It’s also worth noting the wording used – “copies sold,” as opposed to “players.” The latter could include those who experienced it through Ubisoft+, so while Shadows topped two million players in two days, Resynced is seemingly ahead based on sales figures alone. Of course, it’s also available on the subscription service, meaning the actual player count may be significantly higher.

The release isn’t without controversy, however. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced launched with eight DLC packs, each retailing for $10. The Master Assassin Character and Naval Packs are included with the Deluxe Edition, but the others are only available separately. While this resulted in significant backlash from some fans, Ubisoft responded that they were strictly optional and offered no gameplay advantages. As such, the rating on Steam has improved from “Mixed” to “Mostly Positive.”

For more details on Resynced, check out our review. We gave it a 9 out of 10, praising the combat, world design, and visual overhaul while criticizing the stealth and some minor technical issues.

This Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag Resynced guide has everything you need to know in order to grind out those Reales, whether hands-off or through hard work.

Farming Frigates

You can take advantage of open-world dynamics where NPC Spanish and English Frigates battle each other south of Great Inagua, allowing you to pick off the survivors for easy loot. Since Frigates are a worthy opponent, they also offer up worthy spoils, which in this case is a Captain’s Lockbox filled with both Reales and valuable trade goods. Frigates are medium-class as far as naval opponents go, and you should have a fairly easy time shredding them in their weakened state.

Once you are done, simply travel back and forth in the general vicinity of this area, and the group will spawn over and over for your grinding benefit.

Naval Contracting And Convoys

In the early game, when your ship is still relatively weak, begin by accepting every Naval Contract you can find. This will take you around the map, allowing you to simultaneously complete the other initial step, of unlocking every Tavern. Do this by chatting up the tavern keeper and completing the task.

Talk to the keeper again to buy tips for a hundred Reales each, which are about naval convoys of merchant vessels, thus marking their location on the map. Then use the nearest Harbour or Viewpoint to Fast Travel practically right on top of them, and make quick work of the light escort vessels by sinking them outright. Spare the lead flagship however, as it has the loot you need. Successfully board it to acquire the Captain’s Lockbox and its supplies.

You can make a case-by-case determination of the value of keeping some of the escort ships alive long enough to board them for their goods, but only if you think you can avoid being mobbed by the entire convoy.

The Naval Contracts you have been accepting will inevitably be cleared while farming these convoys, so you can turn them in as well for a nice bonus, before buying even more tracking tips from the Taverns.

Trinkets

The ship models that you collect as loot after successfully boarding ships eventually end up on display at your Manor. In combination with art collected through side quests, this will at some point net you the Rare Trinket ‘Found Coin’ which gives you a bonus to Reales every time you loot some.

The ‘Lodestone’ Rare Trinket can be used in conjunction with that to smoothen the entire looting experience, since it loots Corpses and Curios automatically. Get it by upgrading the General Store and then purchasing it for the sum of 7,000 Reales.

Hideout Passive Profit

The Hideout can be upgraded over time, and the Manor itself can build a Facade upgrade. Constructing it will unlock the Money Box inside the Manor, where Protection Money will be automatically deposited for you to collect from time to time.

Be sure to upgrade the Fisherman’s Wharf and the Treasure Dealer, in order to boost that passive income from your Hideout. While the investment of 5,000 Reales for each is significant, you will definitely see it pay dividends over time.

While this is technically passive, you do have the mechanical inconvenience of having to visit the Money Box manually every single time in order to collect that amassed Protection Money. Additionally, it has a cap on how much it can hold, after which it will just stop filling. You can mitigate that at least, by raising the cap for an outlay of Reales towards building the Tower and Garden, as well as the Guesthouse upgrades at the Manor.

All in all, once you have sunk a significant investment in infrastructure, the returns will eventually pay them off and then some, in the long run.

Those are some of the best ways to both actively and passively profit in the thousands of Reales quickly and efficiently in Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag Resynced.

This Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag Resynced guide is a listing of all the Crafting Upgrades and their requirements.

Unlocking And Accessing Crafting

Crafting is locked behind mission completion, so work your way through the initial portion of the game until you have finished the eighth mission titled “This Tyro Captain” which marks the start of Sequence 3.

