Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's modern flourishes easily make it feel soulless

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced has been out for a few days now, and I’ve been enjoying my time with it thus far.

As far as remakes go, it’s solid. The sun-scorched sands and crystalline seas have never looked so vibrant. Havana is thriving, Nassau is inviting, the Caribbean itself has never looked more alive. But it’s far from perfect.

Despite all of the improvements, there are several aspects to this Black Flag remake that I’m not a fan of. The word I’ve seen floating around the internet is “soulless” and admittedly I felt like this too for a while. Upon reflection, though, I think that’s the wrong word. The right one is unnecessary.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced modernises a classic whilst losing some of its charm

Before we dive in, it’s important to clarify that I adored Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag when it was released in 2013. I finished 100% of the game on the Xbox 360, and when I upgraded to the Xbox One, my console came with two codes.

One was the then ‘next-gen’ version of Black Flag and Assassin’s Creed Unity. I promptly sold Unity and replayed Black Flag, also attaining 100% completion.

So far Resynced has re-introduced me to what I loved most about the original game, the characters.

Edward Kenway, James Kidd, and Edward Thatch are just a few examples of what I’d consider a perfect cast. In the original release, these larger-than-life characters had a way of sticking with you long after you’d turned off your console, whereas Resynced somewhat waters them down like grog. Still flavoursome, but not the same kick.

The voice acting remains on point as most of it is the same dialogue, with a bit of re-recording here and there. It’s the character models that have me a little vexed.

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Visually speaking, they’re a vast improvement. When the lighting hits them just right, or the dynamic is raging behind them, the cinematics are a sight to behold.

Ubisoft

When the gameplay slows down though, there’s something about the characters’ faces that just doesn’t seem right. I think it’s the eyes that bother me more than anything. Perhaps I’m looking through rose-tinted glasses, but some of them just look dead behind the eyes. It felt like we got more emotion and expression back in 2013.

It stands out more when you’re talking to NPCs. These beautifully-made models stand stiffly like well-painted cardboard cutouts.

It’s not enough to ruin the experience by any means, but as pretty as these characters look running on new-gen hardware, it feels like something has been lost on the way, though maybe that’s just me.

What isn’t just me, however, are complaints about the game’s combat. I’m a bit torn on this part of the discourse because I actually like the majority of improvements and additions. It took me a while to come to grips with the new tempo as I’d grown so used to spamming attacks until an execution animation played.

Encounters have become less about how much damage you can deal but rather how quickly you can knock an opponent off balance. Sweeping the leg or yanking them with the rope dart feels much more satisfying than attacking, waiting, parrying and attacking some more.

After a rocky start, I’m enjoying the combat, though I'm at a loss for why Ubisoft would take away the hidden blades as a melee option, and prevent you from picking up enemy weapons like the musket.

The ‘bosses’ on the other hand are dreadful, and I’ve been actively going out of my way to avoid them. A popular example I’ve seen is Julian du Casse, who I air-assassinated like any sane player would. Had I not, I’d have been locked into quite a lengthy and irritating fight like so many other players, and it’s enough to put you off the combat entirely. If they’re intended as a deterrent to not mess up your stealthing, it works.

I should also point out that I had to turn off most of the UI within the 20 minutes of the game. The screen became far too bloated and most of it wasn’t information that needed a constant on-screen reminder.

This probably sounds like I’m being overly negative. I’m not, I do genuinely love Resynced. There’s no denying that it isn’t a vast improvement over the original in many ways. It looks sublime, the pacing is better and the expansions to its gameplay are, for the most part, worthwhile. I’m still a little sore that the Freedom Cry expansion wasn’t included though, and I’m hoping it returns as DLC later in the game’s life.

It’s far from a 10/10 though. Game-breaking bugs aside, some of the changes, additions, and subtractions have been made at the expense of the core experience.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is still a damn good remake though. On a few replays, this could easily become my favourite version to play, but if not, the original still exists and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.