Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

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It's Kind of Funnies Patreon Pledge Month. Support us at patreon.com slash kind of funny. We really appreciate it. What's up, everybody, and welcome into your Kind of Funny Games cast for Wednesday, July 9th, 2000, 26. It's actually July 8th, but I'm a time traveler, Bear. You are a time traveler. Because I'm already ready for the release dates of this new game we're about to talk about.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag, Resync. And who better to be on the review for this? than the two kind of anime boys here. The two, one piece, pirate lover boys right here. Who better to review Assassin's Creed Black Flag? I have a greater appreciation for the Pirate Life and Assassin's Creed Black Flag because of One Piece. Am I journey now?

Yeah. You go back 13 years, 2013, Mike. He's not ready for this. No, he's not. In 2006, Mike is a whole different beat. He knows what a shipwright is now. You're the best. Hello, of course, it is Mike Am Barrett taking over your daily games cast

for this lovely Wednesday. afternoon. Today we're talking all things Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced. We got your review here from Kind of Funny. Of course, we're going to be talking all about the game. What we liked, what we didn't like, what you need to know before you jump in to this,

what are we calling it? What's a re-sync? Remaster remake? It's just a redo of Assassin's Creed Black Flag. It's a remake, technically. It's a new engine, right? They like completely rebuilt the game and they're kind of like an offshoot version of the engine that they use to make shadows, right? So like it is rebuilt to what extent. And we can talk about that in a little bit.

But, you know, it is on a technical level, a remake. This is your reintroduction to an all-time great Assassin's Street game in the franchise. I think it's easier for me on that one. But Barrett, before we start the show, how are you? How have you been? How has pirate life been for you? How's the pirate life been? Pirate life has been good.

It's been a couple days since I finished Black Flag. I'm already kind of on to, weirdly, the next thing for me for review stuff, which is rare for me to kind of be going back to back into things. So a little busy on that front. And then it's also a week without Kevin. So that's always just like kind of a, it's Wednesday. And it feels like 5 p.m. on a Friday a little bit in my brain. So yeah, it's just, it's been a busy week.

I missed you the first couple of days here. You know, I don't like taking days off. You hate taking days off. A lot of unaccounted for hours there. Crazy, bear, because here I was. And then you come back and spill a bunch of water on the desk. I was going to get to that. I shook your world up right away.

We're on a road trip of a lifetime. Went up the one, all the way up the one to Northern California, where I went to the Redwoods for a whole day. Nice. Me and Washie had just a dude's road trip, and we had so much fun. But there I was. The night before. The night before

The night before I was doing this. It's Sunday night and I go I don't want to go on this trip I just want to go to work I want to talk about mass layoffs from Xbox and all my favorite games and studios being after you're on your shirt trip

and you're like I want to be free of this corporate toil that I've always surrounded in it. Why would I go on this goddamn road trip a beautiful gosh darn coastline giant red tree redwood trees I want to be at work talking about this

but you know what, I'm happy that I went on a great trip. I'm back, ready to go. And Barrett, you and I are ready to go on this pirate adventure. So let's jump in. Of course, if you're watching live, this is your Assassin's Creed Black Flag, re-synced review. So if you're watching live on YouTube and or Twitch, get those questions in. What do you want to know about this remake, this reintroduction,

this monetization has a lot of letters I've just added into that one, into a big-time Assassin's Creed game. Of course, you can super chat over. on YouTube.com slash kind of funny games. I'll read your questions, comments, concerns. And of course, remember we couldn't do this without you, the incredible best friends listening and watching all around the globe. Of course, you can go over to patreon.com slash kind of funny

to get that membership, support us, get the exclusive content and more. But a big thank you to our Patreon producers for the month. Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster Delaney, the Somm-Twining, and Lacks Nomad. Thank you all for your support this month. Let's start with what will be. Topic of the show. Tots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots.

The Assassin's Creed Black Flag, re-synced review with Barrett and Mike. Barrett, you are our Assassin's Creed guy. Yeah. Here in the office, you know the most about it. You love the franchise forts. Good. It's flaws. It's bad.

