Any time that someone has asked me what my favourite game is, without hesitation, I have always confidently stated Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. Hands down, no contest. So when we first heard rumours (so many years ago) about a remake of this iconic game, my gut instinct was elation. However, the closer to the official release of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced we got, the more nervous I became. What if the game isn’t as good as I remembered it being? What if how I remembered it was so built up in my head and nostalgia won out over reason and fact? I hesitated as I started up the game, hoping beyond hope that it would feel as great as it did before, that I would be re-immersed in the “Golden Age of Piracy,” setting sail across the Caribbean with the same wonder.



The team at Ubisoft Singapore have spoken about how much pressure they felt to make sure that the new Resynced version remained true to the spirit of the original Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. I can’t imagine the weight of holding a generation of gamers’ memories in your hands, but damn, they nailed it! Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced looks incredible and feels amazing. Using the new Anvil engine, the team have brought back not just the Golden Age of Piracy, but personally, my own Golden Age of Gaming.



The tricky thing about a remake is that a great percentage of the players have most probably at least played a good portion of the game. Then you have an entire generation of players who would be new to the title. There’s a balancing act between serving the story in a way that is true to the original, yet keeping it feeling fresh. Old players could potentially feel like some things could remain unsaid and be understood, yet new players could feel like they are missing important elements. The team at Ubisoft have managed to avoid both of these pitfalls.

There’s a balancing act between serving the story in a way that is true to the original, yet keeping it feeling fresh.

Now, understand that I am a huge fan of the story of pirates - the fiction and the real stories behind the popular names. I devoured the original game, I have cosplayed pirates, I have a pirate-inspired tattoo. I learned all the shanties. Yet while playing Resynced, I managed to have that rare feeling of still feeling emotion for the characters. They made me smile, laugh, feel sad and think about the issues that they have to deal with in the story in a very real way. Even though I know the arcs from the original game, I still felt invested and connected to them.



Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced has also managed to add to these original stories in some interesting ways - ways that somehow made some of them feel sadder and make you feel a little deeper for the characters. They have also added “Rifts” which I guess are best described as alternative “what if…?” scenarios that do make you think a bit about the choices that were made and how they shaped the story to where it ends up. I might say something a little controversial here, so if you enjoy the Abstergo storyline from Assassin's Creed, please jump ahead. These Rifts seem to have taken the place of the jarring return back to the “modern world” through the animus and I could not be happier. I would always roll my eyes in the original game when my time singing shanties was interrupted by Desmond and Abstergo, so I’m thrilled to not have to endure that.

Even though I know the arcs from the original game, I still felt invested and connected to them.

The thing that Assassin's Creed: Black Flag got right (even so many years ago), was the combination of both person-to-person combat and naval combat. A few have tried (and failed) to create pirate games that replicate this, but the Resynced team have waltzed in and done it wonderfully once again. It doesn’t feel like two separate games or like you are playing two different characters - It’s the embodiment of being a true pirate. Pirates fight with everything they have because it’s what they believe in. Naval combat does feel smoother and there are some improvements to some ship weapons, and land combat has also had some improvements that make it flow better.



Look, it’s still an Assassin's Creed game, so you are going to desyncronise because your character decides to backflip off of a tower instead of grab the ledge above. It’s expected - like feeling warm when you step into the sun. I won’t lie, I would probably feel a little cheated if that didn’t happen at least once in the game. Resynced still has some graphic issues - clothing clipping into furniture, weapons that don’t quite look natural (or glitch during cutscenes). Nothing that breaks the game so far, although there are some known issues with some quests not progressing that Ubisoft has already addressed.

It doesn’t feel like two separate games or like you are playing two different characters - It’s the embodiment of being a true pirate.

I do, however, think there needs to be some attention on the ambient audio. Using the default settings, I had major issues where my own footsteps seemed to be too far away and lagged, so I kept turning around to see if there was someone else there. There was also an issue with some pigs (the oink-oink ones) during a mission that started to sound like they were hanging on my back and making piggy snorting noises directly in my ear. I played around with some of the settings, turning the ambient and character-made noises down, and this seemed to mostly help.



For me, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced is exactly what it was supposed to be. It’s a narrative, story-lead game with no complicated skill tree or progression systems. The emphasis is living a rich life during the time of pirates, having the stories of the legends shape around you as you plunder and pillage your way to fortune. It’s linear enough that the main story and side stories are easy to keep track of, yet open enough that you can explore, uncover, and live your best pirate life.



There’s enough new content to keep the OG players interested, yet the story remains intact for the players new to the title. As an absolute die-hard fan of the original game, I couldn’t ask for a better remake to this incredible title, and I can’t wait to see what additions we get to the new one in the future. Did I also mention that you can now feed turtles and chickens and pet cats and dogs? Bliss. Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced has me hooked right back into the story, and you won’t see me leave her anytime soon, Johnny.

Reviewed by Sheree Steenkamp | Review code provided by Ubisoft | Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced is available to purchase for R1,199