Piracy is back, it seems, as Ubisoft has now officially revealed Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, as teased recently and apparently leaked even earlier.
Ubisoft describes it as a “faithful remake” to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. “Faithful remake” is a term we regularly use here at Gamer Matters, describing remakes that do their best to recreate the same game while making use of modern tech and best practices. Something like the Dead Space (2023) remake.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, the first AC game to receive a remake, is being “built from the ground up” with the current iteration of the Anvil engine (that have historically been used for Assassin’s Creed games), with development being headed by none other than Ubisoft Singapore.
The team that supported Assassin’s Creed III and Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, widely credited to be the team responsible for the much-loved naval combat, and makers of the pirate naval combat game Skulls And Bones, are in charge in making AC Black Flag Resynced, withs support from a multitude of Ubisoft studios around the world including, in alphabetical order:
- Ubisoft Barcelona
- Ubisoft Belgrade
- Ubisoft Blue Byte
- Ubisoft Bordeaux
- Ubisoft Bucharest
- Ubisoft Chengdu
- Ubisoft Da Nang
- Ubisoft India
- Ubisoft Kyiv
- Ubisoft Montpellier
- Ubisoft Montreal
- Ubisoft Philippines
- Ubisoft Quebec
- Ubisoft Shanghai
- Ubisoft Sofia
While modern Assassin’s Creed games, starting with Origins, have evolved the series into an open-world action-RPG, Black Flag Resynced will play more like its open-world action-adventure roots. Parry-driven combat. An emphasis on stealth and parkour, improved from the original. Even the naval mechanics of navigating the high seas on your own ship has been expanded, with some new narrative content.
On top of that, musical artist Woodkid will have a “reimagined track” as part of the Black Flag Resynced soundtrack, to be revealed later this year. The French musician recently was involved in the soundtrack for Death Stranding 2, but he had worked with Ubisoft for promotional trailers for Assassin’s Creed Revelations and Assassin’s Creed Unity.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is set during the Golden Age of Piracy. As Edward Conway, players will be sailing the Caribbean and somehow get entangled in the overarching Templars versus Assassins conflict, all while crossing path with legends of the time including Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, and Calico Jack.
Also, the fine print on the press release of this announcement ensured that Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced on digital platforms only require a one-time download and is fully playable offline. Given the company more or less started a consumer movement against purchased games that become unplayable after live support ends, this is excellent news. Why would a single-player game with no online elements require a constant internet connection to work, anyway?
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced will be out on PS5, PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Store) and Xbox Series X|S on July 9.