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.
