Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced

pirate

its amazing I loved it back then and love it now

Returning to Black Flag after all these years feels incredible. Resynced keeps everything that made the original special while making the experience feel fresh and smooth. 8/10

寒鸦号能飞~寒鸦号能飞~寒鸦号能飞~

The best assassins creed game released in the last 10 years

Repetitive but good if you want to play it for one session and never touch it again

While I have played the original before, I never actually finished it in its entirety. Because of that, while I’ll compare certain aspects of Resynced to the original, I’m mainly going to judge the remake as its own game. STORY (8/10): Playing through Resynced reminded me just how well written Ubisoft’s games used to be. The characters are some of the most memorable and endearing in the series, and most of them feel like they genuinely contribute to the overall narrative. Edward’s character arc is easily the highlight. Watching the selfish, reckless pirate gradually develop into a genuine Assassin is surprisingly compelling, and it gives him a unique journey compared to the protagonists of the other AC games I’ve played. His transformation never feels completely forced, and the story does a good job showing how his experiences gradually change his priorities. My biggest issues with the story come from the new mission content. The writing plummets whenever you venture into some of these additions, and the payoff rarely feels worth the time investment. The characters introduced through these quests are largely uninteresting, with arcs that feel paper thin compared to those of the main cast. The new Dark Animus side quests also don’t feel like much of an improvement over the original game’s modern day sections. They don’t do much to expand the larger narrative, and their main purpose seems to be setting up the next Assassin’s Creed installment rather than telling a compelling story on their own. The antagonists are another weak point. None of them feel particularly threatening, largely because they function more as obstacles for Edward than fully developed villains. The Templar conflict is also wrapped up surprisingly quickly, and the lack of a proper boss fight at the end makes the conclusion feel anticlimactic. GAMEPLAY (7/10): The parkour can feel needlessly janky. It’s surprisingly easy to miss jumps, fall off rooftops, or simply have Edward move in a way you didn’t intend. It’s still perfectly playable, but it doesn’t feel nearly as fluid or reliable as some of the other games. Stealth is another area where the game feels somewhat restrictive. There aren’t many opportunities to experiment with different approaches, and certain stealth sections practically force you into combat because there simply aren’t enough hiding spots or viable ways to maneuver around enemies. It also doesn’t help that enemies seem to like standing out in the open for some reason. The open world exploration and ship gameplay do make up for some of these shortcomings, but the gameplay isn’t always as smooth as I would have liked. COMBAT (7.5/10): Combat is surprisingly easy, even on the higher difficulties. Enemies give you extremely generous parry windows, and successfully countering them can either significantly cut down their health or kill them outright. The combat also feels noticeably less flashy than the original. It’s more grounded and practical, but that comes at the cost of some of the spectacle that made the original’s combat so satisfying. It can feel a little stiff as a result. The ship combat, however, is a massive improvement over the original. There are more weapons and options available, giving you considerably more ways to gain the upper hand during encounters. It makes sailing around the Caribbean feel much more engaging than I expected. GRAPHICS (9/10): The visuals are genuinely stunning. I’d go as far as to say this is one of Ubisoft’s best looking games to date. The environments feel far more vibrant and alive compared to the original’s occasionally washed out presentation. The cities are also much more populated, making them feel considerably more believable, while NPCs actually display convincing emotions and reactions. The improvements to facial animation are particularly noticeable. Characters no longer look like they’re staring directly into your soul during every conversation. There’s much more subtlety in their facial expressions, which makes their emotions feel significantly more natural. Unfortunately, the newly added content doesn’t maintain that same level of quality. Some of the new cutscenes use noticeably rougher animation, which makes them stand out like a sore thumb. The characters show very little emotion and move with an awkward stiffness that makes them look like aliens attempting to imitate human behavior. MUSIC (9.5/10): The music is fantastic and perfectly captures the atmosphere of the pirate setting. The soundtrack does an excellent job of making the world feel adventurous while still maintaining the more somber moments. And the sea shanties are still phenomenal. Sailing across the Caribbean with your crew singing in the background is a feeling that you wont find in a lot of games. ACTING (7.5/10): The voice acting is solid overall, although it varies quite a bit from character to character. Some performances are excellent, while others can come across as fairly lifeless or generic. Edward’s voice actor is easily the standout for me. His performance gives Edward a lot of personality, and there are several moments where he gets to show off just how strong his range can be. FINAL SCORE (8/10): Resynced is a game that reminded me why I fell in love with Ubisoft’s older titles in the first place. It has an excellent cast of characters, a compelling protagonist, beautiful visuals, fantastic music, and some of the best naval gameplay the series has ever had. It certainly isn’t perfect. The parkour can be frustrating, the stealth mechanics are restrictive, the combat is fairly easy, and some of the newly added story content feels substantially weaker than the original material. Despite those flaws, the game succeeds far more often than it fails. It’s a worthy remake of a beloved classic and a reminder of an era when Ubisoft consistently put a tremendous amount of care into the worlds and stories they created. P.S. The Ubisoft Launcher is awful. The game requires a constant internet connection to play, and when the Ubisoft Launcher decides it doesn’t want to connect, the game simply refuses to start. There were multiple occasions throughout my playtime where the launcher failed to connect and effectively locked me out of a game I had already paid for. That shouldn’t be acceptable for a SINGLE PLAYER GAME.