Ubisoft explains why Black Flag: Resynced is a full remake, not a remaster

After numerous leaks and much online speculation, the remake of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag has finally been confirmed. While gamers got a chance to see the visual overhaul and gameplay of what’s now known as Assassin’s Creed Black Flag: Resynced, there’s still a lot left on the table to discuss in terms of what’s changed and what’s been kept as is to retain the game’s core identity.

Kotaku recently sat down with the team behind Black Flag: Resynced. Creative Director Paul Fu, Game Director Richard Knight, and Ubisoft’s proprietary Anvil engine specialist Nicolas Lopez openly discussed what makes Resynced special, beyond the return of Edward Kenway.

Fu explained the strong pull behind Black Flag for this treatment: “The answer is that I really love Edward Kenway. I think he’s just special. He’s almost like a brand within a brand. He’s one of the crown jewels of Ubisoft, in my opinion, and he has a really, really good story.”

Added pressure to deliver on a remake

Knight, on the other hand, discussed the weight that comes with remaking a beloved title often cited as one of the last “good” Assassin’s Creed games before user reception took a nosedive. He said, “Yeah, I mean, we do feel some extra weight, but there’s a pro and a con to it. The pro is that we have this blueprint of the original game… but there’s a lot of weight because players love Edward, they love that adventure, they remember all the details.” 

This highlights the amount of pressure Ubisoft Singapore is under to ensure Assassin’s Creed Black Flag: Resynced is a hit with longtime fans of the franchise. However, the conversation soon turned into a debate about what separates a remake from a remaster, and the devs clarified the distinction.

Anvil specialist Lopez explained, “Usually, the way I see a remaster is just, you know, recompiling the code for the new console, higher resolution, maybe upscalers, DLSS, these kinds of things, but it’s basically the same assets. Maybe we’re making a few textures in HD,” which broadly matches the common understanding of what a remaster is. Lopez continued, “But this is not what Assassin’s Creed Black Flag: Resynced is. This is a full-blown remake.” 

Nodding in agreement, Fu chimed in: “Right, for me, the definition of a remake is not just a graphical overhaul, but a systems overhaul, or rather expansion and new content. So, for me, a good remake has to have new context, new systems that expand on these core systems, which is what we aim for in Resynced.”

Knight concluded the debate by driving the final nail in the conversation, stating, “A remake is when you go back into the guts, and you start to rebuild.”

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag: Resynced is set to launch on July 9, 2026, for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.