Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced no doubt faced many pressures and challenges internally at Ubisoft and externally in the hearts and minds of fans, but developers at Ubisoft Singapore (and the various supporting studios) faced these issues head-on. The result is a Prize befitting Edward Kenway’s wildest dreams. Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag has always been one of the best games in the franchise, not to mention the best pirate game ever, and Resynced doubles down on that while being the best Assassin’s Creed game in the past few years.
On display in every moment of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is the heart and soul that has long defined the franchise. It’s not perfect by any means, and it’ll need to iron out a few rough spots via post-launch updates, but Black Flag Resynced lives up to everything fans like myself hoped it would be. With the open-world direction of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, as well as how it has departed from key tenets like parkour, stealth, and even storytelling, many fans feared the worst: that Black Flag Resynced would ultimately be a nostalgic cash grab. Long before I rolled credits, it proved it was way more than that.
Black Flag Resynced Remakes the Original AC Game with Love and Care
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is an absolute beauty to look at, making the original game look far more outdated than it actually is in every comparison. There are a few weaker moments, sure, where Kenway looks more like a wet dog with heavy eyeliner than a pirate, but as a whole, it expertly polishes and cleans up the original game in every aspect. Old cutscenes often feel brand-new, and vice versa, brand-new cutscenes often feel like they’ve always been a part of the game, and that’s perhaps what makes this feel so special. A bad remake could absolutely harm a very good or great video game, but everything feels natural to the world of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced.
Indeed, a single misstep in the graphics, the gameplay updates, or the littlest of tweaks could have seen AC Black Flag Resynced down a bad spiral it could not recover from, but that’s not the case here. Indeed, the most controversial of gameplay changes centers around the removal of Hidden Blade combat, but the game is made better for it. If there is a single aspect of Black Flag Resynced that was hands-down better than the original Assassin’s Creed game, it’s combat.
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Kenway has a handful of new combat options, as well as improvements to existing combat options, that ensure that the Hidden Blade may be absent, but does not feel like it. Of course, players are still able to assassinate unsuspecting enemies, but in combat, players are forced to create openings with combat options like kicking enemies, tripping them, and/or bypassing their defenses to perform takedowns (which are essentially in-combat assassinations). Sure, players can chip away at defenses and health using standard weapons and that’s fun enough, but creating openings for takedowns is much more fun. That’s combat mastery in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, and it corrects one of the very few issues in the original game.
In the original AC4, Edward Kenway was often a pirate in story but a Master Assassin in gameplay, despite accepting no creed and not joining the Brotherhood until later in life. It created a sort of dissonance that could not hold up to scrutiny of its story and gameplay, but it was easily dismissed enough. The new combat eliminates that dissonance entirely, while still managing to give fans the best Assassin combat in years. Kenway is a scoundrel, a scallywag, a bloody, tricky, and opportunistic pirate—not an Assassin. That can be felt in combat when Kenway is no doubt fighting dirty and using opportunistic Assassin-like tactics, without feeling like a modern take on a classic Assassin like Altair or Ezio. The removal of Hidden Blade combat is the key here, as the replaced combat options entirely make up for it, and there’s no denying that it’s a massive improvement.
The New Content in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag is Made with the Same Care
Not all improvements to the core elements of AC4: Black Flag are that extensive, but all the changes are improvements of some degree. Perhaps that’s what makes it feel so special because, in some ways, it’s an extension and sequel of the original Black Flag, not a basic remake. On top of that, the new content in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced holds itself to the same standard. Everything feels like a natural extension of the base game, not simply new additive layers.
Without going into spoilers, nowhere is this more obvious than in the addition of new Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet side quests, the new naval officers, and the new endgame chapter. These are not crude additions for the sake of new content, but deliberate additions that double down on key elements of the game’s story and who Kenway is. Kenway is a tragic hero, one who is constantly getting in his own way and chasing his dreams to the detriment of those who love him and stand by him, and that remains a key component of all the new story additions to AC Black Flag Resynced.
For example, the new naval officers in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced add new gameplay options to the Jackdaw, but that’s practically secondary to their real purpose. They are important story additions that span the whole game, always adding a stronger sense of camaraderie to the Jackdaw’s crew. When everything is said and done, especially the new World Without Gold chapter, they are as important to Kenway (and players) as Adewale, Mary Read, and Anne Bonny. The fact that the World Without Gold also introduces some of the best ship battles in AC Black Flag Resynced is a cherry on top of the narrative depth that said new content adds to the game.
What Holds AC Black Flag Resynced Back From a 10/10
AC Black Flag Resynced is genuinely the best way to experience Edward Kenway’s tale in 2026—if it has been experienced before. There are a few very slight nitpicks that could impact the experience of the game for first-time players, as well as a handful of technical issues that could harm the otherwise exceptional experience for others. I suspect most of these issues will be fixed with post-launch updates, but the sheer number of tiny issues is noticeable.
First off, I hesitate to recommend AC black Flag Resynced to a newbie because the Animus Hub framing can spoil the game. There’s an early mission involving a certain Pirate where the Animus Hub mission overview, if players save and load into before starting it, spoils a certain’s someone’s motivation, and I cannot say for certain what those descriptions look like for every mission. Secondly, sometimes the tutorial efforts in AC Black Flag Resynced feel lacking, or at the very least, come with little-to-no improvement. AC Black Flag Resynced players unlock the Rope Dart earlier than before, which is nice, but it’s done awkwardly. Overall, the “new player experience” could be stronger, but it’s not especially harmful or anything by and large.
What’s That Weapon?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Black Flag Resynced also comes with its fair share of bugs and technical hiccups. None of it is game-breaking, but it is noticeable all the same. Sometimes, instead of attempting to climb a ship, Kenway would act like he was climbing an invisible wall. At one point, my ship wouldn’t leave port because it thought my sails were still put away (they were not). 99% of these issues were resolved immediately thereafter, but there were enough of them that they were a constant annoyance. That said, the worst of it saw me have to reload and lose nearly two hours of gameplay in the new World Without Gold chapter, which was less than ideal, but those missions are at least worth replaying for the sheer fun of them.
“In a world without gold, we might have been heroes!”
AC Black Flag Resynced is a Prize and Treasure
Long before Ubisoft confirmed Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced was in development, fans were understandably worried about the game. It’s a make-or-break style game for future Assassin’s Creed remakes (even if I wish all mainline games played more like Black Flag Resynced). If Ubisoft did it well, then it could be a massive success for the franchise; if Ubisoft dropped the ball, it could tarnish one of the best games in the franchise. Whether it is commercially successful remains to be seen, but creatively, Ubisoft has never been better.
At its best, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced firmly establishes the formula for new remakes in the franchise, if not what all new Assassin’s Creed games in 2026 and beyond should feel like. At its absolute bottom-of-the-ocean worst, it’s a reminder of what made the Assassin’s Creed franchise the beloved game series it was in the first place.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced releases July 9 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. GameRant was provided a PS5 code for the purposes of this review.
