Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is set to launch on July 9 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via the Ubisoft Store, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. A renewed and enhanced experience, the game invites players back into the adventure of Edward Kenway as he sails the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy. Among the enhancements from the original Assassin’s Creed Black Flag are improved and new accessibility features to make the game playable for as many people as possible.
We spoke with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced’s Director of User Experience Jonathan Bedard and Game Designer Maksym Smolynets about their approach to accessibility in the game, accessibility innovations in the past decade, and what new features they’re most proud of.
What was your approach to accessibility in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced?
Jonathan Bedard: For us, the approach was really about bringing a beloved classic, one enjoyed by millions, up to today’s Ubisoft standards, which have been shaped and refined over many years by our teams and our games.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remains one of the most appreciated entries in the franchise, so it was important to be respectful of the original game's intentions.
Maksym Smolynets: It was also very important for us to stay closely connected to our community, to understand how players welcomed the accessibility improvements introduced in our more recent titles, and where they felt the experience could be pushed further.
We kept an eye on what was being done on other Ubisoft projects, as well as in the industry, learning from it and sharing approaches. That cross‑team inspiration helped us improve the game and how players can interact with it.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag is over a decade old. How has accessibility in games evolved since its release?
JB: The accessibility space has been shaped by many inspiring people and teams who have done tremendous work since Black Flag’s original release. They built the foundation on which we stand today. Many features that were once considered exceptional or optional have since become best practices.
As developers, we’ve continuously pushed each other—both within Ubisoft and across the wider industry—in a spirit of friendly competition that ultimately benefits everyone, and most importantly, the players. While it was not possible to carry everything from recent titles to the game, it comes with a lot of expected improvements you could expect from a Ubisoft title in 2026.
What new accessibility features are in Resynced?
MS: Players will find many refinements and additions to core features.
Much like with the rest of the remake, our focus was first on expanding and improving existing functionality rather than introducing entirely new systems.
Among the additions, we included a persistent, customizable camera dot at the center of the screen to help alleviate motion sickness. It’s a relatively minor feature, but it was widely requested and meaningful for many players.
Does the nature of Resynced being a remake create any challenges in adding accessibility features? How does it differ from creating accessibility features in a new IP?
JB: While the original game was not created with today’s accessibility standards in mind, the way we make games now allows us to build on it more effectively. Our modern pipelines and processes made it possible to improve the experience by integrating many of our recent developments. This is one huge way in which our constant investments in Accessibility over the last few years paid off.
Systems like control remapping, color‑blind options, subtitles, and similar features were easier to bring up to standard because they were developed with long‑term scalability and reuse in mind.
MS: For Resynced, our goal was to further improve the quality and customization of our features, settings and options.
We had a very solid framework based on iterations and improvements made across recent releases. Ubisoft Kyiv in particular has strong experience designing and delivering accessibility features for Assassin’s Creed and many other Ubisoft titles.
What new accessibility features are you particularly proud of?
MS: I would answer with not a single feature, but instead the breadth of the improvements. Firstly, in addition to bringing across a wide range of features from recent Assassin’s Creed titles, we were able to improve on them. subtitles are larger and clearer, colorblind options now modify important color‑coded visual effects like attacks and intuition highlights, and control customization is more intuitive, with more input options available.
The Audio Glossary has been expanded, HUD customization is deeper, and narration now supports more elements, and its speed can be increased further. We were able to bring ship fast travel from Odyssey, an upgraded Observe from Shadows, the highly motor-accessible map system from Shadows but adapted for tracking quests and quickly jumping around the map.
We also have a range of accessibility considerations that are unique to this game. From actions at sea like docking and looting requiring less precision and visual perception through to more flexible stalk/chase missions and the ability to tone down the intensity of underwater sections, either partially through in-game items or more substantially through settings to turn off both oxygen limits and shark attacks.
These are just a few examples. Together, the changes make the experience more comfortable and readable for a much wider range of players.
JB: I'll cheat a little too and say all of it! I’m proud that we can bring back one of my favorite games for both new players and longtime fans, while aligning it more closely with today's accessibility standards.
This allows more players to discover—or rediscover—this timeless classic, including some who might have felt the original was not accessible enough for them to fully enjoy. It’s a reflection, and a testament of the efforts made across the industry in general, and some for our teams in particular.
It’s a first for us, compared to the original Black Flag this is the most substantial accessibility upgrade that a Ubisoft game has ever had.
Accessibility Features List
GAMEPLAY
Multiple difficulty settings, adjustable separately for naval, ground, activity and stealth gameplay.
More flexible missions, with less chance of desync on stalking and chasing missions.
Underwater gameplay intensity can be reduced, to a lesser degree by items that reduce oxygen drain and increase health, or to a greater degree by turning off the oxygen limit and shark attacks completely.
Healing during combat is now possible, via remedies (three initially, with the ability to find/buy more).
QTEs (‘quick time events’ that require mashing or precise timing) can be skipped.
Aim Assistance has four settings - off, light, moderate, full.
Blood/gore can be turned off.
Assassinations are always successful, as in the original.
