Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced PS5 Review 8.5/10 “Yo ho, Yo Ho, a Resynced Pirate's Life For Me” 🏴‍☠️🦜

Black Flag was my favourite game of the pre-Origins games. I've always been on the side that actually preferred the series after the shift to a more open-world RPG style; looking back now, I kinda see why, as this game introduces things that would later become staples of the newer direction. That’s not to say that I don’t like the original stuff - Assassins Creed 2 is great - but for some reason I never shared the love that I have seen other people have for it, I played the first game and enjoyed it but controlling Altair is like controlling a shopping cart that’s being pushed down a steep hill on an icy day when a truck full of jam has just crashed and leaked onto the hill...it’s difficult is what I’m getting at. 

That did hinder some of my enjoyment; I continued to play the series, and there were games I enjoyed, but then Black Flag came out, and it was really the first game I loved. The setting, the characters, and the ship combat all came together and blew me away. Resynced keeps all that I loved and enhances most of it; to this day I still think that this game is the most I’ve ever felt like a pirate whilst playing a game, sorry Guybrush.

In Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, you play as Edward Kenway, a Welsh sailor who dreams of riches, of making enough money to live his dream life - and with him being born in Swansea, I can certainly see why he dreams of something better. Edward - after a series of events – ends up becoming a pirate, commanding a ship and sailing the Caribbean Seas, eventually getting embroiled in the war between The Templars and The Creed. Mr Kenway is still my favourite Assassin's Creed protagonist; he has a real charm and swagger- yes, me being born in Wales (luckily not Swansea) does make me kinda biased - but his story is simple yet endearing; he has a swashbuckling charm that seeps through until the end.

The locations are just gorgeous - they were gorgeous 13 years ago, and now with the extra polish on them, they are still stunning. Wandering around is a pleasure as vibrant colours shine through, and the game features breathtaking locations, from caves that are dark and brooding to vivacious islands full of greenery and surrounded by the bluest waters. Exploration is key to the experience and holds up all these years later.

Combat is split into two: the close-up combat where Edward takes on many enemies at once, and the other side of the combat takes place whilst you command the ship. The close up combat for the most part feels good, enemies aren't the hardest - they usually step up one by one - and if you parry at the right time you can take them down with ease, on the one hand I wouldn't want combat to be too hard as I don’t think it suits the series, but parrying is a bit over-powered and it needs a tweak, also the enemy AI is still lacklustre, not just in combat but during stealth sections as well, it definitely needs to be upgraded as the series heads into the future. 

Ship combat, on the other hand, is perfect and is, for my money, the best ship combat in gaming. It’s simple, with different cannons and mortars placed on certain areas of the ship; just point in the direction you want, and the corresponding weapon is launched - it is fun and engaging. After you wear away at the ship's defences, you can then sink it to Davy Jones’ locker, or board the ship and fight the remaining enemies to capture the ship or take the supplies on board.

What was good 13 years ago is still good now; there have been some additions to the story, such as some new characters added, but the bulk is just updating the graphics and bringing it into 2026. The biggest negatives I ran into were technical issues. I managed to fall under a ship, and it took 15 minutes of swimming at the ship from every direction until the game decided to pop me out; that then reset every enemy on the ship, and I then had to kill them all again. The frustrating thing was that I had only one enemy left, and when climbing to reach them, Edward did his best Altair impression and randomly jumped off the ship, and that's when I went through the hull to the underside of the ship. Unity had the best parkour, and I am surprised we never got that back. 

Another niggle was that whilst trying to complete a mission every few minutes it would change to a different mission - one of the siege missions, which meant I had to keep going into menus to change it back, this happened several times during the ‘Brothers’ mission, which apparently the game didn’t want me to complete, it seemed insistent that I siege a nearby fort instead, even when I finished part of the mission - it kept happening. None of this stuff is game-destroying, but it does eke some enjoyment from the experience.

SUMMARY
Some technical difficulties gnawed at the experience, but fantastic locations, great characters and the best ship combat in gaming make this a must-play; what was fantastic all those years ago is still fantastic today, just enhanced and brought into the modern era. If you want to feel like a pirate - and let’s be fair, who wouldn't! - then Black Flag is your best shot.

8.5/10

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