The menu itself is accessible by going to your inventory and selecting the hammer and anvil icon on the left.

Holster Upgrades

Pistol Holster I

2x Ocelot Pelt found at Abaco Island, and Cumberland Bay

Edward can now carry an additional pistol at his side.

Pistol Holster II

2x Rabbit Pelt found at Kingston, Nassau, Corozal, and Sacrifice Island

Edward can carry a third pistol on him.

Pistol Holster III

4x Bull Shark Skin found in the waters of Gibara, of Dry Tortuga, and of Punta Guarico on Harpoon Hunts

Edward can carry the maximum of four pistols at a time.

Pistol Ammo Pouch Upgrades

Pistol Ammo Pouch I

2x Capuchin Monkey Pelt found at New Bone, and Misteriosia

Edward can now carry the maximum of thirty rounds of pistol ammo at once.

Health Upgrades

Health Upgrade

2x Iguana Leather found at Andreas Island, Abaco Island, and Great Inagua

This protective gear increases Edward’s maximum health by 25.

Health Upgrade I

4x Hammerhead Shark Bone found in the waters of Gibara, and of Eleuthera on Harpoon Hunts

This protective gear increases Edward’s base health by 25%.

Health Upgrade II

4x Jaguar Pelt found at Tulum, Cape Bonavista, Long Bay, Sacrifice Island, and Principe

This protective gear increases Edward’s base health by a further 25%.

Health Upgrade III

4x Great White Shark Bone found in the waters of Cruz, and of Serranilla on Harpoon Hunts

This protective gear increases Edward’s base health by a final 25%.

Smoke Bomb Pouch Upgrades

Smoke Bomb Pouch

2x Iguana Leather found at Andreas Island, Abaco Island, and Great Inagua

Edward can now carry an additional Smoke Bomb.

Smoke Bomb Pouch I

2x Hutia Hide found at Jiguey, Cayman Sound, Long Bay, and Petite Caverne

Edward can now carry the maximum of five Smoke Bombs at once.

Dart Pouch Upgrades

Dart Pouch

2x Howler Monkey Skin found at Tulum, Tortuga, Principe, Cape Bonavista, Kingston, Long Bay, and Cat Island

Increase the carry capacity of the dart pouch by three.

Dart Pouch I

3x Red Howler Monkey Skin found at Isla Providencia

Increase the carry capacity of the dart pouch by another three.

Sleep Dart Upgrades

Sleep Dart

2x Crocodile Leather found at Tulum, Nassau, Long Bay, Matanzas, and Isla Providencia

Lengthens the duration of the sleep darts’ effects by 25 seconds.

Sleep Dart I

4x Killer Whale Skin found in the waters of Conttoyor and of Cruz on Harpoon Hunts

Lengthens the duration of the sleep darts’ effects by another 25 seconds.

Berserk Dart Upgrades

Berserk Dart

2x Deer Hide found at Principe, Salt Lagoon, Santanillas, and Kingston

Lengthens the duration of the berserk darts’ effects by 15 seconds.

Berserk Dart I

4x Humpback Whale Skin found in the waters of Navassa, and of Castillo de Jagua on Harpoon Hunts

Lengthens the duration of the berserk darts’ effects by another 15 seconds.

Upgrade Resource Grinding Tips

It can be tedious having to source most of these materials, with the rare ones being next to impossible to stumble upon naturally. You can take the pressure off of yourself, by simply grinding for solely Reales instead, and using that to upgrade the General Store and then buying the resources directly from it in trade.

That is everything there is to know about upgrading all 17 of the inventory Crafting nodes in Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag Resynced.

While two of these – the Master Assassin Character and Naval Packs – are included in the Deluxe Edition, you have to purchase the other six (alongside the Map Pack) separately. Given that the latter comes to around $65 for those who already spent $70 (or $85 for those who bought the Standard Edition), it doesn’t leave the best taste.

Multiple users called this out, but one review in particular received hundreds of awards and likes. “Come on Ubisoft, you just couldn’t hold yourself, huh?! Releasing a €70 game and on the DAY of the release you slap us with €85 worth of DLC packs that are just not cosmetic but give you a gameplay advantage!”

