There’s a distinct line in the sand when it comes to Assassin’s Creed combat: Those who stand on the side of the classic combat, and newcomers who’ve become familiar with the more RPG/action-heavy combat of newer games. A Ubisoft leak highlights that Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced’s combat looks to lean into action with new changes.
For years, AC combat was fairly basic, but satisfying, as you became adept at dodging and countering, all the while making use of time-period-specific gadgets and your hidden blade. Recent Assassin’s Creed games have gone off the deep end and gone full RPG—I’m looking at you in Assassin’s Creed Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced will also utilize action elements.
Combat To Be Action-Heavy in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced?
Ah, the classic Assassin’s Creed Black Flag HUD in the top-right corner with the likes of ‘shoot,’ ‘counter,’ ‘break defense.’
They were simpler times indeed. Times change, though, and as we’ve come to learn with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, the combat will be updated, just like the modern-day Animus has, and as have tailing/eavesdropping missions.
In the official Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced presentation, we’ve all seen firsthand the changes that Ubisoft has made to combat over the original.
Matt Ryan, AKA Edward Kenway’s original voice actor returning for the role, narrated the changes over the top of gameplay :
“The combat system has been entirely reworked into an action-oriented experience. While wielding dual swords, pistols, and hidden blades, every move now plays a specific role with faster and more fluid attacks and combos. Land a perfect parry to open up your target for an instant kill, then follow with up to four chained takedowns.
Use walls, ledges, and breakables to your advantage. Keep track of your opponents and use all your tools to level the playing field.”
Combat sees a double-edged HUD, with two mini-menus in each bottom corner, allowing you to quickly cycle between weapons and items, and it does look like an intrinsic addition to skirmishes. If you did a side-by-side of Resynced and Black Flag, you would quickly notice how much faster Resynced is, with an emphasis on grander and more fluid fights.
It’s a far cry (no, not that one) from the original Black Flag. The gameplay footage shows obvious visual cues for enemy attacks, with different-coloured flourishes to signify the type of attack and threat level, i.e., unblockable attacks. Time will tell if long-time fans grow to like it, or if it’ll be cast into Davy Jones’ locker.
You can see the combat tweaks and changes for yourself with the AC Resynced showcase.
It won’t be long until you get to see the combat in action for yourself. Once you do, let us know what you think via the free-to-join and always lively Insider Gaming Discord.
We have more Resynced content from the Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Collector’s Edition goodies being revealed, to the news that Resynced doesn’t include DLC or Multiplayer.
Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
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I’m firmly on the side of the classic combat, and genuinely only wanted two things for this “Resynced”: don’t change anything to do with the sailing, and don’t change anything to do with the combat.
I’m very disappointed by this news, but I’m still cautiously optimistic – it sounds like the changes they made are more in line with the fast paced action of the original, and less about the rpg combat of the recent titles. I loved being able to chain kill groups.
That said, I miss being able to equip the hidden blade in the first game and just counter kill everyone 😅
Or being able to flex the hidden blade in the loading screens in the first few (I used it to measure how long each loading screen was lol)
Splinter Cell remake was in development longer where is it? Same with Prince Of Persia which got canned why did those have problems but not this? AI?
Huge fan of all AC’s from beginning to now. I trust them to make the game complete and “good”. It’s a tough edge to tread, though. So many people are so attached to this title specifically, they are going to make all kinds of wild involuntary assumptions about what to expect through their rose-colored nostalgia glasses. Most of them will have no idea what AC has been up to since AC4, only reading “bad” reviews and impressions of all the games since – which is tragic imo since the releases have all been very consistent and high quality since then. They made decisions some might not like, but the games are so far from “bad” it’s actually absurd that people can be so myopic and biased for no good, real reason other than a second-hand perceived expectation violation. I hope the team working on this has a thick skin, because odds are strong that they are putting a real good faith effort into this, thinking everything through, and are about to release a polished, beautiful, FUN, and complete game – but they are still going to take it hard from half the human race either way.
Why on earth would they change the combat!? That and the boat are the best things about the game. That’s so disappointing. I do not have high hopes for the game. I doubt I’ll buy it. Probably wait until it goes on sale.