Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Review: Edward Kenway Gets New Life

After more than a decade away from the Caribbean, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced has reportedly done the one thing many re-releases struggle to achieve: it makes the original feel newly playable, and it reframes Edward Kenway’s pirate-and-Templar mess into a cleaner, more character-driven adventure. The biggest surprise isn’t the prettier world—it’s how the remake’s changes (especially the removal of the modern storyline) help the game’s core story and pacing land with far less friction.

Release window, platforms, and what’s being reviewed

The review was written from the perspective of a long-time player who hadn’t touched Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag in 13 years, despite having spent 12–13 years ago with a great deal of playtime on the original. Their expectation going in was that the game would irritate them the same way it did back in 2013—especially around how they remembered Edward as a difficult fit emotionally. Instead, after roughly 30 hours, they finished the main story “with a wide smile,” calling it the best Assassin they’d played in more than a decade.

A second first impression for Edward Kenway

At the center of the remake is Edward Kenway, a pirate who disguises himself as an assassin while moving through a war between two factions—Templars and assassins—over control of an observatory connected to the long-gone “First Civilization.” In the original, the reviewer felt they never truly connected with Edward’s logic or emotional arc; in their words, Edward had always been “a jerk,” and the story’s path from boyish obsession to seasoned maturity didn’t fully land.

In Resynced, however, they argue Edward’s journey reads more convincingly. They cite a mix of factors: updated visuals, cutscene improvements, and the removal of certain mission distractions (examples given include objectives like killing multiple enemies by exploding a barrel). They also highlight new quests designed to deepen Kenway’s character. Most importantly, the modern framing—previously a source of debate for fans—has been cut out entirely.

Modern-day Abstergo sequence is removed, and the story feels tighter

In the 2013 version, players moved through Abstergo’s office space, interacting with monitors and buttons and reading emails to connect the present-day conflict with the historical narrative. The reviewer describes this as a detour that made little sense for everyone who wasn’t specifically invested in the series’ lore.

Resynced removes that modern storyline and the associated framing structure. The result, per the review, is that the narrative feels like you’re following Edward’s life directly—without the sense that you’re watching him through an Animus simulation. They say the removal of the modern thread makes the story more coherent and gives Edward room to breathe as a human character with ambitions and a past.

To partially compensate for the absence of modern chapters, the remake adds “fractures”: platform-style side stages in an Animus-like presentation that offer alternate takes on Edward’s story while still reminding players that the Templar conflict persists in the present. The reviewer notes these added segments aren’t particularly thrilling, but they do exist as an extra layer beyond the main campaign.

Side content that doesn’t feel stapled on

Beyond story cleanup, the remake expands the “pirate business” with additional officer recruitment quests. These officers unlock different ship abilities—such as double salvos and ramming—though the reviewer stresses they aren’t just generic additions. Recruiting them requires completing missions with well-written characters, including a noted example involving Padre, described as a pirate priest, with revenge-centered quest chains.

The review also points to new NPCs, including a butler character in the player’s residence that can be developed similarly to the original. Some older characters receive expanded background and, in one case the reviewer considers especially moving, a conclusion that they say lands better than expected. Another character that previously appeared by name but used a more generic model reportedly gets a distinct, more convincing (and more unsettling) appearance, along with a longer quest chain that can be completed later in the game.

Remake presentation: same game, rebuilt using Anvil

Black Flag Resynced is presented as a full remake of the 2013 release rather than a simple enhancement pass. The review claims the same dialogue lines, cutscenes, and locations are present, but everything has been rebuilt on a newer version of Ubisoft’s Anvil engine—an approach previously associated with Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Visually, the reviewer says the remake is hard to criticize. They specifically call out environments like jungles, tropical islands, cliffs, waterfalls, rivers, and ocean areas. They also mention that storms and weather effects look especially impressive, with visibility dropping to only a few meters during certain conditions. HDR and ultrawide support are also called out, along with fewer loading screens—most notably that traveling to a major city no longer involves the same “arrive then load” behavior described for the original.