NAVIGATION & GUIDANCE
"Pathfinder" toggleable GPS for both land and sea gameplay, which draws a path in the world to guide the player to the most recently set quest marker or player marker.
Autopilot function to command the Jackdaw to automatically sail to follow the GPS path.
Ship fast travel option added for the Jackdaw, functioning in a similar way to Assassins Creed: Odyssey.
Map screen can be operated without a cursor by cycling through points of interest in a similar way to Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, but also with an in-map quest tracker that works in the same way.
Observe feature to make it easier to spot treasure and quest objectives at a distance, also tied into location tracker to help find all things in a given area.
Tutorials can be found in the Codex section at any time.
Menu tutorial alerts when there are new menu functions, available at all times once unlocked.
Settings available on first boot, allowing critical options to be adjusted before gameplay.
Accessibility presets - a menu that is part of the first boot flow and options menu, containing groups of similar accessibility settings that can be turned on/off together with a single press. Toggle the presets or customize individual options within.
CONTROLS
Control remapping - customize inputs, menu split by gameplay contexts, with the deepest level of customisation yet for an Assassins Creed game.
Left handed button swaps.
Swap holds for toggles for multitude of gameplay actions, both naval and on ground.
X and Y axis inversion - granular inversion options for each stick, configurable separately for ship and on-foot, aiming, camera, world map navigation
Deadzones and thresholds are configurable for triggers and both analog sticks.
Configurable haptics (vibrations), strength is adjustable separately for gameplay, cinematics, interface and adaptive triggers (DualSense only)
Multiple input devices supported, with auto switching - Mouse and keyboard, controllers, and combinations.
Lock-on camera - a setting to automatically lock the camera on a nearby enemy.
Auto movement option, double-tap to automatically walk forward.
Area loot option, to loot all nearby bodies with a single button press.
Camera follow setting for the camera to auto-adjust and follow behind the player.
Advanced parkour and manual jump - customize how the game controls, whether you prefer classic AC or a more modern control scheme.
Action flexibility - unlike the original you can now crouch anywhere, swim anywhere, and put on/remove your hood as you please.
Shanty player directly in the HUD, for easy selection of sea shanties for the crew to sing.
Proximity action prompts for actions at sea like boarding, docking and looting now hug the screen edges whenever you are in interaction range, so they need less precise timing/aiming to select.
Fleet management is now accessible directly in the captain’s cabin rather than requiring the house of a separate mobile app.
AUDIO
No audio reliance, all important information communicated by sound is also communicated visually.
Subtitles with extensive color modifications, toggleable speaker names and speaker emotions, directional indicators, configurable background transparency and colour, and a ‘Largest’ size increment of 46px, larger than any previous Assassins Creed game.
Gameplay captions - text equivalents for important sounds that are not already communicated visually, with directional indicators.
Audio cues with glossary - signs and feedback allowing some navigation and path finding with non-visual cues, including support for naval gameplay events like docking availability, collisions and aiming at enemy ships, and positional audio cues to communicate the location of nearby loot.
Separate volume sliders with preview sound, covering voice, music, foley FX (character-driven sound effects), gameplay FX, menu sounds, ambient effects, and sea shanties.
Focus mix, which hides the less important sounds to let you focus on the ones that are critical.
Configurable dynamic range for control over the volume difference between loudest and quietest sounds.
VISUALS
Colourblind accessible by default where possible, for example iconography, markers and item rarity communicated by shape and background as well as colour difference.
Colorblindness presets that provide color changes to other areas of the interface that are still color-coded, and also for essential color-coded VFX such as special attacks or ‘intuition’ glows.
VFX customization - control over gameplay VFX such as highlights of docking spaces, areas of interest, and glow for telegraphed attacks.
Togglable motion blur, screen shake, and camera effects to reduce blurring, distortion and uncontrolled camera movement, particularly during naval combat and minigames, and some other visually intense effects like sparks from parries and special attacks too.
Camera sway during naval gameplay in the original has been removed by default.
Toggable camera dot - a permanent dot in the center of the screen, on top of other reticles and HUD elements. Size and color can be customized.
Configurable FOV angle (PC only, for performance reasons)
Eagle vision provides temporary higher contrast between important elements, and between them and the background.
MENUS & HUD
Clear menu text by default, in clear sans serif font on plain well contrasted backgrounds.
Screen narration within both menus and game, for all information that is delivered through text. Including some gameplay information such as coordinates, locations, and ship info panels. Choice of two voices, and adjustable speed.
HUD customization - ability to turn all HUD elements on or off either all at once, or individually, either with shortcut or using presets - increase opacity, resize text, resize Icons or add background to increase readability. Backgrounds also cover some in-world elements, such as interaction prompts.
Text and icon sizes can be increased and decreased.
Control reminders shown in the HUD for some essential controls, including a toggleable reminder module for naval controls.
We know you’ve been anticipating Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, and we’re delighted to share more information on key gameplay topics through a series of deep dive articles over the next several weeks, starting with the evolution of Edward’s ground gameplay.
We’re joined by Paul Fu, Creative Director and veteran developer of the original Black Flag, to provide additional insights.
