, so changing the wrong thing could easily lead to someone getting keelhauled. To help with this, the modern team were careful to ensure they had the right resources at hand – particularly in regard to leveraging Jean Guesdon (the original Black Flag director) to assist with the production to make sure they safeguarded the spirit of Black Flag.
A lot of this was echoed in my chat with Game Director Richard Knight, who expressed equal parts anxiety and excitement to be working on the project. Understandably, there’s a level of concern on the part of the team given the pedigree of what they are working with, but that is a blade that cuts both ways. The critical nature of maintaining the spirit of the game is an easier task when that original game is already so solid, so it ends up being a risk that the team takes gladly. Anyone with an interest in Black Flag has had a chance to throw their opinion at it, so the concept of recapturing and improving the game isn’t being done in a slapdash way.
Even that final pillar of brand-new content has a cheeky link back to faithfulness, despite that some of the brand-new stuff coming in Resynched isn’t exactly new. Stay with me on this, I am not needling some conspiracy of laziness here, rather highlighting a very cool facet of media development: the cutting room floor. One major feature promised in Black Flag Resynced is a system where Edward can recruit three unique Naval Officers, each providing new naval perks to upgrade the Jackdaw. Again, Knight revealed to me that the idea of having more personalities within the crew was a feature explored during the development of the original game that never fully materialised. This makes it a prime bit of real estate for the remake, given that it serves as a fantastic two-pronged improvement to the game: fleshing out naval battles a little bit more, and giving some insight into just what kind of pirate captain Edward truly is by showing his relationship with more crewmates. In my gameplay hands-on, I only got the briefest of glimpses at one such recruit, the fiery shipwright character Lucy – and I loved every second I spent with her, and I am dying to see what happens next.
Never one to shy away from a cutlass
That isn’t to say that the game isn’t shipping (heh) with a cargo hold full of new content. As part of my walkthrough of the Resynched project, I was privy to a very specific number: six hours. That is six hours of additional content, as a conservative estimate from those who worked on the game. As for how that breaks down into button pressing and thumbsticks, I can’t exactly say, but I can say that Resynched will ship with a new endgame-focused chapter to test the mettle of veteran pirates. This new set of missions will see Edward taking on the historical pirate hunter Robert Maynard, whose real life tales include the capture of Blackbeard of all people. Now THAT sounds like a worthy foe to test your cannons on.
Speaking of cannons, a hefty dose of new-content-isms definitely comes from the enhancements to naval combat. Your time at the helm of the Jackdaw was a huge highlight of the original game, so you could easily assume that the beating heart of the Black Flag experience should be left untouched in the remake – but these upgrades feel right at home, adding a little more depth to the endless blue waters. With more fights to fare and places to see, expanding your repertoire makes a lot of sense. For example, your standard broadsides, firing all the ship’s cannons as a wide volley at your foe. The unlockable upgrade for this gives access to a limited number of heated shots, which blast out fiery ordnance for extra damage. It’s not an outright replacement, more an additional option for when you really need to turn the screws on an enemy and get some cracking damage in. It doesn’t bloat or disrupt things at all, and I loved seeing those screaming streams of fire erupt out of my ship and slam into theirs.
Some of the new stuff also comes in exploring the absence of any ‘modern-day’ segments. See, Resynched isn’t going to do the whole Abstergo thing, instead opting to keep things in the purview of Edward and his tall tales. One of my onsite colleagues actually managed to get a little tickle of detail regarding these Animus Rifts, with Knight telling him that players would instead dip their toe into a “What If” scenario to keep things Black Flagging along. The example given was a simple one: what if Edward never became a pirate? He’d have stayed home with his wife, clearly…OR WOULD HE?
For modern Assassins or even those long out of the loop, you’ll appreciate the modernisation of some older facets of gameplay. Combat now revolves around dynamic defence meters, where your standard attacks chip away at a foe’s guard while adaptive enemies actively punish predictable and repetitive playstyles. It’s not quite Sekiro, but it’s a damn shot nicer than simply fishing for parries or endlessly dodging. I was quick to find that executing a well-timed Perfect Parry or utilising a quick-fire gunshot would instantly deplete this defence meter, triggering a massive window for fluid Chain Takedowns that allowed my Edward to drop up to four enemies at once – a welcome thing when the British are surrounding you.
