That’s thanks to the ability to dive anywhere in the world. But it won’t just be a handful, teased technical director Jussi Markkanen to GamesRadar. “We still have those diving bell locations, but in addition, you can dive anywhere in the world now. We took the feature, obviously it’s been in Assassin’s Creed since Origins, that you can dive anywhere, and we utilize that, and we built all the underwater locations; there are a lot of new shipwrecks that you can find near the shorelines.”

There are various playas to discover with loot hidden in chests (and sharks who are none too happy to see you). However, it seems there will be “little secrets” which provide “one more dimension for the player to explore.” What could that mean? Will it tie into the greater purpose of Edward Kenway and his illustrious pirate company in some way? Regardless, if you’re planning to spend a lot of time diving anywhere, it seems you’ll be handsomely rewarded.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced launches on July 9th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Besides the new officers, end-game content, and so on, you can also look forward to a heavily expanded Hideout with multiple upgrades. It even has new facilities like Fisherman’s Wharf and the Treasure Dealer, which increase Hideout profits and passive income while offering unique benefits (like exclusive items).

Pre-loading is already available for Xbox Series X/S players. PC and PS5 players can start on July 7th at 2 PM UTC and 12 AM local time, respectively. Regardless of your platform, there should be plenty of time to pre-load before next week’s worldwide launch.

If you’ve been living (or gaming) under a rock, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is a remake of the 2013 open-world classic. As Edward Kenway, a pirate who inadvertently joins the Brotherhood of Assassins, you venture across the lawless Caribbean Sea, seeking to make a fortune. Iconic characters like Blackbeard and Captain Kidd join you, though it’s not long before things take a tragic turn.

Resynced rebuilds the experience from the ground up courtesy of the latest version of Anvil Engine. It sports remade visuals, a new combat system that focuses more on parrying and fluid action, improved parkour, and overhauled environments (like Havana) with extensive details. Check out our feature for all the biggest differences.

Hartmann’s impressive track record speaks for itself, with his involvement in hit franchises like Borderlands, Bioshock, and Mafia allowing him to make a name for himself in modern gaming. Ubisoft is thrilled about his decision to take over one of its Creative Houses, with CEO Yves Guillemot issuing a statement commending his past work while expressing excitement for a new chapter.

“Christoph is exactly the kind of leader we needed for Creative House 2 – a passionate gamer with a proven ability to bring out the best in creative teams and build franchises that last.”

Hartmann is similarly excited to be a part of Creative House 2, giving us a glimpse of his plans to take everything the studio is working on forward.

“The talented teams at March of Giants, Massive, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Paris, and Ubisoft Toronto have always known how to create worlds that players lose themselves in. With Creative House 2, we are giving them the structure, support, and vision to go further, to build the kind of intense, unforgettable experiences that remind players why they fell in love with games in the first place. That is what great games have always been about, and that is what we are here to make.”

It might be an uphill climb for Ubisoft (especially when projects like Splinter Cell Remake have seemingly stalled), but things could definitely improve with Hartmann’s leadership. Of course, there’s also the potential success of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced setting up the embattled publisher for a comeback when it launches on July 9th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

You can dive right back into Edward Kenway’s tryst with the Caribbean at launch and enjoy all of the new features it’s bringing to the table, including ray-tracing, dynamic weather, and a fresh new look for the world and its denizens. We’re going to make a beeline straight for Havana when we get our hands on the game, and see if playing on the Steam Deck is everything the studio is promising.

It’s quite heartening to see Ubisoft spare no effort to ensure that the nostalgia-heavy remake manages to cast its spell on us just as well as the original Black Flag, while still bringing new touches like the new Assassin’s Creed Shadows-inspired combat system that’s sure to test your skills. Of course, you probably already know that the thing we’re most stoked about is just hopping onto The Jackdaw’s deck and exploring the seas to our heart’s content.

Thankfully, we’ve got roughly a week left before we indulge ourselves in a game that’s a reminder of the Assassin’s Creed franchise’s best years on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

It’s also more fluid, especially when transitioning between different tools, like pistols, swords, the rope dart and more. As tech director Jussi Markkanen told GamesRadar, “We modernized the combat to be more hitbox-based, as modern combat games tend to be, and a little bit more reactive. So, Edward can still use the hidden blades, but as a takedown action in the combat, making the combat more fluid.” As previously confirmed, you can’t equip the Hidden Blades as a separate weapon in the remake – a facet which bummed out most players.