It's ups, it's down. You've been through the journey. I am an OG Assassin's Creed fan. Right. And when we talk about Black Flag, Black Flag is my number one. So I'm excited to get into this with you. But if people have been living under a rock, maybe they hadn't played games since 2013. Really quick, a couple sentences.

What is Assassin's Creed Black Flag? Without the recincts. Without the re-sincts. What is Assassin's Creed Black Flag? Black Flag is a journey of you playing as a pirate who is accidentally found himself in the middle of this great war between assassins and Templars. In the age of pirates that is seeming to, like, they say the golden age of pirates, but like, we're starting to see the kind of the later years of the pirate era here in the Caribbean. So you go on this journey in the assassin, big, grand assassin story as someone who's

mostly an outsider to that entire story, which is why I think it really hooked a lot of people, even when it originally came out 13 years ago, because there was a lot of baggage that was kind of taken off of it by being kind of a less of a focus on being an assassin and more about being a pirate and going on in this grand adventure in the Caribbean. Do you remember which one black flag is in the order of Assassin's Creed's in our franchise? What number is it? Is it five, six, seven? It was the last number titled.

It was the last titled I'm tired It was Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag Yes but there was Brotherhood and Revelations Yeah we don't number those

Because that was back in the era We were like If it was the same protagonist We wouldn't number them And then when it was a number Then that's how you knew It was a new protagonist And that was kind of cool

And then we never did that again It's four but it's six But yeah It's four But it's six Yeah I like that Barrett now for six This is technically

a remake, a reintroduction. There are new additions. Quick, hit me, if people don't know, what are some of the new stuff coming to the game? It's prettier. It's on a new engine. So it looks real pretty compared to 13 years ago. The control scheme is enhanced to feel a little bit more modernized

in sync with the more recent Assassin's Creed games, but not going full RPG. Don't be scared when I bring that up, right? And then there are some new additions, a full new chapter late in the game for Assassin's Creed Black Flag and some new characters you can recruit to the Jackdaw to kind of give the Jackdaw and its crew a bit more of a personality outside of Edward Kenway and his quartermaster, Ottawa. I love that. Those are the big highlights, I would say. Yeah, and some sweet difficulty settings that I'll dive into. I really enjoyed the expanded difficulty settings.

of having boat combat by itself, stealth by itself, combat combat by itself, and the just main overall. I thought that was really nice of like, hey, I'm not a big boat combat guy. I want to kick this down.

Or, hey, I'm getting beat up on the stealth. Let's kick this up or down, which is cool. But Barrett, I'm ready for your review. Like I said, I've teed you up.

You're our Assassin's Creed guy. You did the big video on all of them. How was re-sync? How much time did you put in? What did you play it on? And give me your review. I played on Base Base Base five. I went through the entire main campaign. I did all of the new stuff and, you know, just like,

a lot of just like kind of exploring and viving out in the Caribbean. I think in total I've played about like 34 hours, I would say. You know, we already kind of talked about what I would say is more of like, I'm going to be real, the boring stuff. You know, a little bit of, yes, it's the game you remember, but prettier. It's the game you know and love, but, you know, the gameplay is a bit more modernized, enhanced. I think a more interesting place to start off with this review, because we'll get more into that stuff later, is talking about the nature of remakes. Whatever the goal of a remake is, whether it's just to kind of be a one-to-one nostalgic play that's a bit prettier a la Star Fox,

or it's a kind of re-examination or reimagining of the original work la la, like, Final Fantasy 7 remake. The biggest uphill battle any remake has is kind of pushing past that low-hanging nostalgic fruit to kind of break past that and uphold a work of art in a new context while either preserving or transforming the kind of shape of its soul in a way. the biggest uphill battle they have is taking these original games out of their original context

where the medium was at, where culture was at when Black Flag, for example, came out, right? A lot has changed in the last 13 years. Can Black Flag come out today and still hit in a new or maybe similar way

with a new context around it? Now I think the interesting answer that Ubisoft had here for how to fight against this challenge is cutting away another layer of context and that is where Black Flag originally came out in the series.

