---
title: 'Assassin''s Creed Black Flag Resynced Review: A Love Letter That Delivers'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=S3Vm9XFjU1A'
video_id: 'S3Vm9XFjU1A'
date: 2026-07-11
duration_sec: 1693
---

# Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Review: A Love Letter That Delivers

> Source: [Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Review: A Love Letter That Delivers](https://youtube.com/watch?v=S3Vm9XFjU1A)

## Summary

This video is a review of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, a remake of the 2013 classic. The reviewer, playing the game for the first time, praises its visual overhaul, refined combat, and compelling story, while noting some weaker new additions. He concludes it's his favorite Assassin's Creed game.

### Key Points

- **First Impressions** [01:21] — After 30 hours, the reviewer confirms the game lives up to its reputation. The remake updates the original brilliantly for modern audiences.
- **Story and Characters** [02:02] — Black Flag has the most affecting story and memorable cast in the franchise. The writing is razor-sharp, with every line counting.
- **Visual Overhaul** [04:02] — The game is rebuilt in the latest Anvil engine, making it one of the best-looking games. The Caribbean is stunning with dense jungles, vibrant seas, and improved weather effects.
- **Performance** [05:14] — On an RTX 4090 at 1440p max settings with ray tracing, the reviewer got ~60 FPS. DLSS balanced brought it to ~80 FPS. On a Steam Deck, with DLSS balanced and FSR frame gen, he achieved 60+ FPS at high settings.
- **Writing Quality** [08:38] — The story of Edward Kenway is captivating, with a cast of distinct characters. The writing is far superior to newer AC entries.
- **Removal of Modern-Day Story** [10:24] — The modern-day segments are removed, replaced by new scenes written by original writer Darby McDevitt that strengthen Kenway's relationship with his wife Caroline.
- **New Quests and Characters** [12:27] — New quests involving Thatch and Bonnet are good, but new officer characters have weak stories. The 'A World Without Gold' quest line is disappointing, ignoring character development.
- **Combat Overhaul** [15:24] — Combat finds a balance between old and new styles. It eliminates weapon swapping, adds special attacks, and tightens the parry window. New takedowns and contextual actions make combat more intuitive.
- **Stealth and Parkour** [19:29] — Stealth is improved with weather and time of day affecting detection. Parkour is agile with manual jumps and back/side ejects, approaching the quality of Assassin's Creed Unity.
- **Ship Combat** [20:53] — Ship combat is excellent, with new weather effects like storms and rogue waves adding challenge. The combination of gameplay, music, and voice acting creates an immersive pirate fantasy.
- **Underwater Swimming** [22:14] — Swimming anywhere is a new feature but doesn't add much due to limited use cases. Chests are clearly marked, and stealth opportunities are rare.
- **Activity Variety and Progression** [23:12] — The game has a good variety of activities without the bloat of modern AC games. Progression is low-difficulty, allowing players to tackle content as they wish.
- **Conclusion and Recommendation** [24:22] — The reviewer believes the remake is a love letter to fans. It preserves what was great and improves what needed updating. He strongly recommends it, calling it his favorite Assassin's Creed game.

### Conclusion

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is a faithful and thoughtful remake that enhances the original without losing its soul. It is highly recommended for both new players and returning fans.