Stealth and movement mechanics have received an equally significant modern overhaul. Leaning into the more advanced systems in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, players finally have a dedicated crouch button to lower their profile outside of standard hiding spots, alongside a brand spanking new visibility meter that dynamically calculates exposure based on lighting, day-night cycles, and severe weather conditions (like heavy rain). It means that your sneaky pirate self can actually feel sneaky, rather than praying to retro gaming gods to remain unspotted.
Your utility belt of murder toys will feel a little different too, given that it has had a shuffle to align with player feedback from times past. The classic rope dart actually unlocks a great deal earlier in the game now, allowing players to enjoy the myriad of fun applications it brings.. Ubisoft has even implemented the ability to throw coins as a distraction, which was actually removed in the OG release – so now you have a classic way to distract people with your booty. Yeah, I know what I said.
Saved from a date with the gallows
Now, even a blind man can see that Resynched is a visually gorgeous game. It’s not even a contentious point to make – the game was visually impressive for its 2013 outing.. Easily one of the coolest points of my trip to Ubisoft Singapore was sitting down and having some of the cooler aspects of the technology driving Resynched explained to my mere mortal mind.
Sitting down with Nicolas Lopez, a technical director of the project, I was treated to a close look at the dynamic lighting and weather systems within the game. Looking at the bustling world of Havana, you’d take all the unbelievable lighting for granted – but with the press of a button, the textures all vanished to show the world of Resynched as flawless marble. The ambient glow of natural lumens peeking across cover was mind blowing, but even the material effects of flesh and clothing suddenly spoke volumes about how little I knew about how light worked. Couple this with the spectacular weather system throwing clouds, rain and wind at the Caribbean locales and it was genuine magic. That, and the joy of seeing a developer ratchet the sun back and forth across their synthetic sky was a neat trick.
Being underwater is pretty calming, provided there are no sharks about
Beyond your eyes, the game even touts a crazy audio uplift. In a crowded room, I was treated to a live demonstration of the Dolby Atmos implementation. In the original game your ship essentially positioned all audio around the main mast, using directional audio and sound channels to drive immersion. Using Dolby Atmos, Resynced can track distinct X/Y/Z coordinates for every single cannon, sail, and projectile. This allows physics-driven Doppler effects to track cannonballs flying overhead, while the underwater diving segments can use realistic vertical mixing to make the pressure of the surface water sound crushingly heavy above you. There was even a casual flex that the game had as many as 12,000 new recorded lines of dialogue for both story and NPC reasons. That’s a crazy number.
But yeah yeah, I know, as cool as that is – what about the shanties? Good news is on that front: all the original ship-based bangers are here and sound better than ever. Better yet, the team have ten new sea shanties in the game, with six of them coming from the mind of Black Flag’s original shantyman Seán Dagher. A very cool feature of the newer shanties is that they are diegetic within the world of Resynched, speaking to Edward’s journey in the game so far. So imagine finishing a big set piece within the story, and hearing your crew sing about it as you sail away. Awesome.
With my eyes, ears and fingers plunged deep into Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, I came away with relative awe at what the team was managing to put together. Any revisit to something beloved can be fraught with peril, but the mastery on display from the team here shows that they know how to navigate those choppy waters. It’s more than a cutting edge overhaul of visuals, it’s a carefully considered enhancement to things that were deserving. My only gripes came from the gameplay session, where my fast-forwarded journey put me deep into late-game piracy, and I didn’t quite grasp the amount of Assassin’s tools at my disposal alongside some of the more fearsome enemies, but that isn’t Edward’s fault – it was mine. I hadn’t quite found my sea legs yet.
But come this July, I’ll be ready to feel the water at my feet and the wind in my hair. The ultimate swashbuckling fantasy returns, and I am very confident that both veteran privateers and curious landlubbers alike will find something entirely incredible waiting for them in the turquoise waters of the Caribbean.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced hits PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC via Steam and Epic Game Store on July 9, 2026.
Previewed on PC at a preview event hosted by Ubisoft. WellPlayed was provided transport and accommodation for the purpose of this event.
