Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Collector's Edition comes full circle with an Edward Kenway statue that helped leak the game months ago

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.