10 Differences Between Assassins Creed IV Black Flag Original & Remake

10 Differences Between Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Original & Resynced

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at all the things Ubisoft is changing about the upcoming remake of “Assassin’s Creed Black Flag”.

The Graphics

Obviously, this is the biggest and most noticeable difference, so let’s get it out of the way first: the graphics have been massively improved. Yes, we were all sitting there thinking that surely “Black Flag”, which already got a slight remaster for PS4 and Xbox One, surely has perfect graphics that have aged like wine. But, as usual, those rose-tinted glasses are strong, and there’s no real comparison when you see the side-by-side stills of the original and “Resynced”. It’s even got a new weather system, complemented by huge improvements in the lighting and reflections. “Black Flag” was already a game that was ahead of its time when it released on PS3 in 2013, and now it looks even better.

Skull and Bones

Ubisoft’s most difficult birth in history, “Skull and Bones” wasn’t the hit the company wanted it to be – although, it’s still online in 2026, so it can’t have performed THAT badly. Regardless, rumors swirled that a “Black Flag” remake was incoming and that it was going to asset-flip a lot of the stuff already made for “Skull and Bones”. Well, having seen some clips of “Black Flag Resynced’s” naval gameplay, it’s safe to say that those rumours were likely true. Even the “Jackdaw” now looks more like one of the ships from “Skull and Bones” compared to the original. It’s an interesting ouroboros situation, since “Skull and Bones” was itself meant to be a quick asset flip of the original.

No Multiplayer or DLC

If you want a multiplayer pirate game with the naval combat of “Black Flag”, unfortunately, you’re going to have to get a copy of “Skull and Bones” – or play “Sea of Thieves” or “Windrose” instead, of course. This version of “Black Flag” won’t have any multiplayer, but a bigger disappointment is that it’s not going to have any DLC, either. Yes, that means “Freedom Cry”, “Black Flag’s” standalone adventure following Adéwalé’s attempts to free the slaves in Haiti. Does Ubisoft have plans to remake and re-release “Freedom Cry”, too? We don’t know, but it’s certainly a shame that it won’t be part of this remake since it’s so beloved.

New Content

On the flipside of “Freedom Cry” disappearing, Ubisoft HAS announced the addition of some content. This includes additional missions with characters like Blackbeard, one of the most memorable historical figures to ever appear in the franchise, but also some new characters. There are three new recruitable officers to join Edward on the “Jackdaw”. They also each have some missions before you can recruit them, which we imagine will work like the assassin recruit missions seen most recently in “Shadows”. It must have been daunting to add three new characters to a game where every single character has their own following, but hopefully, the new additions are fun; we’ll find out in July.

Modern Day

One of the most divisive parts of “Black Flag” has always been its modern day sections. With Desmond Miles dead at the end of the previous game, Ubisoft didn’t seem like it knew what to do, so it gave us these first-person office sections where you collect sticky notes while developing “Devils of the Caribbean” for Abstergo. This has, apparently, been overhauled, with much of the modern day being removed. This does make sense since “Resynced” is almost certainly going to bring a new generation of players to the franchise, and the Juno stuff wouldn’t make sense without the first five games. There’s still going to be SOME modern day, supposedly, but we’re not sure exactly what it will look like.

User Interface

Part of the charm of the old “AC” games – and, indeed, in gaming more widely before the mid-2010s – was that they still had interesting UI designs, particularly “Black Flag”. But the series has been pretty homogenized since “Origins”, for better or worse – and probably mostly for worse if we’re being honest. So, it’s a shame to see that “Black Flag Resynced” is taking its UI-cues from “Shadows” rather than just being a recreation of the original’s UI. Yes, it’s a little clunky – although not as clunky as the infamously bad menus in “AC III” – but it had a unique flavour. They’ve even committed the cardinal sin of replacing the minimap with one of those boring compasses.

Crouching

We’ve had it confirmed that social stealth will be remaining unchanged in “Black Flag Resynced”, which will be a huge relief to all the people who’ve been asking for social stealth to make a full return. It did appear partially in “Valhalla”, but it didn’t really work, and there were no factions to hire. But one element of the stealth in “Black Flag” WILL be changed: the crouching. You can now crouch whenever and wherever you want, whereas before, it was context sensitive; Edward would crouch automatically when in tall grass, a mechanic added in “III”. It also looks like a lot of the more complex stealth from “Shadows” might be appearing here, too.

Tailing Missions

Staying on the topic of stealth, “Black Flag” has long remained the most infamous “Assassin’s Creed” game specifically where its tailing missions are concerned. It has more tailing missions than any other entry, and every single time, if Edward is spotted, he’ll either desynchronize or the mission will just end and need to be reset after waiting. Now, though, they’ve changed it so that you WON’T desynchronize if you get spotted. Instead, missions will adjust and you’ll be able to keep going and get the information you need even if you’re spotted during an eavesdrop; it’ll just transform into a combat encounter instead.

Reworked Combat

Speaking of combat, the combat has been overhauled for the remake. This is another thing we’re a little skeptical about, because it’s hard to really come up with any issues in the original game’s combat that needed improvement. It’s going to have visual cues, like orange flashes, to show you when to block and parry, which players are already nitpicking online. Edward’s also going to be able to do chain takedowns after perfect parries, taking out up to four enemies at once. But after the reveal, everybody only wanted to know one thing: where did all the blood go? Developers confirmed that the blood was just toggled off for YouTube, and the game will be just as grisly as you remember.

Parkour

As well as the combat, other ways you move around the world have been tweaked, too. The parkour has been changed to be more of a blend between the newer games and the classic games, which we’re sure a lot of people won’t be happy about because, since “Origins”, the parkour has been seriously dumbed-down. But Ubisoft still made a point that many of the old games’ more advanced platforming moves, like the side and back ejects, are staying. We think this may be one of the most love-it-or-hate-it things about “Resynced”, but Ubisoft has made it clear that they’re not going to pull a Rockstar and remove the original from sale, so you can still play it that way if you prefer.

Let us know in the comments what other “Black Flag Resynced” videos you want us to do.