Assassin's Creed Shadows received what is supposed to be its final update ahead of the release of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced. But fans have noticed that the Black Tides update has left things open for more Yasuke and Naoe content.

Spoilers for Assassin's Creed Shadows' Black Tides update follow

Despite being promised as the "real ending" to Yasuke and Naoe's story, fans have discovered that things aren't quite as final as expected. As Assassin's Creed fan account Zephryss reports, "We might get a New Assassin's Creed Shadows DLC or even a sequel in the future."

At the end of the quest, Yasuke suggests passing the magic cube macguffin to the mortal enemies of the Templars, in order to keep it out of their hands, to which Naoe responds – spelling it out – "You think we should contact the Brotherhood of Assassins," adding, "maybe one day we'll seek them out."

So while Black Tides was supposed to be the finale for the duo, many now speculate that this won't be the case. According to Zephryss, associate game director Simon Lemay-Comtois hinted during the now-archived Assassin's Creed Shadows anniversary stream that, just as Assassin's Creed Mirage received surprise DLC last year, over two years after it launched, anything is possible for the future of Shadows.

Although this may not manifest in a proper sequel for Assassin's Creed Shadows, as – aside from the Ezio trilogy – it's not exactly a series that sticks with its protagonists for more than one game.

However, the series has in the past brought back characters in future entries or DLC expansions, most notably being the return of Assassin's Creed Odyssey's Kassandra in Assassin's Creed Valhalla's DLC. So perhaps we see Naoe and Yasuke return as supporting characters in a future entry, or more DLC in a few years' time. Plus, the DLC hints at more Basim, so perhaps there's room for crossover in whatever he does next.

Ubisoft admits Assassin's Creed Shadows' story didn't land "as we hoped," so its final update is trying to fix it

Assassin's Creed Shadows' final update is here, and fans have discovered that it also adds references to a couple of familiar faces from the series' past.

As highlighted by a fan on Twitter, there are a couple of particularly interesting new data files to unlock in Assassin's Creed Shadows latest patch. Under the "Animus Precedents" section, you can see a file titled Alruh.

"In the 860s, a Hidden One (FYI, a 'Hidden One' is basically a Retro Assassin) named Basim encountered a machine called the 'Alruh,' which is the Arabic word for 'the spirit.' (FYI 'Animus' is the Latin word for spirit)," it begins. "This strange machine was designed to see the past, by reading Isu devices called 'Memory Seals' which as far as I can tell were like prehistoric blu-rays that contain genetic memories.

"Basim seemed like an interesting dude, but people around here get squirrely when I ask about him. Why? What happened to him?"

Very interesting indeed. For fans, this is somewhat of a blessing and a curse – despite it being a cool mention, it's just made some hungrier for more. "I want a proper continuation of Basim from Valhalla's modern day, not just some random text files that don't mean anything," one writes. "About fucking time... his modern day in Valhalla was excellent... we need more of him," says another.

Basim isn't the only one mentioned in the new update. Assassin's Creed Odyssey's Kassandra also gets a shoutout in the "Aletheia's Trials" data file, discussing the Isu and their technology. "The Brotherhood still has access to a memory stream for a mercenary in Ancient Greece, named Kassandra," it says. "She encountered a digital apparition of one of these beings, named Aletheia. Aletheia used her own memories to create a series of training simulations for Kassandra to experience through a machine."

When Shadows' last update launched earlier this week, associate game director Simon Lemay-Comtois teased that "there are many Easter Eggs, as well as direct and indirect references to previous games," so we knew to keep an eye out for this sort of stuff.

"The more you know about the existing lore, the more layers you'll find to enjoy and make connections with," he said at the time. "And with Domains, just wait till you see some of the higher-tier rewards we've hidden in there. You might want to take a closer look at some of them in your Hideout to read their descriptions, too."

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has great news for completionists: "no achievement can be missed," and none are tied to a difficulty setting, either.

I am very much not a completionist when it comes to games, but I understand the compulsion. There's a certain ownership of a game you can only earn yourself by checking off every single little thing it has to offer, and often times, that final checklist is the list of achievements you can unlock. Unfortunately for many completionists, many of those achievements are often tied to things like difficulty settings, or activities that can only be completed if you're connected to the internet, or worst of all, branching paths that require you to play through the game multiple times. Thankfully, Ubisoft has confirmed that Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced, the upcoming remake of one of the best pirate games of all time, won't have any of that bologna tied to the achievements system.

As it did with Assassin's Creed Shadows, Ubisoft published the full list of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced achievements on Steam and, with the exception of the "hidden" ones, what you need to do to unlock them. It also confirmed three crucial details that any self-respecting completionist will be glad to know: "Available from day one, all achievements are the same across Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation.
All achievements will be unlockable no matter which difficulty level you choose," the studio says. "Plus, no achievement can be missed during the adventure. You also won’t need a connection to earn any of the achievements."

In any game, but particularly those of the massive open world variety that the Assassin's Creed series has come to embrace in recent years (with rare exceptions like Mirage, of course), it's a huge inconvenience for completionists when certain trophies are only accessible in replays, potentially adding many hours to the task of getting each and every one. Again, there is no world where I have the patience for that no matter how convenient it is, but I'm happy for the Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced players who are looking forward to that 100%.

These are the best Assassin's Creed games you can play right now.

The new and final Assassin's Creed Shadows story update, Black Tides, is here to bridge the narrative gap between Ubisoft's latest mainline open world behemoth and the story contained in the upcoming Black Flag Resynced, but the update has another purpose: it's the "real ending" to Naoe and Yasuke's story, and a remedy to some of the main game's lackluster storytelling, according to Ubisoft.

In the announcement writeup for Black Tides, Ubisoft acknowledges one of the most common criticisms of Assassin's Creed Shadows. While the game has largely been praised for its engaging open world, combat, and dual protagonists, GamesRadar+'s Assassin's Creed Shadows review echoes many in saying the story could use some work and in particular, its ending is "disappointing." Ubisoft all but co-signs that sentiment today, describing Black Tides as a story-focused update that ties everything together and leaves players with a more satisfying conclusion.

"We acknowledge some story elements from the main game that the community didn't resonate with as much as we hoped, so we're taking those elements and that feedback and trying to put them to good use and address them in this final chapter," says associate game director Simon Lemay-Comtois. "I hope the community is satisfied with where we leave our two protagonists – and hopefully get even more excited for Black Flag Resynced in the process."

Lemay-Comtois says the Black Tides update is specifically geared toward "narrative-driven players looking for deep lore and more Templar action." The final mission, which can only be accessed once you've beaten the main campaign and the A Critical Encounter and A Puzzlement quests, is a "story-capper" with about two hours of new content "wrapping up Naoe and Yasuke's adventure." Crucially, Black Tides also adds Assassin's Creed Shadows' final Rift mission, titled Horizon, which Lemay-Comtois says connects Shadows' and Black Flag Resynced's modern day meta narratives.

Finally, Lemay-Comtois says to be on the lookout for "many" (his emphasis) Easter eggs in Black Tides, which include both "direct and indirect references to previous games" in the series. "The more you know about the existing lore, the more layers you'll find to enjoy and make connections with," he adds.

Here's how we ranked the best Assassin's Creed games.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is on the verge of getting its final content update, and Ubisoft has just lifted the veil on what to expect. A free update on June 16 will give us a final quest bringing Naoe and Yasuke's story to a close, while other additions will offer some final gameplay challenges and give us some unlockables to bridge the gap over to Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced.

"A new threat washes ashore," Ubisoft's official rundown of the new story quest begins. "Two elite-level Templars known as 'Black Cross' are called to Japan to hunt Naoe and Yasuke for all the trouble they have caused. But as is often the case with the Templar Order, those Black Cross may have additional goals of their own: It's up to our two protagonists to prevent them from acquiring whatever they seek – and manage to stay alive…"

You'll need to have completed both the original game's main story as well as the A Critical Encounter and A Puzzlement quests in order to access this new mission. In the video below, associate game director Simon Lemay-Comtois teases that these three missions constitute the game's "real ending," and I don't know whether to be excited or upset by that declaration after how disappointing I found the game's conclusion at launch.

On top of the Black Tides story quest, the update also adds "a brand-new Animus activity that will put your RPG build crafting skills to the test." Called Domains, this will be a series of challenge levels that'll let you earn a host of new end-game gear and other upgrades.

And finally, this update also kicks off a pair of Projects – essentially battle passes – that'll offer rewards in both Shadows and Black Flag Resynced, and you can progress them in both games. The video above teases some pirate-themed gear for Naoe and Yasuke in Shadows, as well as some Japan-themed outfits for Edward Kenway in Black Flag. Hopefully this'll all make the wait for Resynced a little easier to bear.

Here are all the upcoming Ubisoft games you need to know about.

Something wicked this way comes, and maybe something stealthy. Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe is one of the next upcoming Ubisoft games on the horizon after Black Flag Resynched, and if the latest leaks turn out to be true, it might be the game I’ve dreamt of for a decade.

According to a "prominent" Ubisoft insider on Reddit, Hexe will allegedly be set in the medieval German town of Würzberg. It's an incredibly ambitious move, if true, possibly delivering the first single-location RPG the franchise has ever seen. 2023's Assassin's Creed Mirage gave us a taste of classic city-stealth Creed back in action, something I adored about Unity and Syndicate and mourned the loss of when Ubisoft widened its scope for the RPGs entries shortly after. With massive renditions of ancient Egypt, a Viking Britain, and the Greek islands during the Peloponnesian War, these games still amount to some of the best third-person RPGs ever – but sprawl leaves no shadow to hide in.

Hexe has an incredible opportunity to splice those two worlds together, iterating upon not only Ubisoft's intentions for the franchise going forward (and what the publisher will look like from hereon out), but how it will use a little genre-blending witchcraft to finally make this series feel like itself again.

Toil and trouble

I don't usually put too much stock into the rumor mill. Hell, those Resident Evil 9 leaks reeked from the start, and I only hurt myself by entertaining them. But the truth is that Ubisoft needs to do something bold right now, and cross-breeding its two Creed genres for something fresh makes perfect sense for the publisher – especially right now.

It's been a rough 12 months for Ubisoft. In a move to course-correct from a period of declining stock price, a massive company-wide restructuring announced in January 2026 saw a number of internal studios closed, games canceled mid-development (RIP Prince of Persia remake), and the grouping of specific IPS under new "creative houses" built around specific purposes. Its latest earnings call simply pointed out the writing on the wall: as Ubisoft's "targeted premium games," there's a lot of pressure on games like Assassin's Creed to lead the charge toward growth.

That means even with Black Flag Resynched on the horizon, Ubisoft is still prioritizing its internal affairs. The earnings call stipulates that we can expect a "softer release slate" from Ubisoft in the next year, according to CEO Yves Guillemot, with "disappointing short-term financial performance" due to ongoing restructuring costs. The payoff will be "a significantly bigger content pipeline" from 2027 through 2029, with games from major brands "including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Ghost Recon" to benefit from this more fiscally-conservative period.

While that seems to give us a rough release window for the upcoming Assassin's Creed game, it also proves that there's much more riding on Hexe than the viability of the game alone; Ubisoft needs it to land if it wants to prove that all this in-house cleanup was actually worth the short-term losses.

Brick by brick

A city (or town, in this case) RPG sounds like an excellent play in that regard. Ever since Assassin's Creed Valhalla's terrifying size and scope intimidated many from ever finishing it, each subsequent Creed has felt tighter in its presentation. Mirage, while not an RPG, presents a large, dynamic city with small outcroppings and hamlets to explore, and Assassin's Creed Shadows presents a slice of Sengoku-period Japan instead of the whole territory.

It speaks to Ubisoft's ongoing mild identity crisis in relation to Assassin's Creed's future. It's impossible to please everyone, and finding the perfect one-size-fits-all Creed RPG has felt like its ever-growing Everest. Shadows felt like a marked turning point in itself, not only in relation to more assassin-heavy gameplay and smaller, more focused world map, but in how it incorporates plenty of classic iconography alongside novel ones. Shinobi Naoe using an actual hidden blade, for example, instead of Kassandra and Alexios' broken spearheads.

The Hexe leaks seem to take that nod back to the series' roots to the next level. Alleged protagonist Anika is said to be a descendent of the Auditore family, and the game might even feature a long-awaited cameo from master assassin Ezio himself as a ghost of sorts. That might sound far-flung at first, but for a game supposedly set during the European witch trials, I'm expecting more than a taste of the arcane in Hexe anyway. The leaker also cites "blood pacts and poison", ritual sites and circles, and “tree-to-tree branch jumping” (welcome back Naoe) among story and gameplay features.

There's still quite some time before the 2027-29 period Ubisoft has offered in terms of a vague release window, but already, I'm feeling hopeful. I don't mind waiting for something that might actually bring Assassin's Creed to daring new heights on Ubisoft's quest to make serious bank from the stealth franchise, and if those heights happen to involve invoking the devil and killing some witch-hunters, consider my hidden blade as whetted as my appetite.

Check out the best Assassin's Creed games for the ultimate stealth-action adventure

It's the era of the pirate game, it seems, as Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced approaches and other gems like Windrose and Sea of Thieves continue to make waves – but Ubisoft's remake might just make a bigger splash than the rest.

