Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced cuts the modern-day storyline entirely

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is out now, and the most talked-about change isn't the visual overhaul — it's the complete removal of the original game's modern-day Abstergo sequences. In their place, the remake adds a handful of sci-fi segments that nod toward the current series direction established in Assassin's Creed Shadows, plus new "What If?" scenarios that flesh out Edward Kenway's character.

The original Black Flag, released in 2013 across PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, and PC, cast players as an unnamed Abstergo employee exploring Edward Kenway's memories through the Animus. That modern-day layer was already a stripped-back version of the Desmond Miles arc that ran through the first five mainline games — Assassin's Creed through Assassin's Creed III — and many players found it felt tacked on to an otherwise excellent pirate adventure. Resynced removes it entirely, leaning fully into the historical Caribbean setting that made Black Flag a fan favorite.

Game Informer argues the cut makes Resynced the single best entry point into the Assassin's Creed series — newcomers get the pirate action without any of the franchise's notoriously tangled sci-fi lore baggage. Polygon pushes back, calling the modern-day content one of Black Flag's most distinctive elements and arguing its removal strips the game of something genuinely interesting. The tension between those two reads captures a long-running debate in the AC community: the modern-day storyline has always divided players, with some seeing it as essential connective tissue and others treating it as an obstacle between them and the historical gameplay.

With Resynced now live, the conversation is likely to keep running — especially among returning players who remember the Abstergo office fondly and newcomers who may never know what they missed.