For the most part, the long-awaited and worst-kept secret, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, is very faithful to one of my favourite games from 13 years ago. And anything that’s brand-new, like some islands, the ship officers, and an extended story, fits in pretty seamlessly, almost like they were there in the original.But you know what I don’t remember from the original Black Flag? A microtransaction store filled with obnoxious outfits, faux battle passes, and weekly challenges. You know where I’ve seen that before? The RPG era of Assassin’s Creed. Where I hated it.In a full-priced remake of a 13-year-old swashbuckler, and a single-player game no less, Ubisoft decided to tack on one of the most distasteful cases of monetisation. You’re greeted by the store on the main menu, little adverts when you pause the game, and it’s actually fewer buttons to access the shop in-game than it is to save your progress. That’s neat.UbisoftUbisoftUbisoftUbisoftInside this store you’ll see very immersion-breaking outfits that I’m sure must appeal to someone, otherwise they wouldn’t exist. I’ll stick to my pirate outfits. Though I suppose it is being faithful to the original Black Flag in letting you buy resources and the ‘Map Pack’ that just reveals all of the treasure maps, Mayan stones, and so on. I mean, you could just Google that if you’re lazy.So, you might say that I shouldn’t complain because it doesn’t really affect me. True, to an extent—I won’t buy exploitative map packs or these gaudy skins, so…
