Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Video + Review – Amazing Remake or Waste of Time?

I’m here to tell you if Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is worth playing, whether you’re playing it for the first time or coming back to it.

I’m going to be honest with you, some of the stuff they added here kind of surprised me.

Watch the video review instead, or keep reading below:

Is Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Actually a Remake?

That’s right, Edward, our favourite unofficial Hemsworth brother, is back, and so are his nipples. This time in 4K, in high fidelity, with high texture quality. So, is this actually a remake or just sort of a remaster? We’ve been fooled before, and I tell you, I will not have this any longer.

Ok so… this is actually a remake.

What they’ve done here is take the old game, in terms of the story, characters and all that, and move it into the new interface, systems, graphics and everything else that comes with the engine used for Assassin’s Creed Shadows (read the written review here or watch my video review here).

This also includes the control systems, which are much more modern now. So no more holding the right trigger while you run to do parkour and all that nonsense. You sprint and parkour by clicking in the left stick and pressing A, just like the French parkour founders intended.

You can also crouch whenever you want with the B button because if I want to teabag a dead Spanish soldier, I will teabag a dead Spanish soldier.

Don’t get between me and my dreams.

Beauty is in the ‘Aye!’ of the Beholder

The graphics in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced are gorgeous. They almost look as good as your mom does in that dress I bought her (heyyyyooooo). But seriously, this graphics engine serves this game and its environments really well.

It looked really good in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but the areas in Black Flag? This is some tropical island holiday bulls***.

Just like Shadows, you’ve got the excellent graphics modes on console, with a 60 fps Performance Mode and a 30 fps Quality Mode featuring ray tracing. If you’re lucky enough to have a 120 Hz display, though, you also get the 40 fps Balanced Mode, which basically gives you everything from Quality Mode while running beautifully.

Arrrr-PG Gameplay Systems

You know how much Ubisoft loves interfaces and icons, and they’ve updated all of that to the modern style as well.

Your menus in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced look very similar to Shadows, so everything feels immediately familiar if you’ve just come from that game.

They’ve also modernised progression. Things like armour, weapons and equipment now follow the newer RPG systems, giving you far more reasons to loot, upgrade and customise than the original release did.

You can really kit Edward out with some fantastic gear, while your ship also receives new upgrades, equipment and customisation options.

Combat has also received some welcome additions. They’ve gone all Mortal Kombat on this thing by adding abilities like foot sweeps, a Scorpion-style “Get over here!” rope dagger move, and even some John Wick-inspired pistol techniques. Honestly, it’s all just good fun and adds even more adventure to an already great pirate experience.

Even if the game still occasionally insists on making you sneak around bushes.

New Content Ho!

One thing I really didn’t like about the original was all the modern-day office stuff outside the Animus. I mean, nothing says escapism quite like wandering around a corporate office building… am I right?

Thankfully, in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, Ubisoft has replaced all of that with new Animus Rifts.

These offer “what if?” scenarios where you get to experience alternate stories, like what if Edward made different decisions throughout his journey. It’s a much better approach.

On top of that, they’ve added around six hours of entirely new story chapters.

The world itself has also been expanded with more world events, naval contracts, Assassin contracts, new side activities, additional naval offices and even new endgame content.

Modern piracy, but without the websites

Modern technology has also made a big difference in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced.

Loading screens between cities are gone, the towns feel much denser and more alive, with plenty happening around you. The weather systems, lighting, day and night cycle, facial animations and environmental detail all look fantastic.

Most importantly, nothing feels like an old game that’s simply had prettier textures applied. It genuinely looks and feels like a modern release.

Does Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Hold Up?

I actually went back and watched footage of the original Black Flag just to compare.

At first, I was surprised by how similar they looked in some areas, especially if you’re comparing against the PC version running at higher resolutions and frame rates.

But the more I played Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, and the more all of these updated systems came together, the more I realised just how much better this version actually feels.

There are still a few things I could never quite shake from the original. Most of those revolve around the story.

Edward isn’t really an Assassin at the beginning of the game, but suddenly ends up with hidden blades, Eagle Vision and all the skills that go with them.

It also reminded me how badly I always wanted Ubisoft to split these games into two franchises. Give us Assassin’s Creed… and then give us a proper swashbuckling pirate franchise.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced constantly reminded me that I don’t really want to be hiding in bushes. I want to be swinging from ropes, firing pistols and having sword fights.

Thankfully, the newer gameplay systems do make it much easier to play the way I wanted to.

Final Verdict

If I’ve sounded positive throughout about Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced in this review, it’s because I genuinely am.

I don’t normally enjoy replaying games, even polished versions of games I’ve already finished. But they’ve done enough here that I came away genuinely excited.

I honestly wasn’t expecting that.

If you played Black Flag years ago and you’re wondering whether it’s worth revisiting, the answer depends on how much you loved it in the first place.

If it’s one of your favourite games, this is easily the best way to experience it again. If you’ve never played Black Flag before, it may not have quite the same novelty it had back in 2013, simply because so many of its ideas have since become standard.

Even so, if you enjoy the newer Assassin’s Creed games, this should still be right up your alley.

It’s a fantastic setting, a great story, and it looks better than ever.