Black Flag : Remake? Remaster? Resynced. With only two trophies remaining, I’m around 95% completion, which is why I waited before posting this review. Consider this a first draft. If I think of anything else, I’ll edit and add it later. I had to cut it down quite a bit due to the character limit, leaving out some accessibility features and some good parts already in the main game. I played with every motion blur option disabled, film grain turned off, camera shake disabled, high quality texture filtering, 12-bit 4:4:4 color output, and on a 77-inch LG G6 OLED with an RTX 5090.I mention this because the 35–40 MB JXR screenshots I couldn't upload to Steam due to the file size limit look absolutely incredible. While the animation quality isn't exactly industry leading, the texture work, Extended Ray Tracing lighting, and especially the water rendering create some of the most impressive scenery I've ever seen in a game. Wet sand reflecting the sunlight often looks almost photorealistic. I also tested the game's native HDR and RenoDX, but RTX HDR (Windows Auto HDR disabled) is what really unlocked the game's full visual potential on my display. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3765730093 Laziness and classic Ubisoft design choices. The first issue is that sailing still feels unnecessarily slow. Fast travel is oddly restrictive as well. To reach certain destinations, you often have to fast travel to a port first and then fast travel back onto your ship. Repeating this process over and over feels like unnecessary time wasting. I also encountered several technical issues. During one outpost mission, the enemy AI completely bugged out while I was assassinating the commander, forcing me to restart the game. There's also a bug where opening the map immediately after synchronizing a viewpoint can cause the map to become stuck. The new characters and additional cutscenes introduced in the remake unfortunately didn't leave much of an impression on me. Characters like Padre are welcome additions, but the direction of these scenes feels lifeless. Every character waits for their turn to speak, making conversations feel more like a stage play than a natural discussion. Unlike games such as Expedition 33, there are no overlapping conversations, interruptions, or natural shifts in tone. It still feels like Ubisoft's traditional cinematic direction. Parkour also didn't evolve as much as I hoped. I expected smoother animation transitions from Ubisoft. Edward loses momentum too easily, takes too long to regain speed, and climbing still suffers from noticeable pauses between animations. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3769148144 The new combat system is serviceable at best. My biggest complaint is the camera. During Double Assassinations and finisher animations, it constantly locks itself into cinematic angles that completely interrupt the flow of combat. You'll often lose your sense of direction while trying to move to the next enemy. The funny part is that modders fixed this almost immediately. It's surprising that Ubisoft overlooked such a basic gameplay issue. The underwater shark encounters also feel like a missed opportunity. Instead of endlessly avoiding sharks while waiting for the right moment to dodge, it would've been far more interesting if we could actually fight them, wound them, or escape using different mechanics. The current stealth system doesn't always work properly and often becomes more frustrating than exciting. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3762638292 Another small but long requested feature is still missing. There's still no option to hide Edward's blowpipe. My biggest disappointment isn't any individual mechanic. It's the overall scope of this remake. I completely understand why the original 2013 game focused entirely on the Jackdaw. The goal was clearly to make players bond with their ship and almost treat it like another main character, while also making enemy warships feel larger and more intimidating. That design philosophy made perfect sense back then. But this is a ''remake'' In a game so heavily centered around naval gameplay, I expected at least ten additional playable ship types alongside the Jackdaw. Small, medium, and large ships with unique strengths and weaknesses could have added tremendous replay value and encouraged different playstyles. Travel mode also feels almost unchanged. Instead of simply watching the screen during long voyages, players could have manually rowed the ship for extra speed or used more engaging travel mechanics that rewarded interaction during long distances. The progression system is another missed opportunity. Almost every equipment upgrade only increases numbers. A Level 1 pouch looks nearly identical to a fully upgraded one. The same applies to most of Edward's equipment. Every upgrade should have visibly changed your gear. This issue becomes even more noticeable with the Jackdaw itself. Every ship upgrade should have made a dramatic visual difference. Your fully upgraded ship should instantly stand out compared to its early game appearance. The crew could have reflected that progression as well. Early in the game, when sailing a weaker ship, they might react nervously to enemy vessels. Later, commanding a legendary Jackdaw, their dialogue could become much more confident. Small details like that would strengthen the emotional connection between the player and the ship. Progression should be reflected in the world, not just in damage numbers. If I can think of ideas like this, I genuinely wonder why Ubisoft, with hundreds of developers working on the project, chose not to explore them. Wind and weather systems also could have been expanded much further. More advanced sailing controls, sail management, or mechanics that allow players to take advantage of storms would have made naval gameplay even deeper. Ship upgrades also feel too linear. I expected specialized builds focused on ramming, mortars, rapid cannon fire, or completely different playstyles. Instead, everyone ends up building essentially the same Jackdaw, with the only real differences coming from paid cosmetic skins. Boarding is probably the biggest missed opportunity in the entire remake. Naval combat itself is still fantastic. The cannon fire, waves, and ship battles remain incredibly satisfying. But once you board an enemy vessel, whether it's a tiny Brig or a massive Man O' War, the gameplay barely changes. The same objectives, the same combat, the same ending. There could have been far more variety. Imagine randomly encountering a unique enemy captain who challenges you to a duel. The rest of the crew stops fighting to watch the battle, and defeating him instantly breaks the enemy's morale and secures the ship. Moments like that would make every boarding encounter memorable. The Legendary Ship battles also deserved unique cinematic finishers. Instead of every one of them sinking in roughly the same way, they could have featured exclusive deck battles and cinematic endings similar to the famous E3 demonstration where Edward crushes an enemy's head against the ship's wheel. I've wanted to see moments like that recreated ever since that original presentation. Boarding ships and docking along the shoreline also should have been much faster. These are actions you'll perform hundreds of times throughout the game, so even shaving off a few seconds would make a noticeable difference over time. Overall, this never fully feels like a true remake. It sits somewhere between a remaster and a remake. The foundation is still so strong that it's almost impossible not to have fun, but I expected a far more ambitious project with deeper systems, greater variety, and more meaningful ways to strengthen the bond between the player and the Jackdaw. Review Score: 84/100