Off the Shelf Media

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag completely flipped the franchise on its head and was loved by fans on release. Remastering a game is tricky; there have been plenty of times where they change too much, and you lose the essence of the game, or they change nothing and charge you more money for the exact same game. In this case, Ubisoft knocked it out of the park with the best of both worlds and delivered a certified classic in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynched. 

Gameplay: 2

Being a pirate is awesome. You are pillaging the Caribbean as Edward Kenway, a man who turned to privateering to provide for his family. As time went on, piracy became his area of expertise, and you get to live every moment of that world. The combat off the ships is really well designed and feels seamless, and as you get into ship combat, the complexity and chaos of fighting an armada is adrenaline-filled and just plain fun. 

This was one of the first titles in this storied franchise that really let you run wild in terms of what you want to do. After the first few hours of tutorials and story, the world is your oyster, and you can take your fabled ship The Jackdaw onto the high seas. 

You might start small, sinking a few schooners and stealing away a few barrels of rum to sell for gold. As you plunder English and Spanish vessels, the pirate hunter system comes into play quickly, and you will have to fight off increasingly difficult bounty hunters sent by the king. Similar to stars in the Grand Theft Auto franchise, it gives you an indication of how much trouble you are causing, and can be a ton of fun once it maxes out and you are fighting off hordes of enemies. You might find yourself, like I did, avoiding the main quests for hours on end and just seeing how large of a fortune you can gather off the backs of European trading vessels. 

As you continue to earn gold and work your way through the story, you will find ways to upgrade yourself in a really impactful way. Like many Ubisoft games, you can find or buy upgrades to weapons and cosmetics for yourself as you live through the story of Kenway. Where it really shines is the upgrades for the Jackdaw. You feel incentivized to be a pirate, to earn the gold and resources you need to keep the ship upgrading. The pacing is great too, as they lock certain tiers of upgrades to story progress to keep you from getting too overpowered too early, and the highest upgrades need to be earned through treasure maps and deep-sea exploration. 

Side note, this is one of the only Ubisoft games where I enjoyed the completionist-type side activities. Usually, I check out and only do what is absolutely necessary, but they really nail it in this game. The excitement of finding a treasure map on a skeleton in a cave, and immediately dropping what you are doing to chase down riches, immerses you in the world of a pirate beautifully. The underwater diving is something I had a gripe with in the original as it was clunky, but it feels smooth and is exciting in the remaster. Managing your ever-depleting oxygen supply to search a sunken armada while a great white shark stalks you is incredible, and I worked my way through every one of both these side objectives with ease. 

Story: 2

Usually, when I play a game like this, the story takes a backseat. You would think the focus is entirely on being a pirate and having the freedom to do what you want. While that is true, and the story does take some time to hit its crescendos, it’s an incredibly well-done tale with memorable characters you can’t help but root for or against. Without giving too much away, it does follow a similar format to other games in the franchise. There is an organization of people trying to control the world, the Templars, at odds with a group that is fighting to keep people free, the assassins. In most other games, you are immediately in the assassin camp. However, as a gold-hungry pirate, you find yourself on both sides and even leaving yourself out of their battle at times, and it’s an interesting perspective to be courted by the warring groups. 

The overarching storyline is something that is played out well. Edward is married in England and dreams of living a lavish life full of riches and turns to privateering to provide for his family. His wife is against it at first, and her family is against him, but he sets off to the Caribbean anyway, and that’s where the story begins. They continuously flash back to this, which gives you a great perspective on the character and really gives depth to a seemingly dastardly pirate. The way this story dovetails with the overarching battles between the assassins and Templars late in the game is great, and I found myself playing the last 5 hours of the story in one sitting because I was so hooked.

The story isn’t all about Kenway, and there are some fantastic characters that got real facelifts in this remake. The voice actors and art design on iconic real-life legends like Captain Kidd and Blackbeard are incredible. They are trying to turn the Bahamas into a place for free people, who aren’t governed by faraway kings but by themselves. Sure, they take drastic measures such as piracy, kidnapping, hostage taking, sinking countless ships, and killing many soldiers, but their heart was in the right place. 

