Although Assassin's Creed: Black Flag is part of the Assassin's Creed franchise, its enduring appeal has always been rooted more in piracy than assassination. Even as the series has moved away from naval exploration, Black Flag remains arguably one of the greatest pirate games ever made, making it an ideal candidate for a full-fledged remake. Despite being a midpoint in the overarching Assassin's Creed narrative, Black Flag is also one of the franchise's most self-contained entries. Black Flag Resynced reimagines the game with a renewed focus on what made it memorable in the first place: the pirate fantasy.

Black Flag Resynced follows the story of Edward Kenway, a pirate captain sailing the Caribbean during the early 1700s. After being stranded at sea, Kenway crosses paths with a traitorous Assassin carrying a valuable prize to the Templars. He kills the courier, assumes his identity, and sets off in pursuit of the legendary Observatory, which is an ancient hidden site rumored to contain an incredibly powerful weapon. For a pirate like Kenway, the greatest prize is the fortune it promises.

Although the story features the familiar conflict between the Assassins and Templars, along with the series' ancient precursor civilization, its heart lies in Kenway's pursuit of wealth, status, and freedom on his own terms. It's a classic pirate adventure, and Kenway remains one of the franchise's most beloved protagonists. Resynced expands on his story with new narrative content that further develops both Kenway and the supporting cast, giving their relationships more depth than in the original game.

One of Black Flag Resynced's biggest changes is the near-complete removal of the series' modern-day storyline. A paper-thin framing device remains: The player experiences Kenway's memories through the Dark Animus, with optional files and notes providing glimpses of events unfolding in the present day. Unlike the original game, there are no regular interruptions that pull players out of the Animus. The story stays firmly rooted in Kenway's perspective. Instead, Resynced presents itself as a new revisit of Edward's memories, building on revelations introduced in Assassin's Creed: Shadows. This approach allows the remake to coexist with the original rather than replace it for players experiencing the series' overarching narrative. While a handful of modern-day sequences remain, they are integrated into Kenway's memories instead of detouring into a hypothetical "What if?" version of his life to advance the franchise's metaplot through rift missions.

I think this change is for the best. The modern-day storyline has always been one of the weakest parts of Assassin's Creed, and few people are picking up Resynced to catch up on decade-old plot threads that were either forgotten or never paid off. While the remake technically omits parts of the original game, I don't think the story suffers because of it. At worst, the pacing of a few cut scenes feels a little awkward, since they were originally intended to bookend trips in and out of the Animus.

For the most part, Resynced is a faithful remake. Its missions, story, objectives, and side-quests closely follow the original game, to the point that existing guides still work for many sections. That faithfulness doesn't mean the game is unchanged, however. The most significant overhaul is the on-foot combat, which replaces the original's drawn-out encounters with a faster, more deliberate system centered around setting up instant kills. The result is a more engaging combat loop that rewards using the correct tool or technique for each enemy. Beyond the combat, Resynced adds a surprising amount of new content. There are numerous new missions and optional objectives, along with a post-game narrative that explores what happens to the cast after the main story concludes.

The combat system isn't particularly complex, but it's fun enough and serves its purpose. Since a single action can often lead to a kill, encounters feel fast, brutal, and oddly more realistic. That said, it's also a very easy system. Once you learn its tricks, nearly every enemy goes down in moments. It looks stylish in motion, but the repetition sets in quickly, feeling reminiscent of Arkham City, only less challenging.

Ship combat also has been revamped. While Resynced retains the same basic combat from the original game, it opens up a lot of new options for the player. For example, you still have four attacks (barrels, broadsides, chain shot, and mortar) depending on the direction you're pointing your camera. Each of those four shots now has a secondary option. You can trade your regular broadsides for a heated shot, which has less range but greater effectiveness, or swap your explosive barrels for shrapnel barrels that shred enemy sails. Improvements have also been added, such as the manually aimed swivel guns from Rogue.

The game introduces a trio of new officers who join the Jackdaw, in addition to Adewale. These officers come with their own quests that offer substantial rewards, but they also unlock new abilities for the Jackdaw. For example, Lucy Baldwin unlocks the ability to Perfect Brace, an enhanced version of the existing Brace mechanic. If you brace immediately before you take damage, it greatly reduces the damage you take. The Padre gives you the Ram-Dash ability, which speeds up the Jackdaw and makes it far easier to use the bow-mounted ram mechanic, but it takes time to charge.

As a result, naval combat is arguably easier than it was in Black Flag, but it's also much more dynamic. Instead of simply bracing for maximum defense, you need to pay closer attention to enemy attacks and respond accordingly. Swapping weapons creates more opportunities to deal massive damage, while lesser-used mechanics like ramming fit much more naturally into regular combat. I think these changes are mostly for the better, since they reward players who understand the combat system and make effective use of every tool available.

The most significant change to Resynced is that it has done away with almost every case of forced stealth in the game, as well as the majority of optional objectives. In most situations where you were previously obligated to be sneaky, the game continues if you break stealth. In missions, such as the infamous stealth boat segments, stealth has basically been removed. On the aforementioned mission, the watch towers are empty, rather than being something you need to focus on. The few places with optional objectives are relegated to side-quests, where the only reward is extra gold. The writing hasn't changed to compensate for most of this, so characters will still recommend stealth, but it's now a stylistic choice rather than a necessity.

The result is that Black Flag Resynced feels like it's trying to minimize the assassins in Assassin's Creed. Being a pirate is way more fun than any of the stuff involving Assassins and Templars, but it also means that numerous game mechanics feel oddly vestigial, even for an Assassin's Creed game. Sure, you can sneak around and use social stealth and try to do things quietly, but there's no reason to attempt it rather than just kicking in a door and shooting a bunch of enemies with pistols.

This makes it slightly odd as a remake, and it reminds me of something like Dead Rising's recent remake, where it smooths out all the parts people disliked, but the loss of friction leads to feeling like something's missing. If you were someone who liked Black Flag for Assassin's Creed rather than the pirates, this remake may seem worse to you. The franchise has always struggled with focus, but Black Flag Resynced sometimes feels like it has given up entirely and just pulled out the rough parts without leaving replacements, leaving some missions feeling oddly empty.

This is a double-edged sword because if you loved Black Flag but wish it spent less time spent on the stealth missions and tailing missions, then Resynced feels like exactly the kind of remake you'd want. I think it is overall for the best. In an ideal world, I'd have rather seen them try to make theAssassin part of the game more interesting, but if it's a choice between that and focusing on the pirate side of things, then Ubisoft made the correct choice.

As for the game visuals, Resynced is a gorgeous glow-up that is massively impressive on almost every level. The Caribbean is absolutely beautiful, and the crashing waves, shining seas and remarkable amount of detail really help make the game shine. The improved weather effects and improved character animations are fantastic, and the game runs buttery smooth on Performance mode. The voice acting is likewise fantastic, and the re-recorded lines sounded so perfect that I had to compare with videos to realize they did indeed re-record. For the majority of the voice cast, I liked the new performances significantly more than the original ones.

Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced is a good but very safe remake. I still had a shocking amount of fun just sailing around and doing pirate things on the wide ocean, but the game lacks a certain confidence, and that keeps it from being a truly exceptional remake. It's a great way to revisit Edward's adventures with fewer rough patches, better graphics, and some extra content. Fans of the original will have a grand old time.

Score: 8.5/10