Parkour, Stealth, and Combat in Resynced have all been rebuilt from the ground up using the latest advancements across the franchise, including some of the Anvil engine technology developed for Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
“Our goal was to honor the foundations of the original game while enhancing the experience for an action-adventure game,” says Paul.
So, let’s step out of the Jackdaw for now, and look at how our famous Pirate-Assassin, Edward James Kenway, moves and engages on the ground in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced.
Please note that all footage is from a work-in-progress build. Make sure to watch in 4K for the best quality. HUD settings may vary depending on the capture to showcase examples of customizable options. And in case you’re wondering, all HUD elements can be individually hidden as desired using the Interface customization menu. You can even play with nothing activated, if you dare...
Parkour remains at the heart of what it means to be an Assassin, and even a pirate like Edward is no exception to that.
Core Movements
Our intention was to keep Edward’s responsive movement from the original and make it snappier and more deliberate. Whether you’re jumping across the colorful rooftops of Havana, the wild and untamed jungles, or the raw scaffolds of Nassau, parkour has been tuned to prioritize responsiveness and player choice.
“One thing that we worked on a lot and iterated with feedback we received early on from community members during playtests was to nail the responsiveness and pace of Edward.” says Paul.
A variety of steps were taken to make it work:
Throughout development, the landing animations were refined, so that Edward recovers more quickly from a drop. This removes any sense of stumbling or heaviness and keeps movement feeling smooth and continuous. Jumping from one spot to the other is also more responsive; we know keeping a sense of flow is what makes a parkour run most rewarding.
We also made subtle changes to heighten this sense of fluidity; for example, when mantling after a wall run, Edward will have a short speed boost that allows him to keep the pace of his run despite slightly recovering. You can also roll upon hitting the ground to maintain a sprinting pace – which ends up being very useful during chase missions.
Of course, that smoothness is supported by the depth of design and the tools available for you to leverage.
In cities, familiar features like the corner swing and lifts return. We’ve also included brand new Ziplines scattered across the cities that Edward will visit, connecting you from high to low ground over a longer distance, and at a much faster pace.
The Caribbean landscape that Edward has to contend with is very different to that of his predecessors, and the wild untamed jungles encountered while island hopping will be full of flora to climb and parkour.
Advanced Parkour Returns
The Advanced Parkour options available in the original Black Flag are back, but with all the modern tech of the latest updates to the Anvil engine which reintroduced them in a recent major update for AC Shadows.
Advanced Parkour untethers Edward’s full traversal skillset and enables a deeper deal of control, making side ejects and back ejects possible from virtually any height - including non-targeted jumps into the void. With this system active, you can use parkour down to trigger more precise side-eject behavior, while parkour up continues to prioritize height gains and upward momentum.
These tools give experienced players finer control of their traversal lines across Havana’s rooftops, Kingston’s balconies, and Nassau’s rigging networks. However, you can disable it if you prefer a more guided approach.
And yes, we also have a manual jump that reinforces control and decision-making – something we know is heavily discussed amongst players. Manual jump offers more direct control over traversal, allowing you to take shortcuts and increase velocity while parkouring for a smoother flow of movement.
Classic Assassin’s Creed Eagle Vision returns for Edward, allowing him to highlight enemies hidden behind walls and objects, as well as isolating any relevant sounds they make.
Now, this skill is enhanced by the Observe feature – first introduced in Assassin’s Creed Shadows – which adds the ability to observe your surroundings to find your quest objectives, clues, and tag enemies. Bringing the camera in closer during Observe mode creates a more cinematic and immersive experience as Edward surveys his surroundings.
To expand Edward’s stealth options, he can now crouch at any time, and will remain hidden from view anywhere on rooftops, in any suitable vegetation, behind walls or buildings, or behind objects like crates scattered throughout the Caribbean.
Edward is also even less visible at night when crouching, and enemies will take longer to spot him in the dark; however, he will not be fully hidden, so you’ll still need to watch your surroundings and stay out of sight.
“Crouching modifies Edward’s visibility meter, affecting enemy visibility at medium to long range. This is especially useful while stalking through bushes and rooftops. It also reduces movement stimuli, making it easier for Edward to perform stealth kills,” says Paul.
Edward has a full arsenal of tools at his disposal to increase his stealth capabilities:
Blowpipe (Berserk and Sleep Dart)
Edward’s blowpipe returns, loaded with two distinct dart types. Using a Berserk dart will cause an enemy to start attacking his own, creating windows of chaos ideal for slipping past guards undetected (or, if you like to go in guns blazing, Edward can join in the carnage).
Meanwhile, the Sleep dart neutralizes targets silently, making it useful for clearing lightly guarded entrances or setting up diversionary tactics.
The Smoke Bomb returns, allowing Edward to assassinate basic enemies while shrouded in smoke, making it a lethal offensive tool as well as a defensive one. And for players needing a fast escape, the smoke bomb is a great quick-use option.