Surprisingly, Ubisoft responded to this. “We’ve seen your feedback since launch, and we’re reading all of it. Thank you for caring this much about Black Flag Resynced. We want to be clear on one point: the Standard Edition is the full, complete experience.

“Every mission, every island, the full story and the complete world are all there, with nothing held back. The additional packs are entirely optional extras for players who want them, never a requirement to enjoy or complete the game. We’ll keep listening as you play!”

While technically correct, it still doesn’t help the publisher’s overall image, especially for the remake of a 2013 title that’s commanding triple-A prices. The fact that it added the packs at launch and didn’t reveal them beforehand doesn’t help either. Of course, given the number of studios that have worked on Resynced, Ubisoft probably feels that it’s justified (and it’s not technically wrong – these are optional).

We’ll see which side the commercial response falls on in the coming months, but per estimates, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is off to a strong start. It reportedly sold over 300,000 copies on Steam before launch, generating nearly $14 million in revenue. Ubisoft has yet to comment on sales, so stay tuned for updates in the meantime.

As caught by Kotaku, QA lead Isabel Codina García took to LinkedIn to note that “After 7 years at Ubisoft Barcelona, this is not how I imagined it would end.” She went on to say that she was “genuinely grateful for the people I have met and everything I have learned along the way.”

“Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced releases today, the project I have been working on for the past 2.5 years,” García continued. “However, two weeks before launch, the whole AC team at Ubisoft Barcelona was informed of a collective redundancy plan (ERE). Vantage Studios has stated there will not be further mandates for the Barcelona studio, despite the team proposing new AC projects.”

Ubisoft’s Paris studio programmer Matoui Chakib Souleyman supported the Barcelona studio after its layoffs.

“All my thoughts on this Assassin’s Creed Black Flag release day go to my colleagues at Ubisoft Barcelona, who have worked on the game and are undergoing a layoff. Without them, the game would not make it to release day.”

Reports about the layoffs first popped up in the final week of June, with employees announcing that they were going on strike to protest the decision. The Video Game Union Coordinating Committee said that the strikes will take place on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons between June 30th and July 16th, totalling up to six strikes over three weeks.

About 51 of Ubisoft Barcelona’s employees are said to be affected by the layoffs, and workers have demanded that the publisher reverse this decision and provide job security guarantees to shield it from future layoffs for at least 5 years. The layoffs would culminate in the studio losing almost a third of its workforce.

Sadly, a report by Insider Gaming also indicates that Ubisoft’s cost-cutting plans go well beyond just layoffs. For instance, the launch party for Resynced at the Barcelona studio was cancelled and replaced by a “small catering get-together at the studio.”

In the meantime, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is out now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S and has managed to hit almost 100,000 concurrent players on Steam alone. Despite this, the title has also faced some backlash. Its Steam review aggregate sits at “Mixed”, with 45 percent of its reviews being positive. Complaints largely revolve around additional microtransaction packs not included in the Deluxe Edition.

For more details, take a look at our review, where we gave it a 9 out of 10.

However, the player response isn’t the most positive at the moment. Resynced currently has a “Mixed” rating, with only 45 percent of its 1067 user reviews recommending it. Among the complaints are additional microtransactions for packs not included in the Deluxe Edition, which carry their own gear and cosmetics; cutscenes capped at 30 frames per second; the new menus which feel less comfortable to navigate; and so on.

While some of these come down to preference – the remake does make sweeping changes in terms of removing modern-day Animus segments and overhauling the combat – it’s hard to disagree with the microtransactions. There are three additional Character Packs and three additional Naval Packs separate from the Deluxe Edition, each costing $10. That’s not even including the $5 Map Pack.

Which is a shame because, given the number of studios that have worked on the title and its positive reviews (check out ours here), you would think Ubisoft would want to avoid the bad publicity. We’ll see if any changes arrive down the line, so stay tuned for updates.

However, the eagle-eyed among you will likely have noticed that it’s actually a remake of the “Horizon” trailer from E3 2013. A favorite among fans, it showcases a pretty montage of Edward Kenway’s life in the Caribbean, from sailing and enjoying the breeze to fighting (and slaying) soldiers at night.

