Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is setting sail this week!

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced: much anticipated, much beloved, and a fan favorite to the Assassin’s Creed franchise. We find ourselves once again taking up the mantle of Edward Kenway. This time more visually beautiful than ever before and padded out with a plethora of new content. Simultaneously like a “director’s cut” version of the game while also being a remaster, Ubisoft is taking the risk of daring to lay a finger on so many people’s favorite Assassin’s Creed game. Black Flag Resynced is more than a remaster, not quite a remake, but something different all together. Seeming more and more with each bit of info that they’ve published that it is more akin to being “what we wish we could have done, if only the limitations of the Xbox 360 and PS3 weren’t getting in the way”. Ubisoft has been kind enough to give us a chance to review Black Flag Resynced ahead of time, and I’ve since beaten the game, but this isn’t the place you’ll be seeing any opinions from me on what I’ve played. Today is the official embargo for the first wave. Wednesday, July 8th, will be the date the embargo releases for reviews, so make sure you check back in for our article then.

So what is this article? This will largely just be informational in regards to what to expect when you boot the game up. The first thing I want to talk about and share is the volume of new content added into Black Flag Resynced. By their own words, they’ve added an additional 6 hours of new story content, both in the main and side missions. They’ve also removed the modern day story line from the original game and have replaced it with rifts in-world, similar to what they did with AC: Shadows. So yes, they have not only added in new side mission content, but main mission content too. This may be of concern to some reading, which is understandable, so make sure to catch our review article on Wednesday to see my thoughts on this.

For what I can say about new content in what they’ve mostly already shared is that they have included three new officers, a bunch of new combat mechanics, and several new ship weaponry options. The new officers each offer new functions to ship combat as well, meaning you’ll find yourself packed to the gills with overhauled ship combat. For the officers, you’ll first find Lucy Baldwin, who adds the ability to do perfect braces to add timing to combat to mitigate damage to the maximum possible. There’s also The Padre, master-at-arms turned priest, who once you convince him to join the crew, teaches you the dash ram ability, which turns rams extremely deadly. Finally, Tobias “Deadman” Smith, master gunner who unlocks the ability to fire an additional time from each side of the ship with minimal cooldowns.

In general on the ship, all four sides offer an alternative firing method. Broadside cannons earn heated shots, bearing down on your enemies with flaming cannon balls with shorter range. Mortars offer Deadman’s Cohort, which allows you to precisely aim the location of each shot at the cost of damage for each. The bow chaser cannons allow you to fire double shot rather than the normal chain shot, increasing general offensive ability from the front. Barrels unlock shrapnel barrels, which tear at enemy sails to slow them down while you attempt your escape. Lastly, you get the swivel gun, which, while not given an alternative firing mode, has been changed to operate more in line with the way AC Rogue handled the swivels. This means you get better free aiming with them rather than the previous lock on only firing from the original release.

Ground combat also received many new upgraded, including on the controls side of things. Combat now uses bumper attacks and parries on controller, which frees up space to make room for all the other new abilities to be utilized. Heavy strikes from holding your attack button allows you to blow through enemy defenses in combat, which is great considering they’ve also added several new enemy types along the way. More swords have been added with special perks as well as trinkets that buff gameplay in general. Kicks and sweeps have been given easy and handy button combos that make combat more simple in action while keeping diversity in moves high. Combat now includes a “poise” meter on enemies, which, similar to something along the lines of Ghost of Tsushima means that constant attacks will break the enemy’s defenses and allow you to go in for the killing blow with your hidden blade. The rope dart also adds new ability to pull enemies in during combat as well as grab and hang them from overhead beams and tree limbs.

In the stealth and movement department, you’ll also now get the ability to crouch anywhere with the press of a button. This doesn’t sound like much, but it’s incredibly helpful and wasn’t a thing before, and assists a lot in sneaking around. Alongside that, the new ziplines will have you moving through the world faster than ever and a manual jump button helps make parkour flow as well as possible. Parkour in general is seeing an overhaul, with the game moving to the newest Anvil engine and getting the full modern day treatment. All parkour is given quicker interruptions and transitions, which means they’ve made it flow as good as modern engines could have. Also in this category, I’d put the ability to dive anywhere, and they’ve modeled as much of the underwater as would make sense to accommodate this new change.

Changes galore abound in this release, and fans are eagerly awaiting with bated breath that the game we all remember from 13 years ago is still alive and kicking under the hood of this sparkly new remake. There’s a lot more to see, and many changes that exist, but in an effort to avoid any spoilers and to ensure I don’t accidentally say too much and start giving my opinions, I will leave you with just what I’ve written above. Check back in a few days to see my full thoughts on all of the above and hear about everything that Black Flag Resynced has in store!

Click Here to pre-order Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced on Amazon