The much-loved Assassin’s Creed Black Flag is getting a remake, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. And ever since the first announcement, followed by trailers and gameplay reveals, there has been a steady increase in interest and curiosity levels for the game, both among those who consider the original Assassin’s Creed Black Flag as one of the best in the series, and those who kind of missed it when it was first released way back in 2013.
A remake has to be different, yet at the same time, stay true to the original. If you have played the original Black Flag, here are all the new additions that you can expect to arrive with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced.
Not a Remaster, A Complete Remake
Think of the Resident Evil Remake trilogy, completely revamping the gameplay of the original with a modern touch to keep the game newcomer-friendly. From the first glance at the trailer, Ubisoft made it very clear the direction they are taking the game: we are looking at a complete graphic overhaul from the original, released 13 years ago for PlayStation 4.
When the original was released on PlayStation 4 in 2013, it did manage to blow minds away for many gamers; now, Ubisoft vows to do the same on its new generation release. You can expect:
- Changes to the weather system
- New textures
- New character models
- Latest hair physics
That’s just to name a few; all the things that weren’t possible back in 2013 are now being reforged and remade. Dynamic weather is one of the amazing changes, as we can see the sunset to sunrise, the sun reflects on the water, and the boat is truly otherworldly. We are also going to see the weather in rain with thunder strikes, giant tidal waves.
Combat Overhaul
The game doesn’t follow the RPG formula of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, Odyssey, or Origins; Black Flag Resynced is staying true to its core combat design of the original title, while adding a few touches to make the gameplay more engaging. Here are the notable changes being made to the combat facet of the game:
- Indicators: Parries now flash golden light as an indicator, same with non-parryable attacks with red lights as a sign. These signs or Indicators are designed to help the player understand the upcoming attacks.
- Sword Only: Hidden blades are now exclusive to stealth; you will not see them get activated in normal combat.
- Combat shortcut: If you have played the latest iteration of Assassin’s Creed games, then you are probably aware of the combat shortcuts on both sides of the screen. Basically, they are ability shortcut keys to quickly trigger the action without having to go through the weapon wheel to perform a move.
Stealth Overhaul
Stealth is also getting a good amount of notice, as the original title was more focused on delivering combat than living the assassin part of the game. Now with the Resynced, we are getting a decent amount of stealth gameplay changes:
- Crouch Button: Assassin’s Creed: Unity was the first game to add the crouch button, which made the stealth sections much better. And now we are going to see a couch button in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. No longer do you have to deal with the automatic crouch, like it was in the original; with the remake, we are getting a dedicated button for the action. This will greatly overhaul the stealth sections.
- Trailing Missions: Trailing missions were not the strongest suit of Assassin’s Creed games, where a single detection means restarting from a checkpoint. But Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is changing all that by making the trailing mission less annoying by removing the auto-fail at the checkpoint.
That’s right, if you fail at a trailing mission or get detected by falling off the rooftops, the only thing you should worry about is rushing enemies from all sides instead of dealing with the mission restart screen.
Ship Overhaul
Assassin’s Creed Resynced also promises to bring plenty of much-needed changes to the ship section of Black Flag, which happens to be the most important (and popular) part of the original.
- Seamless Transition: When you board the Jackdaw, the ship in the original, you had to sit through a quick loading screen. While it didn’t feel much, looking back, it did get annoying after a few times. Fortunately, the Resync version removes the loading between the transition from land to water. You can just board the ship and control it anywhere without having to deal with any loading screen.
- Throw your Ankle Anywhere: Park or dock your ship anywhere, jump into the water, and explore the entire ocean at your will. I guess you can swim from Havana to Nassau without the ship to see how long it takes to cover the distance. In short, the entire ocean is ready for you to explore without any loading screen, with a seamless transition between your actions.
- More Weapons: More weapons are added to the ship to make the naval battles even better and more challenging, as we also have to face those hidden legendary ships.
Expanding the Story
We are also going to get a more extended version of the story. If you did like the main story of the original Black Flag, you will get to see a whopping 6 hours more content focusing on the main story. Here are most of the changes you can expect in the story front:
- New Characters: We are getting side content about a new character introduced in the game. During the game’s announcement, we saw many new characters interacting with Edward. It will be fun to see where those storylines end up, merging with Edward’s path of glory and gold.
- Officer Addons: You now have three officers that you can recruit for your ship. The new RPG Assassin’s Creed games did allow a similar gameplay function of recruiting familiar characters in the game to command your ship. They offered an active bonus effect to naval combat and exploration. We might see something similar in the Black Flag Resynced.
- Cut Content: The modern-day sections about Animus are getting cut from the remake. All the running around hacking computers is gone, as the game is focusing on the pure gameplay, focusing on Edward and a little less or not about the unnamed protagonist of the original.
Other Changes:
- No Multiplayer: There is not going to be any Multiplayer in the remake. The original had a Multiplayer system, but it was hard to make it work. As most of the time the Multiplayer tile on the main menu sat greyed out, tagged as offline. The remake is taking out the entire Multiplayer section of the game, making a pure single-player authentic experience.
- Pet Animals: On the collectible front, we are getting a monkey, a parrot, and a cat as our pet animals for our venture to the sea.
- New Shanties: We are also getting new shanties for the crew to sing out loud, when you are basking in the sunset, in the middle of nowhere. Overall, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced promises to deliver more of Black Flag while staying true to the original and putting the modern-day Animus element to the side.
- Difficulty Modes: Now you can play the game at greater difficulty to make the normal hand-to-hand combat and the naval combat more challenging. If you have mastered the game, you can switch the difficulty to hard or even harder. There is also a customization option when it comes to difficulty; you can set a personalized difficulty for your game.
That’s it, now you are all caught up with the changes of the Black Flag Resynced over the Black Flag original title. The graphics will introduce the series to the newcomers, and the changes will make the new run for the game feel fresh for the long-time players of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag.
