Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced PS5 Review
Summary: Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is a faithful remake of the highest point in the franchises history.
4.3
Sea worthy!
When the first Assassin’s Creed game hit shelves in 2007, it sent ripples through the gaming world. An innovative, if occasionally tedious take on the open-world action game, it, along with titles such as GTA IV and later Far Cry 3, shaped the genre for years to come.
Fast forward four sequels and six years later, the series had started to feel a little stale. Small, iterative changes were made every year, but nothing particularly game-changing or innovative had been added in quite a while.
Then, as the 8th console generation dawned, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag released to critical acclaim from journalists and players alike, massively changing the formula and revitalising the series. Now, over a decade later, Black Flag has been remade from the ground up in the modern Anvil engine as Black Flag Resynced.
Set during the golden age of piracy in the early 1700s, Black Flag is set to the idyllic backdrop of the Caribbean, with players inhabiting Edward Kenway, a privateer turned pirate, as he seeks his fortune.
Embracing the fact that the Caribbean is largely a collection of islands, Black Flag introduced sailing as a major mechanic, with upgrading Edward’s ship, the Jackdaw, and engaging in naval warfare being an integral part of the game, both on a narrative and gameplay level. While on the water you can tackle other vessels, board them and steal their valuable cargo, which can then be sold to buy upgrades for your ship and crew, increasing their effectiveness. This loop takes up a massive part of the gameplay, and back in 2013 it was a welcome change. So much so that Ubisoft implemented it several more times across future games.
While on foot, gameplay resembled that of the previous games. Find intel, stalk enemies and silently take them out wherever possible, finally escaping the area leaving no trace, other than a suspicious pile of bodies in a haystack.
Black Flag Resynced is largely a faithful remake of the original game. A vast array of changes have been made, however. For example, each of the Jackdaw’s weapons now has a new secondary fire that can be unlocked and equipped through the game. On-foot combat has been overhauled, too. Now, it’s more closely aligned with that of more recent Assassin’s Creed titles. Parries and takedowns, heavy strikes and combos, along with new equippable trinkets that bestow special perks are now a part of Edward’s arsenal.
It’s all going to feel immediately familiar to anyone who’s played any Assassin’s Creed game from Origins onward.
Along with the original story, this new version has brand new content added, with a new chapter to the story, a host of new side missions with new islands to accompany them, and changes made to the modern-day sections to better incorporate them into the story.
Perhaps the most obvious change to Black Flag Resynced is the update to the visuals. In the 13 years between the original release and Black Flag Resynced, graphics technology has advanced substantially, and this is reflected here. Black Flag was a stunning game when it launched in 2013, and still holds up very well today; Black Flag Resynced, however, ups the fidelity of everything to quite a degree. Areas are filled with detail, almost to their detriment (things can get quite visually busy on occasion).
Three graphics modes are available, one focusing on performance, one on graphical fidelity, and a balanced mode that sits in the middle, requiring a 120Hz TV or monitor. All three target an upscaled 4K, with them targeting 60fps, 30fps and 40fps respectively. The main differences come from the internal resolution and usage of ray tracing, with the performance mode using ray tracing for global illumination for diffuse lighting, and the other two modes adding ray-traced reflections into the mix.
Fidelity mode is pin sharp, and definitely looks the best, as you’d expect. Ray-traced reflections eliminate a lot of minor graphical artefacts that are present as a result of screen space reflections. With the game being largely set at sea, almost everything on screen can be reflective to some degree, and in performance mode it can be quite noticeable. With that said, I don’t feel like the drop to 30fps is worth the increase in image quality; performance mode still looks great, and the smoother gameplay makes it all the more enjoyable to play.
Performance in both modes was good; I only noticed a few very minor dips below the intended frame rate across my playtime.
Black Flag’s original audio has been preserved (for better or worse, I found Edward as insufferable now as I did in 2013!), though a multitude of new lines have been recorded for the new content and to flesh out the world even further. Locations feel alive thanks to the dozens, if not hundreds, of throwaway lines that fill the air from NPCs that are present in almost every area.
Final Thoughts
I have no major complaints with Black Flag Resynced; it’s a faithful remake of what is undoubtedly a fantastic game, one that is lauded by many to be one of the best ever made. I don’t love it, though, and I can’t put my finger on exactly why. It’s undeniably a great-looking rendition of Black Flag, and it plays and sounds perfectly fine.
It perhaps stems from the fact that the original game is still fully available on all platforms, albeit locked to far lower resolutions and framerates, and aside from shinier graphics and some new content, this is the exact same thing. It isn’t lost media, or a beloved antique, stuck on some long-forgotten and defunct platform; it’s available right now for anyone who wants to play it.
My personal thoughts on remakes aside, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is a very solid game for the most part. If you loved Black Flag in 2013, you’re probably going to love Black Flag Resynced now, because it’s more of the same with a new coat of paint, for better or worse.
Veterans are going to enjoy revisiting the golden age of piracy, and newcomers get to experience what was still arguably one of the best games of all time.
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