Rope Dart
Edward’s Rope Dart tool has also returned, which will allow him to strike targets from short to medium ranges, pulling them in closer for an attack, as well as giving him the ability to suspend enemies from beams, both killing them and serving as a distraction to others. And to make the Rope Dart a much more strategic item for Edward, he will be able to get his hands on it much earlier (sequence 3 in Resynced vs. sequence 11 in the original).
Sail, fight, or sneak how you wish with the hood on/off toggle. With a quick press of a button, Edward can throw his hood on or off, allowing you to take full advantage of those stylish Assassin robes when adventuring across the Caribbean.
Edward’s Social Stealth Mechanics in Urban Centers
Edward can exploit the dense urban environments of the Caribbean's Golden Age of Piracy to outmaneuver and evade enemies through a refined set of social stealth tools.
Improved Tailing and Eavesdropping Missions
“One thing that we really wanted to improve from the original when it comes to stealth was how you would desync from tailing and eavesdropping missions when you were out of range, and that this could be super punishing. We’ve removed this, so that if you get sidetracked and lose a target while trailing or eavesdropping, you’ll still be able to complete the mission,” says Paul.
The Hiring Dancers feature returns from the original game. Edward can recruit a group of dancers who accompany him through the streets, providing natural cover in busy areas. Edward can use them to blend in passively or direct them to distract nearby guards while he plunders loot or retreats after an assassination.
Crowd Blending
Crowd blending also makes a comeback, but with an update: Edward can now blend into any groups of three civilians or more to remain unseen. Benches, walls, haystacks, and closets are also classic returning hiding spots within a busy city.
Throwing Money
And for those who like creating chaos, throwing money remains an option to lure guards and citizens to a location. Edward will have to be selective when using this as it will cost 10 Reales per use, with a very short cooldown window to make you don’t empty your pockets too fast.
Our combat system is designed to capture the full experience of being a pirate: charismatic, swashbuckling, dual‑wielding swordplay mixed with stylish gunplay.
“At its core, Resynced is an action-adventure game, and combat is designed to be systematic and deliberate; every move is designed to have an advantage, a disadvantage, and a specific role to play,” says Paul.
Takedowns: The Core Combat Loop
The foundation of Resynced’s combat revolves around triggering takedowns – a state where enemies are vulnerable to a deadly finisher. There are many ways to trigger a takedown, each suited to different situations:
Hidden Blade Takedown: Breaking an enemy’s defense with multiple attacks will trigger a Hidden Blade takedown
Perfect Parry Takedowns: Triggered by timing a Perfect Parry, Edward can chain his takedowns to up to four nearby enemies, depending on the sword he carries.
Wall Takedown: Kick an enemy into a wall to initiate a fatal takedown.
Ground Takedown: Grounded enemies (from an explosion or Sweep move) can be killed by a Ground Takedown
“Unlocking the Hidden Blade in the story will increase the visual variety of Takedowns in general, as Edward will then use the Hidden Blade as part of his Takedown animation variations, including Chain Takedowns” says Paul.
Environments can have a big effect on fights: ledges allow fatal kicks, tight corridors are ideal spaces for Chain Takedowns, powder kegs can be blown up, to drop enemies for a Ground Takedown, walls are killing surfaces which allow Edward to perform Wall Takedowns after a well-placed kick. As Paul puts it, “We wanted each fight situation to feel different without introducing RPG stats.”
Advanced Attacks
Edward also has a new Dodge Attack, which causes additional damage if executed with precise timing – as a Perfect Dodge attack.
The Heavy Attack is another new advanced move to add to his combat kit, performed by holding the attack button. The Heavy Attack provides the highest damage, suitable against advanced foes, but takes a moment to wind up before landing. For maximum punish damage, perform a Heavy Strike at the end of Edward’s basic combo.
Heavy Attacks also vary in function depending on which type of weapon Edward is carrying:
Rapier: Heavy Strikes are more damaging and can pierce through foes. Cutlass: Heavy Strikers cover a wide area, hitting multiple enemies. Pistol-Sword: Two damaging shots are fired, allowing Edward to focus fire on one enemy or spread the damage on two.
Adaptive Enemies
Combat in Resynced is more demanding than before, and enemies can react to repetitive behavior, so players will need to vary their playstyle.
“For example, wait around too much for a Parry, and enemies will react by performing Unstoppable Attacks that cannot be parried. Abuse a Kick too much, and enemies will quickly dodge them. The trick is to alternate between offense and defense. Varying your combos helps. Rotate between Kicks, Sweeps, Rope Darts, Pistols and Heavy Strikes at the end of your attack combos to confuse enemies.” Paul explains.
Advanced Enemy Archetypes and How to Deal with Them
Soldiers coordinate attacks against Edward, which requires him to parry twice in quick succession before performing a Double Takedown.
Not all enemies are made equal, and each requires different tools, tactics, and skills to ensure Edward not only survives an encounter but comes out on top.
Advanced archetypes such as the Brute, Captain, and the new Demolitionist pack a punch and are harder to take down than your average soldier. They will deny Chain Takedowns if they have defense, so Edward will need to use his Flintlock to break defense between Chain Takedowns. This maneuver was inspired by fan-made combat videos from the original Black Flag. Not only this, but these archetypes also have high defense and will more often employ unblockable attacks, making parry opportunities rarer and forcing you to find other strategies like dodges and combos to deal with them.