Or, at least, that's what game director Richard Knight seems to think. When asked recently by GamesRadar+ what not being an RPG does for Assassin's Creed, he explains, "A lot of it comes down to the narrative that we tell with Black Flag. It's always going forward. It's kind of like Edward himself – he's always pushing forward, he's making mistakes, and pushing to the next thing. And it turns into this epic."

That checks out, I suppose.

"You see from the very beginning," continues Knight, getting into the nitty-gritty of what makes the protagonist's story and position stand out, "at first, he's there to make money for his family. He just can't bear the idea of being poor in England. So he's off to get money. And in the very beginning of the game, he literally will kill people for money, and then he'll complain about not getting enough money."

The lead concludes on Edward: "And he's all about money, and that's very interesting because it creates this fundamental tension with the character as he starts to learn these assassin things."

This "interesting" background and setting feed into the "mix" that Knight says Black Flag Resynced boasts – the elements that make it different than other pirate games, such as Skull and Bones, Sea of Thieves, or Windrose.

It's "the assassin game and the pirate game at the same time," put simply. "It's only by doing both of those that you get that unique mixture that forms Edward's story."

As a fan of the 2013 original myself, I can certainly see what Knight means – most other pirate games are online, combat and PvP-heavy experiences, while Black Flag feels like its own sort of title that combines features and factors that make various genres fun.

Here's hoping that, come Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, everyone understands what the director is getting at with the whole "unique mixture" statement – and thankfully, there's not long left to wait until its July 9 release date.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced creative lead says "the world of the Caribbean is a little bit more dense" compared to Shadows' take on Japan.

Edward Kenway is sailing back to our screens in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, a remake of the beloved 2013 original. Despite being an older installment, we've been assured by a central developer that the game's world will feel as lively as any of the more recent entries.

When discussing Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's map, creative director Paul Fu tells GamesRadar+ that the world is actually more populous than in Assassin's Creed Shadows, which became more of an issue as development wore on. "Compared to Shadows, the world of the Caribbean is a little bit more dense," he says.

"We have more NPCs crammed in," he adds. "A man-of-war easily has at least 10-20 NPCs, so you can imagine the amount of stuff that we have to cram in per square kilometer."

Man-of-wars were the standard seafaring ships for multiple centuries leading up to the 1800s. They all require crews to function, immediately pushing up the number of characters the game needs straight off the bat, since they're the vessels that carry you from island to island around Black Flag, searching for gold, and completing assassinations.

There are many such crews on the open sea, requiring you to deploy the cannons on occasion. But then, once you get to port, there are all the people you encounter roaming the streets and such. It all stacks up, making for a vibrant environment that will have required some amount of attention to get right.

"There was a challenge there later on, but early on, when we tried to make the city seamless, it wasn't too difficult," Fu recalls. Having worked on several Assassin's Creed games by now, Fu's a dab hand at getting them right. We'll find out if this revisit is truly a treasure trove on July 9.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced removed loading screens "between naval gameplay" thanks to "modern hardware," Ubisoft says

Even some 13 years later, Assassin's Creed Black Flag is still arguably one of the most compelling open worlds Ubisoft ever designed, but it was technically ambitious enough for its time that fans like me have been dreaming for years about what it would look like if it was built for modern hardware. Resynced, Ubisoft's ground-up Black Flag remake releasing in July, will answer that question, and ahead of release Ubisoft has dropped a handful of new details about the updated naval exploration.

In a new deep-dive writeup on Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's "naval gameplay," Ubisoft details what's been improved, tweaked, moved around, and faithfully preserved in the remake, with one key highlight being the 2026 game's more "seamless" open world, which apparently won't have loading screens at all during naval exploration.

"The Jackdaw is a character in its own right and will accompany Edward and his crew on their journey throughout the Caribbean," Ubisoft says, referring to the brigantine captained by Black Flag protagonist Edward Kenway. "It's still the ship you know and love, but with some upgrades to improve your experience and create a more seamless, immersive sailing experience."

Chiefly, Ubisoft says the massive increase in processing power in today's development kits has resulted in the complete removal of loading screens while you're out on the open sea.

"A benefit of the latest generation of hardware has been the ability to create seamless open worlds with no loading screens. As such, Resynced has upgraded to modern hardware, allowing us to remove loading screens between naval gameplay and the major cities of the game," reads the writeup.

A couple of new tools will be available in Black Flag Resynced that should make getting around its open world even intuitive. There's the Pathfinder, which will highlight a good route to your destination when you stick a pin on the map and activate it, and then there's Follow Sea, which Ubisoft says it just "a fancy term for autopilot," which will make your ship steer itself when you set a path on the map.

Black Flag Resynced's take on the Caribbean Sea isn't just more seamless and navigable than before - it's also been upgraded with the goal of being "truer to life," and of course that means less predictable and more dangerous. The original game's dynamic weather system has been upgraded to be even more dynamic, with conditions like rogue winds and waves and violent storms being all-new elements of sailing you'll need to deal with. Ubisoft says the remake's weather system will simulate real-life water cycles and "realistically blow the billowing cloth of sails and move or even destroy objects in the world."

Also, lightning! Lightning strikes will now connect from sky to water and potentially even cause AoE damage if you have the misfortune of being near that contact point. Meanwhile, waterspouts; essentially water tornadoes to my scientifically illiterate brain; will pose even further challenges to pirates.

"One of the key pillars we discussed with our Tech and Realization teams was to convey the awe-inspiring power of nature," says lead naval designer Guilhem Marin. "We really cranked up the gameplay of the elements to convey that, despite all of its firepower and tools, the Jackdaw has to respect the fury of the sea or face oblivion."

The "open world spirit of freedom" that defines Resynced was a major focus of GamesRadar+'s recent preview of the Black Flag remake, in which creative director Paul Fu and lead level designer Julian Koch talk about adapting a PS3 game in a way that preserves the spirit of the original while conforming to the modern day standards of games like Assassin's Creed Shadows and Mirage.

We also have a hands-on Black Flag remake preview that takes to the open seas and reports back: "This is Black Flag at its best, the flagship of the Assassin's Creed series' treasure fleet flying over the waves at full sail."

Assassin's Creed Black Flag's Edward Kenway is "a really bad assassin," says Resynced's game director, so Ubisoft had to recapture his "spirit" in the remake

We're back on the high seas for Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced this coming July, putting us back in the boots of one Edward Kearney in his quest for treasure. Naturally, he gets to do all the killing you've come to expect, but he's not quite the hero prior protagonists are, at least at the start, and the devs worked to enhance those aspects of his journey.

Indeed, when Black Flag kicks off, Edward's doing it all for the money, never mind to defeat the Templars, but over the course of the game, he becomes more like his forebears in Desmond and Connor. In the original story, [Edward's] a really bad assassin," Richard Knight, game director on Resynced, tells GamesRadar+.

"He's taking deals with Templars, he's taking deals for money, he's doing all these bad things to eventually become this heroic, larger-than-life character," Knight continues. "And the original game nailed that, and we don't want to change that."

A huge part of what made Black Flag fun is playing someone who's both an assassin and a pirate. A killer-for-hire and a wealth-obsessed explorer. Two edges of the same sword that's being plunged into the back of many enemies, and when it came to revisiting the game in light of modern installments like Mirage and Shadows, the goal was to massage these aspects further.

"It's important for us to have that same spirit and flavor of Edward, to tell that same core story, just in greater fidelity, but in a modern gameplay experience too," Knight explains.

He teases that narrative ideas that have been kicking around since the early 2010s have been fleshed out and finished, making this a time capsule, of sorts. As always, keep to the shadows, watch your back, and 'X' marks the spot, in more ways than one.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is "definitely a remake," but its original director "couldn't feel where the original content ends and the new content begins"

Somewhere among the waves of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is a remote island, upon which stands a church. In the original game, that church wasn't there. But its existence in the remake is part of an effort to revitalize the Caribbean, bringing Black Flag up to scratch with modern-era counterparts like Assassin's Creed Shadows and Mirage without sacrificing the classic feel of the original.

With the series having changed almost beyond recognition over the 13 years between original and remake, keeping the core experience recognizable while pulling a PS3-era title in-line with modern Assassin's Creed is no mean feat. But while that church might be just one tiny detail in the context of a full-scale remake, this one isolated, innocuous building helps explain how Resynced is breathing new life into Black Flag's Caribbean.

"In the original Black Flag, the world was expansive - there were a lot of secrets, a lot of activities to do, but there weren't necessarily a lot of stories for the player to discover," says creative director Paul Fu. For him, the church is an example of that kind of story. While he doesn't give away anything else about it, he does reveal that "players might be surprised that when they stumble upon a secret in the open world, Edward has something to say about that that didn't exist in the original game."

Vamos

That's part of an overhaul that'll be felt across the Caribbean. While major settlements like Nassau and Havana have been revitalized, the sea itself has had its own substantial improvement. "We really wanted to revisit the playa," says lead level designer Julian Koch. In the original Black Flag, those small islands that dotted the open ocean "were often templated, with just one chest, one animus fragment." Now, each playa is entirely hand-crafted, and Koch says "every time you have an island that looks a bit different, expect some reward, expect some story, some secrets. Edward comments on every location."

That narrative depth was something Fu wanted to push throughout the game. He points to the original game's Templar Hunts, side quests which sent you all over the map in pursuit of a particular assassination target; "I really liked how they brought you to other cities, so I wanted to have more of that type of activity." That focus on additional missions helps drive players to corners of the map they might never have seen, whether they were present in the original game or are new to the remake. "There's a little bit more of an open-world spirit of freedom" in Resynced as a result, Fu explains - not enough to turn Black Flag into a sprawling, RPG-era Assassin's Creed game, but enough to encourage the spirit of adventure that's key to Edward's journey.

That spirit is something that Koch is also looking to uncover. "Black Flag is a bit codified - each location has its own identity," he explains. But the remake "allowed us to create more diversity." He points to a section of my Black Flag Resynced hands-on session, in which Edward infiltrates a plantation. In the original game, that setting might have felt the same no matter where in the Caribbean you uncovered it. In the remake, "a plantation is still mostly a plantation - when you see one, you know it's a stealth challenge. But now we can make them a bit different, not by changing the layout, but by adding more detail."

That might be via a questline about the warden's pet crocodile, but it could also be in the set-dressing. Now that Ubisoft isn't limited by the memory constraints of two generations ago, it can make sure the same type of location feels completely different depending on where in the Caribbean you find it. Havana and Nassau look and feel completely different, and despite the fact that tech from Assassin's Creed Shadows has helped make Resynced, "you notice how much more chaotic Havana is in comparison to the tidy Japanese cities."

"And that's just stories," Koch continues. New design assets aren't only there to make the Caribbean look good, but to help contextualize Resynced's new gameplay. "What can we do now that Edward can crouch?" he asks. "It sounds very basic, but it actually completely changes your relationship to the Caribbean." A barrel is still a barrel, he says, but they had to be rebuilt so that Edward could hide behind it. "We wanted to approach this as a way to give you more opportunities, being a bit less binary than 'you can either climb up or you stalk in a bush.'

None of these changes are large enough to make Resynced feel like a totally new experience in isolation. In fact, much of it could be missed entirely - optional side content, set-dressing designed to fade into the background, or "mastery moves" that Koch says most players will probably never make full use of. But when you see it as part of a whole, a series of small changes layered seamlessly on top of each other, they make the Caribbean a far richer and more vibrant open world than it was 13 years ago. These changes, small as they might originally seem, "just help you," Fu explains. "They give you another reason to explore and find secrets within a world that you already love."

Set sail for our Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Big Preview for more on the big remake. Or, take a look at our best Assassin's Creed games ranking for what to play next.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is really and truly a remake of the classic pirate adventure, but Ubisoft says it's not taking very many liberties. Resynced is seemingly being faithful to the original game rather than following Capcom or Square Enix's remake playbook.

Speaking to GamesRadar+ about where the remake sits in the series' history, Ubisoft Singapore design director Julian Koch says Black Flag Resynced "is a love letter to the original." But it's still "definitely a remake" because the team have, by and large, literally had to make most things again, from the assets to the combat and parkour.

"For the barrel, the metrics need to change because of the crouch, the new level of detail we're adding. The parkour needs to follow, we're re-doing the collision as well. The base of the gameplay is the same, all of the design, but we have more tools to play with. But it needed to be rebuilt from the ground," he explains.

Resynced's creative director Paul Fu says "it's definitely an old-school, classic Assassin's Creed." And despite most systems and assets being rebuilt for the modern era, "most of it doesn't change," according to Fu. "We simply added onto it. We asked ourselves questions like 'should there be dialogue choice?' The obvious answer would be no. 'Should it be an RPG?' No. So we kept it as an action-adventure game."

Whenever the team toyed around with implementing something entirely new that wasn't in the original, Fu says they turned to original creative director and current brand manager Jean Guesdon for advice.

"That was a guiding light for us throughout the entire project," Fu says, "especially during the conception phases. We had to create guidelines for every single department, whether it was level design or art direction, every single department had guidelines on how to keep the game authentic and sincere to its spirit."

Apparently Guesdon himself said "that he almost couldn't feel where the original content ends and the new content begins." That new content includes new scenes and quests that flesh out the swashbuckling story told in 2013.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced hands-on: "Wonderfully sailing on the edge of the series' best classic and modern entries, this feels like a statement of intent for its future"

"It's definitely an old-school, classic Assassin's Creed." When I ask Paul Fu, creative director on Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced and a Ubisoft veteran whose work dates back to the time of Ezio Auditore, where this remake sits in the franchise – whether the 'classic' era that ended with Syndicate or the 'modern' one that started with Origins – his answer is clear. The trappings of modern Assassin's Creed are here, but they're arranged atop an authentic remake of the original experience.

