Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Hands-On Preview – Free Roaming In The Golden Age Of Piracy

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Preview. The original Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is one of the best pirate games out there. It also just happens to be an Assassin’s Creed game too, but that’s easy to forget given the swashbuckling shenanigans that makes up its addictive gameplay loop. I’ll be honest, if I would have bet on what Assassin’s Creed game would be remade, I’d have put my money on the original or Assassin’s Creed II; after all, they are both showing their age far more than Black Flag, and would have benefited greatly from a revamp. However, after spending about three-and-a-half hours in the sun-baked Caribbean of Black Flag Resynced, it’s clear just how much Edward Kenway’s jaunt during the Golden Age of Piracy has benefited from a glow-up.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Preview

I’m first introduced to Resynced with the game’s opening segment, which fans will probably remember as kicking off in stormy weather and a brief ship battle before Kenway ends up washed ashore. Right off the bat the visual makeover is abundantly evident; character models are brimming with nuanced details, from the fabric on Edward’s clothes to the wry smile on his sea-worn features.

The lush greenery of the island you are shipwrecked on pops with vibrant detail, while the blue waters sparkle in the sunlight. In short, Black Flag Resyced looks gorgeous; this is far from a quick remaster, and it shows (note that I played it on PC, not PS5).

As the missions progress, I’m thrust into combat giving me my first taste at how Ubisoft has given Black Flag’s scrapping a pirate-sized boot up the arse. Enemies now have a defense bar that must be depleted in order to execute a takedown with the Hidden Blade, while a perfect parry will allow you to instantly dispatch a foe using triangle and chain kills where possible.

This gives fights a new layer of strategy as the system rewards timing and patience. Mashing the attack button won’t get you far, as your enemies will adapt to your repeated attacks. Larger groups of foes make for quite adrenaline-pumping scuffles, as you fend off attacks from multiple directions and look for a vital window to open up your attacker.

Foes can also land unblockable attacks so you can’t simply sit and wait for a parry opportunity, keeping things fresh and ensuring you are always having to adapt in the midst of battle.

Edward also has a lot more tricks up his sleeves. He can now boot adversaries with a solid kick to create space, trip them up to deliver a killing blow and nimbly dodge attacks. As such, combat feels more responsive than ever, and the flurry of new options add a new dimension to scraps.

Overall, Ubisoft seems to have created a fine balance between making Edward feel very capable as a combatant but not overpowered, something which wasn’t quite evident in the original version of the game.

I soon make port in Havana, and start clambering around rooftops and scaling buildings for some parkour action. While the fundamentals are the same as the original version, simply holding X or Circle to climb or drop, respectively, feels more intuitive than ever, and diving off a sync point into a haystack is always a thrill.

The fact I didn’t really make use of the manual jump is more a testament to how smooth and enjoyable the standard parkour system is, rather than its inclusion feeling unwanted. The option of having a manual jump is definitely welcome, and gives you more freedom in regards to how you navigate Edward. I just forgot it was there in the heat of all the sight seeing!

Later on i’m able to take the wheel of the Jackdaw and experience some free-roam gameplay, so I immediately pop on over to a remote island and loot a warehouse (after nabbing the key from the corpse of a soldier who was fed to a hungry croc) and solve one of the Myan puzzles. Enemies noticeably have a lot more banter this time around as I snuck by in the bushes, making for a more organic game world – this also extends to Edward dialogue, too.

The addition of a crouch button is most welcome, as it bolsters stealth play nicely as you’re harder to spot and allows you to transition into cover spots much more seamlessly. Honestly, it feels like it should have been there from the start and make sneaking about much more user friendly.

Enemies now have an improved detection system that feels quite balanced; they’re quick to spot you if you’re reckless and won’t give up the hunt if you make a dash for it, but the proper application of stealth will give you a clear advantage without feeling cheap.

Holding one of the back triggers meanwhile activates Observe Mode, which highlights enemies and key items; this comes in handy for planning your next move more precisely.

Ship combat is as exhilarating as it always was, but now looks better and plays smoother than ever. Switching through the Jackdaw’s vast array of firepower is easy, as specific weapons are attached to the face buttons and the angle of your ship. The swivel guns that target weak points on enemy ships are operated manually using the analogue stick rather than just holding down a button, which keeps you more involved in the action, and there’s secondary fire abilities added that helps flesh out your options at sea.

During my sea-faring exploits in the hands-on, I took down numerous ships before boarding them and dispatching the crew, just as you did in the 2013 version. However, the refined combat makes enemies more deadlier than ever, leading to some pulse-pounding fights as men duke it out on the decks, smoke and fire raging all around you.

Similarly, attacking forts feel just as epic as you bombard its defense with mortar fire and finish them off with a close-range blast from your cannons. Once you invade the fort itself, it’s a a mad scramble for the War Room where you have to bust open the door and take down the commander; you can fight everyone else if you want, but it’s absolute chaos – just how a battle should be!

Satisfied with the bloody carnage, I decided to hit up a nearby harpooning spot to snag some bullshark hide. This is pretty much how you remember it: chuck harpoons at your quarry as it swims around and attempts to attack you, charging your shots to inflict extra damage. Again, everything looks so much sharper and detailed, with locations, characters, and weather effects popping with vibrancy, bringing the sun-soaked Caribbean adventure to life.

Rounding out my rambunctious free-roaming in the Caribbean is a quick stop to Jiguey, a smuggler’s cave housing plenty of loot and stealth opportunities.

My final time with Black Flag Resynced was spent on a brand new mission and one of the main story sequences involving Blackbeard. The new highlight is finding Lucy Baldwin, one Black Flag Resynced’s new crew mates who you have to help out to bring her on board the Jackdaw. It’s a solid mission that combines stealth and ship combat, as Edward skulks around a prison ship slicing throats before taking part in a gruelling battle against the British fleet.

I’m not going to go into much detail to avoid spoilers, but Lucy seems like a welcome addition to the crew and isn’t just a forgettable NPC; she’s got her own personality that stands on equal ground with the major players. The mission itself is also a great example of how Black Flag Resynced combines multiple gameplay disciplines as you shift from on-foot stealth to epic naval combat, and hopefully this is something the other new content isn’t afraid to dabble in.

Finally, I took on one of the missions in the campaign that has Edward diving for medicines on behalf of Blackbeard, as your pirate utopia of Havana has become a disease-ridden cesspool. So, I nabbed a diving bell from the local merchant and travelled to the wreck spot and dived down.

The underwater sections play out as I remember, with barrels of air dropped by your crew to aid in your exploration as you avoid sharks and dip in and out of wrecked hulls. It looks stunning, with the visual makeover really flexing its muscles here as sunlight flickers down from the world above, while shipwrecks and sea life sparkle with detail.

The mission culminates in a heated land battle before Edward command’s Blackbeard’s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, to sink a towering Man O’ War with a barrage of cannon fire. Glorious stuff – I can’t wait to play the final version of the game, as what I’ve experienced here is quite simply shaping up to be the definitive pirate adventure.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is due out on July 9, 2026 for PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S.