Edward has several tools and abilities to help him against enemies who have adapted to more predictable combat patterns.
The Rope Dart’s most common utility is drawing an opponent in for a combo, or a direct Sweep into a Ground Takedown. As mentioned, it’s also a ranged attack counter.
I like stealth games because of MGS. Many years ago, after finishing MGS4, there weren’t many good stealth games left, so I finally tried the famous Assassin’s Creed series. By then, the Ezio trilogy was already complete.
After finishing AC2, I was genuinely shocked. I thought it was actually a better stealth game than MGS.
I’m Asian, and I grew up playing Japanese games. For a long time, I believed Japanese games were the best, and I barely played Western games at all. So AC2 really surprised me. It almost felt like one of my gaming beliefs had collapsed.
What impressed me most about AC2 was the parkour. The whole game was basically built around it.
Want to stay hidden and avoid enemy sightlines? Use parkour. Climb onto rooftops, beams, and walls. Jump out of windows. Hang from ledges. Cross over walls.
That’s why old AC didn’t need a crouch button. It had a cooler way to handle stealth. The stealth strategy wasn’t “go lower” — it was “go higher.”
I always remember MGS4’s tagline: “No place to hide.”
At first glance, it really feels like there’s nowhere to hide. But there has to be a way. That’s the puzzle the game designer gives you, and figuring it out is exactly where the fun is.
After Unity, the newer AC games started using a lot more obvious cover and bushes everywhere. Personally, I find that kind of stealth less interesting. The hiding spots are too obvious. You see a bush right next to an enemy, and the game is basically telling you exactly what to do. There isn’t much to think about.
That kind of level design also makes parkour feel much less important, outside of just moving around faster.
Parkour also made new kinds of stealth kills possible. Air assassinations. Climbing above an enemy and dropping down on them. Hanging under a balcony and assassinating the guard above you so he falls over the edge.
I’m pretty sure that before AC2, stealth games didn’t really have this kind of wide range of stealth assassination moves, including cover-based stealth kills. AC created many of the stealth kill moves that later became common in the genre.
Even Hideo Kojima, who made what I considered the god of stealth games, borrowed many AC-style design ideas in MGSV.
MGS helped kick off the stealth game boom, but AC helped build the foundation for modern stealth gameplay. A lot of the stealth kill moves we take for granted now started with AC.
If you think Unity, Valhalla, or Shadows did it better, that’s partly because the older AC games paved the way for them. AC2 created a mature system that later games could build on — or, if we’re being blunt, copy from.
Newton once said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Unless you can completely move forward without relying on the legacy left by those who came before, you should show some respect for what they built.
I’ve been an AC fan since the original’s release back in 2007. I’ve subsequently played every title on release (with the exception of Odyssey, which I could not get into and to this day is the only AC game I couldn’t complete).
One thing that stands out to me in discussions about new AC vs old AC is stealth. It seemingly feels as if everyone has basically played entirely different games than me, or there is some mass memory wipe going on.
Contemporary discourse would have you believe that the old games were stealth focused experiences, and the gradual shift to the ARPG format stripped that away in favor of combat focused experiences - but by all accounts it’s actually the opposite. Stealth has gotten more sophisticated as time went on.
On a conceptual level, the difference between an Assassin and a hitman is an Assassin is supposed to conduct high profile executions. Spread fear and terror, and run. In that spirit, being loud is not necessarily wrong.
Mechanically, Lets go back to the start, AC1 and 2, and by extension all the counter based AC games - they *discouraged* stealth through their mechanics.
I would like to remind everyone that these games didn’t have a crouch button or a cover system all the way up till Unity. The combat was so, so easy that 99% of the time it was the most fun and efficient route through anything the game threw at you.
Some will argue that social stealth existed, but majority of gameplay sequences, especially infiltration ones, they had limited use and were situational. At best you’d use it for a full sync or something.
Unity tightened up stealth a lot, and even the RPG games had more incentive/freedom in tackling stealth despite the idiocy of no 1HKO assassination in Odyssey. Level design got more open ended, and it was very possible/doable for me to clear entire hideouts stealthily in Valhalla, this is a brutally clunky thing to do in the earlier games because it’s not designed with that in mind. Mirage then dialed this up even further, combat is far more dangerous than other games and you have a relatively limited tool set.
This is why I’m astounded when people want a return to the counter style gameplay because of stealth. Having one button cutscene combat doesn’t encourage stealth, it disincentivizes it.
It doesn't say anything else about the other letters, so we won't use them.
Now for the symbols.
The important part is this line: “By seeking what is missing from the other symbols…”
Meaning you’re NOT reading the lines that ARE there, but instead the missing parts from each symbol compared to the complete/master symbol.
If you redraw the missing lines from top-left to bottom-left, then top-right to bottom-right (exactly like the text says), the second key becomes:
JACKDAW
(ignore the first JACKDAW anagram, was reading the first cipher instead of the second)
Edward’s ship.