"Right from the beginning," Fu explains, "we made notes of every single part of the original Black Flag to decide what we should and should not change. And most of it doesn't change. We simply added onto it." Even that simple design philosophy was driven by an almost slavish pursuit of the original creators' intentions. Whenever the team considered adding a new feature or cutscene, they looked to the work of Black Flag's creative director, Jean Guesdon, and lead writer Darby McDevitt. If the new idea didn't fit with their respective visions, "then we just didn't put it in the game."

That "guiding light" was applied to the entire development process – "we had to create guidelines for every single department" – and Fu believes it's been very successful. So successful, in fact, that when he spoke with Guesdon – now the franchise's content lead – about Resynced, he "felt that he almost couldn't feel where the original content ends and the new content begins."

Anchors away

Clearly, however, the new content is there. Ubisoft says there's around eight hours of extra story in Resynced, including an entire end-game questline and three character arcs for the new 'officer' NPCs who'll help give Edward an edge in battle. "We knew we wanted to remake Black Flag" says game director Richard Knight, "but we can't just tell the same old story."

As a result, Resynced is a "modernized" take on that original. The sci-fi story thread that dealt with the fallout of Desmond Miles' demise, central to the franchise in 2013 but "not really the question that's being asked today", is gone. Mechanics "that you've seen in other games, like Shadows or Mirage" are here instead. Resynced "is an authentic retelling," Knight explains, "but it's also a new retelling."

That line isn't easy to tread. Ubisoft has clearly tried to build a remake that's deeply authentic to the original, which comes across in my Black Flag Resynced hands-on, but Knight's take on whether this is a 'classic' Assassin's Creed is a little less definitive than Fu's: Resynced is "the latest Assassin's Creed, the post-Shadows AC."

If you spent last year exploring Japan with Naoe and Yasuke, much of Resynced's UI will be strangely familiar for a game that originally launched 13 years ago. Much is made of the Atmos system's ability to enhance the Caribbean weather. Free crouch and manual jump streamline movement around the major cities and stealth encounters. The feel of classic AC is there in the combat and the parkour, but it's brought to life by the efforts of a dramatically more modern engine.

But where the original does shine through, it's just as good as before. Naval combat, for instance, hosts a large number of individual changes, but Knight acknowledges that the original system "was very, very good, even if you play it today." For Resynced, he says Ubisoft aimed to take that original experience "and try not to change it very much." Then, "the next step is not to add all these dramatic new features, it's just to add on a little bit, make it slightly more comfortable." The result is that sailing the Jackdaw feels exactly like you remember it from Black Flag, but with a few new tactical options thrown in to expand on the system, rather than overhauling it.

S(ea)-tier

That philosophy, of taking the original game and subtly building on it, is one that lead level designer Julian Koch is deeply focused on. "This game is a love letter to the original," he says, "and it's tying everything together. We're not changing the Caribbean in-depth, we're being faithful to the location, keeping the spirit alive." You see that in the reefs hidden in the newly-explorable depths below the waterline, the increased detail that brings Havana to life but makes it feel different from Nassau, or the micro-narratives woven into the settlements Edward can now disembark directly into thanks to Resynced's fully open-world take on the Caribbean.

That seamlessness is one of Resynced's biggest improvements over Black Flag, and the single biggest contributor to the feeling that this is an Assassin's Creed designed to stand alongside its modern counterparts.

"It creates this immersion," Koch explains, "like you're always in the Caribbean. Having fewer loading screens keeps you there, under the sun, under the rain." But it wasn't without its challenges. Adding in locations like Havana and Kingston, which were instanced in the original game, meant making sure the Jackdaw could sail right up into the bay. It also meant hoping the cities fit where they were supposed to go: "We were worried that Havana in the [instanced] world was larger than the space that [Ubisoft] gave it in the Caribbean," Fu explains. Thankfully, all the major cities did fit in their intended locations, and plenty of other locations have received substantial glow-ups.

Regardless of the challenges behind it, nailing that open-world approach was a crucial part of building Resynced. "The original had many, many facets to it," says Fu, "but I think one of the strongest feelings you get from playing it was freedom, liberty, the way you want to live life as you see fit."

Knight echoes that: "With Resynced, it's important for us to have that same spirit and flavor of Edward, to tell that same core story, just in greater fidelity." The remake, he says, "gives us the opportunity to add a bit more – not just to modernize it and add features that feel more comfortable today, but also to add a little bit more content, to follow-up on a few plot lines."

The scope of Black Flag Resynced is easy to underestimate. It might often look like a fresh coat of paint over that classic Assassin's Creed feeling, but its developers are quick to emphasize the scope of this remake. "It needed to be rebuilt from the ground," says Koch, "otherwise we'd have been constantly blocked by things that were designed 13 years ago."

Resynced offers Ubisoft the chance to build Black Flag into something new, an accurate homage to the original that remains in-line with what the series looks like in 2026, and where it might go in the future. Knight explains it best: "We wanted to really say 'this is the next step, this is a resynchronization of that experience you had so many years ago'."

Set sail for our Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Big Preview for more on the big remake. Or, take a look at our best Assassin's Creed games ranking for what to play next.

Assassin's Creed has slowly been peeling the modern day elements out of the series' recent games, so much so that Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is stripping the original of its Abstergo sections entirely. Why? Well, the remake's game director says Desmond's story is less of an urgent topic in 2026 than it was in 2013,.

Speaking to GamesRadar+ about the forthcoming pirate adventure, game director Richard Knight says that from the beginning of production, the team "knew we wanted to remake Black Flag," but didn't want to create a one-to-one version.

"Back then, it was very important to know what happened to Desmond's friends," he explains. "But what we want to do is take Black Flag and update it and modernize it for today. So we knew we needed to change certain things - you can still play the original Black Flag - but this one, to me, is the latest Assassin's Creed. It's the post-Shadows AC. It's still an authentic retelling, but it's also a new retelling."

Straight after Desmond's bitter finale in Assassin's Creed 3, Knight says people "really wanted to know what happened to [Desmond's] friends and Abstergo." Over a decade and a bajillion AC games later, that thread's not quite as enticing to follow. "That's not really the question that's being asked today, in the face of Shadows and Mirage and so on."

I suspect that Resynced scrubs those original modern day sections - the ones that had your iPad-wielding protagonist walking around the Abstergo offices, now posing as a game dev studio - because a lot of those storylines fizzled out or went nowhere, and would probably be very confusing for anyone who jumped into the series post-Origins.

"We knew that what we wanted to do was continue what's been starting to be told with Shadows, but we also wanted something that ties directly to the game you're playing, so something to Edward's experience," Knight explains. "What we came up with is these four rifts that you can find if you so choose, or you can choose to ignore them and just be Edward, the pirate and the assassin, and stick to that.

"They tell these 'what if' scenarios so that it still feels tied to that game, so even if you do go find this modern day experience, you're still playing Black Flag Resynced - you're still playing Edward's adventure, and you don't feel like you've taken a break for hours."

Instead, Resynced is fleshing out the swashbuckling side of the story that still makes sense divorced from the Animus, Abstergo, or Demond. "With Resynced, it's important for us to have that same spirit and flavor of Edward, to tell that same core story, just in greater fidelity," Knight adds. "I think they achieved the core of what they did with the original game, but this gives us the opportunity to add a bit more - not just to modernize it and add features that just feel more comfortable today, but also to add a little bit more content, to follow-up on a few plot lines that maybe they ran out of time for."

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced "ranks among the best titles in the franchise" for pre-orders, Ubisoft says, expecting "it will be a really successful" entry

Even after 13 years, the debate over Assassin's Creed: Black Flag's sea shanties remains fierce. But to me, the gentle call of 'Lowlands Away' and its promise of a new beginning always felt the best fit for Edward's journey and the quiet beauty of the Caribbean. So, when that song rang out the very first time, as I steered the Jackdaw out onto the open ocean in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, the cresting wave of nostalgia I felt served as a potent signal; first, of how popular Black Flag remains; but second, of just how faithful a recreation Resynced is.

My demo begins with Edward Kenway's mad dash through the jungle in pursuit of unfortunate assassin turncoat Duncan Walpole. Ubisoft wastes no time in showing off Resynced's fresh coat of paint – while Black Flag looked the part in 2013, it can't hold a candle to the density and vibrancy plastered across this remake's world, buoyed by the Atmos system that most recently breathed life into Assassin's Creed Shadows' Japan. The climax of that chase – a frenetic and deadly scuffle in a shallow pool dappled in shade thrown down from the canopy above – is an enormous statement of intent. Resynced looks beautiful from its opening moments, whether out at sea or crawling through the undergrowth.

In Havana, Edward's first major destination and the only large settlement featured in my demo, that feeling of vitality doesn't let up. It's here that Resynced's more 'classic' Assassin's Creed DNA – the design borrowed from the era that culminated in 2015's Assassin's Creed Syndicate – shows through most clearly, but Cuba is brighter, more colorful, and more bustling with life than ever before. Despite the improvements in detail and parkour that lend Resynced its modern feel, being in Havana feels like stepping back into the series' history: When I start a fight, it's driven by a single enemy at a time, a tetchy back-and-forth of parries and counters; when I clamber over rooftops, there's a distant muscle memory of how each freerunning move should merge with the next; as I pass a posse of dancers, I consider throwing them a handful of coin purely for the novelty of that classic social stealth.

Bristol fashion

But for all that familiarity, where the changes do come they're welcome improvements. When I'm handed a tailing mission, I'm detected almost immediately. But, instead of instantly desynchronizing, I end up in a fight with the offended guards, and have to scurry away until the conversation restarts. When I eventually discover the location of my confiscated goods, the new free-crouch feature and detection UI borrowed from modern Assassin's Creed games give me the chance to make my way to the rooftop of the nearby Castillo entirely unseen by the garrison. Even with just two small changes, stealth immediately feels like a more viable option than simply carving my way through a horde of guards.

It's the same location, the same level design, the same quests as the original game, but while this collection of minor changes makes it clear there's a difference between Black Flag and Resynced, they're so seamlessly integrated that it's never entirely clear where the original game ends and its remake begins. Edward's Eagle Vision is massively improved by borrowing from Shadows. The ability to jump and crouch freely means new avenues and strategies are opened up in locations that might easily have felt exhaustingly familiar. In a straight fight, modern UI lets combat flow more naturally, and tools like the rope dart are unlocked earlier to give players more chance to play with their prey before dispatching it. And all these changes are felt before Edward even takes his first true steps on the deck of the Jackdaw.

Fair winds

When I do finally get my hands on the ship's wheel, Resynced's improvement over Black Flag is complete. Sailing directly out of Havana without a loading screen in sight, I'm jetting across the bay towards the fort at Dry Tortuga within moments. It's an enormous transformation, not just because it allows Edwards to seamlessly depart major settlements, but because it allows him to seamlessly enter them too. It goes a long way towards glueing together what always felt like an open world that craved the freedom of the sea, and being able sail right from a major port and within minutes of actual sailing be able to leap straight from the gunwales of the Jackdaw to begin an attack on a fort or an assault on a Spanish plantation catapults Resynced into the open-world territory of modern Assassin's Creed.

Add the ability to free-dive anywhere below the water, hand-crafted islands each with a unique reason to explore, and mini-narratives woven nearly throughout the world, Resynced genuinely feels like a modern series entry, but without the sheer scale that weighs down games like Valhalla and Shadows. It's even better that Resynced accomplishes this without feeling like an unrecognizable overhaul. With a ship, a crew, and a litany of map icons to uncover across the Caribbean, the winds were already blowing in this direction. In many respects, Black Flag was already the treasure map that would lead the way, several iterations later, to the modern era of Assassin's Creed.

When a fight breaks out on the open ocean, Resynced gets even better. While control of your ship remains much the same as Black Flag, it's another case of a few small improvements offering much more than the sum of their parts. The mortar is brought forward in the story, and alternate firing methods offer a tactical edge that means fights never feel like a simple exchange of broadsides. The addition of three new 'officer' NPCs should compound that feeling even further. In my demo, I only meet one of those, and while her introductory quest feels a little stiff, the 'Perfect Brace' ability she offers – the chance to further limit damage by preparing for impact at just the right moment – adds another level of skill expression to fights. With three of those officers eventually on deck, and additional narrative to frame their addition to the story, I can see late-game ship combat eclipsing even the gold standard set by Black Flag.

That naval combat is one of Resynced highlights should come as little surprise. But it's the philosophy that marks those improvements over Black Flag that helps transform the rest of the game. This remake is an enormously additive experience. What is missing from the original – the Abstergo cutscenes, hidden blade combat – is either dramatically improved upon or replaced with so many other ideas that the absence is barely noticeable. Exploration is more free-form. Naval combat is more tactical. Stealth is more flexible and more rewarding. Tools that were once largely limited to the end-game playground are handed out earlier just for the fun of it.

'Modern' Assassin's Creed is absolutely still here, but it's the adjustment of the 'classic' feel of Black Flag, rather than overhauling entirely, that makes Resynced so interesting. This is Black Flag at its best, the flagship of the Assassin's Creed series' treasure fleet flying over the waves at full sail.

Tail our Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Big Preview to learn more about Ubisoft's iconic revival! Or, take a look at our best Assassin's Creed games ranking for what to play next.