But on the bright side, despite using Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ combat as its base, the development team opted for more action-heavy fights. “We have a parry system now, so you time your parries, but it’s free movement and hitbox, so it’s still physically based and built on top of the fight system we had on Shadows. But instead of doing what Shadows did in the skill-tree-based or RPG-style fights, we went more to the action-oriented fights,” said Markkanen.

So while it’s technically “reimagining” the original’s combat, it still maintains that swashbuckling flow and mastery that lets Edward capably take on crowds of foes while emerging unscathed. “Skill-based in a way that it’s skills in your hands. How do you move? How do you position yourself? How do you use your tools that you have?” Based on everything we’ve seen so far, Resynced will offer plenty of unique options to find your flow.

It launches on July 9th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Aside from the combat, there have been several other changes and new additions, including freshly recorded lines by actor Matt Ryan and the Observe mechanic. Head here for all the latest and learn more about how it runs on base PS5 and PS5 Pro here.

Well, the two icons are coming together to celebrate a decade of being solid entertainers in their own right with a crossover event that sees some of your favorites from The Division 2 stepping into the Dead by Daylight universe, bringing cosmetics, trophies, and more to the table. The event is going to span a couple of weeks, ending on July 14th.

The free content includes The Deathslinger and The Huntress skins, alongside a couple of backpack trophies for you to pick up, while the premium content includes The Oni, The Trapper, backpack trophies, and exotic caches for you to collect. It’s been a rather busy time for Dead by Daylight, what with the recent addition of Jason Voorhees and a feature film in the works. Meanwhile, The Division 2 confirmed Year 8 earlier this year, much to the delight of its fans.

You can see the new characters in action in the trailer below. It’s rather short, but it’s still worth a watch for the new additions, nonetheless.

New Jackdaw Navigation Tools Streamline Sailing

In the original Black Flag, naval traversal was an active mechanic where you’d steer the ship across the Caribbean’s open waters while relying on the map for navigation. As Black Flag Resynced introduces seamless transitions between ocean and harbour, so too a couple of new navigation tools remove Jackdaw friction further: the Pathfinder highlights optimal routes across the ocean, while Follow Sea acts as an autopilot system. Together, they’ll allow you to soak in the experience of hightailing it across the seas, keeping extra think-work optional.

New Sea Shanties Are Tied to Activities

Sea Shanties in the original game were largely collectible flavour, scattered across the world, adding to your crew’s repertoire once found. In Resynced, ten newly produced Sea Shanties not only imbue your crew’s personality further, but tie directly to quests and activities. This greater context makes their acquisition feel more meaningful, while subtle UI changes make selecting your favourite shanty a breeze.

A Cleaner, More Contextual HUD

Simpler inputs to trigger Sea Shanties are just the tip of the iceberg: Black Flag Resynced has reworked the interface into a clear, more contextual system, moving away from the original’s functional yet cluttered layout. Now, fully customisable with multiple presets, you’re able to tailor how much information is displayed on screen, grouping settings for minimal display yet maximum immersion, to overloaded clarity with clear guidance and feedback.

Expanded VFX and UI Control

And, underlining your ability to find the ideal balance between gameplay clarity and cinematic immersion is Resynced’s deeper VFX and UI customisation options. Whereas the original offered limited control over presentation, now you can tweak the appearance of visual effects like blood, or go granular with a slate of toggleable interface elements, from widgets, meters, ammo counters, and reticles, to general info, hints, and more.

Combat Readability is Fully Customisable

Combat readability can be tailored to your preferences in Resynced too, adding to the original’s visual prompts and UI indicators with animation-based tells. So, while enemy health and defence bars are visible when using Resynced’s default HUD, these can be disabled to shift your focus toward timing, spacing, and animations, with the latter hurling your enemy’s hat or headpiece off their head once their defensive capability is broken. Even health and defence bars were optional in Black Flag – the original didn’t make it as feasible to fight on observation and instinct alone.

