When Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag first launched in October 2013, the world was a very different place. A fun new social media platform called Instagram – where friends innocently shared photos of pets and food – had just been snapped up by Facebook. The UK sat happily inside the European Union and Daft Punk were still with us, mercilessly invading eardrums with their inescapable single ‘Get Lucky’.

Fast forward 13 years, and it’s fair to say that quite a bit has changed, though you wouldn’t know it if you measured progress by the paltry number of pirates in video games. While players have donned countless suits of virtual armour, fired billions of bullets and embarked on swathes of interstellar adventures, the intervening decade has given us shockingly few single-player swashbuckling sims. It’s why re-playing Black Flag all these years later still feels like a breath of freshly-salted air.

Where Assassin’s Creed typically delights in having you sneak and slaughter your way across different historical settings, draped in a dressing gown, Black Flag Resynced succeeds by being a snarling pirate adventure first and an AC game second. Slipping into the tattered boots of aspiring Welsh buccaneer Edward Kenway, you’ll procure a ship full of rogues as you set sail for the Caribbean, learn the ways of the assassins and cement Kenway’s place in outlaw legend. He’s a rogue through and through, more concerned with acquiring coin than obeying a creed.

After you get the dull introduction out of the way, yo ho, it’s a pirate’s life for thee. As the glistening ocean laps against your ship and your ragtag crew bellow out an impassioned sea shanty, it’s impossible not to feel immersed in Ubisoft’s sea-faring fantasy. Eschewing sprawling cities for the open ocean, Kenway’s journey takes you from the beaches of the Bahamas to the treacherous temples of Tulum, fighting off Portuguese frigates and double-crossing brigands along the way.

It’s a fittingly tropical adventure to be playing during the stickiest July on record – and it’s even easier to be immersed when Resynced looks this gorgeous. Ray-traced lighting reflects beams of sunlight across glistening sand. Waves ebb and flow with an authentic meld of majesty and menace. And best of all, characters’ faces no longer look like Madame Tussauds models who’ve been left to wither in the midday sun.

Yet while a pretty scowl will get you places, it’s the inner scoundrel that truly counts. Back in 2013, a bevy of rage-inducing, insta-fail stealth missions led this writer to jettison Kenway’s original adventure midway through. Mercifully, those scowl-inducing frustrations are now a thing of the past. While many of these missions have been cut entirely, in stealth sections, players are now free to take a more authentically piratey approach to missions, improvising with your pistol and cutlass whenever sneaking inevitably goes awry.

To match this scrappy swashbuckling spirit, combat has also had a dynamic overhaul. Instead of the original’s one-button moves, a combination of timed parries, additional guardbreaking kicks and immensely satisfying sleeper darts add much-needed depth to the once bare-bones brawls.

The parry window is generous, equippable trinkets add some nice move variety, and there’s a sense of showmanship and flair that lends itself to being a scoundrel show-off. Later in the game, however, bigger brawls are let down by a poor enemy lock-on camera that panics when you’re surrounded, regularly sending you sidestepping directly into gunfire.

‘Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced’. CREDIT: Ubisoft

Naval battles, a highlight of the original, remain a consistent joy. Steering your vessel just feels good, with a newly-added auto-steer and pathway function guiding you to your objective if you get lost. Here, though, it’s all about the journey. As Kenway grows his fleet and gains his sea legs, your ship is your path to new lands, as well as a place to fend off the British Navy. As Kenway frantically pivots the steering wheel to swerve you away from enemy fire, lining up your shots to bombard schooners and frigates with cannon fire feels endlessly satisfying. In time, you’ll find yourself leaping aboard a flaming vessel and putting its captain to the sword.

Whether it’s upgrading your ship to give it more firepower, adding more merchants to your lawless island hideout, or getting a new pet to sit devotedly by your side at the steering wheel, there’s a welcome sense of progression to keep your scoundrel occupied outside of the main quest.

While Black Flag‘s plot is still unlikely to win any awards, this clichéd tale of ambition and betrayal is kept compelling enough thanks to some strong performances from an impressive bevy of British talent, including The Office alum Ralph Ineson, TV veteran Mark Bonnar and the return of original Kenway actor Matt Ryan. While its predictable parable of ‘creed versus greed’ undoubtedly begins to wear thin by hour 28, it’s still refreshing to play an Assassin’s Creed game that demands 30 hours of your time rather than a gruelling hundred.

Black Flag also betrays its 2012 origins by being a Ubisoft game that isn’t afraid to broach difficult subjects. Amid all the plunder and piracy, eerie trips to Caribbean plantations ensure that the 18th century’s rampant slave-trading remains a notable part of the story. It’s an oddly sombre reminder of a less divisive time, when AAA video games dared to address heavier themes without fear of online backlash.

‘Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced’ is out July 9 on PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S

VERDICT

Where 2020’s Sea Of Thieves sets you and your mates up for multiplayer, grog-chugging hijinks, Resynced cements Black Flag’s place as the quintessential story-driven pirating epic. By being a plunder-led adventure first and an Assassin’s Creed game second, it remains a treasure-nabbing triumph, even with a few flaws. Put simply: this rum-soaked remake is a swashbuckling good time.

PROS

  • A gorgeous and utterly immersive swashbuckling adventure
  • Removing insta-fail missions and other quality of life tweaks greatly improve upon the original
  • Blasting ships to smithereens and singing sea shanties never gets old

CONS

  • The story is serviceable, but fairly clichéd
  • Perhaps the least exciting parkour in the series
  • A problematic lock-on camera can make combat frustrating

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