There's little doubt that Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is among the dearest franchise entries to fans, which makes it easy to understand why Ubisoft would pick it as the first proper remake (others will probably follow, starting with the first installment): Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced.
While naval gameplay had been introduced by Assassin's Creed III one year prior, Black Flag took it to the next level and empowered players to freely roam the Caribbean, therefore embodying any pirate's true mandate: freedom. Now, Edward Kenway returns in a refreshed game that features several changes both over and under the hood. Here is everything confirmed so far.
Release Date, Platforms, Pricing
We first heard of a Black Flag remake in June 2023, when Kotaku revealed that Ubisoft Singapore, developer of Skull and Bones, would lead the project's development. Rumors continued to emerge throughout 2024, but the biggest confirmation came from Edward Kenway actor Matt Ryan, who let the remake's existence slip in June 2025. Ubisoft eventually acknowledged and revealed Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced in April 2026, setting a July 9, 2026 launch date for PC (via Steam, the Ubisoft Store, and the Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X.
Pre-ordering grants the Blackbeard's Crimson Pack at no additional cost, which includes:
The Standard Edition ($59.99) includes only the base game and is available both digitally and on physical disc for consoles. The Deluxe Edition ($69.99) is available digitally and on physical disc for consoles. It bundles the base game with two content packs:
Master Assassin Character Pack
- Gold-and-black Edward Kenway costume
- Sword with a unique perk
- Pistol with a unique perk
- Trinket with a unique perk
Master Assassin Naval Pack
- Gold-version Jackdaw sail set
- Ship's pet (a gold-coloured cat)
- Crew attire
- Wheel
- Figurehead
- Hull trim
The most premium tier, the Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Collector's Edition, is priced at $199.99 and includes a physical disc on PS5 and Xbox Series S|X and a digital game key on PC, plus a full suite of physical collectibles. It has been noted as already sold out in some regions.
Digital content included:
- Full Deluxe Edition of the game (base game + Master Assassin Character Pack + Master Assassin Naval Pack)
- Blackbeard's Crimson Pack
Physical collectibles included:
- Edward Kenway figurine (31 cm) — a lifelike statue of Edward poised for battle on the deck of the Jackdaw
- Edward's Leather Logbook — recreated from Edward's writings, featuring maps, thoughts, and pirate chronicles bound in leather
- Wearable metal brooch — a premium Assassin insignia inspired by Edward's gear
- Exclusive Steelbook — featuring exclusive art designed specifically for this Collector's Edition
- Cloth world map — a stylized map of the game's Caribbean world
- Sea Shanty music sheet — an aged-print sheet of a new shanty sung aboard the Jackdaw
Genre and Setting
Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is an open world action-adventure game set during the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean, circa the early 18th century. Players control Edward Kenway, a charismatic and morally ambiguous Welsh pirate captain who becomes entangled in the ancient conflict between Assassins and Templars while hunting for the mysterious "Observatory."
Game Director Richard Knight, who previously worked on Assassin's Creed Shadows, Mirage, and Skull and Bones at Ubisoft Singapore, has emphasized that Resynced is a full remake, not a remaster, built from scratch on the modern Anvil engine first debuted in Assassin's Creed Shadows. Speaking to Wccftech, Knight said: "A remake requires significantly more effort. It demands greater ambition. Looking back at Black Flag, it plays well, but it's aged enough that it inspires new ideas."
The contemporary Abstergo/Desmond Miles framing present in the original title has been removed and replaced with new "Rifts", hypothetical scenarios tied directly to Edward and his world. The team's stated goal was to keep players immersed in Edward's story rather than taking a lengthy break to focus on something else.
New Story Content
Ubisoft has confirmed approximately six hours of new content, including:
- New quests and expanded officer storylines
- Dedicated new story content for Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet
- Three new Jackdaw officers as part of the main narrative
- Adewale returning, voiced by his original actor
- Matt Ryan reprising his role as Edward Kenway
What Is Not Included
- Multiplayer: fully removed
- Freedom Cry story content: not included, treated as a separate story
- Aveline de Grandpré: not present
- Original Season Pass story DLC: not carried over
- The Abstergo/Desmond contemporary narrative: replaced by Rifts
Gameplay Features and Mechanics
The core loop of Black Flag (piracy, naval combat, and freeform exploration) is fully preserved but extensively modernized throughout.
Open World and Traversal
One of the most significant structural improvements available in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is a fully seamless open world: players can sail to any island, disembark, and enter settlements like Havana without a single loading screen. The world is dense with points of interest connected by open ocean.
Traversal has been rebuilt from the ground up using Ubisoft Singapore's modern systems. All of Edward's parkour moves have been reconstructed for the new engine, though our own Kai noted in his hands-on preview that vertical climbing on multi-story buildings can still feel awkward in places, with window spacing occasionally disrupting flow.