Ubisoft is "very happy" with early reception to Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, the upcoming remake of the series' beloved pirate-themed installment, and expects it to sit comfortably alongside full-fat entries in the franchise.

CFO Frederick Duguet discussed Resynced during the Q&A portion of the company's May 20 earnings call. Asked about internal expectations for the game, and whether it could approach a "full-scale" Assassin's Creed entry like last year's Shadows or if it would more closely resemble something like Assassin's Creed Mirage, Duguet expressed confidence in current numbers.

"We are very happy with the pre-orders momentum that ranks among the best titles in the franchise for the first three weeks," Duguet says, "Of course, there's still seven weeks to go, so we'll see how the momentum will continue building up." Resynced is out July 9.

Duguet continues: "We are happy and confident that it will be a really successful Assassin's Creed title, because it's faithful to the experience, but it also comes with many improvements to the original experience that players have liked when they've seen the first showcase of the game."

That's the odd thing about Resynced. It's a new version of an old game, but to many modern players and Assassin's Creed fans, it will be an all-new experience, and it was deliberately modernized to echo recent entries just like Shadows. In terms of production, it's a smaller project, but it's still a full-fat Assassin's Creed game.

Duguet also stresses that "it's not a full-price type of game," which is interesting given that it is a full $60. Sure, Shadows is $70, the new norm for Ubisoft and many other AAA games, but $60 is kind of toeing the line on what counts as "full-price." A lot of big games are still $60, after all; coming from Ubisoft, the price point seems to reflect an acknowledgement that this is ultimately a remake.

Our Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced big preview has everything you need to know about this promising return to Edward Kenway's adventure.

Ubisoft says expect more Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Ghost Recon in the next 3 years, and "a return to higher quality standards".

With Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced weeks away from release, Edward Kenway actor Matt Ryan has been reminiscing about the time he thought he was auditioning for a pirate TV show rather than Ubisoft's soon-to-be hit.

Speaking to PC Gamer, Ryan recalls, "It was pitched to me via my agent as a pirate TV show." He continued, "Amy Hubbard, a great casting director in the UK, got me into the room, and then they liked me. They asked me for a callback, and then they leveled with me. They were like, listen: this is a videogame. They said it was an Assassin's Creed, and I'd played the first one, so I was like 'great, that's a cool game.'"

And while he was seemingly down for it anyway, Ryan explains that being able to mocap the performance was a big deal for him. "I didn't think it was mocap," he recalls, "so when it was mocap, I was over the moon. I get to be the character, in the body, you know?"

And while Edward Kenway would end up being Matt Ryan's only role to date in a video game, the actor has an appreciation for the medium and its unique elements, saying, "as an actor, if you do a play, it's one performance, it's gone, and there is something kind of wonderful about a performance that's fleeting.

"And with TV and movies, people watch it once, maybe twice if you're lucky, so they spend a bit of time with you. But with a videogame, they spend a lot of time with you." He adds, "It's been really, really nice after all these years to be invited back to this role, and to feel that this character is as beloved as it is."

Ezio may be the face of Assassin's Creed for many, but 13 years on, Edward Kenway is the closest second in terms of how much fans love the character. Granted, it helps that Black Flag is the best Assassin's Creed game, too.

GamesRadar+ also spoke to Matt Ryan, which you can read here alongside our preview of the upcoming remake

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced already feels historic, and we're not just talking about it being set in the Age of Piracy. Originally the fourth numbered entry in the series, Black Flag quickly became a firm fan-favorite thanks to its swashbuckling action and sunny (though sometimes viciously stormy) Caribbean-set open world. After the divisive Assassin's Creed 3, it felt like a real return to form.

Now, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is on the way July 9, and it's the first proper remake Ubisoft has done for the series (though there have been several remasters). What does such a lavish rework entail? We roll up our silk sleeves to go hands-on for ourselves across several hours, and talk to some of the Ubisoft developers who are getting the refreshed new game shipshape and ready for the high seas. Hoist sails, and stick with the crew as we crack the lid on this treasure trove. Land has been spotted, and it's looking like a paradise.

Join us below to explore our Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Big Preview with us on GamesRadar+

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced: The Big Preview

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"When you do something, you never know quite what it's going to become." For Matt Ryan, the performer behind Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced anti-hero Edward Kenway, that rings particularly true. Much has changed since he first started working on the role 15 years ago; Ubisoft's fortunes, the role of the mocap performer, and the Assassin's Creed series itself have all been transformed. But, in spite of that change, Ryan is clearly thrilled to be returning to the Caribbean.

Ryan's own journey to Resynced hasn't exactly been smooth sailing. The long-rumored Black Flag remake was, by Ubisoft's own admission, its "worst-kept secret" - a secret that Ryan himself had inadvertently helped to spread when he was caught on a mic at a convention hinting at some kind of return for Edward on the horizon. When I ask him how pleased he is to finally have Resynced out in the open, he can do little more than laugh: "It's great to have it out."

Even the alleged threat of legal action seems to have done little to dampen Ryan's enthusiasm for Black Flag or Edward Kenway, an attitude shaped in no small part by the game's community: "The reception the character got from the fans has been amazing over the years, and getting to come back, I feel really humbled, and grateful. I feel really lucky that we've returned, and that they chose this game."

Hoist sails

Ubisoft's return to Black Flag owes much to its enduring fan-favorite status. Certainly one of the most beloved games to come out of the series' 'classic' era, its success hinges in no small part on Edward's ability to up-end the Creed, something that's far from lost on Ryan.

"He starts off as someone from a small province who's wanting a better life, who's willing to do anything to get that," he says, suggesting that Kenway's arc over the course of the game is a huge part of what continues to draw people to Black Flag. "He loses a lot of people around him, and his moral compass doesn't come into the game until about two thirds of the way through. You get to go on that journey with him, and [have] that realization that actually, the person he was seeking to be doesn't lie in the place he was seeking it. I love that about the journey of the character."

That journey is a complex one, but Ryan says he had no difficulty returning to it. "It's a little bit like riding a bike," he explains. "You just have to shuffle around a little bit and find where [the character] is." 15 years on, he acknowledges that "there were some small adjustments I had to make, my voice is a little bit deeper," but points out that the original recording was a lengthy process: "I'd fly into Montreal, we'd shoot for a week, then I'd go away, they'd do all the technical work, then I'd come back to another bit. That was over a long period of time, so you get to know [Edward] quite well." Ryan says that getting back into the world of the character for Resynced was as simple as loading Black Flag back up: "To tune back into it, I just played the game."

But getting his sea legs back wasn't just a case of Ryan revisiting old scenes. There's plenty of new narrative content in Resynced that he says "adds more depth" to Edward's character. I ask him about lead Black Flag writer Darby McDevitt's claim that one of the new scenes is "now a top five favorite", and Ryan's response is emphatic: "I really am seeing that. Those scenes that he wrote are in my top scenes that I've played as Kenway." Key to that, he says, is the performance of one actor behind a "great new character." While Ryan doesn't reveal exactly who he's talking about, he says he was blown away: "I was like 'this character is awesome'. And the actor who played it, it was like 'I don't have to do anything. I've just been listening to this guy and reacting. He was so good."

Since first bringing Edward Kenway to life, Ryan's acting work has focused on TV, but he's quick to both espouse the virtues of video game acting and state his desire to return to mocap. Wasting little time in praising Troy Baker as "one of the best in the industry," he says that performance capture is "a wonderful medium to work in," and points out how the term 'voice actor' is often a misnomer: "You're lending your whole body to it, and all of your facial expression, every single part of you. You have a lot of freedom with that."

In the intervening decade and a half since Edward first pulled on his stolen Assassin's garb, Ryan's most notable work has been in portraying John Constantine across a whole suite of DC Comics projects, but his fondness for Kenway and Black Flag as a whole is palpable.

"As an actor, I believe you serve the writing, you serve the vision of the director or the character," he says. "You have to trust in it, you have to be bold, you have to be brave, and you believe in the vision of the creators." That vision has clearly been adapted a little for Resynced, but Ryan's belief in its unwavering: "Playing the game today, I'm going from the beginning, I'm having all these memories come back to me of playing those scenes back then, and these flashes of moments, and it becomes quite nostalgic and a little bit emotional. It's wonderful that we're back here doing this again, and that we've got to bring more of this character to the audience."

Our Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Big Preview will keep diving deep into the seas of this revival in the week ahead! Can't wait? Check out our best Assassin's Creed games ranking for what to play right now.

The sun is setting over Paris, and I have a bird's eye view of the city. Climbing one of Assassin's Creed Unity's most challenging vantage points atop the Bastille wasn't easy: diving into a shallow moat is one thing, but scaling the walls of the formidable fortress, clambering through an open window, and silently dispatching the roaming guards is another.

For all the stickier moments of my ascent, where protagonist Arno refused to make a difficult yet certainly achievable wall jump for an assassin of his caliber, this moment of calm is worth it. As is the £6 I spent on the game's 60fps-enabling update, which landed on PS5 last month. But between brooding on rooftops and solving murder mysteries, I'm also mourning something: the loss of the city-set Creed games that could have been, if not for the RPG pivot.

À la volonté du peuple

The urban density of Assassin's Creed Unity was a pivotal moment for Ubisoft. Providing the building blocks for a city-stealth playground that Victorian era Syndicate ran with a year later, both games revel in the rich, moody atmosphere of the core assassin fantasy by turning chaos into a weapon.

The background of social upheaval in each game's historical setting – Unity's French Revolution, Syndicate's Second Industrial Revolution – is paramount to why the games work at all. The constant commotion draws eyes elsewhere. You become a living shadow, hunting in plain sight, and it's the tangled streets of Paris where that fantasy truly takes root.

Plunging my hidden blade into the ripe jugular of an unsuspecting foe has never felt slicker than it does in Unity. I wind my way through an angry mob to make my escape, silent and undetectable among the faceless masses, and it's as if I was never there. There's a feline grace about Arno's movements in moments like these that truly shines with higher framerates. He places each foot carefully, spine twisting as one shoulder gently eases a path through the crowd.

His fingertips graze yellowed posters, plastered over shop windows like makeshift blinds. When I take a running jump at a wall and watch him glide up it, I half expect Arno to start licking the back of his hand to wash his face.

His sleek assassin moves are part of the assassin fantasy, which brings me back down to earth. This is a work of historical fiction, naturally, so the narrative itself won't mirror facts down to the marrow. But what Ubisoft landed on in Unity is the distinct sense of style, substance, and atmosphere that a Creed game should always have. Unity fully commits to the bit, with Arno feeling as unique as the raucous streets of Paris themselves, and I'm sick of pretending that this game is not a wholly perfect vibe.

Allons-y

Note that I did not say everything about it is perfect. A buggy launch causes many to dismiss Unity outright, promising to return to it whenever the developer got around to patching it up. 12 years later, it's still a little rough around the edges, but the upgraded PS5 version definitely runs smoother than my last foray with it on Xbox Series X some years ago.

Assassin's Creed Mirage was a taste of how fun and fluid a modern old-school Creed game could feel in the 2020s, a feeling only redoubled by how clean Unity feels in 60fps. But Mirage is still too big to capture that feeling of slipping into the background of a thriving, built-up city. After Black Flag's curious pivot to pirate action over sneaky stealth, Unity is where Ubisoft finally figured out how to make Assassin's Creed feel like its old self again. It even seemed to have some very promising ideas in store for what could come next, if the Helix Navigator is any indication.

You only see a glimpse of the Helix Navigator once, the first time the game is booted up and you select the "correct" memory file from the menu to begin your journey in 18th century France. But a quick flick through the other "locked" memory files reveals some truly compelling premises for Assassin's Creed games that don't actually exist, the most interesting to me being something called Jazz Age Assassin.

Immediately, I can picture an Assassin's Creed game set in the city of New Orleans, early 1920s. The mental blueprint I work from borrows heavily from Unity's own design: pacing the cobbled streets of the French Quarter, skirting the Mardi Gras partygoers as I follow the soft drift of saxophone music to a nearby jazz club. This is just one of many time periods suggested in the Helix Navigator, but all of them speak to the kinds of games that would work to the formula devised by Unity and Syndicate but have since been left on ice.

It does, however, give me hope for Assassin's Creed Hexe. While it's no secret that the upcoming RPG will continue the tradition of roleplaying game AC entries as kicked off by Assassin's Creed Origins, the jury's still out on when it will take place - though the latest "witchy German city" setting rumor gives me so much hope. Just please, Ubisoft: no more traipsing across sand dunes. I'll take the filthy alleyways of London or Paris (or the paranoid homesteads of the European witch trials) over a desert oasis any day.

Check out all of the upcoming Assassin's Creed games we know to be in production. Spoiler alert: it's a very short list.

Assassin's Creed Hexe's former creative director Clint Hocking, an industry veteran who left publisher Ubisoft just a few short months ago, says workers at the company weren't being replaced by AI during his tenure.

Hocking served as a lead on both Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2, before working at a few non-Ubisoft publishers and eventually circling back as the creative director for both Watch Dogs Legion and the still very mysterious Assassin's Creed Hexe.

When asked about the advent of generative AI in game development, in a feature published in Edge Magazine, Hocking says he didn't see an instance of developers losing jobs directly due to generative AI, at least not on the Assassin's Creed Hexe corner of the company.