From naval battles in bad weather to a Diving Bell expedition underwater, leading back to another moment of peace as he walks the shore, Edward’s life may very well have come full circle with the remake. And once again, he’s setting sail for the horizon.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC – check out our review here, where we gave it a nine out of ten, alongside a graphical analysis and some tips to get you started. While it’s a faithful remake of the 2013 classic, much like this launch trailer, it offers new content, including eight new end-game missions and revamped combat and parkour.

Why? Well, perks of the job aside, we’ve done that to touch upon what’s different from the original, and how that transforms the experience on offer across the board with a special focus on PC and PS5 Pro. Can the latest Anvil tech make this one go beyond an overhaul of resolutions and textures to make its world feel alive in ways that weren’t possible in the original game? Can that very impressive rendering stack manage to draw you into a familiar story well enough to make you want to do it all again?

Let’s find out!

What’s New?

The Caribbean continues to be the star of the show in Resynced, just as it was in the original Black Flag. It isn’t just the OG experience with a sharper image, and it’s so much more alive this time around that you feel the difference quite early. We’re going to just come out and say that Black Flag was no mean feat when it was first released, and managed to look and feel pretty good for a cross-generational title looking to bridge the PS4 and Xbox One with their predecessors.

But of course, it was limited by the machines it was made to run on, relying on fixed approximations about what its world should look like in any given scenario. It was an approach that worked pretty well for the game back in the day given that it was probably the only way to make such titles look as good as they did. But things have changed now, and the world itself enjoys the kind of adaptability that served Edward as well as it did over his journey from a pirate to an Assassin.

Let’s begin with the seas, since around 60% of the game’s world is made up of it. The upgrades go beyond better reflections, better-looking waves and foam, and more realistic collisions. Those were kind of taken for granted at this point given the extensive showcases the developer has given us all in the run up to Resynced’s release. But it’s in how the water reacts to you, your ship, and the world around it to present a more active sea this time around where the remake shines over the original.

Of course, the illusion of an active sea was always a part of the experience, with Black Flag weaving in wave motion, realistic responses from your ship to the pull and tug of the sea, storms that immediately made your survival a question mark and a matter of accurately reading rogue waves, great foam and how readable naval combat was once you found your sea legs. Well, each of those factors is now even better, with a physicality based water pipeline doing a lot of work under the hood to make the sea feel all the more responsive while looking like an endless vacation spot all at the same time.

New tessellation techniques, volumetric foam generation, dynamic bubble systems, and the way water responds to multiple variables like your ship, the wind, and the weather to generate accurate, realistic reactions every time make for a presentation of the sea that makes it feel like a living canvas just waiting for you to trace lines of adventure on with the Jackdaw as your brush. The seas were always where Black Flag’s best thrills were to be found, and Resynced’s take on them sets its world up for success on many fronts.

Take the weather, for example. It’s changed from being a very good take on realistic weather effects to an entire simulation that constantly works behind the scenes to make the seas feel truly treacherous this time around. You could set out with the sun shining bright on The Jackdaw’s deck, and find yourself in cloudy weather a little while later, all of which happens so seamlessly it can be hard to notice unless you’re actively watching for it.

The Atmos tech is doing its job, allowing variables like temperatures, humidity, the wind, and vapor density to intersect with results that make the weather system in Resynced a logical extension of how it impacted the world in Shadows. Those changing seasons are now a part of the world’s fabric, and it’s honestly impressive to see how the seas can turn against you as if Calypso herself took issue with Edward’s presence in them.

Of course, we’d be remiss not to talk about the new lighting system, which brings fully dynamic lighting and ray tracing to the table to light it, and everything else its rays touch, right up. You’re going to see it working its magic the second you move off a brightly lit street into a shady alley, the environment getting suitably less bright to match the scene while stray rays still sneak past thin leaves to cast thin pockets of light, surrounded by very realistic shadows.

It’s in how the world looks so drastically different and consistently beautiful at both dawn and dusk, each scene being lit up by systems that are dynamically responding to the time of day instead of being pre-rendered to present an approximation of it. The reflections of moisture off your armor or metallic surfaces are so realistically done, as is the spray of the ocean or the damage you do to enemy ships when you take them on.

