Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced: The Final Preview

[00:04] When it comes to remakes of popular

[00:06] games, it can be quite hard to tell when

[00:08] one project is going to make meaningful

[00:10] adjustments to capture what made the

[00:12] original special, or which will have

[00:14] aged poorly or are just being given

[00:16] cosmetic upgrades that don't make a

[00:18] replay worth it. Based on my time

[00:21] playing through some revised missions in

[00:23] Assassin's Creed Black Flag Reync, I'm

[00:25] feeling more confident that this second

[00:27] voyage on the high seas of the Caribbean

[00:29] will be the former.

[00:32] After playing through a few missions

[00:33] recently, I now have a better

[00:35] understanding of what to expect from

[00:37] this ambitious remake, which included

[00:39] narrative editions.

[00:40] >> Where can I find him? By the docks.

[00:43] >> New options for carrying out my

[00:44] assassinations.

[00:47] and other bits and bobbles along the way

[00:49] that have increased my interest in

[00:51] replaying through Kenway's epic tale of

[00:53] pillaging and unloading flint locks into

[00:55] the chests of unsuspecting lawmen.

[01:07] The missions I played took place during

[01:09] the early part of the story,

[01:11] specifically during sequence three, as

[01:14] Edward is still settling into his new

[01:16] life as a sort of kind of assassin and

[01:18] full-blown pirate captain.

[01:21] If you've played the original recently,

[01:23] you'll recall the part where you tail

[01:25] Julian Ducass's Spanish Gallion before

[01:27] tracking him through a jungle to

[01:29] assassinate him. But this revised

[01:31] version had a variety of changes, some

[01:33] lesser and some greater, which did a

[01:35] pretty good job of showing off just how

[01:37] much work has been put into bringing

[01:39] this classic up to modern standards.

[01:41] These ranged from narrative additions,

[01:43] side quests, boss fight changes, and

[01:46] even the odd collectible to snap up

[01:48] along the way. The biggest update came

[01:50] in the form of tweaks aimed at making

[01:52] the mission more open-ended. For

[01:54] example, the path you take through the

[01:56] jungle in this version is a more scenic

[01:58] route that leads you to a mansion

[02:00] instead of straight to the ship where

[02:01] your quarry hides. Here you can get up

[02:03] to new kinds of mischief, like an

[02:05] optional encounter with some captured

[02:07] pirates you can free to help serve as

[02:09] muscle or just a distraction in your

[02:12] pursuit of Ducass. Doing so causes quite

[02:15] a commotion as they arm themselves and

[02:17] make a run at their captors and take the

[02:19] fight to the beach where Ducass' ship is

[02:21] docked. You can join them in the fight

[02:22] or use the distraction to slip past the

[02:25] guards and get aboard the gallion

[02:26] undetected more easily. This was only

[02:29] one small example on one short mission,

[02:32] but if it's indicative of the added

[02:33] opportunities to approach quests in your

[02:36] own style and are allowed to get

[02:37] creative, as seemed to be the case when

[02:39] I played a handful of hours from a

[02:41] different part of the game last month,

[02:43] then that alone could sell me on

[02:45] spending several dozen more hours

[02:46] playing through this adventure in full.

[02:49] There were some other mostly cosmetic

[02:51] changes to the mission that I noticed

[02:52] along the way, too. Like some new lines

[02:54] of dialogue and story bits from the

[02:56] guards at the mansion.

[02:57] >> We can take him together. I I'll catch

[03:00] you up.

[03:01] >> A newly refurbished interior of the

[03:03] mansion itself, and even a collectible

[03:06] portrait of none other than Ducass

[03:07] himself.

[03:08] >> Ducass is a bit of a dandy.

[03:10] >> Which will be a helpful artifact to

[03:12] remember him by once you've gutted him

[03:14] like a fish and thrown his lifeless

[03:15] corpse into the salty waves. Remember

[03:18] the gift you gave me?

[03:20] >> Well, it answers just fine.

[03:22] >> Small things like these are probably

[03:23] more along the lines of the standard

[03:25] stuff you'd maybe expect to find in a

[03:27] more traditional remake versus this

[03:29] seemingly extra as heck evolution that

[03:32] Ubisoft has planned for Black Flag. But

[03:34] it's still nice to see little touches

[03:36] like this added alongside stuff like

[03:39] modernized combat and massively updated

[03:41] graphics. Of course, we already know

[03:43] that it's not just small added lines of

[03:46] dialogue they've got in store. Since

[03:48] last week, the developers shared with

[03:49] IGN one of the new cutscenes being added

[03:52] to flesh out Kenway's story.