## Transcript

reality. And that's what Squarespace does for millions of other people, too. tools help millions of people start new careers, build new businesses, or just special discount to viewers of this channel, so stick around to the end of
the video to learn more. Okay, so Assassin's Creed Black Flag original Black Flag are pretty well documented since he's never been shy games ever. And given he's already done a 40-minute preview on it that covered a
lot of ground, he thought it would be fun to hand this review over to me, and I was more than happy to oblige. Despite 2026 being the year of many hotly anticipated games, this was actually the one I was looking forward to the most
because Assassin's Creed Black Flag is, in fact, the only mainline Assassin's Creed entry I have not played. I know, I know. Suffice to say, it's been one of considers themselves a fan of this franchise. I think at the time of its
whole pirate thing, particularly the focus on a ship battles since those were Creed 3 and every Assassin's Creed game since. But after years of hearing people praise this thing, myself feeling fatigued by the modern entries, and
by the way is an awesome show that in hindsight acts as a great companion that someday I'd loop back to Black Flag. And hey, as luck would have it, Ubisoft were working on a remake. Having
now played and rolled credits after some 30 hours, I can say that yeah, this game gotten over the years. And I think Ubisoft have done a brilliant job updating it for the modern day. Like, I'm going into this in the year 2026
tell you that Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is now my favorite thing, right? I imagine that had this remake not existed and I instead played the original game this year, I'm sure I would have ranked it very highly as is
because everything in this remake that hasn't changed from the original still absolutely holds up. I I Black Flag has easily the most affecting story and memorable cast of characters in the franchise. It's activity variety and
refreshing when set against the bloat of the modern games. The ship combat is so much more engaging than I imagined it'd be. And of course there's the music. Man, the music in this game is absolutely incredible. With this remake
there's been even more feathers added to what was already a feather-filled cap. Now not only do I think this is the best-written Assassin's Creed game, but it's also the best-looking by virtue of this massive visual overhaul that makes
rendition of the Caribbean while enhancing story beats. The combat strikes a fine balance between the older games and the new, making you feel like a badass pirate assassin, but in a way that's encouraged and earned. And that
combined with refinements to stealth and parkour arguably makes this one of the best Assassin's Creed games from a gameplay perspective. But Ubisoft didn't didn't. Because sitting above all those overhauls are all the brand new
additions. Some of them, like most of the new quests and the ability to swim underwater anywhere in the world, aren't as meaningful as I'd hoped, but others, cutscenes written by the original game's writer, do uplift the whole package. All
told, Black Flag re-synced takes the incredibly solid foundations laid down by the Ubisoft of 13 years ago, builds upon it with the artistic and technical implements all the lessons learned from
them, of course, but I really think that fans of Black Flag are going to be quite pleased with how faithfully this has been updated. And to those like me who are fortunate enough to be playing this beloved game for the first time in this
way, I hope you see legs already for one hell of an adventure.
>> My god, you're a cipher, [music] salty eyes. >> I'm a husband and a father. I have responsibilities. [music] Life can't be all pleasure and distraction, Duncan. All right. So, I think the most obvious
Black Flag Resurgence is the visuals. Now, don't get me wrong. I think the original Black Flag was a great-looking game at the time of its release. But, I remind you that that was basically two generations ago, releasing on the PS3
and 360 back in 2013. So, Ubisoft have rebuilt Black Flag from the ground up in the latest iteration of the Anvil engine, the same one used for Assassin's denying that that was a fantastic-looking video game. Almost
goes without saying then that the same is true of this remake. The Caribbean's cerulean seas and turquoise shallows shine so vividly here. Its tropical jungles are ridiculously dense with vegetation, and its rickety villages and
main ports are crammed with detail and bustling with life. Add to that fancy improved weather effects that often completely change the mood, and Black striking and immersive rendition of the
high seas we've ever seen in a video game. That sense of virtual tourism has defining qualities, and getting to experience that at its peak in the golden age of piracy is pretty damn magical. I'm not going to lie.
thought it ran pretty well, too. Playing this on my main PC equipped with an RTX 4090 at 1440p max settings with ray tracing also set to max and no frame gen enabled, I was hitting around 60 FPS with the occasional dip. Turning on DLSS
to balanced was a lot more comfortable, though, and had me sitting at around 80. expensive rig. I don't have another PC to test it on, but I did play around 10 getting pretty old now. It struggles to play most modern games these days. I
upscaling. Fair enough. But, hey, I was pretty happy with the fact that with DLSS set to balanced and FSR frame gen set to 2x, I was able to play this at set to 2x, I was able to play this at 1440p, high settings, ray tracing also
set to max with a consistent 60 plus FPS. I didn't notice any artifacting or what you will. You might be wondering why I was insistent on having ray be obvious to you watching the gameplay given how much water there is in this
game between the puddles left by the frequent rain and you know, the ocean. I do recommend playing with ray tracing on if you can because those crisp accurate reflections do make a huge difference. >> [music]
