After a lot of past leaks, rumors, and reports, Ubisoft has officially revealed Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, a complete remake of the original Black Flag. Built using Ubisoft’s latest version of its in-house Anvil engine, this upcoming remake looks great. But when you compare it directly against the original 13-year-old game, Resynced looks even better.
On April 23, Ubisoft released a ton of screenshots and gameplay of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, which is set to arrive on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC on July 9. During the initial reveal, Ubisoft showcased some direct splitscreen comparisons of the original and the remake, and the new game looks incredible, which isn’t surprising as it’s not over a decade old and designed to run on Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Still, the amount of extra detail and the improved lighting in the new screenshots is impressive.
Faces are improved in Black Flag Desynced
A lot of the original visuals and models for Black Flag still hold up better than you might expect. But, as shown perfectly in a comparison video from YouTube channel Enfant Terrible, one thing that looks decidedly rough today is character faces. That’s been greatly improved in the remake.
It’s not just Edward Kennway that gets a nice glow-up in the remake. Adéwalé, a former slave and badass pirate-assassin himself, also looks more detailed in the remake.
Cities look bigger and better in the remake
Cities in Black Flag weren’t a huge part of the game compared to past titles at the time, as the pirate-themed sequel focused on islands and ocean environments. Still, there are some gorgeous cities in the first Black Flag, and they are all back and fully recreated and looking quite nice.
It’s not just sweeping vistas and faraway skylines that look better, but the nitty-gritty details, too. The original Black Flag‘s environments and cities still look pretty dang good all these years later, but compared to the more detailed, higher-res textures and models seen in the remake, it’s clear how much video game visuals have advanced since 2013.
Streets will also feature more detailed paths, extra NPCs, and improved draw distances, as well.
Forts and islands look much better, too
As you might expect, some of the best-looking parts of the original Black Flag and the remake are out on the open waters. Islands and forts make up a big part of both games, and while the original Black Flag had some impressive models and scenery, the remake looks even more remarkable. This is best seen in screenshots comparing this particular fort found in both versions.
And here are a variety of screenshots showing off how the Jackdaw, Edward’s main pirate ship, looks in both the OG game and the remake. Click or tap the first image to open the full gallery and easily flip between the screenshots.
And perhaps the most striking comparison image of the bunch shows a villa on an island. Of all the images, this one shows the leap in visual fidelity from the original Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag and the upcoming remake.
I know there will be some who claim the new remake looks worse or lacks soul. And I get it. We’ve seen plenty of video game remakes and remasters that have ruined the original game’s style and look. It’s something I’ve complained about on this very site!
But after flipping through all the new Resynced gameplay and comparing it to the original Black Flag, I think Ubisoft has knocked the visuals in the remake out of the park. The lighting changes look incredible. Black Flag could sometimes look a bit flat, and combined with lower draw distance, it sometimes felt like the game was struggling to pull off its vast and sunny pirate sandbox. Here, in the remake, Ubisoft seems able to fully commit to not only luscious trees and cramped cities, but bathe all of that in lots of warm and bright sunlight, as well as crank up the detail. This is what Black Flag looked like in my brain before I saw the remake, and that’s all I want out of a remake, assuming a studio is making one. I’d rather have a new game using those resources, but that’s a whole different story.
Of course, if you find the new visuals off-putting or not to your liking, don’t worry. Ubisoft has confirmed that it has no plans to remove the original game from PC or console. So you can go back and enjoy that version if you prefer. For those who want the new stuff, you don’t have to wait long. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced arrives on consoles and PC on July 9.
