Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced sets sail for pirate-infested waters on July 9, and we are so onboard. Jussi Markkanen, technical director on the Ubisoft title, came to parley with Intel Gaming Access about revisiting beloved works with stunning new capabilities. This flag means fun.
In a Cinematic Space
Ubisoft Singapore has played what Jussi describes as a “pivotal” role in every Assassin’s Creed game since Assassin’s Creed II. With Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, they took the lead for the first time. And they came to play. This isn’t an anniversary edition, Jussi explains: “It offers a faithfully enhanced experience of the original game that came out 13 years ago.”
The worlds of the 18th-century Golden Age of Piracy and the war between Assassins and Templars intersect perfectly in Black Flag Resynced. Jussi paints us a picture: “Sail and plunder the seas as Edward Kenway, rebellious pirate captain, ally and friend to legends such as Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, and Calico Jack. As you follow Edward in his pursuit of glory and gold, you’ll be drawn into an ancient war separating Assassins and Templars, with the fate of everything the pirates have built hanging in the balance.”
While the title revisits a classic, it also charts a new course. . “Black Flag Resynced is an action-adventure game; a conscious pushback against the trend of open-world RPG with no leveling systems or skill trees dominating the experience. Unlike most pirate games which lean heavily into sandbox or multiplayer, Black Flag Resynced is a solo-focused narrative experience—closer to a cinematic action game than a live-service one. In short, it occupies a fairly unique space: a story-driven, single-player pirate game with both land and sea gameplay, modernized with cutting-edge visuals.”
That unique space is open to anyone who wants the cut-and-thrust thrill of a pirate action-adventure game—whether they’re veterans or newcomers to the series. “The game has been rebuilt from the ground up and is powered by the latest Ubisoft proprietary Anvil engine,” Jussi tells us. “Experience breathtaking graphics and enriched gameplay, parry-driven combat as well as upgraded stealth and parkour for smoother escapes and assassinations, with deeper naval mechanics and hours of new narrative content. Whether you’re boarding enemy ships or exploring the vibrant Caribbean, rediscover the thrill of piracy.”
Pirating Tech
The Resync uses technology originally developed for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which includes Micropolygon virtualized geometry, physically based rendering, and modernized water simulation. Jussi tells us that no other pirate game currently on the market runs on that level of modern rendering tech. “It’s the Caribbean like you’ve never seen before,” he enthuses, “whether you’re sailing the open seas or journeying across untamed lands, discovering a seamless open world built with the latest Anvil engine. Take in sweeping vistas and richly detailed environments as you brave stormy waters, navigate ocean hazards, dive into underwater shipwrecks, or push through dense tropical jungles. Enhanced by features like Dolby Atmos, real-time Global Illumination, and ray tracing, every scene feels more vibrant and immersive, bringing the world’s beauty and danger to life.”
It’s not just updated visuals and improved performance: The Caribbean you’ve never seen before hosts a story like you’ve never played before. Fan favorite characters like Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet return, but, as Jussi reveals: “Building on top of the original story, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced introduces exclusive new content. Unexpected allies will also cross your path, as three officers join you on your journey. More surprises await, such as new sea shanties, pets, photo mode, and more.” Get ready for sea shanties to become a thing again. You can also expect to continuously upgrade Edward’s ship, the Jackdaw, to face powerful enemy craft with enhanced naval mechanics and new alternate fire modes.
Smooth Sailing
In 2013, Black Flag was hailed for its incredible vistas and thrilling action, but there was one sticking point. Jussi explains: “One of the main objectives we had was to overcome the original Black Flag’s technical limitation of having loading screens each time a player reaches a new city in open world and docks the ship. Our goal was a seamless exploration experience across all Caribbean seas, and we’re happy to say that this has been realized for the new experience.”
And it’s quite an experience. Everyone has a favorite aspect of a game; what’s Ubisoft’s? “While not forgetting all the other upgrades and improvements compared to the original game,” Jussi says, “the graphics overhaul is one the highlights of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. It’s the latest title using Ubisoft proprietary Anvil engine and we are really pushing the engine to produce the best graphics quality and performance ever seen in an open world video game. The detailed, freely explorable open-world setting is one of the most performance-heavy settings in the video game industry. Our team has worked very closely with the Anvil engine’s development team to optimize the performance and ensure all components in the game are implemented in the most optimal way possible.”
What kind of rig is that performance going to require? “You can get the best PC rig out there and run the game in glorious 4K with 60 fps, graphics settings pushed to ULTRA, with extended raytracing enabled,” Jussi allows. “That said, no matter what PC configuration is used, I can guarantee that Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced will run great on the PC, if the minimum PC-specs are met.” Just what PC users want to hear.
Intel on Board
There’s a long history of Intel engineers working with Ubisoft during the development of their games, and Jussi cites the collaboration as “always being fluid and efficient”. “For Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, we had a team in Intel profiling and analyzing our latest builds to ensure we are always using Intel hardware in the most optimized way, across all hardware,” Jussi says. “Specifically, for Intel® XeSS we had beta drivers to work on the new Intel® XeSS 3, to test it early and have Intel’s expert team reviewing our implementation. We would receive prompt feedback and improvement suggestions from the Intel team regularly which has helped us to optimize our engine across the board.”
And with that, it sounds like this ship is ready to weigh anchor. Avast, gamers—Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced leaves harbor on July 9.
Pre-purchase Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced at Steam