New Enemy Behaviours Encourage Adaption

Where enemy encounters often grew predictable in Black Flag, Resynced is introducing all-new enemy archetypes and defensive behaviours that will react to repeated tactics. If you spam parries, for instance, enemies will begin striking with unblockable attacks, so you’ll need to consistently adapt and vary your approach, mixing attacking and defensive manoeuvres with weapons and combos to confuse enemies.

Group Combat Is More Layered

And, continuing with Resynced’s new, advanced enemy archetypes, multi-enemy encounters are now more layered as a result of different enemy roles. While fights in the original Black Flag often boiled down to managing groups efficiently, in Resynced you’ll need to place extra priority on harder-to-down targets, such as the new Demolitionist, as these archetypes possess firmer defence and a more punishing, often unblockable, attack when compared to regular soldiers.

Observe Brings Cinematic Recon

Exploration in the original Black Flag relied on Edward’s Eagle Vision for environmental awareness. Resynced, instead, borrows from Assassin’s Creed Shadows by introducing the Observe feature, a more finely tuned tool which allows you to scan Edward’s surroundings for clues and objectives alongside tagging guards and other targets. Furthermore, Observe tightens the camera into Edward’s line of sight, bringing a more cinematic, immersive framing as you survey the landscape for minute detail.

Fort Infiltration Uses a Morale System

In Black Flag, conquering forts typically meant eliminating enough enemies to trigger a surrender. In Resynced, this scenario is replaced with a dynamic morale system, requiring you to destabilise a fort’s defenses enough to lower their resolve enough to draw their commander out for a final confrontation. The end result is the same, you’ll claim the fort as your own, but the process of killing its commander makes each stronghold in your collection feel more earned.

Boarding Brings More Risk Versus Reward

Whilst bringing more control and precision over the act of getting your boots onto enemy decks, Resynced also eschews the original Black Flag’s largely straightforward boarding process by introducing deeper risk versus reward scenarios. Now, enemy crew numbers and aggression varies between vessels, while more lucrative rewards are found in the new Captain’s Lockbox, located exclusively aboard larger ships like Frigates and Man O’ Wars. Opting to pillage the Captain’s private stash forgoes the option to repair your ship or lower your wanted level, and you’ll also want to consider the knock-on effect on your own crew numbers and future opportunities too.

Some Ship Management Has Moved On Shore

Originally, many ship-related functions were handled directly from the Jackdaw’s Captain’s Cabin. However, in Resynced, many of these systems have moved on shore to the Harbourmasters. Purchasing upgrades, restocking weapons, and trading cargo must now be handled in port, shifting your resource management decisions toward something more strategic.

Harbours Take On Greater Gameplay Significance

And, with more systems now tied to them, harbours in Black Flag Resynced are no longer simple stop-off points. Their increased importance changes how you plan voyages, influencing how often you return to port, and how to structure the pace of your naval expeditions.

Exploration Is More Guided Than Ever Before

While the original Black Flag encouraged a more organic approach to discovery, often leaving you to stumble upon points of interest, Resynced leans into a more guided exploration structure. The thinking behind this, presumably,is to increase your efficiency if you so choose – through Observe and the enhanced UI tools outlined in this feature, you should be more easily able to identify objectives and opportunities. Although, as we’ve already pointed out, the UI can be customised to loosen Resynced’s more structured approach if you desire.

Systems Feel More Interconnected

Resynced’s suite of expanded systems interlock more tightly than Black Flag, where its mechanics often felt like they operated independently. These expansions, encompassing morale-based encounters to adaptive enemies and customisable HUDs, are interwoven to present a more cohesive gameplay loop.

Immersion Is In Your Control

Ultimately, where Assassin’s Creed 4: Blag Flag brought a fixed balance between cinematic presentation and gameplay clarity, Black Flag Resynced gives you that control instead. Through all the various customisation options and systemic changes highlighted throughout this feature, there is one key takeaway: in Resynced, you can shape your own experience. Be it in true, uninterrupted immersion, or a guided adventure, the remake gives you the tools to choose your degree of realism, readability, and cinematic flair.

Oh wait.

