I’ve sunk legendary galleons, sailed across the Caribbean procuring plunder, and I’ve experienced Edward Kenway’s redemption arc from start to finish. But upon rolling credits on Ubisoft’s nostalgia-fuelled remake, I came to a realisation: almost everything good in Black Flag Resynced exists in the original game.Play This Right NowWelcome to Play This Right Now, the site version of our weekly newsletter in which we celebrate a new game, update, or DLC that we think is well worth checking out. You can subscribe to the newsletter at the link if you want to get our thoughts about a new videogame happening direct to your inbox every Thursday.Sure, it’s prettier and quality of life changes do help sand away the rougher edges, but removing all friction from a game isn’t necessarily a good thing. Take stealth sequences, for instance—Black Flag Resynced now allows you to crouch anywhere, but it also removes all fail conditions from stealth missions, making the system somewhat redundant. This give-and-take is something I experienced frequently with the remake. Resynced makes climbing far faster, but this means you no longer have to think about movement as you zoom up the side of almost every structure in sight. And don’t even get me started on removing hidden blade combat, fisticuffs, and temporary weapons. The new cutlass-only fighting may be slightly harder, but it’s ultimately bland thanks to fewer options.(Image credit: Ubisoft)I’ve now spent 40 hours with Black Flag Resynced, but I find myself unconvinced it ever needed a remake, especially…