This doesn’t even mention the Templar and assassin characters. There are too many great performances to count, and there are so many pirates in Kenway’s life that have great arcs throughout his time at sea. I won’t spoil any here, but you will get to see them all play out through the main quest line. 

Outside of the main questline, there’s plenty of story to be had. From assassin contracts taking you from island to island in search of rewards, to contracts hunting ships down, there are many fun side adventures you can take. 

One that is brand new to the remaster is the officer quests. They added 4 new officers you can recruit through brand new questlines, and they give your ship a bit of a competitive boost. I found them to be ok, but just not up to par with the rest of the quests, and it was my only knock on the story. It felt far too much like modern-day Ubisoft quest design as opposed to what makes Black Flag such a memorable story. 

Atmosphere: 2

The beautiful scenery in these worlds was impressive when it originally launched, and it’s even more polished and beautiful now. Each island has such a personality to it, and the sea shanties your crew sings while sailing the high seas immerse you in the world of being a pirate king. 

Each island has its own unique personality and feels like a whole new land when you arrive. You can see the shantytowns built near the docks and governors’ mansions built high up on hilltops that really show how it was to live during this hectic period of time. 

Sailing the open ocean is where this game locks you in. The wide-open oceans filled with enemy ships and scattered areas to explore keep you wanting to hop back aboard the Jackdaw and set sail. The countless sea shanties beautifully sung immerse you into the travels of a pirate from the early 1700s making his living manning a cannon aboard a pirate ship. 

Value: 2

This is rare for me, but I am giving a Ubisoft game that I paid full value for at launch a perfect score here. There are so many things I could knock it for – an in-game store for cosmetics, $60 for a remake of an older game I already own, and the occasional lackluster quest where you need to follow somebody around. The thing is, I enjoyed my time with this game so much I don’t even care about any of that. Every minute in this game was full of adventure and wonder, brilliant storytelling and breathtaking views that are unlike many modern games these days.

One big point people point to for value is how many hours you get out of the game for how many dollars you spent. And while in my case, I got through the main story and everything else I wanted in 45 hours, it doesn’t seem as great as other games I have hundreds of hours in that I spent $10 on. The thing is, they really nail every hour of your time in this game, and there really isn’t too much fluff. So many modern games focus on being a service, or having repetitive copy-paste missions across the world to get your playtime up in the hundreds of hours, doing stuff that isn’t really fun. 

This game is the perfect blend of new age and old school gaming. It takes the skeleton of a fantastic game released years ago. A phenomenal story, great characters, and memorable areas to explore. Given modern graphics, control updates, and cleaning up a few annoying issues with the original, they made a gem here. While I don’t want studios relying on remasters, it seems like the only way we can get big publishers like Ubisoft to deliver actual fun games these days, so I will take it. 

Duration: 2

You can get countless hours out of this game just sailing around and listening to the iconic sea shanties your sailors belt out. There’s something so iconic about sinking a Man-O-War and sailing away to Drunken Sailor. Even if you sprint through the main story its easily 20-30 hours, and probably closer to 70 if you want to 100% collectibles and side quests. I found probably 90-95% of the collectibles and secrets, and completed probably only like 10% of side quests and still put upwards of 45 hours into this one so far. 

The major piece of advice I would give on this one is to savor your time with this game. Don’t feel the need to rush and explore every little island, or sprint through the main quest to unlock everything. The reason this game is so incredible is how seamlessly you can finish up an exciting main quest and then turn to a bit of piracy and chasing down some buried treasure. It does a great job with pacing where you never feel like you are doing one side objective over and over again, and the uniqueness of each area keeps things fresh. 

Total Score: 10/10

I can’t say enough good things about this game. When it originally released years ago, I remember falling in love with it right away and thinking the graphics were out of this world. With 2026 standards in visuals and graphics raised so far from then, it’s even better now, and it was one of the better stories I have played through in years. While nearly $60 is steep for a remaster, I still think it is worth every cent.