"It's not like on the team where I was working until a month ago, a third of my co-workers were AI, or that my team had laid off a third of its staff and we were doing the same amount of work," he recalls. "That's just factually untrue."

It's worth noting that companies like Ubisoft are unlikely to tell workers they're being laid off so an algorithm can take their place - the multiple rounds of Ubisoft layoffs this year alone were pinned on outside factors, though CEO Yves Guillemot said the publisher would see "accelerated investments behind player-facing Generative AI" at the same time.

At least from as far as Hocking could see, AI-development at Ubisoft was relegated to tools and wasn't relied upon to generate assets. "Ubisoft has internal groups working on developing AI-assisted tools to help game developers do their jobs more efficiently," he explains "... it's never [the case that] someone generates a character model and we put it in the game."

Just months after his departure from the company, Hocking announced an all-new indie game studio aiming to make "emotionally resonant, socially relevant games."

Assassin’s Creed Hexe will be a "darker" installment "set during a pivotal moment in history," but Ubisoft says it's "taking the time to deliver."

The largely mysterious Assassin's Creed Hexe – Ubisoft's upcoming big flagship entry in its iconic Assassin's Creed series – was recently in the limelight as developers revealed it as a "darker" installment "set during a pivotal moment in history." Now, it's making rounds online once again, thanks to leaks supposedly unveiling its setting and more.

There's a handy post on Reddit that sums up all of the rumors neatly – rumors that have come from prominent Ubisoft leaker "Rogue," apparently – and it's a lot.
First, the new protagonist's name is allegedly actually "Anika," with Elsa simply acting as a placeholder. Furthermore, she's described as a "descendant of Claudia Auditore."

AC Hexe details and dialogue leaked by Rogue (Ubisoft leaker), says Ezio is returning from r/GamingLeaksAndRumours

Ezio is also supposedly making an appearance in Hexe, either in person or as some sort of ghost/memory. Rumored lines from the Renaissance character include: "Come. Leap with me. One last time for an old man."

Sounds like an emotional comeback, if you ask me – and one I seriously hope rings true in-game. The leak alleges that another figure known as "Wolfgang" will be in Hexe, too, along with blood pacts, ritual sites, and "lots of forests."

Perhaps the most significant rumor of all, however, is the setting of Assassin's Creed Hexe: Würzburg, Germany. Now, as somebody who grew up in Germany, I think this sounds perfect for a witchy RPG – if that's indeed what Hexe ends up being.

Folks seem to approve online as well, with one person responding directly to Rogue in a post, writing, "Würzburg is the best possible outcome I had hoped for AC Hexe." You know what? Agreed.

Others are pointing to the witch trials in Würzburg during the 17th century as an example of why the potential setting "could be good" in Hexe.

Elsewhere, people are simply shocked – understandably, many fans presumed the new Assassin's Creed might be set in Salem, as it's, well, the setting of most witch trial-related media. "I thought it was gonna be Salem Witch Trials," as one person exclaims. "IT'S THE GERMAN WÜRZBURG WITCH TRIALS!"

Only time will tell what leaks are real and which aren't, I suppose – although I do certainly hope that Würzburg truly is the setting of Hexe. Until we find out, I'll just be looking forward to Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, instead.

To celebrate the Assassin's Creed Black Flag remake, Ubisoft announces a global treasure hunt for $500,000 buried somewhere in the Caribbean.

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Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is coming up fast, but anyone kitting up for an adventure on the high seas has a bounty of loot to enjoy in the meantime. Whether you're getting ready to (eagle) dive into the world of Edward Kenway for the first time or returning to the 18th-century Caribbean, here's the kit I recommend for stocking the galley.

PureArts is going to be a well-known name for anyone versed in the world of high-quality video game replicas, but longtime fans of the game should also note the new Titan Books art collection, ready for pre-order and due for release on July 14.

Of course, Edward himself features quite prominently here, but there's also plenty of booty for those after some more franchise-wide gadgets - a pack of AC-themed playing cards with a hidden blade in the box always goes down well.

You'll find all my top picks of the best Assassin's Creed merch to get you ready for Black Flag Resynced just below.

Be sure to check out our top Resident Evil merch or take a look at our favorite Pokemon merch.

If sailing around the seas of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced won't be enough for you, Ubisoft's placed some actual hidden treasure in the Caribbean. Buried artifacts worth a lovely $500,000 are up for grabs, for anyone who fancies trying to solve a few clues as to their exact whereabouts, and you can participate from the comfort of your own home.

Known as the Gold and Crystal treasure hunt, this expedition involves solving 15 puzzles, delivered through letters and other documents, all related to Resynced, to triangulate where this chest of capitalistic wonder has been left. To help, you'll get a map of the Caribbean and a cryptic message in a bottle.

Don't worry about traveling, because this part can be done from anywhere. The first player, then, who registers that they've actually found the X that marks the spot will be flown out to the Gulf of Mexico to uncover the spoils for themselves.

What awaits them? Only a reference to the worst Indiana Jones movie! Nah, it's a replica of the crystal skull from Black Flag itself, and some Assassin's Creed emblazoned gold coins.

Completing this quest is expected to take between two and five years, according to the press release, and you can register interest now at the official site. Entries cost £35, presumably to cover shipping the relevant materials to whomever wants them, and it all kicks off on November 9, 2026.

I'll be sticking to my controller because I get seasick, but I wish all who participate happy travels. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced brings a huge change to combat and I kind of love it

Assassin's Creed Hexe's ex-creative director and veteran developer Clint Hocking has just revealed he's heading a brand new indie game studio a mere two months after his departure from Ubisoft.

Hocking announced the formation of his independent studio, called Build Machine Games, this week in a brief LinkedIn post (thanks, PC Gamer). "We're lean and fast, but bold and ambitious," he says. "We aspire to expand the expressive range and power of the medium with emotionally resonant, socially relevant games that challenge players' perspectives, pre-conceptions and empathy as much as their reasoning and reflexes."

Build Machine Games' website currently only has two open job positions up: one for a programmer and another for an artist. The studio's calling for "experienced developers looking for a flat structure in a very hands-on environment," though there's no further details on what the company might make.

While the Build Machine Games site is full of pie in the sky speak, Hocking himself has had a pretty illustrious career in games to back it all up, starting with Ubisoft's Splinter Cell series where he quickly became creative director on the beloved Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and the equally-acclaimed Far Cry 2.

He then worked on some unnamed and/or unannounced projects at LucasArts, Valve, and Amazon Game Studios before re-joining Ubisoft in 2015 to helm open-world experiment, Watch Dogs Legion, and the still-mysterious Assassin's Creed Hexe.

All that to say, Hocking's CV is full of weird (good) AAA games that try something new and don't simply fold to the rote formulas already laid out for them. Even Watch Dogs Legion, for all its missteps, slotted immersive sim-esque mechanics into a series that could have otherwise been described as 'GTA but with hacking.' So I'll have an eye on whatever he makes next.

The upcoming Assassin's Creed game is still firmly shrouded in shadows, literally and figuratively, based on its spooky announcement trailer. Assassin's Creed Hexe's game director Benoit Richer also left the project a few weeks after Hocking's exit - the series' head of content Jean Guesdon has been sitting in the creative director's seat since February.

Behind-the-scenes shake ups aside, Guesdon said to "expect a unique, darker, narrative-driven Assassin's Creed experience" with Hexe, "set during a pivotal moment in history." Very hush hush over here.

Assassin's Creed Invictus leak has "been heavily altered," probably using AI, Ubisoft says: "Nice try"

Ubisoft has responded to and shot down a leaked screenshot of its Assassin's Creed multiplayer title known as Codename Invictus.

Over on Twitter, YouTuber xJ0nathan posted what seemed to be a screenshot of the Assassin's Creed multiplayer game, which caught the attention of the official Assassin's Creed account – clearly taking a liberal approach to leaks after everything from Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced was revealed ahead of time.

The account responds, "Nice try... This might have started as an image from our private test, but it's been heavily altered (most probably with AI). Not great to spread misinformation." It continues: "For those genuinely curious about the project: we'll share more when the time is right!"

This post prompted xJ0nathan to release a separate image which he claims to be the real deal with no AI alteration, but other users have pointed out that the two images have inconsistencies between them that could debunk that version, too.

Of course, this is also indirect confirmation that there is some of the DNA of this Assassin's Creed multiplayer title within the screenshot, albeit heavily doctored. An interesting layer to this is Ubisoft saying "we'll share more when the time is right," as over the weekend it was reported that playtests went really poorly, causing some to speculate that the game could get canceled. Granted, this report started from the same poster behind the leaked image, before being later expanded upon by Insider Gaming. However, Ubisoft saying more is on the way also seemingly debunks the rumored cancellation.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced lead confirms "social stealth is back," but hidden blade combat isn't.

Ubisoft is telling you to cut out the OP strategies when it comes to combat in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced.

Over on the Ubisoft website, Paul Fu, creative director of Black Flag Resynced (and developer on the original release) details some of the changes to the remake's combat system. "At its core, Resynced is an action-adventure game, and combat is designed to be systematic and deliberate; every move is designed to have an advantage, a disadvantage, and a specific role to play," Fu explains.

While the rest of the combat now includes changes like a new heavy attack and dodge attack, it's actually the enemies that are going to get the biggest upgrade when it comes to combat. Ubisoft notes that enemies can now react to repetitive behavior and will punish you accordingly for spamming the same strategy in combat.

Fu details, "For example, wait around too much for a Parry, and enemies will react by performing Unstoppable Attacks that cannot be parried. Abuse a Kick too much, and enemies will quickly dodge them." Of course, you can play around with this, with the director explaining that "the trick is to alternate between offense and defense. Varying your combos helps. Rotate between Kicks, Sweeps, Rope Darts, Pistols and Heavy Strikes at the end of your attack combos to confuse enemies."

Of course, Assassin's Creed isn't exactly Devil May Cry, nor is it trying to be a game that focuses on combat mechanics. But given that the combat in Black Flag is somewhat dated after countless more entries in the series, it is a nice surprise that Ubisoft is going back to clean up some of the combat and turn the typically-mindless encounters into something that should hopefully be a bit more challenging.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced lead confirms "social stealth is back," but hidden blade combat isn't.

As if it were traveling back and forth through the Animus, the upcoming remake Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is actually using the engine that more contemporary games in the series were built on to upgrade the original pirate adventure's weather and vast ocean.

During a recent Reddit AMA with the developers of Black Flag Resynced, one fan wondered whether the technical chops we saw showcased in Assassin's Creed Shadows would creep into the remake, since both were built on Ubisoft's proprietary Anvil Engine.

Game director Richard Knight responds, "The Anvil Engine at the heart of Shadows is at the heart of Black Flag Resynced too, giving us access to everything from Raytracing and RTGI to better sound, dynamic weather, destructible objects and more."

Assassin's Creed Shadows was an undeniably gorgeous game, so there's no complaints here about porting some of its most immersive features into another title, but the remakers at Ubisoft are apparently going one step further by buffing the thing you'll spend most of your time staring at during voyages across the Caribbean: water.

"And specifically for Black Flag Resynced, the Anvil watertech team has been a critical part of the experience in giving us the best naval experience yet," Knight adds. That emphasis makes sense since, you know, as you might remember from Black Flag, when you're not actively surrounded by the ocean during epic ship fights or jolly, musical trips between colonies, you're probably on an island that's 90% beach.

New and improved tech isn't the only thing from recent Assassin's Creed games that Ubisoft's retroactively slotting into its 2013 pirate adventure. Developers have talked about how Black Flag Resynced will build on parkour features we saw in Shadows, but those who aren't fond of the series' newer RPG flavor shouldn't worry. Ubisoft distanced Black Flag Resynced's combat from the levels and stat checks seen in the series' mammoth RPGs.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced comes out July 9 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced isn't making the map any bigger, lead dev says, but it'll still take you longer to explore

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is being billed as a pretty faithful reconstruction of the original game, but Ubisoft isn't leaving the entire pirate adventure intact. While social stealth options will sneak back in, the devs have dug a hidden blade or two into the game's combat.

Developers involved in remaking the upcoming Assassin's Creed game recently took to a Reddit AMA to field fan queries, and as you might imagine, the series' most iconic weapons came up quite a bit.

Asked if Black Flag Resynced's hidden blades would be a selectable weapon (as they were in the original game) or if they'd be integrated into combos (as they were in Assassin's Creed Shadows), creative director Paul Fu says neither.

"Dual swords are the main weapons Edward will use in battle," Fu explains. "The Hidden Blade is not a selectable weapon, but a fatal, contextual (and BLOODY!) takedown that is available when you break the defense of your opponent!"

Black Flag Resynced introduces a new defense meter that, once depleted, leaves enemies hat-less and open to an instant finisher – Fu argues that slotting the hidden blades into this system turns them into a "critical part of moment-to-moment combat, which was not the case in the original."

Series fans don't immediately agree, however. One writes, "if possible I think you need to change this, a lot of people want this feature back."

Another says, "in an otherwise excellent looking remake this is a massive misstep."

"Please start incorporating hidden blade combat into AC again," a third replies. "Fans have been asking for this since unity."

Hidden blades might have not made the cut this time, at least not in the way some fans were hoping for, but the series' signature "social stealth is back," according to Fu. Ubisoft developers remain coy about how exactly Edward will move silently through a crowd, but the creative director promises the team will "be sharing more about social stealth very soon."

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced sets sail July 9 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, so we won't need to stay tuned for much longer.

