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The Assassin's Creed Black Flag remake is just over yon horizon, scheduled to dock this summer, nevermind the leaky hull that Ubisoft always springs when trying to keep a secret. The fourth mainline Assassin's Creed game was an unequivocal pirate game favorite in the years before we had Sea of Thieves. It's still got a place in a lot of hearts thanks to roguish pirate protagonist Edward Kenway and his antics rallying a bunch of pirate legends to a haven in Nassau.
When is the Black Flag Resynced release date?
Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced launches on July 9, 2026 on PC (via Steam or Epic), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S for $60 / £50.
The original Black Flag launched in 2013, a turning point for the series that handwaved the connection between its prior Templar lore stuff and this new lad Edward Kenway with a bunch of golden age of piracy cameos—Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, those scallywags. Back then, our reviewer Tom Senior gave it a pretty glowing 90% review. Folks these days who lament the more recent action-RPG era of Creed still tend to cite Black Flag as a favorite, even if it was a bit of a departure from early AC stealth at the time.
What's new in Black Flag Resynced?
Remake or remaster?
Ubisoft says that Black Flag has been "rebuilt from the ground up" in the latest version of its Ubisoft Anvil Engine, the version it used for Mirage and Shadows. So let's call it a remake, then. Ubisoft says that the upgrade is bringing modern tech like ray-traced lighting, water rendering, and weather simulation.
Article continues belowWho's making it?
Ubisoft Singapore is leading development on Resynced. Yup, that's the studio that did Skull and Bones, for better or worse, "with many of the original game’s developers returning to bring the game to the latest generation of hardware," Ubisoft adds.
Combat and stealth got a rework
Ubisoft was big on highlighting the way that combat has been updated: mostly the ability to do parries and takedowns. On the stealth side, it highlights how Kenway can now freely crouch whenever as a stealth approach.
That plays into all those many tailing missions, which it says have been updated so that being spotted doesn't just instantly fail the mission and instead just means you'll transition to head-on combat to resolve the situation. So stealth is encouraged, but perhaps not required.
What else is new?
- New story scenes, including one with Edward's wife Caroline
- 3 new recruitable crew officers (Lucy Baldwin, "The Padre", and Tobias "Deadman" Smith) with their own story questlines
- The modern day segments connecting to the animus feature "new moments that focus on Edward's internal struggles"
- 10 new sea shanties featuring French artist Woodkid
- New weapon upgrades for your ship
- Cat or monkey pet to live on your ship (Jackd—awwwww, right?)
Resynced looks like just the right sort of tune-up of Black Flag to me, with combat and parkour animation tweaks that will bring how I remember it playing and the actual reality of that 13-year-old game into closer alignment. To be honest, though, I played a filling 50 hours of Black Flag and the only thing in the remake tempting me to do that again is the promise of new sea shanties. Those are still to this day the best collectible ever put in an open world game.
What's staying the same?
Story and map
Ubisoft says that keeping Edward Kenway's main story was non-negotiable, well, other than the new story bits they've added. The old map stays the same too, apparently.
Not an RPG
Ubisoft is adamant that Resynced is not an RPG like some other modern AC games. This is an action adventure like old Creed games, just with the combat and stealth updates.
What's NOT in Black Flag Resynced?
No multiplayer
Resynced won't have the pirate PvP modes from the original Black Flag. Not a big loss, I don't think, as multiplayer's often felt a little bolted on in AC games.
No DLCs
Resynced also isn't recreating the DLCs from Black Flag, which included a few bonus missions and cosmetic items.
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