Embers glide on the wind among raindrops as you unleash The Jackdaw’s might amid a raging storm, and every explosion lights up the pitch blackness of the open seas in ways that make each one feel like a glimpse into the fate that awaits you should your next shot miss. We could go on, but we’re going to say that the new lighting system is an excellent and very welcome upgrade, working well to make the world react as well to light as it does on other fronts.

Of course, the new Anvil Engine has also brought a lot of improvements to other factors like draw distances, visibility in areas where it’s a factor, and camera perspectives that work to elevate the scene being presented. SSD-backed streaming of smaller clusters is amazing on this front, and it’s evident as soon as you whip out your spyglass and peer off into the distance at an island you’re thinking of stopping at. There is no pop-in whatsoever, and the details look excellent.

Sailing towards a fort or settlement lets you see activity in the distance, instead of NPCs just hanging out statically until you alter the world state by initiating conflict. The jungle geometry is a perfect balance between the exploreable ones on offer in Black Flag, and the impenetrably dense foliage that Japan had in Shadows. Rock formations in the distance look as good as city skylines, and the entire rendering system does so well, it feels like Resynced might have needed an entirely new Animus to present a Caribbean simulation that looks and feels so real.

Of course, all of these graphical improvements would mean nothing if the performance didn’t manage to keep up. Well, there’s good news on that front as well.

PC Performance

You can bet we’ve put Resynced through its paces to see how it holds up under pressure. Our PC build includes an NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti, an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, and 16GB of RAM. That’s a reasonably powerful setup, and we set our resolution to 4K with the maximum available settings and DLSS set to Balanced. With that powering the experience, we managed a consistent 45-55 FPS which is pretty good given the recommended setups to run the game at its absolute best.

The official recommendation for 4K/60 FPS gameplay with extended ray tracing and quality upscaling requires an RTX 4090/RX 7900 XTX with a Ryzen Ryzen 7 5700X3D/Core i7-12700K-class CPU. On paper, our setup should have capped out at 1440p/60 FPS at high settings with standard ray tracing and Balanced upscaling. That makes what Resynced managed to offer quite impressive on the performance front considering everything we’ve talked about on the graphical one stretching our system to its limits.

PS5 Pro Is A Powerhouse

Well, that sorts out the PC. What about the PS5 Pro? We know that its Performance Mode offers 2160p upscaling with Enhanced PSSR, 60 FPS, and extended ray tracing while the Fidelity Mode goes for 30 FPS and Balanced goes for 40 FPS with the rest of it remaining the same. There’s specular reflections and ray-traced global illumination on board as well, with strand-based hair for Edward in all modes (you get it on nearby NPCs as well with Fidelity on), and the same across the board in all cinematics.

We tested things out across all three modes and came away impressed with the results, thanks to very little fluctuations in target goal of performance paramerers. We’d personally pick Performance Mode for that silky smooth frame rate and its impact on combat. What’s next? Well we think it a good idea to give you a comparison between the Pro’s Fidelity Mode and our PC. As far as the image is concerned, the PC handled distant geometry a lot better, and edged out the Pro when it came to fine ropes on rigging or vegetation, the foliage itself, and the general level of detail on a sub pixel level. That isn’t really a surprise but what’s surprising is that the Pro doesn’t lag too far behind.

That’s kind of a pattern here, as the ray-traced lighting is similarly effective with the PC managing to edge ahead in who interiors are lit up, how the light handles indirect bounce, transitions between different times of the day, and shaded streets. It’s the same thing with the reflections on oceans, wet floors of decks, metal surfaces, and any surface that’s showing off the aftermath of rains. You’re going to find more details on distant settlements, fortifications, and the silhouettes of cities that you’re approaching through fog or at night.

The strand-based hair tech works just as well on the Pro as it does on the PC although having it in operation at a higher frame rate output on the PC is an advantage. The latter also gets a distinct advantage in how different weather scenes play out, with storm complexity, the ocean’s response to your actions, and the chaos of the sea feeling that much better on the PC versus the Pro’s Fidelity Mode.

Once again, the most impressive part of the comparison is that aside from the lower frame rate, the PS5 Pro hasn’t been completely outclassed by its PC counterpart as far as Resynced is concerned, and you’re going to have a hell of a good time on either system if your PC can come close to the recommended specs from the developer.

