Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is the definitive version of Ubisoft's pirate classic, pairing meaningful gameplay improvements with a gorgeous visual overhaul that makes returning to the Caribbean an easy recommendation. Its R1,070 price tag feels a little steep for a remake/remaster, but the sheer quality and volume of what's on offer mean you'll likely earn your money back in memorable adventures long before the credits roll.
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Gameplay
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Visuals
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Performance
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Added content
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Value
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is, without a doubt, the best Assassin’s Creed game. It makes sense, then, that Ubisoft would dump a bunch of resources into remaking it. AC Black Flag Resynced is that effort come to life after much, much dialogue, living somewhere between a ground-up remake and a simple remaster.
It’s… kinda exactly what we’d hoped for. We’re hardly the first to remark on the original Black Flag‘s quality, and we won’t be the last. For Ubisoft, it was imperative to preserve the heart of the game, while tweaking the bits that didn’t work quite as well when it was still just a 2013 game. It’s done just that. Rather stylishly, too, we might add.
Looking like a million bucks
Even if this isn’t a true remake, you’re still getting a visual overhaul worthy of the big ’26. Black Flag was far from an ugly game more than a decade ago, but now it’s been brought up to scratch for a pickier audience. Syncing in the middle of Nassau is what we imagined the game looking like back in the day. That’s a good thing. It means that Resynced isn’t just releasing on current-gen consoles for the hell of it. It’s got something worth adding.
For us, the refined visuals are just the cherry on top. It’s the new content, enhanced combat, and improved stealth that really gets us going. Just about everything has been overhauled, from the glowing sunsets that make waiting around for a mission a pleasure rather than a necessity. And the animations? They’re fluid, dynamic, and topped with a secret sauce we call 60fps. You’ll need to sacrifice some of the visuals to get it, but you already knew that.
As great as the graphics look when you’re just hopping from island to island, it’s most noticeable when the action draws to a halt. Black Flag is easily one of the better stories in AC’s checkered past, and the new visuals do a lot to drag the dramatic performances out of its characters. Of which there are many — far more than we remembered.
The talents of Blackbeard (Mark Bonnar), Adéwalé (Tristan D. Lalla), and Kidd (Olivia Morgan) are allowed to shine in a way that the 2013 release couldn’t. Whether it’s more expressive facial models or ray-traced sunbeams hitting them as they discuss something pirate-y, or a mixture of both, we’re not complaining.
Striking the Anvil
Perhaps the biggest question mark surrounding Resynced was just how well it’d perform. Ubisoft has had years to get this right, and with the way things are going, it can’t really afford to mess this one up. That desperation for something close to a hit really shines here as Black Flag Resynced basks in the glory that is the Anvil engine.
That’s the same one that’s currently chugging along inside AC Shadows. But while Shadows is a massive open world that, admittedly, doesn’t have as much going on, Black Flag somehow comes out the other side without a scratch, despite it trying to do just about everything. We’ve experienced absolutely no issues performance-wise.
Considering this is a thirteen-year-old game from Ubisoft that had its share of bugs, that’s impressive. We’re technically playing this on the weakest console possible, seeing as there’s a PS5 Pro upgrade ready. Still, kick it into ‘Performance’ mode — while knocking the visuals down a peg — and you’ve got one damn smooth AC.
It’s not without some jank, though. We technically wouldn’t label these as performance issues, but rather funny little quirks. Occasionally, an animation may not fall exactly how we’d liked, leading Kenway to take a bit of an odd tumble. Or, an in-engine cutscene is underwater because you happened to board a ship in the middle of a big wave. You know, that sort of thing. It’s not a gamebreaker by any means, and mostly served to make us chuckle.
Teeming with life
Ubisoft has combed deep to single out bits that didn’t quite work, and either reworked them or scrapped them entirely. First things first: the modern-day Ubisoft Abstergo missions. Instead of being dragged away from the action right as it’s getting good to wander around a game developer’s office in 2013, those are gone. We’ve heard they’re still there. We just haven’t gone out of our way to find ’em. We doubt you will, either.
The result is a more cohesive pirate adventure that’s all action, all the time. There’s a bunch of new side activities, complete with new voice work from the main cast. Edward, obviously, is at the heart of all of these, and it’s safe to say he hasn’t lost it. It being a proclivity for embodying the character of Edward Kenway to the absolute fullest.
The biggest addition, story-wise, is what the game calls ‘Rifts’. We’ve yet to find all of ’em, purely because they struggle to hold our interest. They’re entirely optional “What if?” sidequests, and meant to serve as a replacement for cutting the modern-day storyline. For example: “What if Edward kept his promise to Caroline?”
In Shadows’… shadow
This might cause a bit of a stir, but we’ve actually always been a little sceptical of the combat in older Assassin’s Creed games. Throwing a quick triangle into the barrage of squares doesn’t constitute exciting gameplay to us. It was serviceable in 2013, don’t get us wrong, but when we heard that Ubisoft has revamped the combat…
We were hyped. That’s it. After getting Shadows under our belt, we were keen for something a bit more fluid, something a bit more fast-paced. Resynced has certainly delivered on that front, putting a heavy emphasis on dodge-parry gameplay that’s especially satisfying and, not to mention, rewarding on the harder difficulties.
We simply can’t list everything that has changed in Black Flag Resynced, so you’ll have to take our word that nearly all of it is for the better. There’s a new trinket system that’ll give little boosts to certain aspects of Kenway’s character, or new takedowns and fighting moves that only make him look like more of a badass. There are things we don’t like, too. The visibility meter is carried over from Shadows, prompting us to turn it off in the settings.
We were simply flabbergasted to learn the original didn’t have a dedicated crouch button, simply because of how well implemented it is here. It makes stealth feel that much more weighty, and much more like your fault when you are inevitably discovered. We loved the ability to fast-travel back to the Jackdaw right from the shore — especially as Black Flag devolves into one big fetch quest once the credits have already rolled.
Still Black Flag
At its core, though, Black Flag Resynced is still the same Black Flag you loved in 2013, plus-or-minus a couple of oddities. You can feel the meticulous love that Ubisoft has poured into this pirate adventure, even if it was a bit of a no-brainer. All Ubisoft had to do was leave the fantastic story alone and add onto what made the original game so good. The visuals feel worthy of a PS5 or Xbox Series X in 2026, and the added story content is magnifique.
We couldn’t go a whole review without at least mentioning the stellar sailing mechanics. Truthfully, this is the reason to get behind Black Flag Resynced, even if traditional AC stories aren’t really your thing. Even all these years later, Black Flag is still the gold standard for naval mechanics. Any ship is up for grabs, and taking one as plunder is just as satisfying now as it was back then.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced verdict
IF there was ever an Assassin’s Creed game worthy of a second chance, it was Black Flag. Ubisoft has managed the tricky balancing act of preserving everything that made the 2013 original a classic while modernising nearly every area that had started showing its age. The visual overhaul is particularly substantial, though it never ditches the game’s identity. Most importantly, it still captures the same pirate fantasy that made Black Flag the high point of the series. For us, anyway.
The only real sticking point is the asking price. At R1,070, Black Flag Resynced feels a tiny bit steep for what is ultimately a remake/remaster, no matter how comprehensive the package is. Even so, we still got our money’s worth in no time, losing ourselves for dozens of hours without ever feeling short-changed. If you’ve never played AC IV, this is the definitive way to do it. And if you have? There’s more than enough here to justify hoisting the sails one last time.
