In a recent YouTube upload, a user has seemingly recovered scrapped Black Flag Resynced content that would have addressed major questions about the wider Assassin’s Creed universe. In a short post-credits sequence lasting little more than a minute, we see Edward Kenway returning to the United Kingdom several years after the events of Black Flag.
What happens there is actually extremely important for anyone who has paid close attention to the wider Assassin’s Creed universe over the years. But, for whatever reason, the sequence never made it into the final product that was released in July.
In a way, this cut content could have opened the door to a major expansion – or even another game entirely.
Cut Black Flag Resynced Content Joins Dots
The one-minute-and-change video uploaded to YouTube by Sliderv2 revealed a shelved post-credits sequence for Black Flag Resynced. It’s very rough around the edges and was obviously canned extremely early in development, but it would have served as a masterful link between several games.
It seems to take place in a tavern in London, which is what Sliderv2 alluded to after recompiling the cut content from the game’s files.
Apparently, the scene unfolds five years after the events of Black Flag, long after Edward Kenway, our protagonist, has turned his back on piracy to pursue the good-natured endeavours of the Assassin Brotherhood. The game we know and love wrapped up, and after that, Kenway returned to England with his daughter, having suffered immeasurable heartache and loss across the board.
This is where we lose touch with Kenway, but the standalone expansion, Freedom Cry, continued the story somewhat, offering us a snapshot of Adéwalé’s life after the 2013 game. Adéwalé’s story wraps up with a happy-ish ending, but we lose track of him too, rediscovering him in 2014’s Assassin’s Creed: Rogue, when he meets his end against Shay, the Assassin-turned-Templar.
But the cut content pulled from Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced tells us what might have happened in the interim between all these games to start making things make more sense.
Here’s the clip:
First, we learn that Adéwalé would have been the only person to answer Edward Kenway’s call for aid in the United Kingdom, resurfacing after five years to join his former captain and brother-in-arms.
Second, we learn that King George I has died, confirming the timeline to be around 1727, and the Brotherhood discovers a need to muster to protect the ‘Isles’.
Third, we meet Miko, who jointly runs the British Brotherhood. He had a minuscule part in the wider universe, serving as the character who Haytham Kenway assassinates in the opening minutes of 2012’s Assassin’s Creed III. Miko is understandably younger here, but previously, he went entirely unmentioned in Black Flag.
Outside of the games, we learn much more about Miko via the series of Assassin’s Creed books.
But what does this tell us?
It tells us what happened with Adéwalé after Freedom Cry but before Rogue, and offers more information as to how they tie together (which also impacts Unity somewhat).
It also tells us what Kenway was doing when he returned to England, and could have almost set the stage for more content or another game entirely. Imagine playing as Edward Kenway in the prime of his assassin-based life in London and the surrounding area, as he goes on to raise his son, Haytham, and his daughter, Jennifer.
This expansion also offers more of an origin story for Miko, who might have had mere seconds of screen time, but in secret, had a much deeper bearing on the evolution of the story. Haytham Kenway, the Templar, obtained his hidden blades from Miko during a fight, and he later assassinated him with them; eventually, they would be taken by Connor in Assassin’s Creed III.
Ultimately, this cut content could have opened the door to something absolutely enormous, but it’ll never officially see the light of day, probably.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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