With all that’s been said, we suppose you’ve already guessed that as far as graphics and performance are concerned, Black Flag Resynced is quite an impressive upgrade, and an experience that makes the remake feel like an evolution of its world instead of a mere visual overhaul.

We’ve already covered how Edward’s adventure has made the trip from our past to the present in our full review of the game, but as far as the graphics go, this is a fantastic effort at a remake. We’re definitely throwing a hat in the air for the team behind it in appreciation of a job well done.

Advanced Parkour

As smooth as parkour can feel in Resynced, especially with all the modern upgrades, long-time fans will want more control and precision. So head into the Settings and turn on Advanced Parkour. Suddenly, the whole world opens up in terms of parkour opportunities, whether it’s side ejects and back ejects from differing heights, the ability to Parkour Up and Down, and even a Manual Jump. Mastering all this – and the environment – is key to traversal, but it feels so satisfying.

Look and Observe

Eagle Vision returns and still serves the same function as in the original – namely, highlighting enemies, making it easier to track and assassinate them when the situation calls for it. However, Kenway has picked up some new tricks, including the new Observe function from Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Besides tagging enemies, it also highlights different clues and objectives, making it that much easier to get the job done (while also assassinating every jobber in your path).

Disable Alarm Bells

With the number of different stealth, mobility and combat tools available – give it up for the ability to crouch anywhere – it’s always important to remember the basics. Areas like plantations have alarm bells to alert each other when things go wrong, so it’s always ideal to disable them beforehand, thus stopping some random from escalating an already dicey situation.

Fights in Tight Spaces

Parries, takedowns, stagger bars – all that is well and good, but sometimes, you just want to toss some fool. As much as the environment is key for parkour, it’s devastating during combat. For example, an enemy kicked into a wall is subject to a quick takedown. Explosions and sweeps can ground foes before some tactical stabbing. If you’re on a ledge, kick an enemy off and let gravity do the rest, and when outnumbered, funnel them through pathways for those ideal Chain Assassinations.

The Rope Dart

The Rope Dart is a versatile weapon that became available in Sequence 11 of the original – a pretty late time. However, Resynced mixes things up by introducing it in Sequence 3. Why is this important? Because it introduces several ways to open enemies up to attacks, not to mention interrupting them and even pulling any gunmen off high ground. It also allows for distractions, like suspending foes to attract their friends while you sneak by.

The Spyglass

If there’s one thing to take away from sailing the high seas, it’s that you don’t need to attack every single ship. Is it fun? Absolutely, but if you’re seeking out specific upgrades, it’s better ot use the Spyglass. This helpfully marks the different materials each ship is carrying, thus letting you speed up the Jackdaw’s progression.

Always Be Boarding

Fighting other ships and rogue waves while priority targets hound you can make it difficult to board every single vessel. But when the opportunity is available, it’s always worthwhile, since you’ll receive double the rewards. Just make sure to take out the Scouts first to commandeer their muskets and use smoke bombs to take out heavy foes, especially later in the game.

Reach Great Inagua First

We get it – the Caribbean is beautiful, and there’s no shortage of places to explore or side content to take on. But at least hold your horses until you reach Great Inagua and unlock the Hideout later in the story. Not only does it provide access to managing the overhauled fleet, side missions and buildings that can increase maximum passive income and unlock additional slots for said fleet, but you can also take advantage of new facilities like the Treasure Dealer and Fisherman’s Wharf.

Don’t Ignore Templar Hunts

Of course, there’s also that ominous-looking door in the Hideout with a hanging skeleton, which requires multiple keys to unlock. These require completing Templar Hunts, and while they’re a returning activity, there have been a few changes (including better incorporation with the plot). Regardless, it’s worth pursuing each key because they unlock the Templar Armor, granting increased resistance to enemy attacks and more survivability in the process.

New Animus Rifts

For many, Black Flag is as much about the characters – like Blackbeard, James Kidd, and even Kenway himself – as the world, so being able to learn more about them is always a nice touch. And you can do just that courtesy of the new Animus Rifts. There are four, which are completely optional, but they might provide some much-needed narrative closure.