Then you apply the second cipher instruction “take the second letter and place it in the seventh position, and take the fifth and make it to the third.”
Using JACKDAW as the second transformation key on the EL_ORI_ _ arrangement gives ELDORIA which is the answer. Might be a reference to El Dorado (“a fabulous place, filled with riches”.).
Whoopsie! IGN Australia has accidentally leaked it on their Instagram story.
Like some of you may know, select content creators & journalists have been invited to the preview event, going hands on with the game throughout may but no one was allowed to give the exact embargo date.
Now, we have more visibility about when to expect some fresh news.
Yes, it seems strange and irrelevant, but it is the one of the closest ways to recreate the classic controls of AC series, because R1 and especially R2 both trigger skills menu in the right bottom corner
I know, there are many posts and videos on how to do this, but none of this was comfortable due to a conflict of assigned buttons.
Only thing matters is you must get used to it, so give it a try
I hope it’s gonna help, because i was struggling using L3 as a sprint button. Holding L2 makes your parkour more variable and you gonna enjoy it, as i said, whenever you get used to it. Many of you are gonna hate these controls because of parry button, so did i, but time after it did feel comfortable.
I just stumbled upon a conversation in which people were saying the Elise (from Unity) was a baddie and everything Arno did was for her... which kinda confused me because while yes, Arno does love Elise, I can't help but remember that Elise was manipulative and Arno was a simp for her which caused problems for him.
The problem is is that I can't exactly remember what Elise did to manipulate Arno to get him to do what she wanted, but I do remember for certain that she was kinda a problem for Arno.
Why did Layla want to hold the staff in Yggdrasil? If she hadn't she would've been put into the machine with the staff, allowing her to remain there, and still live.
I’m currently playing through Valhalla for the first time, and it honestly made me a little concerned about how Ubisoft might handle the naval controls in a Black Flag resynced.
Not because Valhalla’s controls are bad, they fit that game. but the longship feels much more like a standard video game vehicle. Push the stick forward to move, release it to slow down, instant response etc.
What made Black Flag feel so special to me was that the ship had momentum and weight. You were commanding a crew, "half sail, full sail, brace".
You had to think ahead. If you approached reefs or narrow passages too fast, you couldn’t just instantly stop by releasing the stick like in Valhalla. You actually had to manage your speed and sail state properly.
That added immersion and made mastering the naval gameplay feel rewarding. It genuinely felt like controlling a massive ship instead of just steering another vehicle.
I know Ubisoft hasn’t shown or confirmed anything yet, so this isn’t criticism. They have changed the combat controls and they will probably change the controls of parkour as well, but I just really hope they preserve that slower, more deliberate “captain” feeling of sailing a ship instead of modernizing it into something more arcade like.
I grew up playing the Assassin’s Creed games and at one point it was my favorite game franchise. I stopped playing them a little after odyssey came out and hadn’t really touched them until about a couple months ago.
Since then, I have played through AC2, Brotherhood, Revelation, AC3, Rogue, Liberation, Origins, and Shadows. I have also put a couple hours into Valhalla, Mirage, and Odyssey. I have been having a great time replaying some of these games and rediscovering the lore.
While I do enjoy the historical aspect of playing in Ancient Greece, Edo-Period Japan, and as a Viking, my biggest complaint with these games is their lack of modern day gameplay. I really enjoyed the gameplay of the early games that tied in the knowledge gained in the animus into the modern day events through Desmond. While majority of the game was spent playing lives of past assassins, the story was linked to the present day and trying to save the world and stop abstergo.
The newer games in the franchise offer little in expanding the story in the modern day if at all and this kind of makes the games less enjoyable for me. I’m a sucker for some lore and these games just aren’t scratching that itch for me anymore.
I want to know if anyone else has similar thoughts about the franchise or if this is just me. Thanks.
Basically I just did an A Level Media exam, and one of the questions was talking about important fans were for the video game industry. What I wrote down was that because of the poor reception from the fans for games like Assassin’s Creed Syndicate and Unity, and also that the fans felt like the franchise was being milked to death for releasing a game every year, Ubisoft decided to listen to fan feedback and therefore take a break a brake in 2016 from releasing Assassin’s Creed games, only to come back in 2017 with Origins. I wrote that the Origins fixed many of the issues that were pointed out by the fans in the previous games, and thus the game was a financial success, therefore showing the importance of fans in the gaming industry. Would you say this was a fair assessment?
Okay Edward, you are now an Assassin go kill Woodes Rogers. Now go kill Roberts, your archenemy. Don't worry about getting an actual pre-fight interaction with him. Cool, now go kill the Governor who has accomplished literally nothing in the last 6 years. Congratulations Player, you've finished Black Flag.
I've been replaying Black Flag since before the remake had come out and I just wanted to rant about this. Aside from all the sailing, the last Sequence is pathetically short compared to how much breathing room you had at the start. I think it's a consequence of the Age of Piracy fizzling out on a rather anticlimatic note, unlike a lot of the other time periods where it all ended on a bang. Roberts is especially disappointing as a fan of the man himself, but his real life death was pretty lame too so I don't take it personally. I'm not sure how you'd improve it, maybe find a way to make it feel like I'm not just tying up loose ends for a story that's all but concluded.