Black Flag was the first game to come out in the Assassin's Creed franchise after the Desmond Miles saga, right? And it also acted as a kind of interesting prequel to Assassin's Creed 3 because of the familial ties between

the two protagonists there, right? So with that, when you originally played Black Flag, you went into it with kind of like a different lens than the subject, Edward Kenway. You were looking at it as a fan trying to learn about what's going on with the modern day story because Desmond Miles, all that shit just happened in Assassin's Street 3. What's the follow-up there, right? If you're following this up with Assassin's Creed theory and you're interested in that story, you want to learn more about the backstory of what's going on in the world of assassins in the new world of the

time, right? But all of that context and baggage in the original black flag, I think kind of created layers of separation between you and Edward Kenway. You always felt like you're kind of part of an in-group of knowing what this whole world is about, what the Assassins versus Templars is about. And the fun of the original black flag story was seeing Edward kind of be the odd man out and kind of learn about things. but I think the interesting choice,

and I think the important choice this remake decided to make, was removing Black Flag way far apart from Assassin's Creed 3 and taking out the modern day stuff, which I think by doing that, it reframes the story to have you experience Black Flag actually through Edward Kenway's eyes. And I think that is a great choice, to make to kind of preserve and uphold

what was so special about Black Flag to begin with, which was Edward Kenway. I think this is a great remake of a game that has, you know, a beloved title in a huge franchise. While I think there were some aspects that I would have loved to see this remake kind of introduce while taking away

some of the modern day things, I think experiencing the story more through Edward Kenway's, eyes and being on that journey of someone who's not really in the know of what's going on with the assassins and Templars, I think is a fun kind of perspective, but I think some things needed to be added to maybe like fill that out a little bit more. But regardless, I had a great time. I would give this remake an eight out of 10. And I'd be interested in new players jumping into this because I don't think this is a great first entry to get into the series.

as a whole. But I do think it's a great, like, kind of one-off adventure. If you're not interested in Assassin's Creed, but you fuck with pirates. Yeah. I do think this is a good game to kind of get in, see what the story is about,

go on that big pirate adventure, and then drop out, you know? So, Mike, with all of my waxing of poetic there, I'll shut the fuck up. I love how you came out of there. Back over to you. Yeah, I love how you came out of looking at the remake and where we are in 2026

and looking back at it because, yeah, for me, Bear, this is a game that I loved in 2013. This is my peak Assassin's Creed as a kid who started with the OG Assassin's Creed and rode the franchise for quite some time. This was kind of the peak

slash the drop-off for me, Baird. This was kind of the end of like I remember after this we kind of went into Rogue Unity Syndicate, right, that kind of era. And for me this was like, I'm starting to not play these games like I used to where it was I have to play every Assassin's Creed

known to man. Now it's like, hey, I'm not really in the mood for this, or maybe I'm playing other games. So this was a delight to jump back to 13 years later. I wasn't really sure. I played 22 hours of this. My goal coming into this was not to get addicted to the open world, Ubisoft, nature, and won 100%. Because I knew I would start that. And so I made a real goal of like, hey, Mike, we're just going to play through the main missions.

And we're going to get to that new content that they added because I really want to see what they brought into Assassin's Grade Black Flag. and jumping right in, the world is just so beautiful. That tropical environment really leads to the color pop, right? Of this remake, rematch, remake. But like, it just goes, oh, wow, this game looks great, right? The character models all clearly are up-res and look way better than 2013. But there is something of like, man, this game looks fantastic. It has the DNA of the Assassin's Creed world that I know and love.

and now I'm being reintroduced to Edward Kenway in this story that I have forgotten, right? I didn't know that homie was just an outsider. Killed the guy and was like, you know what? I want to follow this storyline. And now we're getting introduced to the Templars and the assassins. And it's all coming back to me of like, oh man, like remember the war that they were having what was going on. And this guy just, he wanted to go out on a pirate's life to bring money back to his girl back home and live a different life. And, you know, with like it being so long since you've played this, I imagine that it was,

kind of a fun ride to be like, oh, I'm kind of, I'm experiencing almost all of this almost for the first time alongside that. That's how it felt, right? Like, being reintroduced to the characters, right? Like I said, I think all of them looks so great. The world looks great. The game was running very well. I played on PC exclusively all the way through, and it was a really great time.