Assassin's Creed 1 remake could be next after Black Flag Resynced, leaker says.

We're heading back to the Caribbean in the 1700s for Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, a complete remake of the fan-favorite installment. Redoing a game allows for improvements and such, and it's been confirmed that although the map itself isn't getting any bigger, it won't be quite the same as before.

During a Reddit AMA to celebrate the announcement of Resynced, creative director Paul Fu answers a question on the overall size of the world compared to the original release. "The map size remains the same, at 16 x 16km," he explains. "However, the world is now a little more dense, with new islands and new locations nestled in the cities!"

This seems like the right approach, because scale was not an issue in Black Flag. In fact, the world felt appropriately grand, providing plenty of space for the naval battles on top of the island-hopping. It's not a small game by any means.

Making what's there to be discovered more vibrant and varied is a more sensible move. Fu's choice of words makes me think there'll be less aimless roving around, because more treasure of varying descriptions will be in your vicinity at any given time. This'll no doubt require some extra hours if you're planning on 100%-ing this thing, as well.

In another response, Fu confirms what were previously special online events, like the white whales and royal convoys, are now built into the game. These bring some inherent extra energy to your journey around the sun-soaked islands, and they're bolstered by Anomalies, limited-time missions used in Shadows, that'll be making an appearance here as well.

It seems like there'll be plenty to do in Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced, which is good. Still, my first and only goal is to destroy as many opposing ships as I can on open water, and if I take out Moby Dick in the process, all the better.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced lead says Ubisoft could "never replace the GOAT" with the remake: "You only hope to do it justice."

Like many games released in the late PS3 and Xbox 360 era, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag had an array of online features that are now either half-broken or completely dead. Thankfully, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is doing what every modern remaster for a game from this era should do by cutting off the online requirements from those features – but unfortunately, it's also adding Assassin's Creed Shadows-style online nonsense of its own.

We've already known that Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced would cut the original game's multiplayer, but that's not the only part of the game that was locked to an online connection. Kenway's Fleet would allow you to dispatch ships into battles and missions that play out in real time even while you're not in-game. This feature was also integrated with a mobile app that you could check to see your fleet's progress while you're away from your console.

"Kenway's Fleet is now built into Black Flag Resynced, and can be accessed through either the Hideout or your Captain's Cabin – no phone needed," according to game director Richard Knight, speaking in a Reddit AMA.

Similarly, the original Black Flag also had an array of online events, where you'd need to be connected to the internet in order to, say, hunt a white whale or find a special chest. Your guess is as good as mine as to why this was an online-only feature in the first place, but Knight confirms in another Reddit comment that "events are built into the game this time." Praise be.

"But," he adds, "there is online content in the form of Anomalies (as seen previously in Assassins Creed Shadows)."

Here's where I sigh deeply and pinch the bridge of my nose. I'm sure Knight intends for that to be a positive, but the Anomalies from Shadows have always busted my immersion and reminded me of the things I very much do not like about modern Assassin's Creed. These are tiny little repeatable quests that refresh every few hours, and in Shadows they unlock rewards tied to the battle pass and other things connected to the microtransaction shop.

It's easy to avoid engaging with Anomalies, but it's difficult to ignore them entirely, since they're pretty prominently placed in Shadows' menu to try and keep you engaged with the game's meta-progression and shop systems. And every time they pop-up on screen, it's a reminder of how Ubisoft wants you to keep spending your hours – and your money – in these games over, and over, and over again.

These changes are ultimately a net positive, since they free most of the original Black Flag's meaningful content from behind a server wall. But still, getting that in a monkey's paw exchange for a different kind of online nonsense? It's a hard bargain you're driving here, Ubisoft.

These are the best Assassin's Creed games you can play today.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's lead producer says Ubisoft isn't trying to replace its 2013 piracy classic with its built-from-the-ground-up remake.

Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has officially been announced and will be released in July after well over a year of being the "worst-kept secret" in games. But even if the name somewhat sounds like it, Black Flag Resynced isn't a remaster, it's been "rebuilt from the ground up" as a full remake of one of the best Assassin's Creed games. Obviously, remakes can be contentious, especially when it comes to a game that many consider to be the best in the series, but the remake's lead producer has assured that he isn't trying to replace the OG.

Over on Twitter, a fan posts an open question, asking, "Do you think Assassin's Creed Black Flag remake could replace the original, if it remains as faithful as possible?" This attracted a response from Ubisoft Singapore producer Justin Ng, who simply states: "You never replace the GOAT. You only hope to do it justice."

Seeing remakes as replacements is a common thing from fans, and I can understand why when it comes to the kind of remake that remains faithful to the source material. That's why the best remakes – like Capcom's Resident Evil 2 and 4 – aren't trying to sell you the same game again, and instead offer something new while evoking the feeling of the original.

In an ideal world, remakes would follow the lead of Metal Gear Solid Delta where the original version is ported to modern consoles ahead of release, or one better like Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, where you can play both new and old versions of the game.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced parkour "builds on" improvements from Shadows and Valhalla.

Cluttered menus and HUDs are an increasingly common source of headache in games. Thankfully, Ubisoft is avoiding the problem entirely by letting players hide every single part of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's HUD, and you might not miss it as much as you'd expect since enemies themselves will basically tell you when they're ready for your hidden blades.

Ubisoft recently elaborated on Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's reworked combat, one that has a more familiar staggering system. Each enemy now has a defense meter that'll crumble after some pressure – weaker enemies are easily broken, bigger brutes need a little coaxing – and at that point you can go in for a final takedown.

The publisher explains that the remake's depth, at least in terms of combat, comes from its clearer readability. "Making enemy behaviors and vulnerabilities clearer and rewarding players who adapt their approach rather than repeating a single tactic" is part of what sets this Black Flag apart from the original game.

"But this is also where more experienced players can begin to push themselves further," Ubisoft's post goes on. "Once you're familiar with enemy archetypes, combat moves, and the rhythm of defense and takedowns, reducing or removing visual feedback can turn combat into a more instinct driven challenge."

Players can even hide health bars and defense indicators without a problem because the developers "added a visual tell for you: an enemy's defense is broken when their hat or headpiece falls off."

Black Flag Resynced is gorgeous and comes with new storylines, but enemies that keep losing their hats to the wind is maybe my favorite new feature because of how damn silly it is. Is losing your hat shorthand for defeat all over the pirate world? Or is it akin to the Dothraki and their long braids, where pirates can't in good faith keep their bandanas on after being disgraced in battle? Maybe exposing their unwashed, probably sunburned hair to the world is punishment enough.

Doing a HUD-less run of the game will probably reveal all sorts of similar diegetic clues, as well, as Ubisoft says that disabling things like health bars will offer "a tougher, more cinematic experience" and require a deeper focus on the game's animations and timing.

Ubisoft further distances Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced from Shadows and Valhalla's RPG combat as it confirms no levels and no gear stats.

Ubisoft is once again hammering home the point that Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is really, really, definitely not an RPG in the vein of Assassin's Creed Shadows and Valhalla.

After Ubisoft finally let the leaks loose and formally announced the remade pirate game, one of the first things game director Richard Knight noted about the project was that Black Flag Resynced "is not an RPG." Considering how divisive the more stat-driven entries in the series can be with long-time fans, the immediate clarification wasn't too surprising.

The publisher is now emphasizing the point even further, though. Not only is Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced not an RPG, according to Ubisoft, it's also not borrowing any RPG-adjacent systems from its older (or younger?) siblings.

"Please note: although health and defense bars are present in default settings, this does not change the fact that Black Flag Resynced remains an action-adventure game," Ubisoft writes in a recent post about the game's HUD. "The combat works similarly to the original game, with health and defense bars being optional. There are no levels, no gear scores, and no progression gates."

As Ubisoft explains, those new HUD elements aren't there to check damage points and whatnot. Specifically, the defense bar simply supports Black Flag Resynced's revamped combat, which lets you stagger enemies with quick parries and special attacks before opening them up to a lethal takedown once their defense is fully depleted.

"This display [the defense meter] will highlight how and when enemies are weakened, and how different enemy archetypes respond to specific combat actions – which is at the core of the new combat depth where your choices and the move you trigger will dictate a fight."

Best of all, you can tweak any of the HUD elements to your liking. Black Flag Resynced supposedly has four presets that chip away at the visual noise on screen or you can opt to toy with the game's HUD manually to completely turn off button prompts and parry indicators, for example, to your liking.

Assassin's Creed: Black Flag lead writer "wrote 2 new scenes" for Resynced, and "one of them is now a top 5 favorite" for him

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's big reveal last week generally went down a storm, but ironically, it's the absence of a storm in one particular part of the remake's footage that has some fans concerned about how certain scenes might be handled.

As highlighted by YouTube creator JorRaptor, new footage shows a revamped version of the scene where protagonist Edward Kenway first introduces himself to Adéwalé after stealing the Jackdaw and sailing out of a massive storm. However, there's something a little unusual about the remake's version of this – we can see a bright blue sky instead of a murky gloom, and while there are a couple of clouds in the distance, you certainly wouldn't think that Edward had just made it out of treacherous conditions by the skin of his teeth. Similarly, there's no longer any lightning flashing in the background – it looks like a rather pleasant day to be out on a boat, in fact.

Needless to say, fans have some questions. "What happened to the lighting? The remake completely got rid of the mood and the atmosphere," one writes. Another notes: "The two scenes tell a completely different story just from the lighting alone. One is much more atmospheric and teases a storm ahead."

Now, during Resynced's big reveal showcase, it's explained that the world "reaches a new level of immersion and realism, powered by high-resolution textures, enhanced lighting, strikingly detailed environments, and a new dynamic weather system." The weather changed in the original Black Flag, too, but it seems likely that Ubisoft could be using the Atmos system this time, like in Assassin's Creed Shadows. However, pretty as the new game and its weather might be, it's a little odd if this new dynamic system can change scenes meant to take place during or after very specific conditions.

Other screenshots and footage have shown that Black Flag Resynced is packing plenty of atmosphere and gorgeous lighting at all times of day, but that's not really the point here. "This takes place immediately after and outside of an actual historical hurricane. The weather and time of day are very much predetermined here," one fan argues, defending the original: "'Piss filter, Piss filter' THEY ARE AT THE EDGE OF A HURRICANE." Another adds: "I love how the cutscene that's from a mission where you sail out of a hurricane is just bright and sunny for no reason."

Of course, it's worth noting the big "work-in-progress" disclaimer emblazoned on the new Black Flag Resynced footage – things may well be changed before the game's actual release, although it does seem a tad odd to change something that by all accounts you'd expect to be intrinsic to the scene when marketing the game. With that said, the remake's lead producer has already confirmed that the full game will have plenty of blood in it, despite the reveal showcase being strangely clean, so the weather wouldn't be the only part of the remake to look different at launch, if so.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced doesn't bother with the original's DLC or multiplayer because Ubisoft is focusing on a "pure, story-driven adventure."

After years of leaks and rumors, Ubisoft has finally unveiled Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, which you'd think could put an end to the series' upcoming projects being spoiled. Apparently, that may not be the case, as leakers claim a remake of the first game is also in development, so here we go again.

As highlighted by Eurogamer, these latest whispers started following the latest episode of the Insider Gaming Weekly podcast, in which Insider Gaming co-founder Tom Henderson claimed that "there is another Assassin's Creed remake in the works, one of the earlier ones." While he didn't elaborate on which game this could be, it's now been suggested by content creator j0nathan (who Eurogamer notes has served as a fairly reliable Assassin's Creed leaker in the past, having previously leaked the name of Valhalla's Dawn of Ragnarök DLC, for example) that it's actually Assassin's Creed 1.

While it's worth taking all this with a pinch of salt, the idea that there's another remake in the works isn't surprising at all. In fact, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot already suggested as such back in 2024, when he teased that "players can be excited about some remakes" – note the plural there. J0nathan claims (via machine translation) that he heard about this other rumored remake from a contact back in 2023, so the timing roughly lines up there.

As for whether Assassin's Creed 1 is truly next to receive the remake treatment, it's impossible to say for sure at this point – after all, the fact that a Black Flag remake has been announced first means Ubisoft isn't going in order of release. With that said, the first game in the series is approaching its 20th anniversary next year (sorry to make you feel old), so, it'd be appropriate timing. Again, not that that matters when you look at Black Flag's original release compared to Resynced's, but it feels more impactful when you're looking at the game that started the series as a whole.

We'll just have to wait and see what comes of this – I can't imagine Ubisoft will fancy a repeat performance of Black Flag Resynced's endless leaks, so it remains to be seen if another remake's existence could be quite as leaky. Then again, if these latest claims do end up being true… we're not off to a great start.

Assassin's Creed: Black Flag lead writer "wrote 2 new scenes" for Resynced, and "one of them is now a top 5 favorite" for him.

Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag lead scriptwriter Darby McDevitt has teased some new scenes in the upcoming remake, Black Flag Resynced.

Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced may have been the "worst-kept secret" in games for well over a year, but finally, the "rebuilt from the ground up" remake of one of the best Assassin's Creed games has officially been announced and will be released in July. But, despite feeling like it at times, it turns out we actually don't know everything that the upcoming remake has to offer.

McDevitt – who was lead scriptwriter on the original Black Flag and Revelations (as well as writer on Valhalla, Unity, and Origins) – reveals on the Access the Animus Discord (via TheHiddenOneAC on Twitter) that for Resynced, "I wrote two new scenes and amended one in the main story."