This year, it feels like every project from the house of Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Splinter Cell is having problems or cutting back to meet deadlines – including new entries in those very same properties. Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe has apparently pulled back and laid off 50 members from its team. Far Cry 7 is reportedly in a stage of development referred to as “Hell,” where things reportedly change every single month. And the less said about that fabled Splinter Cell Remake, which may as well be the stuff of legend at this point, the better.

So what about Ghost Recon, reportedly codenamed Project Ovr? A first-person shooter that seemingly takes after Ready or Not, reportedly promising a darker experience against the backdrop of a fictional war, where squad-based tactics are more prominent than ever? You know, everything that hardcore fans of the series have wanted? Well, sources previously told Insider Gaming that an internal alpha was scheduled for last Fall and if everything went well, it could launch this year.

Fast forward to this month, post-reshuffle and things have taken a rather drastic turn. Insider Gaming first reported that the alpha didn’t meet expectations. “Unrealistic deadlines,” “poor planning and management,” and “directors not listening to feedback” were apparently some of the things thrown around. Unfortunately, the head office has seemingly rejected any other arrangements, aside from reportedly bringing in VP of global creative Julien Sansalone and VP of production Jean-Baptiste Duval. Not to really change how the development team actually works, mind you. Just to oversee things. Presumably, they’re to be the eyes and ears for upper management, providing information on actual progress rather than going simply by whatever the studio says.

Then there’s the most recent report. What’s been done to bring the project back on track? A “cut and greatly reduced” scope, for starters, with “many features stripped.” The sources in question didn’t go into much detail on what exactly was removed, but they apparently vary in overall scale (and potential significance).

Furthermore, details on an internal alpha held last Spring have emerged. Ovr is apparently not “stable at all,” and the game is in a “terrible” state. What about last year’s internal alpha, and plans to shift to the final game within 12 months? I’m theorizing here, but it’s possible that after its organizational overhaul, upper management took one look at the game’s state and decided it was far from satisfactory.

It likely gave the developer time to shape up for another alpha test, and well, these are seemingly the results. Based on that, it’s made changes to ensure no roadblocks in deliverables.

Going back to Insider Gaming’s latest report, a beta is now apparently targeting November. Unfortunately, there’s another problem. Recent layoffs have hit multiple studios under the publisher’s umbrella, including this one, which means those remaining will purportedly have more work on hand. Which apparently means “long days of crunching” for the beta. So if it wasn’t bad enough that the team is working to get the game rolling, that too after abandoning several features, it has even less resources to do it and is under more pressure. Keep in mind that before these changes, some developers apparently expected the project to be outright cancelled.

Why? Because the studio’s management seemingly has no idea what it was doing. This was a concern that emerged with how much freedom these individual Creative Houses would have. But you should think of this as more of the old way of doing things meeting a new approach by management that’s more concerned with cutting costs and actually taking steps to ship the product rather than dilly-dallying.

And while it’s easy to blame the executives in charge at the top, you have to remember that Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced was reportedly meant for March before facing a delay. How that extra time would have helped the remake is anyone’s guess, but based on relatively positive impressions from both fans and media outlets, we’ll default to it being the correct choice.

But this is this, and that is that. One Creative House won’t necessarily operate like the others, and that goes double for its studios. It is the same as handling Splinter Cell and The Division, however – the former waffling about with its remake while the latter has yet to provide updates on The Division 3 for almost three years. Aside from executive producer Julian Gerighty, who had a key role in both titles, leaving the company, of course.

As for Ghost Recon, really, what can you say at this point? As much as this new studio structure ensures that projects actually get going rather than end up mired, it feels like the company as a whole has no clue what it wants to do with the franchise. When Wildlands embraced the open-world approach, there was significant blowback from long-time fans, and its launch state didn’t help matters either. Nevertheless, after strong sales, the company stuck with it, improving and introducing significant new features while showcasing how much fun it could be. It may not have been the true blue Ghost Recon that the hardcore fan wanted, but it was certainly getting there.

Then Breakpoint stripped most of that away, including AI squadmates and introduced a poorly implemented survival theme. The real goal? Taking Wildlands formula and trying to create a looter shooter, complete with a social hub. As noted earlier, this went down horribly and even with massive overhauls, it’s far from the ideal experience.

