Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced is an absolute joy to play. Stabbing, slicing, and sailing your way through this swashbuckling adventure is not only a tribute to the original game, but arguably the best AC experience to date.
Firstly, for those who may not know, Black Flag Resynced is not a remaster, but a fully-fledged remake, mixing up all the fancy bells and whistles that Ubisoft has been fine-tuning in recent years. As a result, Resynced gets the slick dodge-and-parry combat and movement from the likes of Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Mirage, thrown together with the already picturesque Caribbean islands setting, which has also received a MASSIVE upgrade, looking glorious in every frame. Some Ubisoft games have been a bit inconsistent at times visually, but Black Flag Resynced is purely showing off – this is a gorgeous game from top to bottom.
Combat just feels good, it’s a fair bit trickier than other games due to the fact that you’ll often fight multiple enemies simultaneously, and many with different attack patterns which you can’t parry, especially when the fights take place in tighter quarters during ship takeovers. Sometimes, the camera can get you in a bit of a rut, but for the most part, it’s a ballet of blood, gunpowder, and slick finishing moves that’ll please longtime AC fans.
In between all of that, there’s a ton to do, like getting into bar fights, tracking animals, solving puzzles, hunting down buried treasure, and more. It’s just a really densely packed experience, but with the way the naval traversal and battles work, you end up stumbling on these things without too much detouring, which I appreciated.
Story-wise, it’s a gem – the voicework was redone by Edward Kenway’s voice actor Matt Ryan, bringing it up to speed with the upgraded visuals. Every dialogue line is a joy to listen to, with pirate-laden quips and analogies thrown into every conversation.
Playing it, you really do get to appreciate how good the original was, and for those who never played it, you’re even luckier, as this is the ultimate showcase of story, gameplay, and one of the best settings in the AC universe.
4.5 out of 5.0 stars