I dealt with a lot of bugs throughout that I'll all hit on, but like, I love. It can't be an Assassin's Creed game without bugs. I love the look. It's replaying one of the best Assassin's Creed games that I'll always, remember and enjoy, right? And the open world of it all has so much to explore, so much to do. And so, yeah, finishing the main storyline, I was so happy. And then the new added content that we're going to dive into, I think really does a great job of like, hey, remember a couple of these characters that you love bonnets and Blackbeard?

We're going to put a nice little bow tie on their story. We're going to end it off with something emotional, something where you feel like, oh, man, like, yeah, that was a good way to do that. And then, of course, the new extra eight missions were exciting, adding new stuff. shipwrights to my crew going on this adventure of like where are we going to go and then finishing it all off. I felt really good at the end to the point where I got the itch. And I was like, oh, Mike, what if I did swim under every diving bell and I swam with the sharks and unlocked every piece of treasure? What if I did go hunt down every Templar and unlocked the suit? What if I did do every Mayan puzzle and unlock that extra content? Like, I got the

bug quickly because it is just a great. game at its core, right? And I really love the pirate sim of it all. I love Assassin's Crate in the combat and the feel of the stealth and the parkour. And yeah, it's just like an easy win for me when you put it back with Black Flag. I would give this an 8.5. I think I had a terrific time with it. My bugs were the normal Ubisoft bugs. Hey, that character didn't pop in at the right time. Oh, that character is now stuck on a log walking to the boat that needs to move. And the boat won't move. I need to restart the level. My favorite was being out

on the jackdaw and looking at some some boats fighting each other without me and then one got really, really fast and then sped away and then kind of like crushed in on itself and then popped out and went into space. Amazing. It was awesome.

Reliving some of the moments in Havana and other cities and walking to the streets and being like, oh, there's the brothel ladies and there's the drunk guys and I can blend in with them. And then I'm like, was this multi-play? Did I play multiplayer back then? I had to Google like, oh yeah, Assassin's Creed

Black Flag had multiplayer and that was that time with Assassin's Creed games where they were trying to lift something off. And I would be interested in Assassin's Creed multiplayer today with how many hide and seat games on Steam it would hit. Honestly, it was kind of like I haven't played any multiplayer stuff for Blackflict since or Assassin's Creed since

Brotherhood probably. But understanding that concept and like how much that hits with people today, It's like they could have something there. And so, yeah, I was really, really taken back of like, I said, I said, hey, Mike, we're not going to get too involved in this. Let's draw the line. Just do your work and get out of here to, I finish and all I want to do is play this. And I also came up to you many times.

It's like, there was this, this bloody? Like, they added takedowns or maybe takedowns are already in it. But like, there are takedown moments where you break down a guy's posture that's defending you. And he opens up. And you hit the takedown button. And Edward Kenway is shoving his sword in places that should not be on a television screen. He's coming out of the slow-mo, blood on his face, like, oh, I'm like, okay, this game is extremely bloody.

I mean, those animations, from what I remember were there. I don't know if it was, you know, maybe the 360 and the PS3, like, weren't able to show that much much more back in the day. Because, like, that's the other thing is, you know, this was coming in at the tail end of that generation right at the beginning of the PS4 and Xbox One. I think it's like, the biggest compliment I can give, you know, the thing I was being cheeky about earlier. It's like, it's the game you remember, but it's prettier. It's like, it really hit me when Roger looked at the reveal trailer months ago. And he was like, yeah, at first I thought like, yeah, that looks like black flag. And then he went back to original footage.