>> He's got a pain back and a cream. The little one's been poorly this week, chance. >> Overall, I was pretty blown away by what Ubisoft have achieved here with this visual overhaul. I mean, Black Flag is
not a small game. They've had to remodel, retexture, and replace every while maintaining as much of the original look as they could. It really can't be understated just how much work the art team has done here, and it
say that this is one of the best looking video games you can play right now. This makeover extends to the characters, too, of course, and while I'm sure some may have mixed feelings on their new looks, as is often the case with remakes, I
a pretty bang-up job updating them while remaining faithful to their original designs. Obviously, this added fidelity makes these characters feel more real, but in many ways, it also enhances their story beats. A good example, I think, is
this incredible monologue from Thatch, aka Blackbeard. aka Blackbeard. >> Give your quarry something to fear. Some hellish thing
from a fever dream. And men will drop to their knees pleading for their lord BEFORE ALL ELSE. >> [groaning]
>> PRETTY FANTASTIC CUTSCENE, RIGHT? If we compare this with the original, fine details like wrinkles in his updated model show his age a lot better. And the sizzling fuses light his face in a way that's even more menacing. You can see
the sweat on Bonnet's skin and the tears beginning to well in his eyes as Thatch towers over him. Point is, the new visuals add extra layers to the killer making already arresting scenes like this even more so. I think you can also
though. The new facial animation does appear a little more restrained, lacking furrowed brow. And while the more dramatic lighting is effective, perhaps emphasized how intimidating Thatch can be even in unremarkable conditions. As I
from, these changes didn't bother me personally. And to be honest, I think the underlying performances still come through so strongly that most people, notice them when set side by side like this. But look, as much of a sucker as I
main reason this game left such an impression on me, as the original did for so many others, is the razor-sharp writing. I know this isn't strictly the at least briefly talk about it. Back when Ubisoft were making 20-plus hour
stories instead of 50-plus, packed with properly shot cutscenes and expensive performance capture, they knew they needed to make every line count. And damn did the original game's lead writer, Darby McDevitt, make them count.
The tale of Edward Kenway is so captivating and treated with such a verisimilitude. I love that his quest for a free life is cleverly aligned with this story interrogates that freedom versus control mantra that defines the
Assassin versus Templar conflict, having Kenway witness the price that is often paid in that pursuit and regularly testing his character. Like any man, his motivations wax and wane. Deep down, always meaning well, but could just as
for his own sake if it weren't for those around him steering him back to true >> For Christ's sake, Edward. Don't let anything but the stink of riches wrinkle your nose. >> What's got into you, man?
Reality. >> He's a brilliant character with a brilliant story, and the allies and villains he meets along the way are just distinct agendas and personalities and ways of speaking that make them sound
period, a far cry from what we get in the newer AC entries. Thatch, Bonnet, Bonny, Rackham, Vane, Rogers, Roberts, and more, every one of these characters those who only appeared a handful of times. It's been a minute since I played
known to have piss-poor memory, but I can't recall any other Assassin's Creed game with anywhere near as memorable a cast. In fact, I'd go as far to say it's something that scares few games, even today, are able to achieve.
>> Dash, mate. Buttons. Your life seems a grand one, if I may say. How marvelous. >> There has been at least one notable though, and that's the removal of the modern-day stuff. My understanding is
as a sort of game developer using the Animus for research or something, all of modern-day Templars to extract the whereabouts of an ancient device. In the gone. Again, this is something I expect some purists will take issue with, and I
get it. That meta-narrative added another layer of intrigue and served as the connective tissue between the games. Personally, though, I never cared much pulled out of the immersion and having the more interesting story and
in feel like a bullet point in someone else's story. So, I don't mind that it's felt as keenly, since in their place are new scenes written by McDevitt himself, which, while few, strengthen Black
Kenway's relationship with the wife he left behind, Caroline. >> So, how's it feel to drink like a duke? >> [laughter] >> Edward, my father is a merchant. I've
>> Edward, my father is a merchant. I've had chocolate many times.
>> Like many scenes written by McDevitt, this intro manages to say so much with so little. It puts Kenway's inner conflict front and center, emphasizing that the life he's yearning to give Caroline is one she's in fact already
lived and willingly leaves behind for him. It makes clear that his pursuit to obtain great wealth in support of his loved ones, while a noble, is in most insecurities. Or at least, that's my read on it. There are a couple more
scenes like this scattered throughout the story acting as regular reminders of McDevitt pointing out in an interview with IGN that, quote, "The sum total presence throughout his entire journey." End quote. And I'd say that's definitely
the case. The story additions that I'm a little more iffy about were the new McDevitt since he said in that same interview that the only ones he wrote are two new quests involving Thatch and Bonnet. Those I didn't have a problem
They're short and sweet quests that bring some nice closure to their stories and feel broadly in keeping with the tone of the main game. But then, there's officers. These are new characters created just for this remake, and
