Line up Arno Dorian, Jacob Frye, and Ezio Auditore, and they'd all have something Edward Kenway does not: being likeable blokes. The Welsh pirate was never meant to be a decent guy from the off. As an aimless drunk trying to find himself in the West Indies after royally fumbling the bag when it comes to his estranged wife back in Bristol, that offputting loser vibe was already there in the 2013 original. But it has to be said that while Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is an absolutely gorgeous and incredibly fun new game, it magnifies its protagonist's asshattery by dragging out his redemption arc for an unbearably long time.
I get it. We all love a rehabilitated bad boy, as anyone who plays dishonorable Arthur up to a certain point in Red Dead Redemption 2 will tell you. But, unlike a gruff outlaw atoning for his none-too-egregious sins at the dawn of a new world order, Black Flag Resynced gives me very little to root for in Edward. His personality traits are money, dubloons, and reales, and I am so very bored of it. How is it possible that over five hours and four sequences into the remake, I'm still rolling my eyes at a very two-dimensional anti-hero, waiting for the moment he starts feeling worth the emotional investment?
Ye olde frat bro
Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced review: "Far from smooth sailing, even though I love the original"
I've been trying to work out why I am so repulsed by Edward Kenway's character in Black Flag Resynced. Maybe I just hadn't noticed it before, and seeing such a faithful remake has exposed how simplistic the character has always been: from the faded leathers to the alcoholism, near-constant money-grubbing, and self-aggrandized dreams of rising above the derision he'd faced in the "old world", Edward is a stereotypical wannabe pirate. So much so, it starts to feel forced.
Others in the game recognize that. His friend Vane sneers at Edward’s twisted view of piracy, how he views it as a means to an end rather than an earnest movement for complete freedom from the shackles of Crown, Country, and Colony. James Kidd notes his equally shallow motives for dealing with Templars initially, Edward's interest piqued by the promise of a snazzy new get-up. There's also the matter of his most un-pirate-like commitment to his estranged wife back home. He intends to win her back with a fortune amassed as a temporary pirate, rendering him little more than a well-connected tourist in the West Indies.
Resynced does a great job of highlighting how hard Edward's intentions have been clocked from the start. Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons is still righteous, Kidd remarks mildly, but it's clear that Edward's self-interest immediately grates on his companions very early on.
Only for me, it's not that early on. Six hours into Black Flag Resynced, Edward is still a goofy, greedy caricature of a peg-legged pirate, lacking only a Pretty Polly parrot on his shoulder squawking for a cracker. I'm starting to wonder if it's not the game that's making his simplistic bad boy era drag on for so long, but the way I'm approaching its new spatial parameters.
Thanks to being rebuilt in the powerful Anvil game engine, one of the most exciting tech advancements seen in Resynced is the seamless open world. As soon as I gain access to a ship of my own, I'm free to cut about Havana as I please – which means that I'm taking too long to get stuff done.
Too cool for charm school
I don't know whether I love or hate Resynced's open world for being so good at its job that it makes an already unlikeable character even more of a tool
The original's tight, linear narrative pacing has been well and truly let off its leash in Resynced. There are plenty of islands to explore (though the maps therein are quite limited), a vast ocean I can freely dive into at any time for some treasure hunting, and I can even indulge in a spot of harpoon fishing when a compass marker pops up. Then there's sea shanties to collect after chasing down sheet music over rooftops, Helix glitches to explore alternate timelines, pirate contracts, brief in-world events, and a host of side quests after unlocking Edward's island hideout.
All this is excellent, because I adore exploring the best open world games and letting myself get sidetracked, yet I can already feel how it's damaging my journey through the story as a player. I have to keep reminding myself that this is not an RPG. I could storm all the main early-game quests (is six hours still early game?!) to keep myself on the straight and narrow, but am too much of a magpie not to get pulled off-course.
Why would I jump straight into the next mission when I could go climb every vantage point in sight, something I do in many of the best Assassin's Creed games to open the world up before I get stuck in? Resynced's biggest problem is that it trusts me, the player, far too much to let its story play out as intended. As a result, I'm dragging out the worst of its hero.
Looking back at the stealth-action Assassin's Creed games, I don't recall ever feeling this much like a kid in a Havanaen candy shop. City-based Creeds have plenty of side quests, challenges, and collectibles, but the close-quarters element means I am never more than a few seconds away from fast-traveling to the nearest quest marker if I want to get back into the main story.
But as I set sail again for a distant island and pray to God I don't get swept up in another spot of naval warfare which was totally not my own fault, I realize that I have been intending to visit this map marker for the past thirty minutes to no avail. Resynced is almost too big and enticing to keep up the narrative momentum at times, meaning I am accidentally spending far longer in Edward Kenway's bastard era than I'd have liked. Help! My pirate game is too beautiful and distracting, and my lobster is too buttery!
I know that Edward Kenway's days in a pancake-flat pirate fantasy are numbered. His ego death is rapidly approaching, and embarking upon my first proper Templar Hunt, I am so very ready to see it. I don't know whether I love or hate Resynced's open world for being so good at its job that it makes an already unlikeable character even more of a tool, but I'm having such a good time getting lost in it that I can't even stay mad. Especially when, if I ever feel he is in need of karma points, I can send him out to feed chickens or pet cats to right the cosmic wrongs he inflicts upon myself and others (and his poor, poor wife).
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