He was like, oh, shit, no, that actually looks really good compared to what you think about. And so I think that's the best compliment you can give a game that is essentially a one-to-one remake is like, oh, this is like, Like all of the gaps I've filled in with my brain back in the day, they are actually doing that now and like making this world look as beautiful as I remember it being, which, yeah. And then of course, the difficulty settings I touched on, but I really do appreciate that, right? As someone who was just, I enjoyed the exploration. I enjoy the combat.

I am not a big naval combat guy when it comes to being on the boat. So like having those settings where you can dial in stealth, naval combat, regular on foot combat. and one more I forget what it is, but I really appreciate the thought of that, and you can see that, right? It does help me of like, hey, I am somebody who doesn't want to battle on the boat. Let's crank that down.

It was so much easier. It made it so I could go across the sea, have fun, go to the next mission, skip that. Or if I want to be challenged in combat, crank that up and see how hard it can really be because it's such a blast. What a great game. And for me, I needed this remake, Barrett,

because this is my favorite Assassin's Creed, and I'm not going back to the, old one anytime soon. But this was a good way to be like, hey, let's preserve this. Let's make this even better. It looked visually wise and put it out again so Mike can have this in his catalog and be like, yeah, I want to replay that. And honestly, like, it makes a lot of sense.

I remember we were talking about this in the preview of like, why this one out of everything else in the series. And it is one of it's because of the premise, right, of Edward Kenway being so not a part of everything that's going on in the assassin world. and so because of that, it's not really, especially when you take out the modern day stuff, it's not like kind of bogged down by needing to know everything else. Yeah.

Because I think a lot of people would question of like, why not go back to Assassin's Creed 1 or do the Etio trilogy for remakes? And it's one of those like, all right, if you do that, I think those stories are inherently like intrinsically written to be cross modern and past and all that stuff. So if you do that, you got to commit to, doing the entire Desmond story,

which I don't know if they're, like, I don't know if Ubisoft is at the point where we're like, hey, we're going to dedicate one, maybe one and a half studios to like make these remakes for the next 15 years, you know? I'm excited because I do have that, the final question of like, if you could re-sync another Assassin's Creed game,

what would it be? I'm going to save that for the end. I like that. Because like there is a fun conversation of like, what would you bring back to, or what would you bring now forward to 2026? But let's talk more about Black Flag, re-sync.

What did you like? did you love, Barrett? I want to hear the things that you really love. One of the, I think his name was Paul Foo's, I think the director who I got to talk to in my preview. Something I really appreciated because I think they have such a respect still for Black Flag. And I think even when I replayed it back in 2020 for Assassin's Creed In Review, right? Like there were a lot of aspects. It's like, oh yeah, a lot of this design is definitely of an age. but actually the moment to moment like gameplay feel of it didn't feel like it was

too like off base, like playing it in a modern setting. There are like little tweaks here and there that I think this remake has done to, you know, like changing the combat from the face button to the trigger buttons. Having combat feel a little bit more input base rather than

kind of the old Assassin's Creed style, which was kind of just like animation base and all that stuff, which I think got, after a while that combat in all of those Assassin's Creed games, after a few hours, you're like, all right, I'm bored. And I think just like the subtle change in combat, I think, does a lot to still grant that kind of,

that power fantasy of being a pirate who is like a badass, but it brings a just a little bit more level of engagement to not have you an hour 10 being like, all right, I'm just, this is really boring at this point, right? But to go back to Paul Foo and what he said was like, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And I think a lot of Black Flag, the original does stand up today. And I think, you know, I think that was a smart choice. There were like little tweaks here and there.

But I think a lot of people or some people in the chat were it was asking like, is it the same game? It's like, yeah. But I think the slight changes this game, re-sinct makes, I think will help this kind of age better over time. Because, yeah, even when I went back to Black Flag six years ago, it's like, yeah, a lot of this does hold up, but, you know, it also doesn't look great. And, you know, there's some gameplay fuel things that, yeah, it would be nice to update. Yeah.

