Thirteen years after Edward Kenway first hoisted the Jolly Roger, Ubisoft has remade its beloved pirate adventure from the ground up — and the result is a game that photographs as well as it sails. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced opens with naval battle and a lush tropical island drenched in Caribbean sunshine, a deliberate departure from the "muddy era" of gaming that blighted the original.
The BBC's Tom Gerken, who has played every Assassin's Creed game, described the 2013 Black Flag as among the best in the franchise, mainly due to its setting: players control fictional Welsh pirate Edward Kenway in the 18th-century Caribbean. The original, released in a year that saw Pope Benedict XVI resign, Margaret Thatcher die, and horse meat found in supermarket burgers, was a commercial and critical hit. The franchise has since sold an estimated 230 million copies.
“Ubisoft remakes 2013's Assassin's Creed Black Flag with modern graphics, axing modern-day sections.”
The remake leans into modern graphics. Early on, players dive underwater to a fantastic coral landscape, and the vibrant palette corrects the original's gritty, dark aesthetic. "It is a lot brighter than the original," Gerken wrote. "The new game is filled with bright colours befitting of the Caribbean setting."
Andy Farrant, co-editor of YouTube channel Outside Xbox, told the BBC he was excited to play. "I firmly believe Black Flag is the best Assassin's Creed game," he said. For Farrant, the original's only flaw was "the boring modern day bits" — sections where players swapped pirate life for meetings in a Montreal office. Those sections have been axed entirely in the remake. "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."
Ubisoft chose Black Flag as its first full remake for good reason: though hardly the first game about piracy, it was by far the most successful. The remake arrives 13 years after the original, a wait that fans of the series have deemed worthwhile — especially those who suffered through the "muddy era". Gerken noted that while Black Flag was not the worst offender of that period, it still suffered. Now, with modern tech, the Caribbean finally looks as bright as it should.