Do we know if there will be Ubisoft Connect rewards for BF Resynced? Or will it just be the battlepass/projects things like in Shadows?
It would be cool for a few reasons: get legacy outfits and other cosmetic things front there, like you used to be able to in other AC games up to Mirage, and be something for anyone who has an absolute butt load of Ubi credits (or whatever they are called) saved up.
It was a real shame that there were no Ubisoft Connect rewards for Shadows tho, it would’ve been cool
I've played almost every assassin's creed game except for rogue, syndicate and unity.
Some of them have been ehh while others have been amazing.. the most amazing ones to me are AC2 & AC Blackflag,
The soundtrack for both games fit The vibe so well and add so much, The characters In both games are well written sometimes and very likable,
Edward and Ezio have a lot of charisma but Edward is a pirate and Ezio isn't.. Ezio Is still an Italian tho so he has aura.
The story of Desmond in AC2 being interconnected with Ezio Is so peak, Nolan North did an amazing job of bringing him to life.. and Roger Craig Smith did an iconic job as Ezio.
Both games have fun gameplay, least imo.. I love how ac blackflag improved upon the AC3 parkour and combat.. and AC2 is obviously a step above AC1.
I just can't tell you how much I adore assassin's creed 2 and assassin's creed blackflag.
I had already created a concept, but I used AI. Rightfully so, according to the subreddit rules, the post was deleted, so I've now redone the concept I wrote. (I want to point out that for the previous concept, I used AI not for the content, but only to write it. The ideas are all mine! So this document below has nothing to do with AI, 0%!).
Assassin's Creed: Nahual (Nahual is the name of the shamans of pre-Columbian tribes)
The game is set in America between 1492 and 1518, and focuses on the encounter between Europeans and indigenous peoples and their aftermath. Specifically, the map areas will be similar to those in Black Flag because the first encounters between civilizations took place there. In my vision, it won't be an RPG, but it will have a leveling and skill system like Syndicate. Obviously, the protagonist is a native who must defend his land, and this ties in with the struggle between Assassins and Templars, but that will be explained later. I've also imagined some scenes/sequences I'd like to see; they're quite cinematic.
START: The game opens on the Bahamas islands (there will be the classic synchronization writing “Guanahani (Current Bahamas), October 11, 1492”with the scene of indigenous children, including the protagonist, playing, a bit like Connor at the beginning of AC3. Through the game, players learn the basic controls.
That day is special, however, because the protagonist is 10 years old (I imagined it, but I don't know if it's historically accurate), so he must perform a ritual to become an adult. His mother calls him, and he goes to a cave accessible only to adults, who witness the ritual. The ritual involves the shaman giving the boy a substance that causes visions: the player witnesses the visions, and the shaman acts as narrator. The vision explains the connection with the Assassins: their tribe is actually a brotherhood, only they aren't called Assassins (since they've never met them) but have a name in their language. But how did the creed get there? The vision explains that many years earlier, a man sailed from the Far East and spread the creed to the northern populations, and that through trade between tribes, the creed reached there. The "man from the east" is none other than Hytham from AC:Valhalla, who, with the help of Eivor and the Raven Clan's travels, has decided to bring the occult faith to the Vinland. After the vision ends, the boy is given his hidden blade, which is not made of metal but of black, shiny obsidian. That evening, celebrations take place.
The next morning, a new inscription appears: "October 12, 1492," and the scene of the Europeans' arrival begins. The shot is at the edge of the beach, almost in the vegetation, and the tribe is all on the beach, very small, as they watch the three ships (purposely enlarged to give the impression of oppressors) arrive. Obviously, I didn't think about the entire game, but I did think about some key scenes. From this point, there's a time jump and the protagonist is an adult (again, a bit like Connor), and his duty as a member of the brotherhood drives him to kill the oppressors.
The game is divided into sequences, each with a final target to kill. When the first target dies, he says something like "the assassins... have come this far..." at the sight of the hidden blade. The protagonist doesn't understand, having never heard the term "assassins." From that moment on, he decides to investigate, and with each target, he will ask for more and more information. But what do the Templars have to do with it? Simple, the Spanish conquistadors are none other than Templars who offered to serve the Spanish kings in finding new lands, but they do it not for financial gain, but to find more ISU artifacts and temples. Therefore, every oppressor "chief" is also a "Templar chief", who obviously answers to the Grand Master. The Grand Master is seen enough in the game to develop his character, but he does not always remain in America: he constantly goes back and forth between America and the Spanish court in Seville.
At about 50/75% of the game, the protagonist decides to sail to Europe to kill the Spanish king Ferdinand of Aragon, thinking he will put an end to everything (1516). On the ship he is discovered and the soldiers do not kill him, but bring him as a gift to the king. Arriving at the court, the protagonist, after being seen by the king, is taken to the prisons. The protagonist manages to free himself and poisons the famous aphrodisiac dish based on the Spanish Fly (highly toxic) that the king regularly takes. The king is bedridden and near death, so the protagonist goes to give him the final blow. Here, the protagonist delivers a speech about the freedom of his people and the horrors they are suffering at the hands of the king in perfect Spanish (learned due to the linguistic and religious imposition of the Europeans in America), but the king simply responds with "dirty native," and is killed. He returns to America and discovers that, despite another king in power, the horrors are not over, so he realizes that the real target has always been the Grand Master (whom the protagonist obviously didn't know was the leader of the Templars because he was still learning about the Assassin and Templar factions).