So what was the plan after that? Of all things, Ghost Recon Frontline, a first-person shooter battle royale that looked to embrace the Fortnite style of building walls. Except you were actually air-dropping them in with a laser pointer. The reception to this was so bad that the publisher ultimately just scrapped it months later. Good riddance.

By comparison, Ovr looked like it was going back to what made the series great while leaning into more grounded, realistic tactical play. Yet again, however, we don’t know where it fell short as to warrant so many changes. Was the squad management terrible? Did the gunplay disappoint? If there’s an open world, did it not have enough checklists of activities? We don’t know, but whatever its problems, the publisher isn’t keen to sit on the sidelines and wait for the development team to suddenly strike gold. And it’s not going to be lenient on them either, even with reduced manpower.

While it’s nice to hope that everything will work out, the past decade or so hasn’t been kind to Ghost Recon. And at this point, wistfully hoping that those in charge just “get it” and deliver an experience that will satisfy both the hardcore and the more contemporary fans feels like a pipe dream.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

There are three modes to choose from: Performance, Fidelity and Balanced (which requires a display that supports 120/240 Hz). Performance delivers 60 frames per second with Standard ray tracing, which encompasses global illumination for diffuse lighting. Fidelity and Balanced have Extensive ray tracing that includes reflective surfaces. However, the former runs at 30 FPS while the latter offers 40 FPS. All three modes output at an upscaled 2160p resolution.

So what makes PS5 Pro so special? While offering the same modes and frame rates as the base PS5, Extended ray tracing is on across the board. Upscaled 2160p is also enabled throughout, courtesy of the upgraded PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution. You can also expect improved hair with individual strands rendered and reacting realistically.

It does vary, though – for instance, Edward has it in all modes during gameplay, but Fidelity mode will bestow the same to nearby NPCs. At least every mode displays strand-based hair for all characters in the cinematics, so even those who prefer a higher frame rate can bask in the detail.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is available on July 9th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Ubisoft hasn’t explicitly stated whether the PS5 frame rates and resolutions apply to Xbox Series X, but you can likely expect the same. Xbox Series S is anyone’s guess, though, so stay tuned for more details.

As part of the strike, the employees at Ubisoft Barcelona have a few demands, with the most important ones among them being protection for their jobs and a mandate for continuity, which would ensure that the 51 affected employees are made permanent additions to the studio’s workforce. The job security demand involves a commitment to shield the employees from future layoffs for at least 5 years.

There are also a host of other demands by the employees, like following through on agreed-upon internal promotions that had been put on hold by Ubisoft, a reinstatement of the studio’s work-from-home policies, which involved allowing employees to work remotely for 60 percent of the month, and a formal review and unblocking of a salary improvement plan and social benefits packages for the workforce.

The announcement of this strike comes a few weeks after reports had indicated that Ubisoft would be undergoing restructuring that will result in around 380 employees being laid off. According to an internal memo sent out by Ubisoft’s leadership, the company claimed that it has been trying to evolve the company’s structure to “simplify how it operates, reduce its cost base, and strengthen the company for the long term.”

This led to around 165 employees being laid off at Ubisoft’s Winnipeg and Belgrade studios, and at the time, the company had seemingly begun consultations about a similar restructuring for Ubisoft Barcelona. This restructuring would refocus the studio on the Rainbow Six franchise.

“Changes are also underway across the global Publishing organization, to adapt how teams are structured and deployed, while maintaining a strong presence in key markets. Pending consultations, these decisions mean that up to 380 employees could be impacted.”

In its earnings report from May, Ubisoft had reported losses of around €1.3 billion (roughly $1.40 billion) for the fiscal year ending on March 31st, 2026. Net bookings across the company had also fallen by 17.4 percent year-on-year. These losses have likely played a major role in the company’s bid to reduce its spending through restructuring and mass layoffs.

As for its future, Ubisoft has warned investors that there will likely be losses of between 8 and 9 percent in the next fiscal year as well, amounting to roughly €500 million. In the following fiscal year, however, the company expects to see positive cash flow and profitability. The company has cited the upcoming releases of games that will include more ways for players to spend money as a source of these future profits.

In the meantime, Ubisoft is gearing up to release Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on July 9th.