Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has earned a strong reception from critics, with reviewers praising its stunning visual overhaul, refined gameplay, and expanded take on Edward Kenway's pirate adventure. While opinions differ on some of the remake's changes—particularly its parkour, stealth, and the removal of the modern-day storyline—the overall consensus is that Ubisoft has successfully modernized one of the franchise's most beloved entries, even if it doesn't completely replace the charm of the 2013 original.
8.1
Average Score (adjusted)
Confidence: High
Some disagreement
Reviews: 9
Top Review: IGN (9.0)
Spread: 2.0
⭐ 9 / 10
IGN's verdict is that Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is an impressive remake that successfully brings one of the best games in the series up to today’s standards. The main pros include significantly upgraded graphics with ray tracing and improved weather effects, a more discovery-focused map that reduces icon clutter, enhanced freerunning and parkour mechanics, a still top-tier story with new cutscenes and an extra end-game chapter, and combat on both land and sea that is bolstered by new tricks and abilities adding depth and clarity. The cons are that the freerunning can still be sticky and stop a good sequence due to angle issues, enemies are often very dumb and slow to react, some classic stealth activities have been replaced with less engaging versions, the present-day story has been abandoned in favor of a less interesting Rift system, and the new combat is less cinematic than the original.
⭐ 7 / 10
GameSpot concludes that Assassin's Creed Black Flag
Resynced is a disappointing remake that creates new problems while
failing to surpass the original. The main pros are the beautiful and
vibrant open world, bigger spotlights and more fulfilling arcs for
memorable side characters, the removal of irritating tailing missions,
and new sea shanties. The main cons are the ditched modern-day framing
for a confusing sci-fi story against an AI, mission structure and
environments that don't utilize new stealth mechanics, and the creation
of new problems the original did not have. The score is not explicitly
stated in the review text.
⭐ 9 / 10
Gamingbolt's verdict is that Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is a stellar remake and an easy game to recommend, establishing Black Flag as the king of the high seas. The main pros include incredible parkour and naval traversal, naval combat that is an absolute blast, a combat system that has received welcome changes making it more tactile and satisfying, and fantastic visuals. The main cons are that stealth still feels a little rudimentary at times and there are some minor technical issues like flickering shadows and slow-loading textures.
⭐ 8.5 / 10
DayOne concludes that Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is not a flawless remake, but the magic that hooked players in 2013 is still here, further refined and just as captivating, making the legendary tale of Edward Kenway well worth your time. The main pros are that the game is absolutely gorgeous most of the time, helming the Jackdaw is addictive and brilliant fun, the cast delivers great performances, and it offers solid performance on all hardware tested. The main cons are that stealth and on-foot combat remain simplistic, the narrative is still muddy despite refinements, and the parkour feels slippery at times, just like in the original.
⭐ 8 / 10
ShackNews concludes that Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is a high quality remake that adds enough and changes enough to give fans a superb reason to replay Edward's story, though it does not revolutionize the series. The main pros include an expanded story with new post-campaign missions and side quests, stunning visuals across land and sea, improved and modernized combat and movement, seamless cities with no loading, a bunch of new content, and upgraded ship combat. The main cons are that movement and combat can be cumbersome and clunky, there is no hidden blade combat stance or muskets, there are graphical and animation hiccups, and there is no multiplayer.
⭐ 75 / 100
PC Gamer concludes that Assassin's Creed Black Flag
Resynced is a well-made but inessential remake that loses more than it
gains, and that the original 2013 game is ultimately better. The main
pros are that it has a breathtakingly gorgeous and realistic world,
improved stealth with a crouch button, and is a better PC port with more
options. The main cons are that the parkour is stilted and floaty
compared to the original, combat is mushy and reduces weapon options
while removing the cool factor, the world is less dynamic with no
rooftop guards and no chases, the entire Abstergo present-day story is
removed and replaced with nothing, and many new features were already in
the original.
⭐ 8 / 10
But Why Tho concludes that Assassin's Creed Black Flag
Resynced is a fantastic way to experience Edward Kenway's story and by
far the definitive way to play the game, even surpassing the original.
The main pros include a great and enhanced story with new side quests
and a satisfying epilogue, naval combat that feels familiar and
satisfying with meaningful new upgrades, a streamlined experience with
the removal of modern-day segments, and smooth gameplay with mostly
beautiful visuals. The main cons are that stealth is often nearly
impossible and lacks a checkpoint restart option, combat can be
repetitive with inconsistent enemy vulnerabilities and no attack
cancellation, the map and autonavigate features are counter-intuitive,
and character models and lighting effects are frequently distracting.
⭐ 8.25 / 10
GameInformer concludes that Assassin's Creed Black Flag
Resynced is an impressive rework that successfully modernizes the
classic pirate adventure with expansive gameplay tweaks, a complete
visual overhaul, and new narrative content, while retaining the
original's charm and rough edges. The main pros include a spot-on pirate
fantasy with fun ship combat, beautiful visuals, smooth parkour,
improved combat and stealth options, and a strong sense of freeform
discovery. The main cons are a protagonist who remains obsessed with
wealth and a disjointed narrative that misses key transitional moments,
alongside the removal of the modern-day story component.
⭐ 8.0 / 10
GameWatcher concludes that Endless Ragnarok is not a game changer for Granblue Fantasy: Relink, but it successfully stocks the base game with better-balanced and deeper endgame gameplay. The main pros include progression reworks that make the grind more engrossing, added tactical depth to character builds, and the Conflux mode as a fun distraction. However, the cons are that it offers little new story, and it reuses and reskins a lot of existing maps and foes.