Assassin's Creed Black Flag Remake Sails In After 13-Year Wait

Thirteen years after its original launch, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has been released — a remake from the ground up that ditches the 'muddy era' of gaming for bright Caribbean colours. The original game, released in 2013, suffered from the darker palette developers used to make games look gritty. Now, the remake is 'filled with bright colours', according to the BBC's Tom Gerken, who played it. It opens with pirate ships in battle, then a lush tropical island on a sunny day. Early on, players dive underwater to find fantastic coral landscapes — the developers keen to show off the fancy new graphics. The Assassin's Creed franchise is one of the most popular in gaming, having sold an estimated 230 million copies. 'I firmly believe Black Flag is the best Assassin's Creed game,' said Andy Farrant, co-editor of the YouTube channel Outside Xbox, who told the BBC he was excited to play it. For Farrant, the original's only downsides were 'the boring modern day bits' — meetings and water cooler chat in a Montreal office — which the remake has axed. 'The world and the characters of Black Flag is what made it so appealing,' he added. 'The chance to dip back into that world with some shiny new visuals and more screentime.' The remake centres on fictional Welsh pirate Edward Kenway in the 18th-century Caribbean. Ubisoft chose Black Flag as the first game in the series to remake because it was the most successful pirate game. Gerken, who has played every Assassin's Creed, ranks Black Flag among the best. He noted that the new game 'photographs well', hoping to live up to the original's legacy.