Improving the Jackdaw

As much as plundering other ships will grant resources for upgrading the Jackdaw, you’ll need to partake in several different activities to improve it further. For example, the Heated Shot becomes available after completing the mission “Proper Defenses.” But if you want Heavy Shot and Mortar Bombs, they unlock from the Quartermaster. In the same vein, seizing forts Charlotte and Dry Tortuga can provide Double Shot and Shrapnel. Sample a bit of everything across the Caribbean – it could lead to huge gains.

More Valuable Forts

But if you’re really looking for a priority activity above everything else, it really helps to capture Forts. Besides the above unlocks and usual rewards, they’ll reveal more points of interest across the region, thus highlighting more details. You can also unlock more missions for Kenway’s Fleet, which means even more lucrative opportunities.

Recruit the New Naval Officers

New to Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced are the three Officers – Lucy Baldwin, The Padre, and Tobias “Deadman” Smith – who can join your crew and add new abilities. Lucy’s Perfect Brace further reduces damage taken with the right timing; The Padre’s Ram Dash allows for higher speed ramming; and Deadman lets your broadside weapons unleash another volley in aimed mode. Best of all, they can be recruited without needing to completely wrap up their respective quests (though it doesn’t hurt since you’ll learn more about them).

Dive Anywhere Often

The Diving Bell is still available for some of the existing wrecks, but Resynced now lets you dive anywhere. And while your first thought may be to explore anywhere and everywhere for sunken treasure chests, it also opens up new opportunities for stealth. Instead of sneaking around guards or trying to find the best route to reach a ship as Edward, try diving and getting the drop on them by sea. They won’t see it coming (pun intended).

Customizing the Difficulty

Last but not least, there are three difficulty settings – Forgiving, which is for those who only care about the story; Intended, which is as close as you’re going to get to the original; and Hard, a step up and a real challenge for the legendary seafarers among ye. However, Resynced lets you separately adjust these for combat, stealth, activities and naval combat. Don’t feel like getting bogged down against other ships? Want to push your fighting skills to the limit? Tweak everything to your heart’s content.

Interestingly, Elliot also brought up sales comparisons with Ubisoft Singapore’s other pirate-themed game, Skull & Bones, noting that Black Flag Resynced has already outsold its entire lifetime run on Steam. Elliot has also estimated that, in the same time frame, Black Flag Resynced has sold over 5 times as many copies on Steam as Shadows did.

For a broader perspective on sales figures, Elliot has noted that Assassin’s Creed Shadows has sold 5.7 million copies since its release, with Steam accounting for 23.8 percent of the sales. PS5 took the lion’s share, with 53.6 percent of sales, followed by Xbox in third place with 23.6 percent. In its lifetime, Shadows sold 1.3 million copies on Steam, which puts Black Flag Resynced almost a quarter of the way there in terms of surpassing it.

Elliot also brought up other interesting statistics, like the fact that Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced had 1.2 million wishlists ahead of launch. 25 percent of these fans had also wishlisted Sea of Thieves. 18 percent had the original release of Black Flag on their wishlists, while 7 percent wishlisted indie pirate-themed survival crafting game Windrose.

The analyst ascribes quite a bit of the success of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced to nostalgia for the original 2013 release of Black Flag, as well as its $59.99 price tag, which is well below the industry standard of $70. “Pricing a nostalgia-driven remake below the new industry ceiling is a deliberate accessibility play, maximising the addressable audience for a lower-risk title rather than squeezing margins per copy,” he wrote.

The fact that Ubisoft has been going through quite a bit of hardship due to the failure of major live service games like Skull & Bones also means that Black Flag Resynced was a sorely needed win for the company. “Ubisoft is dealing with fractured pipelines,” explained Elliot. “Building an unproven new IP from scratch is a six-to-eight-year gamble costing hundreds of millions.”

“High-fidelity remakes of beloved legacy titles are the low-risk alternative – and one Ubi hasn’t really leveraged much yet. Such remakes reuse a universally praised design blueprint, lowering creative risk while guaranteeing a built-in audience. For a publisher mid-transition, these remakes are a financial cushion, stabilizing the balance sheet and winning back investor and consumer confidence while the long-term bets bake.”

Depending on your time zone, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Take a look at our review for more details, where we gave it a score of 9 out of 10 thanks to its refinements to parkour, combat, and naval battle gameplay. Our only complaint revolved around the fact that its stealth systems still feel rudimentary at times.