Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced runs well on Steam Deck and Steam Machine with the right settings

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has earned Steam Deck Verified status, and hands-on testing confirms both the Steam Deck and the newly launched Steam Machine can handle the game without major issues — provided you dial in the right settings. The day 1 patch was included in testing.

The Steam Machine is the bigger surprise here: it pulls average framerates comparable to a desktop RTX 4060, punching well above what its specs might suggest. On the Steam Deck, performance lands in the 30–45fps range, achievable either through the lowest handheld preset or a fully custom graphics setup where not every setting needs to be floored. The Deck also gets access to the full graphics options menu — a notable improvement over Assassin's Creed Shadows, which locked Deck players into a fixed quality preset. That said, this has only been confirmed for the Ubisoft Connect version; the Steam build wasn't available pre-launch, and Ubisoft hasn't yet confirmed whether it also unlocks the full options menu. The article will be updated once that's verified.

Black Flag Resynced is a remake of the 2013 open-world pirate game, one of the most fondly remembered entries in the Assassin's Creed series. Ubisoft has been pushing harder on PC hardware compatibility lately, and the Verified status here continues that trend after Shadows also landed on Deck.

For players on Ubisoft Connect via the Deck, installing it requires going through Desktop Mode manually — Lutris currently has issues with the Ubisoft Connect setup process following a recent app update, so the recommended route is installing Connect directly as a non-Steam game. The Steam Machine, meanwhile, can even run optional ray tracing at 1080p, adding some shine to the game's open ocean visuals.