[03:54] >> Walk with us, Kenway.

[03:56] There's trouble brewing.

[03:59] >> Another fairly big change to the Ducass

[04:01] mission was the boss fight against

[04:02] Ducass himself. There are a bunch of

[04:05] changes to this fight versus the

[04:06] original, including a proper boss fight

[04:09] health bar and a significantly longer

[04:11] battle against a now beefy due cast

[04:13] versus the original's wimpy version who

[04:15] goes down in a few hits.

[04:17] >> Sorry about this, mate, but I can't risk

[04:19] you telling your Templar friends about

[04:21] me still kicking around.

[04:23] >> Ducass also has some interesting tricks

[04:25] up his sleeve as he whips out pistols

[04:27] and just starts blasting at you with

[04:29] reckless abandon. Pretty much what you'd

[04:31] expect from an armsdealing Templar who

[04:33] taught Kenway how to fire a gun in the

[04:35] first place.

[04:40] >> Though, if you're like me and prefer

[04:42] stealth, you probably just want to slip

[04:44] in unnoticed and kill off all DAS

[04:46] without any fight at all. I did this

[04:48] during my playthrough as well and can

[04:50] confirm that it's still a completely

[04:51] viable option. Though, it does mean you

[04:53] miss out on a pretty neat fight

[04:55] sequence.

[05:01] One interesting note is that in the

[05:03] original, when you engage in this

[05:04] encounter against Ducass, there's

[05:06] nothing preventing you from just leaving

[05:07] in the middle of the fight to go catch

[05:09] your breath or continue exploring the

[05:11] island. But in this version, the

[05:12] developers have disabled the ability to

[05:14] flee until the encounter is ended. It's

[05:17] an interesting change because it feels a

[05:19] bit weird to remove some of the freedom

[05:21] available in the original. Removing

[05:22] freedom is a Templar thing after all,

[05:24] and we're assassins, damn it. But at the

[05:26] same time, it's a pretty small

[05:28] adjustment that mostly serves to up the

[05:30] challenge of the combat encounter and

[05:32] prevent the silly option to just goof

[05:34] around with the boss by taking off and

[05:36] coming back for no reason. To be honest,

[05:38] I doubt this change or others like it

[05:40] are likely to have any impact on my

[05:42] playthrough at all. But it does make me

[05:44] wonder what other things they've reigned

[05:46] in as they've streamlined encounters and

[05:48] tightened up missions. Here's hoping

[05:50] that there aren't any areas where

[05:52] they've made decisions like that which

[05:54] might take away some of the creativity

[05:55] and freedom offered in the original. If

[05:58] anything, I'd like to see them expand

[05:59] upon the options available to me as they

[06:01] did with the Ducass Mansion examples.

[06:09] >> Every time I've played Black Flag Reynct

[06:11] leading up to its launch, I felt more

[06:13] heartened about this remake, and this

[06:15] time was certainly no exception. I look

[06:17] forward to diving even deeper into its

[06:19] deep blue seas when it comes out next

[06:21] month. For more, check out our interview

[06:24] with lead writer of the original Black

[06:26] Flag, Darby McDevit, or check out our

[06:29] interview with Edward Kenway's voice

[06:30] actor during IGN Live. And for

[06:32] everything else, stick with IGN. Got

[06:36] you. I got

[06:52] I can't lie, that one felt good.

[07:04] Remember

[07:10] the gift you gave me?

[07:13] >> Well, it answers just fine.

[07:15] >> Feist

[07:16] as bold as a musk ball and still have a

[07:19] shark.

[07:21] >> I'm sorry about this, mate,

[07:23] >> but I can't risk you telling your

[07:24] Templar friends about me still kicking

[07:26] around.

[07:28] >> I pity you, Bukeni. After all you have

[07:30] seen, after all we showed you of our

[07:33] order, still you embrace the life of an

[07:35] ignorant andless rogue.

[07:38] >> What's this? His petty lassen the extent

[07:41] of your ambition. Have you no mind to

[07:44] comprehend the scope of ours? All the

[07:46] empires on earth abolished a free and

[07:50] opened world without parasites like you.

[07:57] the torance.