Like, for me, like, the parkour really refining the, like, hey, the visual look has upgraded. How do I see routes? How do I jump from building to building or tree top to tree top? I think having that look really helped me. And I parkour for me in Assassin's Creed. It's that blend of parkour, combat, and, of course, stealth that makes the Assassin's Creed games so special to me. And so parkour being, like, now feeling new age up in 2026 and present day with the refined looks of it all. I really enjoyed that.

And then the combat. So many ways to engage. Man, I'm out there. I'm taking body shields when people are trying to shoot at me. I'm taking people in front of me. I'm putting down smoke pellets to reassess and move around. I'm using the sleep darts. my favorite. I'll always remember. I'll never forget this now. It's me and kid. And we're out on a mission.

She hands you the sleep dart. And they go, let's try to keep this silent. Maybe we don't have to kill as many people. And I sleep dart that first person. They run up, stealth murder that person right away. Like, all right, I guess we're just murdering everybody. But like, yeah, the mix of the stealth plus combat is so much fun in the Assassin's Creed universe and franchise that I think being a pirate on of all that just nails it for me of. These are the things that I love about this game and I love that I'm just out there on the boat. I'll pull up to an island. Hey, I want to go fight some Jaguars right now.

I want to go find a fun hidden cave with a bunch of treasure in it. I love that for me. Barrett, I want to talk about more things that you love and some things maybe that you didn't like right after a quick word from our sponsors. This week, we're sponsored by patreon.com slash kind of funny.

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and free daily greens per box with new subscriptions only while supplies last until September 27th, 2026. You can see the website for more details. We didn't have to make that movie, you know? Like, it didn't have to be. You get an awesome actor like Fastbender, and it's like, just give them the suit, give them the wrist blade, go out there, do something.

And then we got a lot of slow-mos, a lot of montages. And just like, you know what, they really held true to the original assassin. Essence Creed by making every, like the entire color palette of that movie, just like gray and brown. Gray and Brown. Yeah, yeah.

They're captured. They really captured the PS3-360. Uh, man. I want to highlight one more good one that I enjoyed before we go into the new content. Because I do think it's really fun to highlight the new content. Really enjoyed building out my hideouts. Yeah, you're saying you didn't really remember doing this. Yeah.

I mean, like I said, 13 years ago, 2013, I didn't remember a lot of this. But it all came flooding back with certain story beats, which is. great, but the hideout don't remember any of that. And so I was having so much fun rebuilding the highlight, hideout, picking what I was going to put my money into. Hey, this guy wants to build out a giant campfire so everybody can get drunk and have fun. I'm like, well, you know what? I don't need that right now.

I'm going to go help out the guy who's upgrading my ship. I'm going to build that out. Or I'm going to go back up to my main manner and I'm going to hang pictures on the wall. I'm going to build out my cool, like, I'm going to be like a serial killer and hang pictures of the people of them. killed throughout my house insane. That was crazy. I love that.

And then like, where do I put the people that I love? In the basement. And I'll mourn them in the basement. Yeah. You know, some of the added story content and some of just like the added stuff they bring to that, I think, gives a little bit more of a personality

and a bit more of like an emotional core to being a part of that hideout. I think like the, you know, the kind of core. idea of like building your own area has been something that hits an assassin's creed since AC2 really um and i think the the one aspect that felt kind of weird in the original black flag was like all right well there's nassau already which is kind of like what you guys are trying to build as your pirate utopia so now you're trying to do like a little mini pirate utopia

like why aren't we just doing this at nassau yeah and i think they they make some like updates and some additions to kind of have that make a little bit more sense initially uh which I enjoy and there's a bit more emotional investment in the place, you know, throughout, if you're doing some of the extra stuff, which I really appreciate it. Again, I want to not be too spoilery. But, you know, there's like a character that they add to that house and to that area that I think does just enough to be like, okay, like I'm invested in this place more as like my people and all this stuff. And there's ways that that kind of like brings some moments around in really cool ways.

if you decide to do all of the new stuff, which I thought was, you know, solidly done. But yeah, like, building out your own place and, you know, looking out for your own people, I always thought was cool as hell. And again, like, always kind of the dream of a pirate, right,

is doing like a big pirate communist utopia. Exactly. Everybody's invited. Of course, let's talk about the new stuff because we do have new missions at it. We have a new end game chapter, a world without gold, which I believe, has eight missions in it.