Character models are described as entirely redesigned as well. Edward Kenway’s higher-detail facial presentation, including more visible eye makeup, initially reminded the reviewer of Tim Minchin (as a humorous comparison), while other named figures—Adewale, James Kidd, Blackbeard, and Woodes Rogers—are described as credible and faithful to their personalities.

Mechanics stay close to the original—navigation, diving, and progression

Mechanically, the review frames Resynced as “mechanically the same, but different,” emphasizing it still plays like the older Assassin’s Creed the reviewer remembers. Parkour and movement are said to be improved, with fewer instances of snagging on obstacles or misdirected leaps (though some bricking mishaps still happen, described as an unavoidable risk of the system). The reviewer also notes the remake avoids the simplified climbing style associated with newer entries, instead keeping a parkour approach that pushes players to find suitable walls.

Diving is also described as changed: rather than being limited to specific points like in the original, players can dive anywhere. The review adds that this doesn’t necessarily create a reason to dive deep in the open ocean, but the option exists. The reviewer also highlights a return of bell-diving sequences meant for locating treasure while avoiding sharks.

Exploration remains centered on classic Black Flag activities: collecting bottles, opening chests, finding Mayan stelae, hunting animals and crafting Edward gear (including health and additional tranquilizer arrow capacity), and treasure-hunting using maps marked with a red “X.” They recommend not trying to complete every collectible immediately, saying the main story is worth letting play out first.

Ship combat and officer-driven upgrades

Naval battles are described as still fun and still using the same foundational tactics. If the player’s ship is seized by a legendary enemy early on—before ship upgrades are purchased—an enemy salvos approach can sink the player quickly. As a solution, the review describes boarding: eliminate one ship target to enable a boarding action and then use that window to deal with remaining threats while repairing the ship.

The remake adds more tactical options via officer recruitment and fort attacks. Examples include a “rain of fire” mode for cannons that can be controlled in real time, and the ability to convert barrels into shrapnel attacks. The reviewer says it remains possible to finish the game without fully maximizing the ship’s upgrades, noting they completed the campaign primarily with one fully upgraded system: armor for increased durability.

Combat remains the series’ long-running weak spot

While praising the remake’s clarity and tone, the review returns to a familiar complaint: close-quarters combat hasn’t solved the problems the series has carried for years. The reviewer describes it as not “fatal,” but still the same style they’ve criticized since the early days.

They outline a defensive/parry system that doesn’t automatically trigger a full counter but instead reduces an enemy balance meter, allowing dramatic takedowns once it’s depleted. They also mention strong attacks, including weapon-specific alternative attacks (sabers that can shoot, for instance). Perks exist for weapons, while trinkets are described as passive modifiers that support abilities like faster balance depletion. Other combat tools return—kicks to send enemies off ledges or knock them down, sleep arrows, berserker-inducing arrows, smoke bombs, and a grappling line they largely didn’t use.

At the same time, the reviewer says they enjoy Edward’s power fantasy: entering enemy bases and finishing opponents with flashy finishers is satisfying, even if the underlying combat isn’t especially engaging. They also note a repeated immersion-breaking animation issue involving double assassinations on seated enemies, where characters can stand unnaturally due to missing animation support for seated victims.

They also report performance issues: the game ran well overall, but they were forced out to Windows five times during their session—more often toward the end of the game—while playing without a day-one patch and on a graphic driver version different from the one recommended.

The big takeaway: “good, because old”

The review’s conclusion is that Black Flag Resynced feels more compelling than newer entries because it restores what made the original attractive: a pirate setting that supports the assassins-versus-templars premise in a straightforward, easy-to-follow way. The reviewer also contrasts the “older Ubisoft” approach to narrative and dialogue with modern tendencies, arguing that the remake’s characters speak believably and don’t try to force philosophical debates into every conversation.

They ultimately present Resynced as a remake that captures the best parts of Black Flag while improving the presentation and tightening the story through the removal of the modern storyline. If Ubisoft intends to continue remaking earlier entries, the reviewer expresses hope it will approach them with the same level of care and reinvention—because, in their view, this one remembers what players actually came for.