Not only that, McDevitt notes that with the new scenes, "One of them is now a top five favorite scene for me in" Black Flag, and says "I hope y'all love it." He also explains, "You'll wonder why it was never in there to begin with. And that's because I didn't conceive of it until recently!"

Of course, new scenes and plot additions in remakes are a dangerous game at times, as one wrong narrative choice can completely reframe an entire story. However, if there's one person who should be making decisions like this, it's probably someone who also wrote the original version of the game.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced parkour "builds on" improvements from Shadows and Valhalla.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is pulling the well-loved open-world game into the modern era with updated graphics and revamped combat, but Ubisoft also says it's retroactively fitting Edward Kenway with parkour closer to the series' newer entries.

At a preview event attended by GamesRadar+, game director Richard Knight told us that games like Assassin's Creed Shadows or Valhalla will have an impact on the way Edward hops around pirate shanty towns or scales massive ships.

"From the start, the intention was clear: deliver a faithful and enriched experience grounded in what players loved," Knight says of the developer's mission statement. "We have rebuilt the entire adventure using our latest Anvil Engine. Expect fully overhauled visuals, new additions that deepen its world and enhance gameplay, both on land and at sea. Movement now flows more naturally from one action to the next, whether you're doing parkour across rooftops in Havana or fighting on the docks."

While faithfulness is a key goal for the game's remakers, it hasn't stopped them from borrowing a thing or two from more modern games in the series. "Parkour builds on the latest design improvements from recent Assassin's Creed games, while still keeping Edward's classic moves," Knight continues.

There aren't too many details on just how much Black Flag Resynced's parkour will resemble Shadows', for example, but the remake launches this July on PC, Xbox Series X|S and PS5. So we won't need to wait long to find out.

Knight also notes that combat is apparently more "dynamic" and Edward can now crouch anywhere, an ability that aims to "open up more tactical routes and subtle approaches" during stealth.

"Naval gameplay also follows the same philosophy and offers more tactical options. New officers will join your crew with powerful abilities, while the jackdaws weapons can be upgraded with new modes to change up the fight. The sea now plays an active role in how you'll be challenged by the elements, weather and waves will influence how your ship will handle while preserving the pace and freedom players remember."

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced doesn't bother with the original's DLC or multiplayer because Ubisoft is focusing on a "pure, story-driven adventure"

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced remakes most of the original pirate game, specifically all the swashbuckling parts starring Edward Kenway, but not all of the 2013 original. Ubisoft explains that's because it's just focusing on the game's story this time around.

The original Assassin's Creed Black Flag came out in an era where countless blockbuster single-player-focused games would ship with a multiplayer offering packed in (see Tomb Raider, Uncharted 3), and multiplayer-heavy games still regularly came with a slimmer solo campaign. Black Flag was no exception, and featured a suite of pretty cool PvP modes that put a different spin on the series' classic stealth.

But Ubisoft isn't bothering to remake the game's multiplayer or its big single-player DLC Freedom Cry, an expansion that followed one of the main game's best side characters.

At a preview event attended by GamesRadar+, Black Flag Resynced's creative director Paul Fu explained that the omissions were apparently part of a tighter focus. "With Resynced, we made a clear choice. It is a pure, story-driven adventure, and we are fully focused on Edward's adventures in the Caribbean," he says.

"As a result of this focus, we have elected to not have the multiplayer and not have the DLC. However, Resynced is built from the ground up with new story [content], new content and new systems, but we're staying true to its action adventure roots," Fu adds. "Resynced is a 2026 take on the original Legend, and for those of us who are curious, the original will still be available."

Since Black Flag Resynced promises to include new and expanded storylines not seen in the original, it's entirely possible that elements of Freedom Cry could be folded into this remake/resync/reimagining. Just don't expect to play as Adéwalé. And, at least, the original Black Flag is still readily available on most modern gaming systems.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced "remains a solo adventure and character-driven experience," says Ubisoft lead: "It is not an RPG"

Assassin's Creed Codename Hexe just lost a second lead developer in only a few short months.

Ubisoft hasn't divulged much about the still mysterious upcoming Assassin's Creed game, but we did know veteran developer Benoit Richer was working on the project as game director after having led Batman: Arkham Origins and been a co-director on Assassin's Creed Valhalla, one of the stealthy-stabby series' most successful entries.

In a new LinkedIn post, Richer revealed that he's now joining fresh indie studio Servo Games, no longer works for Ubisoft, and seemingly isn't involved with the production of Assassin's Creed Hexe any longer. His departure comes just two months after the game's creative director and Splinter Cell veteran Clint Hocking quit the company, as well.

Back in February, Ubisoft tapped Jean Guesdon to lead the project as a creative director, having already been in the director's chair for Assassin's Creed Black Flag and Origins. Guesdon also works as the entire Assassin's Creed brand's head of content. Either way, it's a big behind-the-scenes shake up for a game that's been in development for years already.

Slated as the next big mainline game in the Assassin's Creed series, we haven't seen too much (or anything) of Codename Hexe since it originally stepped out of the shadows with a more sinister reveal trailer than you might expect from the normally bombastic franchise.

One report suggested Hexe was an RPG set during the witch trials in 16th century Europe, though that could be subject to change after this recent director reshuffle. Guesdon also said to "expect a unique, darker, narrative-driven Assassin's Creed experience, set during a pivotal moment in history" just last month.

In the meantime, Ubisoft is readying up to release Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, a remake of its swashbuckling pirateventure that includes new storylines and a graphical overhaul.

Cashing in 10 years of irony, Ubisoft taps Skull & Bones studio to lead Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced development

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is heading our way in just a few months, but you can already pre-order your copy ahead of the July 9 release date. Doing so will net you the Blackbeard's Crimson Pack DLC as well as the Master Assassin Character and Naval Packs should you opt for the Deluxe Edition. It's that Collector's booty that's offering the most valuable pre-order bonuses, though.

The full package comes with all that digital goodness, Edward Kenway's brooch, a world map, Kenway's logbook, an exclusive steelbook cover and... sea shanty sheet music. I don't know if you were on the same algorithm as me during the pandemic, but 2020's calling.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced pre-orders are live now, starting from $59.99 for the standard edition, moving up to $69.99 for the Digital Deluxe, and $199.99 for the full Collector's package.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced was unveiled just yesterday, but is already coming up fast. The remake goes beyond a traditional remaster, bringing an "entirely reworked" combat system into the fray, to push the game more towards an action experience. Improvements have hit parkour mechanics, stealth offerings (that immediate desynchronization is out the window), and - obviously - visuals.

Loading screens are gone, there's new quests to get underway - plenty of changes are heading out way in the new release.

Black Flag Resynced pre-orders are still widely available across the web, for both PS5 and Xbox Series X, but we often see Collector's Editions moving a little faster.

Don't worry, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's first trailer might have been oddly sanitized, but the final game will be bloody enough to quench a pirate's appetite for violence.

Ubisoft finally unveiled its worst-kept secret to the world yesterday with an extended trailer diving deep into its remade pirate adventure. It looked great, except for the fact that every time main man Edward Kenway stabbed someone in the gut or shot them in the eye, they simply flopped over bloodless like a stunt actor.

After some fans questioned if the company was censoring its normally bloody series, the remake's lead producer Justin Ng chimes in to say that's not the case. "A few things to quickly address I guess (without getting into trouble hopefully)," he tweets. "There WILL be blood in the final game, and it will not be a paid DLC."

The Black Flag Resynced lead also notes that the dev team is aware of complaints aimed at the game's excessive VFX and audio cues during combat, so "it's being toned down" in time for the remake's full launch on July 9 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

One thing we didn't see too much of in its reveal trailer was the series' signature stealthy-stabby bits: blending into crowds, hiring dancers for distractions, acting super duper casual by just sitting on a bench. Responding to another fan on social media worried about whether those social stealth elements remain intact, Ng simply says "it's still there. #Faithful."

Ubisoft preemptively got ahead of genre backlash, too. Game director Richard Knight notes that Black Flag Resynced is both a single-player adventure and definitely not an RPG, unlike the newer AssCreed games that lean on levelling up and stats.

Cashing in 10 years of irony, Ubisoft taps Skull & Bones studio to lead Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced development.

The long-expected reveal of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced, a "ground up" remake bringing the pirate adventure up to modern standards in July, brought a surprising and bittersweet reveal with it: Ubisoft Singapore is leading development.

You may remember this particular studio – as PC Gamer spotted, one of many working on Resynced – for the long, long development of Skull and Bones, a different Ubisoft pirate game. Pertinently, Ubisoft Singapore was also among the fleet of original Black Flag developers.

Skull and Bones ironically began as an expansion for the original Black Flag that would build on its popular naval combat. Through 10 years of production shifts and delays (and more delays, and then even more delays), it morphed into what its Steam page now calls "an open world naval action RPG" with live service trappings like seasons and battle passes.

Unlike Skull and Bones, Black Flag sold and reviewed pretty darn well, hence its incoming remake. It's oddly fitting to see Ubisoft Singapore return to the ship that started it all after a rocky decade and change – which, to be fair, also saw the studio work on a medley of other, well-received Assassin's Creed games.

The two games are almost emblematic of the eras of Ubisoft. If you cut the company open like a tree and stopped to count the rings, Black Flag would be part of a much more golden age. But for several years, Ubisoft's many studios have struggled to produce a hit, let alone meet investor expectations. Through its protracted production issues, Skull and Bones always felt like the perennial example of things gone wrong, and was easy to point to.

Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced, especially with Ubisoft Singapore at the helm after some hard times, feels like another bid in Ubisoft's proposed turnaround (which has notably been built atop thousands of layoffs).

The 5 biggest changes coming to Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced.

We finally have our first official look at Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced ahead of its release on July 9, 2026, and it promises to be one very big swashbuckling reunion with Edward Kenway. Entirely rebuilt on Ubisoft's latest Anvil Engine, Ubisoft is setting out to deliver a "faithful remake" that will continue to be a "solo adventure and character-driven experience", with game director Richard Knight stressing "it is not an RPG".

But we can also expect to set sail with some exciting new content and changes that aim to improve the original 2013 experience. Alongside a visual overhaul with high resolution textures, enhanced lighting, and a new dynamic weather system that will make the Caribbean setting feel more alive, here are the five biggest changes that will be introduced in the Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced remake.

5. The combat system has been reworked

The combat in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has been reworked into an "action oriented experience" that sees you perform faster, more fluid attacks and parries. Successfully landing a parry will allow you to follow up with "up to four-chained takedowns" , so you can take out foes with flourish. With dual swords, pistols, and hidden blades in your arsenal, the reveal also showed off the return of the grappling hook and smoke bombs, as well as the fact that we can now use walls, ledges, and breakables in the environment to our advantage in combat.

4. Parkour and stealth have been improved

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced will also benefit from the tighter controls and fluid movement of more recent Assassin's Creed games. With parkour building "on the latest design improvements", Kenway will be able to free jump, and perform back and side ejects from ledges. With more reactive movements overall, the stealth system has also been refined, meaning that Kenway can now crouch freely at any time during your adventures to let you be a truly sneaky pirate.

3. Jackdaw enhancements and no more loading screens

The trusty Jackdaw ship has gotten some enhancement, with more fire power and new upgrades. Plus, you can now take to the seas with your very own pet cat or monkey on board. Better yet, your adventures at sea will no longer see you enter a loading screen when you go to set anchor up at one of the major cities. Yes, the loading screens of the 2013 adventure will be a thing of the past in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, with "seamless access to cities and locations" to make the world feel more alive and immersive as you sail from port to port.

2. New quests and storylines

As a story-driven adventure, Ubisoft confirmed that Black Flags multiplayer and DLC won't be making a return, but we will be getting additional story content and missions, with Kenway actor Matt Ryan capturing new mocap scenes for the remake. So far, we know Resynced will include three new recruitable officers for the Jackdaw who each have their own unique abilities and storylines to discover, narrative arcs for familiar faces like Blackbeard and Stede, and a scene with Kenway's wife Caroline. Existing tailing and eavesdropping missions have also been revamped, too, meaning you'll no longer be instantly desynchronized upon detection like you were in the original.

1. Modern side of the story will feature "new moments"

In the original Black Flag, the modern day side of the story relating to Abstergo all took place in first-person after Desmond's story came to a close in Assassin's Creed 3. Original Black Flag creative director Jean Guesdon said this was a "transition moment" for the series because of "Desmond's story and what it meant at the time", but for Black Flag Resynced, the team recognized a need to make some changes. Now, as the "modern day has evolved", Resynced will be approaching the modern day with a focus on Edward's journey, with, in the words of current creative director Paul Fu, "modern day rifts" featuring "new moments that focus on Edward's internal struggles".

Look ahead to more exciting future releases with our roundup of new games for 2026 and beyond.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has been officially unveiled, and the release date for the long-awaited swashbuckling remake is under two months away.

To be exact, Black Flag Resynced launches on July 9, so there's really not long to wait. And, as shown in Ubisoft's big reveal showcase today, this isn't just a simple remaster to make things look a bit prettier – per Edward Kenway actor Matt Ryan, it's been "rebuilt from the ground up with the latest Anvil engine to deliver the most thrilling pirate adventure."