them join your crew, opening up new combat capabilities for your ship. To be clear, I think these quest lines are absolutely worth doing just for these combat even more interesting. The stories behind them are not great.
They're pretty cut and dry tales of revenge told with very little subtlety and short-lived character arcs. But the worst part is that they sap all here's an example. >> The man who put you in a box.
Vile business to buy us. So it goes. Should I be spared when others face the box? cannons? >> Well, there are no boxes here.
improvements on the Jackdaw. >> See what I mean? He's just really dry. The only thing he's interested in is what they offer the Jackdaw. And he really is like this in every one of these quest lines. Further, the
cutscenes here do a lot of that stilted shot reverse shot thing that the modern AC games do. And they even have Kenway use that stock hero pose pulled straight we really not have come up with a new pose? More disappointing, I think, is
that these things bleed into the new A World Without Gold quest line. In the of end-game quest line, maybe even an epilogue of sorts. It actually opens up just before you hit the last chapter. And what I'll say is I am thankful that
I did it then rather than saving it for after the credits. I won't go into significance of that world without gold line, I'd hoped for something a little more profound than what was delivered here. It effectively ignores all the
up to that point in the story, resetting him to factory settings, and having him relearn the same lessons only in 2 hours instead of 20, and again without any of story. >> Our quartermaster's not going to like
this. >> Mum's the word, then. gold. >> That said, I do sympathize. It was always going to be a tall task to match the caliber of writing in the original
game. Just a shame they couldn't come a little closer to meeting that bar. The the end of what Ubisoft have added here, not even close. Alongside this huge visual overhaul and these story additions, there have also been several
big and small additions to the gameplay side. So, let's talk about those next.
Now, like I said, I didn't play the original, but I do know how it operates, and I did play a ton of Assassin's Creed 3, which, as I understand, plays very similarly, having only released a year prior. The combat in older Assassin's
Creed games, like Black Flag, was rather binary. For the most part, you could get for each enemy to give the signal to either dodge or counter with a stylish insta-kill. And you know what? It worked, and I quite liked it. Simple as
it was, the minimized inputs ensured animations all wove together smoothly, making you look cool and feel cool all the time. Like many fans then, I was not all that enthused by the move to the widely adopted actiony combat with
blocks, charged heavy attacks, and abilities to cycle off cool down. It prioritized agency over style, style which is core to the Assassin's Creed among some that this remake would be leaning in that direction. Thankfully,
that's not quite the case. Combat in Black Flag Resync finds a happy medium between the new and old combat styles that I think works brilliantly. In our Fu, he said it was inspired by YouTube videos people made with Black Flag,
stringing together cool combos that leverage all the weapons and counter animations. And yeah, what a great place to pull from. I mean, this is kind of playing Assassin's Creed, right? But because the game never really rewarded
awkward having to constantly tap the D-pad to switch weapons, most players did not engage with the combat this way. The design goal then for combat in Resync was to make that style of play the default. As such, the traditional
weapon swaps are gone. The hidden blades cannot be swapped to in combat. They're now only used for stealth kills and the occasional takedown animation. Some will but personally, I'm not too bummed about it. Then when it comes to your pistols,
default, but can be switched to various stealth tools like smoke bombs and the combat then, you're mostly relying on your trusty swords with a basic combo and a new special attack unique to each sword type. A thrust for rapiers, a wide
slash for cutlasses, and as for the pistol swords, well, good news, they to the combat loop, you can still get through many encounters by simply countering, but that loop's now a little more involved. The parry window is a
fair bit tighter than you might expect, and there's now also an extra button animation, which doesn't sound like much, but enemies can and will interrupt does retain that parry loop, but you can't be asleep at the wheel anymore.
what's going on around you, and then that's taken to another level with all those takedowns. You've got a number of quick actions on the right trigger when combined with a button input, kind of like abilities in the modern AC games,
cool down, they're instead reserved for specific situations, almost like a you can break that guard by spamming attacks, but it's much quicker to sweep attacks, but it's much quicker to sweep the leg.
Or if they're near a ledge, you can use it to boot them off. lining up a shot from up high, send them reeling toward you with the rope darts.
fire off a quick pistol shot provided you've got the ammo. be countered in ways that you didn't expect, forcing you to change your
approach. Some enemies will just dodge your kicks or bat away your rope dart. shots, which is not realistic at all, but fair enough. For the most part unstoppable once you've quickly wrapped
enemy attack patterns, but hey, that's part of the fun of Assassin's Creed, or at least it used to be. They're supposed to be a power fantasy, allowing you to as hell while doing it once you've got a flow going. Black Flag re-sinks to keeps
that spirit alive, but by eliminating weapon swapping and offering extra inputs, feels more intuitive, immediate, and deliberate.
overhaul, it too benefits from some subtle additions. Getting spotted during mission, which is nice. You just kick into combat. Kenway can also now couldn't before. And a new mechanic for this game is the weather, time of day,
