It’s difficult to precisely describe the feeling of being at the wheel of a giant brigantine, warm tropical winds in your face, and your crew belting out a new sea shanty and it sounds so pretty. The peace that a nice cool underwater swim can bring you, especially when you also chance upon treasure from a shipwreck nearby. It’s difficult to precisely describe the feeling of intense panic when you’re trying to avoid being yeeted because of a sudden storm, lightning strikes, or an approaching Spanish galleon. It’s difficult to describe all of these feelings because we are hundreds of years past the golden age of piracy, and the closest I’ve come to actually experiencing all this is in the most recent Assassins Creed Black Flag Resynced.
For those not aware, this game is an updated version of the 2013 original game. So I am a bit annoyed that I’ve had to go back in time, to find an AC game that feels like there are real stakes involved; because I do — as much as I dislike him — care about Edward Kenway. Edward is the lead of this game, and to me he felt like a real human — with real problems, and kind of understandably bad decisions all throughout. Let down by his government, by his own recklessness, he finally finds purpose in making a load of money by any means possible. He is also not your typical assassin — in true pirate fashion, he stole the robes, and the role. But he has a heart, you know, he sometimes cares about the stupid things he did (the wife flashbacks specifically are heartbreaking) and it really endears him to you. I’m going to chart this down to good videogame writing from back in the day, that has kept this game afloat till date. Perhaps the right answer to what one would do with this specific drunken sailor, is to go play this game about his life and make sure his dearest ambition to become a rich assassin turns into reality.
It’s also refreshing to go back to a simple version of the series where there’s no skill tree and no level-based combat. The most time pass (read: grind) I ever do in the game is go on an elaborate treasure hunt using some maps I found to score some gold. And those are really fun? Even more so than other pirate games out there, like Sea of Thieves. I must admit the ship battles, which are the core focus of the game, are a significant improvement from what they were before. A personal aside is that I’ve always found it so satisfying to win a battle that has so many things concurrently happening — the ships are moving and rounding in from all directions, and I’ve to make sure I’m not ramming into an island while controlling the rather weak cannons. It’s all very thrilling.
I’ve recently also been fascinated with cultural history, which is a direct consequence of being obsessed with Geoguessr. This makes this game a better experience, because it covers a large part of the history of the Antilles, and the complex cultural and social elements that surrounded the place during the 1700s. Also gives you a sense of how pretty these islands were (and still are). It paints a fairly realistic picture of slave trade and rationale for how piracy became a real issue (and potentially the only solution) when the legality of privateering came into question. All this is something I’ve missed in subsequent Assassins Creed games, which focus more on folktales and fantasy characters. Does anyone remember the Minotaur in AC Odyssey?
Anyone who has read this column for long enough is probably aware of the everlasting love affair between me and the Assassins Creed series. I’ve been playing them for as long as I remember. You’re never going to get an unbiased review of an AC game from me. So here is a hearty recommendation to buy it if you can and play the game fully. It truly is one of the better AC games out there, and the updated version has so much quality-of-life improvements from the more dated release that it’s worth it.