As for what's changed – beyond the "high resolution textures, enhanced lighting, strikingly detailed environments, and a new dynamic weather system" – the game's combat system has been "entirely reworked into an action-oriented experience. While wielding huge swords, pistols, and hidden blades, every move now plays a specific role with faster, more fluid attacks."

Parkour has also been given some TLC, as "you'll experience smooth and improved iconic parkour moves," including free drops and back ejects. What's more, tailing and eavesdropping missions have been "revamped," with it being noted that the immediate desynchronization that came with being discovered in the original was "a pretty big pain point." Now, the "action continues," but "your target will react, and you must adapt accordingly."

We can also expect "fresh quests and storylines," which Ryan notes include "new narrative arcs involving our old friends, Blackbeard and Stede." Creative director Paul Fu elaborates on this a bit further, saying that "no remake is complete without additional content, so we have added brand-new chapters and brand-new missions to the game, including a brand-new scene with Edward's wife Caroline."

Despite the changes, though, game director Richard Knight says that "from the start, the intention was clear: deliver a faithful and enriched experience grounded in what players loved." So, veteran fans have certainly been kept in mind, but there should still be new things to discover even if you've played the original 2013 game for hundreds of hours.

After literal years of leaks and rumors about the Black Flag remake, it almost feels a little strange to actually see it in an official capacity like this. Ubisoft is well aware of this ship's leakiness, of course – it even called the remake "gaming's worst-kept secret" when it announced this showcase, and it's really not wrong. Considering that whispers about the game have been circulating since 2023, it's quite a relief to see we don't have a massive further wait ahead of us to actually play it.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, and it's also getting a Collector's Edition starring an Edward Kenway figure, a notebook of the protagonist's diary entries, a cloth map, and a brooch.

"Assassin's Creed Black Flag is the best pirate game of all time," according to Windrose devs, so of course they "took inspiration" from it for their viral open-world seafaring game.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is real, happening, and launching on July 9, but Ubisoft wants to make it very clear that it's a single-player experience and "not an RPG."

We just got our first proper official look at the long-awaited Black Flag remake after literal years of leaks and rumors, and as well as the showcase confirming it'll be "rebuilt from the ground up," it was noted by game director Richard Knight that it'll "deliver a faithful and enriched experience grounded in what players loved." As part of that, he notes that certain key aspects haven't changed.

"Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced matters deeply to us and to you. That's why we took the time to rebuild it with the care it deserves. This remains a solo adventure and character-driven experience. It is not an RPG," Knight explains. "The focus stays on how you play and how you explore the world, and as we developed the game, we organized dedicated workshops with our community. These early player feedbacks played an important role in refining many of these elements."

This does mean, however, that the multiplayer features included in the original game aren't present here. Paul Fu, creative director of the remake, says: "With Resynced, we made a clear choice. It is a pure story-driven adventure, and we are fully focused on Edward's adventures in the Caribbean. As a result of this focus, we have elected to not have multiplayer and not have the DLC.

"However, Resynced is built from the ground up with new story, new content, and new systems, but we're staying true to its action-adventure roots. Resynced is a 2026 take on the original legend, and for those of us who are curious, the original will still be available."

I imagine that latter part might prove divisive – it's a very different game, but JRPG remake Persona 3 Reload was criticized for not including the female protagonist introduced in its PSP port, as well as its FES re-release's epilogue, The Answer (although this was later added as DLC). After all, folks generally expect remakes of games to serve as a definitive version – with all that effort being put in to make something shiny and new again, why wouldn't it have all the content and additions made to its predecessor (or predecessors, in Persona 3's case) over time?

Part of me wonders if Ubisoft might opt to add Black Flag's old DLC later down the line to Resynced, but Fu's immediate point towards the original game doesn't inspire the most confidence in that regard. We'll just have to wait and see.

Assassin's Creed 3 director says Ubisoft held back on the ship-sailing stuff until Black Flag because they were worried the tech "wouldn't work," and I have to say that was 100% the right call.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has finally been unveiled, and while leaks and rumors have meant that the wait has felt much longer than it might have had Ubisoft's marketing gone to plan, the most dedicated Black Flag fans have been rewarded for their patience… with a Collector's Edition starring a statue that helped leak the game months ago.

As shown today during Ubisoft's big Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced reveal showcase, the Collector's Edition is full of trinkets and goodies just begging to be displayed on a shelf. The star of the show is a 12-inch Edward Kenway statue – it shows the protagonist sitting on a treasure chest, holding a cutlass, in front of a ship's wheel and flag.

If you've been keeping up with the many, many Black Flag leaks, this statue might look familiar. It actually surfaced online back in January after being sold on the secondhand site Vinted, and after going viral on Twitter, Ubisoft responded with the GTA: San Andreas "ah shit, here we go again" meme, suggesting we weren't meant to see it quite yet. So, folks were right about it being connected to the remake, after all.

Otherwise, in addition to the game itself, there's a cloth world map, a sea shanty music sheet, metal brooch, and a steelbook. The other highlight has to be Edward's log book, which per actor Matt Ryan, is full of "diary entries" about "all of his adventures." There's some digital content, too – specifically, the Master Assassin character and naval pack and Blackbeard's crimson pack – adding a bunch of cosmetics to the game.

All in all, it's a solid selection of stuff, but as you might expect, it doesn't sound like it's going to come cheap. Prominent leaker Billbil-kun, who accurately shared the $59.99 pricing for the standard edition of Resynced before the official announcement, claims that the Collector's Edition is set to cost $199.99 / £174.99. I'm sure plenty of Black Flag fans will still cave, but it seems that it's definitely going to be a considered purchase.

Assassin's Creed 3 director says Ubisoft held back on the ship-sailing stuff until Black Flag because they were worried the tech "wouldn't work," and I have to say that was 100% the right call.

I fell off Assassin's Creed Black Flag in a big way back in 2013. I've been a huge fan of the series for almost two decades, and that's an admission I've always said in hushed tones. For many, Black Flag is one of the best Assassin's Creed games out there, after all, and no one was more surprised than I was about the fact that I just didn't get on with it. On paper, everything about it appealed to me: swashbuckling adventures, the open seas of the Caribbean, treasure hunting. And who wouldn't want to be a charismatic pirate who commands their own ship?

In practice, though, one particular type of mission kept getting in my way, and eventually made me lower my pirate flag for good. Fast forward 13 years on, and as I watch a presentation for the upcoming remake, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, I'm delighted to discover that Ubisoft is directly addressing what even the studio calls a "big pain point" in the original's stealth experience. While the fix that's being introduced promises to put the wind back in my sails, after seeing how, in the words of game director Richard Knight, "the entire adventure [has been] rebuilt using the latest Anvil Engine", it's far from the only reason I'll finally be giving Edward Kenway's journey another chance when it drops on July 9, 2026 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.

Following through

It's the original Black Flag's tailing missions that made me think a pirate's life wasn't for me at launch. These involve following a target by land or sea, without the ability to crouch – with many involving slow boat maneuvers – and my frustration stemmed from the fact that you instantly desynchronize back to nasty checkpoints upon detection. Eventually, they got in the way of me actively wanting to finish the game, and I sadly never did.

In Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, though, Ubisoft has "revamped" eavesdropping and tailing missions, meaning you'll no longer be desynchronized when you're spotted. Instead, the "action will continue", and you'll have to adapt to the changing tides of your objective if you're percieved. Not only should this remove irksome friction, but it will also present fresh new ways to complete these particular missions. Better yet, as Knight says, stealth "has its share of improvements, too", with Kenway now having the ability to crouch at any time to get properly sneaky.

During the presentation, Jean Guesdon, who worked as creative director on the original and is now head of content for Assassin's Creed, said Black Flag was always about trying to deliver on two fantasies: pirate and assassin. As someone who loves going all in on the cloak and dagger, I'm glad to hear that the assassin side is getting some tweaks, with Knight saying stealth's improvements will "open up more tactical routes and subtle approaches, letting you shape the adventure the way you want".

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me

Of course, the pirate side is seeing some new content and changes, too, with a reworked combat system that's more action-orientated and sees you perform reactive parries and take-downs. There will also be more fluid parkour, additional fire power and new upgrades for Kenway's Jackdaw ship, and even the ability to have a cat or monkey as a pet on board while you're at sea. Other big notable additions include some fresh faces in new recruitable officers who offer up unique abilities for the Jackdaw, new narrative arcs for existing characters like Blackbeard and Stede, and new chapters and missions.

A lot has changed in terms of tech since the original release, and I can already see how the glittering seas and sandy beaches of the Caribbean will benefit from Resynced's rebuild, with the Anvil Engine bringing visual enhancements, a "new dynamic weather system", and the promise of "seamless access to cities and locations" as you explore the open world. As someone who bounced off the 2013 release, I'm buoyed by all of these additions and enhancements, but if you were a big fan of the original, it really sounds like Ubisoft is trying to retain what makes Black Flag, well, Black Flag.

"Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced matters deeply to us and to you," says Knight. "That's why we took the time to rebuild it with the care it deserves. This remains a solo adventure and character-driven experience. It is not an RPG. The focus stays on how you play and how you explore the world, and as we developed the game, we organized dedicated workshops with our community. These early player feedbacks played an important role in refining many of these elements."

"The one thing that was non-negotiable is the original story of Edward Kenway," Resynced creative director Paul Fu says. "We have never approached Resynced as a reinvention. Our goal is to carry Jean's [Guesdon] vision forward, and today, we have much more room to do so. Since the game is engineered and rebuilt on Ubisoft's latest Anvil [Engine], it allows us to push dynamism, gameplay, [and] immersion further while keeping the original vision and story intact."

What's piqued my interest the most, though, are the changes being made to the modern day side of the story in Black Flag. While Ubisoft has yet to confirm what exactly it will entail, Guesdon said that in 2013, it reflected "where the franchise was at", describing it as a "transition moment, especially with Desmond's story and what it meant at that time", with Assassin's Creed 3 sealing Desmond's fate.

Recognizing that "changes were needed", Fu added that the "modern day has evolved". We can expect to encounter "modern day rifts" with "new moments that focus on Edward's internal struggles". Even if I'm not as well versed in this part of the Assassin's Creed timeline, as a self-proclaimed lore fiend, I'm very keen to discover what this will do for the storyline.

A lot of what we've heard of Assassins' Creed Black Flag Resynced is as much music to my ears as the sea shanties are on board the Jackdaw. While the entries that center around cities have always captured my heart the most over the years, the improvements being introduced have sold me, and I'm looking forward to letting my pirate flag fly once more this July.

Getting ready for the swashbuckling adventure to return? Check out our guide for how to play the Assassin's Creed games in order: chronologically and by release date.

Ubisoft will soon satisfy our swashbuckling souls with its Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced reveal showcase later today, April 23 at 12pm EDT / 6pm CEST, though the surprise is slightly spoiled by a refrigerator's worth of leaks. Black Flag voice and motion capture actor Matt Ryan is part of the problem, having told a fan in 2025 "you might have to beat [the game] again," but at least he seems to be in good spirits when he admits it.

Ubisoft posted a teaser video on Twitter starring Ryan, who also played Black Flag's hard-bitten hero Edward Kenway in the original 2013 game. He acknowledges in the clip, "Now, this ship has had more leaks than a worn-out hull – but the real treasure is still below deck."

That's somewhat hard to believe since, only this week, Black Flag Resynced has had price leaks suggesting the standard game edition will cost $59.99 / £49.99, plus in-game footage leaks showing off what looks to be seriously impressive graphics. That wasn't the case for some other, unfortunate screenshots of gameplay and a cutscene that got passed around casually online, like table salt, but Ubisoft quickly chimed in to say the images were real, just "from an old internal version of the game."

So Ryan continues in his teaser video, "It's only a few hours left before we show you what we've been cooking, so make sure you tune in, lads. It's almost time to set sail again. I'll see you there." I get it, he's keeping it vague, pretending to be relaxed, since Ubisoft allegedly threatened to sue him over his past Black Flag tease.

Soon he'll be free from some of that pressure, since gaming's "worst-kept secret" will be officially out. You can watch the Black Flag Resynced livestream on Assassin's Creed and Ubisoft's official YouTube channels – where some people are already convincing themselves there's a shadowdrop on the way.

Pass the time by reminiscing about the best Assassin's Creed games.

The price of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has seemingly leaked ahead of Ubisoft's official reveal later today, and if you were hoping it would be significantly cheaper because it's a remake, I'm afraid I've got some bad news.

Billbil-kun, who has been leaking all sorts of things from PS Plus line-ups to hardware for years now, has posted on their Twitter account revealing new details about the "worst-kept secret" in games. Not only do they echo the rumor that we'll be playing Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced on July 9, 2026, but they also share a look at the Collector's Edition of the game, which is apparently set to feature the likes of a map, notebook, and statue of Edward Kenway.

Most notably however, Billbil-kun also claims the price of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced will come in at $59.99 / £49.99 for the standard edition. Meanwhile, the Collector's Edition will come in at $199.99 / £174.99.

Obviously, this isn't as bad as the likes of an $80 Mario Kart World, or even the standard $70 we've sadly grown accustomed to over the years, but there's definitely going to be some who object to paying almost full price for a game released in 2013. We'll just have to wait and see if these claims hold true when the game is officially unveiled later today.

Rumors and leaked footage do seem to imply that this will be a full-blown remake of the game as opposed to a simple remaster. Hopefully Ubisoft can justify the price for some, because if any Assassin's Creed game deserves it, it's Black Flag.

These are the best Assassin's Creed games.