Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Review: Being a pirate has never been more fun

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is perfect for anyone who enjoyed the original game or people who are fan of the franchise.

Exploration

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag stood out from other games of the franchise because of the exploration and material gathering, which is exactly what being a pirate is all about. In other Assassin’s Creed games, revealing Viewpoints and grinding for materials feels more like a chore rather than something to enjoy, at least for me.

In Black Flag, this is the fun part, and Black Flag Resynced takes it to the next level. I have spent so many hours navigating the ocean without a real purpose, just trying to see if I could find something interesting.

So far, I have always found something to do: attacking a naval convoy, witnessing how Spanish and English fleets tear each other apart, doing some underwater exploration, or simply contemplating the view.

The environment in this game is one of the most beautiful things I remember experiencing. The most notable element is the water; how it interacts with light, its movement, and how it behaves with ships under different weather conditions are remarkable.

Land exploration is not that fun because the land map is divided into dozens of medium-size/small islands.

The open-world aspect is diluted in these areas because the few things that you can discover are already displayed on the map (assuming you have unlocked the respective Viewpoint).

Even if exploring land isn’t that exciting, I have to admit that the Parkour is improved significantly. The game is a lot better at understanding where you want to go and there are more climbable things compared to the original Black Flag.

If you played Assassin’s Creed Shadows, you already know what to expect from the Parkour in Black Flag Resynced.

Naval Combat

As Captain of the Jackdaw, you must face diverse types of enemies under multiple conditions. In the early game, you encounter small ships that travel alone. As you progress, you’ll start seeing convoys made of stronger ships.

The controls remain the same, with the difference that the Jackdaw’s weapons have a secondary firing that adds extra versatility. The Jackdaw also has more things to upgrade, forcing you to think carefully about how to spend money efficiently. Especially when earning money isn’t as easy.

My favorite thing about naval combat in Black Flag Resynced is how often small battles can quickly turn into something straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean.

In a matter of minutes, you can be fighting among Spanish and English fleets with a thunderstorm above you, high tides, and a low chance of survival.

Fighting as Edward

Melee combat is definitely more fluid and dynamic compared to the original game, thanks to the new Takedowns, combat abilities given to Rapiers, Cutlasses, and Pistol-Swords, as well as the perks of Legendary Pistols and Trinkets.

With these new additions, fighting enemy soldiers is more entertaining than the original experience. However, once you get used to all the combat mechanics, it turns into something very repetitive. Primarily because there’s no difference between fighting a Spanish soldier or a Pirate Hunter.

There’s nothing wrong with combat being simple, but if you want something challenging, this isn’t it.

Story

The biggest change in the story is the fact that we don’t get to experience the “present day” part.

In the original game, you played a character who works at a company called Abstergo. Your job is to dive into the memories of Edward Kenway and recover footage for their VR experience project.

In reality, this company is owned by the Templars, and they want to learn from your work about a specific place.

As you’d expect, modern-day Assassins are also involved in these sequences. This plot is divided into multiple parts that you experience after completing specific main quests.

This part has been completely removed from the game. Aside from this, the story, scenarios, characters, and missions are the exact same thing.

While Black Flag’s story isn’t particularly interesting to me, I think it was a good decision to leave it unchanged.

Customization

After playing Assassin’s Creed Shadows, I believed that this is where Ubisoft could really spoil us with many new items for both the Jackdaw and Edward. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

The small number of Weapons and Outfits is underwhelming. But I can’t deny that the game has some pretty cool items that should satisfy most players. So far, my favorite outfit is the one inspired in Naoe from Assassins Creed Shadows.

Some outfits can be purchased with real money from the store, but none of them are pirate-themed and are a bit too “extravagant” for my taste.

The Jackdaw customization options are the best ones in my opinion. You can change the look of the Jackdaw to fit your idea of how a pirate ship should look (or not).

It’s a bittersweet feeling, I really like some of the items available, but at the same time, they could have added a lot more. Especially because doing so doesn’t affect the core gameplay in any way.

Final thoughts

Resynced adds new elements that prevent the gameplay from feeling outdated. With takedowns, advanced parkour, an expandable hideout, and customizable HUD being the highlights.

The experience of being a pirate, mission structure, and even voice lines remain the same. It’s incredibly fun but simple by 2026’s standards.

You can spend dozens of hours exploring the Caribbean and doing all types of activities.

The best way to summarize it would be with the following words: Don’t expect something completely new and groundbreaking. Black Flag Resynced is a great remake that remains loyal to its roots while also adding a few modern features and mechanics.

For a deeper dive of what was changed or removed in Resynced vs Original, we have an in-depth overview available. If you have played the original game, you may be curious to learn more before you dive into our guides for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced!