Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced combat will be 'more demanding' than the original

Closeup of Edward Kenway from Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced cinematic — (Image credit: Ubisoft)

Ubisoft has released the first of what it says will be "a series of deep dive articles" into the upcoming Assassin's Creed Black Resynced, serving up a close look at the smooth new moves pirate-assassin Edward Kenway will employ as he murders his way across the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy.

Parkour, stealth, and combat in Black Flag Resynced have all been—you guessed it!—"rebuilt from the ground up" to take advantage of advancements made in the series over the 13 years since the original Black Flag debuted. Creative director Paul Fu said the intent is "to honor the foundations of the original game while enhancing the experience for an action-adventure game."

[ESRB] Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced - Deep Dive Gameplay: Core Parkour Movements - YouTube

Watch On

Much of what's revealed in the showcase is what you'd expect from a remake of a game that's more than a decade old: Fenway's movement will be "snappier and more deliberate," for instance, while the "Observe" feature introduced in Assassin's Creed Shadows will enable him to more easily find clues and objectives, and to tag enemies. Tailing and eavesdropping have been improved so missions won't fail if you lose track of your target,

Article continues below

The update also digs into takedowns, environmental combat, and new "advanced attacks," and warns that "combat in Resynced is more demanding than before," as enemies will adapt to your behaviour, especially if you fall into predictable patterns.

"For example, wait around too much for a parry, and enemies will react by performing Unstoppable Attacks that cannot be parried," Fu said. "Abuse a kick too much, and enemies will quickly dodge them. The trick is to alternate between offense and defense. Varying your combos helps. Rotate between kicks, sweeps, rope darts, pistols and heavy strikes at the end of your attack combos to confuse enemies."

[ESRB] Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced - Deep Dive Gameplay: Advanced Combat Moves - YouTube

Watch On

I wouldn't say that charging into a camp in broad daylight and loudly perforating a bunch of guys strikes me as the acme of professional assassination, but dead is dead, I suppose.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resyned comes out on July 9, and is available for pre-purchase now on Steam and the Epic Games Store.

TOPICS

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.