Thirteen years after it first set sail, Assassin's Creed Black Flag has returned – but the remake has cut a section that once saw players swap pirate life for water cooler chat in a Montreal office. Ubisoft's Resynced edition, played by the BBC's Tom Gerken, axes what co-editor of YouTube channel Outside Xbox Andy Farrant called 'the boring modern day bits'.
Farrant told the BBC he was 'excited' to play it, calling the original 'the best Assassin's Creed game'. The world and characters, he said, were what made it so appealing – 'the chance to dip back into that world with some shiny new visuals and more screentime' is what drew him.
“Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced remake removes modern day sections, brightens graphics after 13 years.”
The franchise has sold an estimated 230 million copies across its iterations. Black Flag, set in the Caribbean during the 1700s, casts players as fictional Welsh pirate Edward Kenway. The remake opens with pirate ships in battle, swiftly followed by a lush tropical island on a sunny day. Gerken notes it 'photographs well' and is 'filled with bright colours' – a departure from the original's 'muddy era' aesthetic, where darker colours were used to make games look gritty.
Underwater, players meet a fantastic coral landscape, as developers show off the fancy new graphics. Gerken says the game 'holds its own' as a big budget title in 2026.
The original, released at the tail end of the muddy era, suffered from that grimy look. The remake brightens everything, befitting the Caribbean setting.
For fans who ranked Black Flag among the best, the wait may be over. But whether the removal of office meetings in Montreal is enough to satisfy remains to be seen.