Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced review roundup: gorgeous remake, but the original still holds up

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced launched July 9 on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC at $60/£50, and the critical consensus is broadly positive — Ubisoft Singapore's remake of the 2013 pirate classic sits at an 84 on Metacritic with over 75 reviews, making it the highest-rated game in the series since the original Black Flag scored an 88 back in 2013.

Reviewers across the board agree the remake is visually stunning, running on a newer Anvil engine that brings dynamic weather, time-of-day cycles, and a seamless open world to the Caribbean. Every story beat and cutscene has been recreated shot-for-shot with original performances intact, and new content — including added characters and quests for figures like Blackbeard — pads out the runtime for players who want more. The sailing, the ship-to-ship combat, and the swashbuckling tone are all intact. Where critics diverge is on the changes under the hood: PC Gamer found that transplanting Black Flag's bones into the Assassin's Creed Shadows framework results in parkour that feels stilted and floaty compared to the 2013 original, with freerunning that looks like bespoke animations rather than fluid movement. Polygon describes it as halfway between a remake and a remaster — action-heavy, stealth-friendly, and hitting a decent balance between the two, but underbaked as a full remake. Game Informer is warmer, calling it faithful and gorgeous, and notes that Black Flag remains arguably the best pirate game ever made.

Black Flag has always occupied a unique place in the Assassin's Creed timeline. The 2013 original launched on PS3 and Xbox 360, then arrived as a next-gen showcase for PS4 and Xbox One a month later — it was one of the games that defined what that console generation could look like. Ubisoft Singapore, the studio behind the remake, has a long history supporting the series, and Resynced is reportedly the first in a planned wave of AC remakes. The choice to start with the sixth entry rather than the first is unusual, but Black Flag's enduring popularity — and the fact that most AC games since 2013 have struggled to crack 80 on Metacritic — makes it a commercially logical pick.

The sharpest criticism isn't that Resynced is bad — it's that the original is still readily available and, for some reviewers, still more fun to play. PC Gamer's reviewer reinstalled the 2013 game after finishing Resynced and ended up completing both back-to-back in the same week, finding the older version aged more gracefully than expected. For players who never touched Black Flag, Resynced is an easy recommendation. For veterans, the answer is less clear-cut.