Key traversal additions include:
- Crouch anywhere during stealth, bringing Resynced in line with modern AC titles
- Rope dart available earlier in the story; now functions as a counter to firearms, knocking back and disarming enemies
- Diving anywhere in the open ocean, with improved diving bell locations for underwater wrecks described as "visually much more advanced" than the original
Combat
Combat has been expanded with:
- New parrying mechanics and increased depth with kicks and hidden blade finishers
- Revised tailing missions with a more flexible design to reduce frustration
- A trinket system offering optional minor passive bonuses tied to playstyle (stealth, combat, etc.)
Iconic cosmetic unlocks such as the Mayan armor and Templar armor return as endgame rewards, but their original gameplay perks (e.g., bullet deflection) have been migrated to the trinket system, keeping the armors as cosmetic-only achievements. Visual transmog for weapons, including swords, is also supported.
Naval Combat and the Jackdaw
Naval combat remains the game's defining feature and has been expanded significantly:
- Different Jackdaw officers grant unique combat bonuses: Adewale, for instance, enables rapid heated broadside shots
- New secondary fire modes add tactical depth beyond the mortar/chain shot/ram loop of the original
- Swivel guns were reworked from QTE events into a free-aiming system similar to Assassin's Creed Rogue
- Deep cosmetic customization for the Jackdaw, including new mastheads and ship cosmetics
- Pets on the Jackdaw confirmed
Progression Philosophy
Knight was explicit: Resynced does not lean into the RPG structure of recent franchise entries like Odyssey or Valhalla. The original crafting and ship upgrade progression is retained. As mentioned earlier, new swords and trinkets offer optional bonuses but are never mandatory.
Sea Shanties
The classic sea shanties return in force, with new shanties composed for the remake. A new shanty player feature has been added: holding a button brings up a scroll wheel, letting players select a specific shanty on demand rather than cycling through 30–40 tracks at random.
Tech and Specs
Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced runs on the modern Anvil engine used for Assassin's Creed Shadows, rebuilt entirely from the original game's assets and design.
Graphics and Ray Tracing
The game supports both hardware ray tracing and software ray tracing, enabling real-time global illumination even on less powerful PC GPUs that lack dedicated RT hardware. Visual highlights confirmed during hands-on previews include:
- Micropolygon rendering for high-detail surfaces
- A dynamic weather system called Atmos with a visible environmental impact, especially during navigation
- Environment destruction
- Water simulation is described as among the best in video game design.
PC Specifications
The following PC requirements have been shared officially by Ubisoft.
| Spec | Minimum | Recommended | High | Extreme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution / FPS | 1920x1080, 30 FPS | 1920x1080, 60 FPS | 2560x1440, 60 FPS | 3840x2160, 60 FPS |
| Visual Preset | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
| Lighting Mode | Standard Raytracing | Standard Raytracing | Standard Raytracing | Extended Raytracing |
| Upscaler Preset | Balanced | Balanced | Quality | Quality |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz / AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz | Intel Core i5-10600K 4.1 GHz / AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz | Intel Core i5-11600K 3.9 GHz / AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz | Intel Core i7-12700K 3.6 GHz / AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D 3.0 GHz |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (6 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (8 GB) / Intel Arc A580 (8 GB, ReBAR ON) | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (12 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (8 GB) / Intel Arc B580 (12 GB, ReBAR ON) | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (10 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (16 GB) | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 (24 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (24 GB) |
| RAM | 16 GB (dual-channel setup) | 16 GB (dual-channel setup) | 16 GB (dual-channel setup) | 16 GB (dual-channel setup) |
| OS | Windows 10 (64-bit only) / Windows 11 | Windows 10 (64-bit only) / Windows 11 | Windows 10 (64-bit only) / Windows 11 | Windows 10 (64-bit only) / Windows 11 |
| Storage | 65 GB (SSD required) | 65 GB (SSD required) | 65 GB (SSD required) | 65 GB (SSD required) |
The PC version supports the following features:
- Raytraced Global Illumination and Reflections.
- Dynamic Resolution Support.
- Upscaler and Frame Generation: AMD FSR 4, NVIDIA DLSS 4.5, Intel XeSS 3.
- Support for software-based raytracing or precomputed lighting.
- AMD Eyefinity and Nvidia Surround compatible.
- Dedicated handheld presets.
- In-game benchmark tool for performance analysis.
- Uncapped framerate in gameplay and cutscenes.
- HDR and ultra-wide resolution support.
PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro Features
The PlayStation 5 versions of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced use several PS5 platform features to enhance the experience, including haptic feedback and adaptive triggers with the DualSense controller, fast loading times via the SSD, and Tempest 3D Audio support.
Ubisoft has confirmed three graphics modes on PS5 and PS5 Pro: Performance at 60 FPS, Fidelity at 30 FPS, and Balanced at 40 FPS on displays that support 120 Hz. All three modes feature ray-traced global illumination (RTGI), while Fidelity mode also adds ray-traced reflections.
The PS5 Pro version is further enhanced with higher graphical fidelity and additional rendering features, and Ubisoft says the game ships with PSSR 2.0 at launch to improve image quality while maintaining performance.
Photo Mode
A photo mode has been confirmed for all platforms.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