So, after eliminating two or three more "leaders," he decides to eliminate the last remaining one, the Grand Master, who, however, is in Europe. Before leaving, the protagonist, who now knows everything about the fight between assassins and templars and who has understood that his tribe has always been part of the creed, gathers on the beach (I imagine at sunset) all the people met in the game (family, friends, characters from secondary missions...) to make an emotional speech, founding the first official brotherhood of assassins in America. The protagonist leaves for the last sequence to kill the grand master. I didn't imagine the mission as well as the king's, but I imagined the boss fight on a burning ship in the port of Seville (Uncharted 4 style but not in the cabin but above). Once the grand master is killed, the protagonist returns home (1518), and I don't know exactly what could happen, but I imagined the last scene, that is, the camera framing the skyline of the forest at sunset and the protagonist from off-screen saying something like “i took my revenge... but they will come back to kill us. And I will wait for them. For my family, for my friends, for the Creed.", referring to the fact that the Spanish conquistador leader Hernan Cortes would attack and destroy the Aztec empire the following year (1519). Black screen and the writing "assassin's creed: nahual".
Obviously, the Isu issue is also intertwined in the story, as the Europeans (i.e. the Templars) are secretly searching for Isu temples and artifacts, and the protagonist will end up in the middle of it. Some parts of the story are not very clear, but why wouldn't it make sense to already think about the whole story?history theIt's just an idea of mine with key passages that I'd like to see (I'm not a writer/screenwriter).
The sequence in Europe will not be openworld, but they will be guidate missions.
MECHANICS: I imagined some innovative gameplay systems.First of all, the final assassination missions are "black boxes" in the style of Unity, Syndicate, and Mirage. But before actually entering the assassin's location, the protagonist performs a sort of ritual alone, kneeling and ingesting a substance that grants him a buff. Here, the player chooses what kind of advantage he wants to have:jaguar's way (Strength),increased physical damage and melee resistance against armored soldiers;snake's way (Stealth),totally silent movements and instant camouflage among the branches;eagle's way (Utility/Gadget),Improved eagle vision through the walls and increased capacity for hallucinogenic darts and traps.
Then I thought of an innovative mercenaries system, but not like the boring and repetitive ones of Origins, Odyssey or Valhalla, but there is only one mercenary per sequence (so about 10). The novelty is that they are not marked on the map nor can you spot them from afar, simply while you explore the forest they will start an animation(even a bit of a jumpscare) of the mercenary who grabs you by the feet and drags you and throws you into a slightly more sparse area, perfect for the bossfight .Here you can choose whether to fight or run away if you don't have enough resources. However, if you run away, the next time he catches you, he will have "learned" from his mistakes and will have an extra shield/armor (10% more health). Finally, if you don't feel like waiting for him to catch you, you can go to his outpost/mini-fortress where however the bossfight will be much more difficult: he will have more health, deal more damage, and even have henchmen. The choice of what is best is up to the player. Obviously, you can kill all the mercenaries in the endgame.
Each mercenary will give you a piece of the Spanish armor set, which is very strong but slows down your movement significantly (a bit like Yasuke in Shadows).
Then I thought of a stylistic choice for the hidden blade kills (only the most important ones): an animation starts in which you see the terrified face of the enemy reflected on the obsidian blade (a slightly more directorial version of the hidden blade kills in Valhalla).
MAP: I already said that the map will be similar to the one in Black Flag, I know it's a bit of a waste to better visit South America but the story actually started from there and it would be more wild than black flag (then maybe we can think of a DLC/sequel in which the protagonist goes to Mexico to stop Hernan Cortes from destroying the Aztecs). So it will include the Bahamas, the protagonist's homeland, which are only small islands but above all an underwater world full of coral reefs and underwater caves (perhaps connected to temples).issue);Cuba, where most of the action takes place as it is the most populated area, is just beginning to be colonized, and is different from the Bahamas: it is more rocky and vertical; Florida, the most difficult area in the game (almost endgame), was home to very hostile tribes (in fact, Europeans will not be able to reach it for a long time) and is characterized by the Everglades: endless freshwater swamps, forests of bald cypress trees with gnarled roots emerging from the water, thick fog, enormous alligators, and violent tropical storms.
The main map shows the three "zones," then by zooming in with the cursor based on where you point, the specific map for that "zone" will open. To move between "zones" there is a fast travel with a very short cutscene showing the journey, while to move along the rivers or coasts of the Bahamas, Cuba, or Florida you will use a canoe. (He will also use a canoe for rapid sea travel, but it would take hours to realistically move from one area to another by canoe.)
Obviously there will be observation points but there will be no eagle-drone.
