Black Flag Resynced Hands-On: Ubisoft Rebuilt Every Parkour Move in Edward’s Kit, Yet the Same Vertical Climbing Issue Still Persists

Wccftech was recently invited out to Ubisoft’s event venue in San Francisco, California, to get an early sneak peek at Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, the upcoming remake of 2013’s game. While its existence was leaked well ahead of time, Ubisoft first revealed the remade adventure at the end of April with a release slated for this Summer. As a veteran who still believes that Black Flag was the pinnacle of the series, does it still hold up more than a decade later?

The first thing that players of the original Black Flag will notice is that the modern-day elements of Abstergo Entertainment have been omitted from this release. Truth be told, I was rather fond of the overarching story even as Desmond Miles’ trilogy came to a close, and their omission will certainly be missed. Ubisoft assured that there would be something to fill the void with new Rifts that would focus on Edward’s story, but it was not something that we had the opportunity to dive into and check out. Likewise, any multiplayer elements were also removed from the Resynced release, as this is intended to be a single-player experience through and through.

Instead, we got to check out a couple of early sequences, or chapters, of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. This started with the initial tutorial, where players learned the ropes as Edward Kenway, defeated an assassin in melee combat, and took some of his kit as a trophy. It’s here that the same tutorial on learning to climb, mantle, and free run exists in the original game, and unfortunately, with some of the same issues when trying to climb vertically.

It’s when players try to move vertically up the side of a building, and the windows aren’t perfectly spaced for a regular climb, so a longer vertical jump is necessary. This reduces the momentum to climbing and was an issue I’ve had persistently throughout the series, where multi-story buildings were present. To make the parkour more dynamic and fluid, the development team spoke briefly about combing through every parkour move in Edward’s moveset to help work in smooth transition moves.

The ship combat is what sets Assassin’s Creed Black Flag apart, and with the Creative Director having been the lead on Skull and Bones, this bodes well for what the developers are going for here. Most importantly, the various cannoneries are either more accessible much earlier on in the adventure or, in fact, brand new for Black Flag Resynced. New secondary fire modes make each of the ship’s arsenal more impactful and make each fight feel more dynamic beyond the tried-and-true formula of launching mortars at range, chain shot to close the distance, then ramming the enemy vessel to help reposition quickly enough before ending the combo with a heavy shot. Ubisoft talked about the different officers providing different boons to combat, such as the iconic Adewale giving rapid firing heated shots to the broadside cannons. The other notable change that I got to see during the demo session was with the swivel guns being changed from quick time events from Black Flag to be more like Assassin’s Creed Rogue’s free aiming. 

Edward Kenway’s brash fighting style is distinct from the more refined training of Ezio Auditore or Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad. With no skill tree to unlock, Edward is deadly from the beginning of his adventure, with the push-and-pull gameplay of parrying and taking down enemies being the core of combat. Throw in some kicks to knock enemies off guard and bring out the hidden blade for the finishing blow. I was quite relieved that Ubisoft didn’t lean into the RPG elements that have pervaded the most recent AC titles. Instead, new passive abilities are provided to the player through unlockable swords and equippable trinkets. During an interview with Director Richard Knight (which will be coming later as part of our Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced coverage), he indicated that the armor sets that players unlock will purely be cosmetic this time around.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is a feast for the eyes on PC, with the updated Anvil engine from Assassin’s Creed Shadows doing some heavy lifting with the overhauled visuals. Everything from the physics of water crashing against docks and boats to the inclement weather is among the best to grace a video game. Raytraced lighting with global illumination helps the world appear more vibrant than ever. This is a densely populated world, with points of interest separated only by the open sea rather than by separate screens. The biggest change that players will appreciate is the ability to sail up to an island, disembark, and head straight into a settlement like Havana without running into a loading screen. 

Even after only a couple of hours behind the helm, I’m eager to get back to the sea and sing a shanty or two when Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced launches on July 29. This overhauled swashbuckling adventure will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC (via Ubisoft Store, Epic Games Store, and Steam). 

[Editor’s Note: Ubisoft provided travel and accommodations to Wccftech to attend their press and content creator preview event in San Francisco, CA]

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