you're detected. A really great mechanic carried over from Assassin's Creed Shadows, which I personally think had an underrated stealth sandbox. stealth feel so good here, though, is not really to do with stealth at all.
It's just the way that Kenway moves. Parkour has long been a staple of this rightfully criticized for lacking the depth and elegance of the older games. about it here, but I don't expect it will suffer the same criticisms, or at
least not to the same extent. Kenway in re-skinned is very agile, bounding between rooftops, trees, and beams with minimal halts in momentum. The ability to manually jump, back eject, and side eject for a higher skill ceiling and
self-expression are also in here at launch, whereas the other modern entries these. Overall, I think fans will be relieved to find that Kenway feels great of Unity, which is where I personally
feel parkour was at its best, but it's getting pretty damn close. course, is the ship combat. Safe to say my assumptions about how I'd feel about
this were completely incorrect. The ship combat in this game absolutely rules. mind during these naval battles. There's the undulating waves breaking up the line of sight and forcing you to to the arc of your volleys. There's bracing for
incoming fire, they're steering the ship to avoid mortars or land masses, or loose. If you played the original, you know all this already, but the remake's new weather effects give you even more to think about. The storms create heavy
gusts that you need to fight against, rogue waves that you need to steer into, and waterspouts and lightning strikes that you need to get the hell away from.
weather effects are working in harmony with the S-tier soundtrack and the voice acting and the gameplay, it really is something special. Like there was a arousing the crew at the top of his lungs while a terrifying storm is raging
battering the Jackdaw, all while cannonfire is being blasted back and that moment, I was just thinking to myself, holy [ __ ] did Ubisoft nail this myself, holy [ __ ] did Ubisoft nail this pirate fantasy.
is that you can now swim in any body of water, whereas before this was reserved honest, this didn't add as much to the game as I hoped it would. You'd think it'd encourage exploration with chests hidden in all manner of underwater
since chests are clearly marked on arrival to a new area. You'd think it'd expand the stealth sandbox since swimming under water avoids detection, many occasions in the game where you actually need or can do that. So
wish there were more reasons to use it. However, I get that all of this would level design that were probably out of scope for this remake, so I don't fault the underwater swimming gives you just that little bit more to see and do in a
game that's already chock-full of things to see and do. isn't anything new when it comes to activities, but that's unsurprising.
contracts, naval contracts, treasure maps, forts, capturing and sending ships on missions, and more, I think Ubisoft kind of already hit the sweet spot here do to drive progression and get more playtime out of the game, but crucially,
upon you. Recent Assassin's Creed entries ask you to grind levels and gear just to progress the story, or collect near endless knowledge scrolls to access more abilities. Black Flag, on the other hand, was made in the before times, a
progression and difficulty ceiling relatively low, so there's nothing you want whenever it took your fancy. If I was struggling with some higher-difficulty fight, sure, I could plunder some ships to upgrade the
more pistol holsters, but even the toughest challenges in this game could be overcome by playing smarter in my experience. I loved this. I hope that in design, Ubisoft have perhaps gained a new appreciation for it, and that we
might see this carried forward into future Assassin's Creed entries. now. Fine. >> Toward the end of the credits for
Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resync, a note reads, quote, "In 2013, Black Flag was ahead of its time. The Caribbean was a world crafted with love and ambition. Resync is meant to honor the original and serve as a love letter to our
community. Profusion of thanks, your support and love for Edward made this happen." End quote. And yeah, call me naive, maybe it's PR talk or whatever, but that line about Black Flag Resync serving as a love letter, I believe it.
it's clear that what was already stellar, like the writing, performances, cutscene direction, ship combat, activity variety, and progression have that stuff was timeless and would still
right. They also knew what was a little worse for wear, like the combat and successfully raise them up to today's standards without sullying the original adornments, and while not all of them are as meaningful as they could be, it's
still cool that they're here because frankly, they didn't need to be. I don't this remake without all these additions since so many people loved Black Flag was probably going to be enough to sell copies, but it's nice to see Ubisoft not
to preserve, what to refine, and when to simply get out of their own way, Ubisoft have exercised level of restraint and thoughtfulness that I think many of us had begun to think the studio had lost. Thankfully, re-synced has proved that
to some degree, and the end result is a remake that should have fans fall in love with this game all over again while making new ones long into the future. And I know that because it's certainly made one out of me. Like I said in the
Assassin's Creed game ever. It's got the best story, the best visuals, and some of the best gameplay. I had an absolute blast with this from the first unfurled sail to the last. The legend of Edward Kenway will not be one that I soon
forget, that's for damn sure. And for that reason, I strongly recommend that reason, I strongly recommend Assassin's Creed Black Flag re-synced.
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