A new set of eight additional missions. Then you have officers side quests, which you talked about. You can recruit new officers onto the jackdog. You'll get to know their story, who they are, help them complete something. But at the same time, you're going to get something cool in return. They're going to join the ship and they're going to add

to your naval combat, which I thought was really fun and exciting of like, hey, here's some small tweaks. It's something crazy. I don't know. I don't know if some of those are small. There's some, like, big tweet. Like, not, like, gameplay overall from the shipcom. combat is like one to one at this point. But they add some really fun abilities that might be a little overpowered.

But you know what? If you're trying to take on those legendary shifts, maybe you have a bit of an easier time this timer. And then, of course, you have other side missions, which is the Blackbeard and Sted Bonnet Quest. Those are nice, perfect bow ties, as I said, to those guys' stories. I think it's a really good cap off.

Steed Bonnet and Blackbeard, the two core center characters in our flag means death, which is really funny to play this game. because Steve Bonnet is the first friends you make in the game. He's the first pirate you. He's a great guy. Yeah, he's a great guy. You meet as Edward Kenway.

And it's really funny to play this game after watching our flag beats death because, you know, playing it originally, you're not really connecting. I was like, okay, like, I don't really know. Like, apparently he was a real pirate from the past or whatever. But the way they interpret Bonnet and Black Flag in our Flagg means death has a different, there's like a different, it hits different playing Black Flag now. Let's talk about the new. content. What did you think?

I thought it was solid. You know, I thought it was smart ways to kind of flesh out the crew of the jackdoll right, outside of Edward. Really, like, you know, you're doing like, you're recruiting people, but they're all kind of like faceless NPCs. And so there's like kind of this idea

of like, you know, they're a collective and stuff, but outside of Ottawa, they don't really have a voice. And I think adding new characters who have their own mini story arcs this time around, I think, does just enough to give a bit more character to the jackdoc crew outside of ottawa which if you know where his story goes like i think makes kind of the last third of this game um feel like you're still

like working with people you know um that i i found to to be really satisfying you know um i think they kind of blend into the story really well the biggest compliment uh you know i'll echo this from my preview um and it's cool to say this, you know, like fully now is the biggest compliment I can give is that none of it stood out. And I know that sounds bad, but what I mean by that is like none of it really like stood out like a sore thumb as like, oh, this is new, this is different. This is weird or whatever. If you had told me like, oh, this is content that or this is like side stuff that you like were just too stupid to find in the original. But it was always here. I would have been like, oh, damn.

Like it all kind of flows really nice into like the larger story, specifically with the captain and like there, or not the captain, but the, what are they called? The shipwright. The officers. Yeah, the officers and all that. I thought was a really smart choice. The new additional chapter called a world without gold, which one of the officers is, there's three new officers. one of them is locked within that chapter because I was a little worried for a while

I was like I don't know where the third one I was like I don't know where the third one What's going on and then it all kind of ties in But I think playing it now And it's tough to talk about without getting into Some story spoilers But I think You know

The character a world without gold is centered around Is a pirate hunter And if you know certain aspects of where black flag goes you're like, oh, that pirate hunter. And I think it's an interesting story that is like wedged in in the most awkward place in the story. That doesn't even really fit where Edward Kenway is at on his journey, right? A lot of it is centered around like still his like obsession with, because he doesn't give a shit about the assassin Templar war going on. He's all in this for, you know, getting as much gold as possible.

He's a pirate-ass pirate, right? You know, when he learns about the observatory at the very beginning in this game, all he cares about is using it to make money. You know, and I think that's part of the charm of what this story brings to the franchise. But Edward Kenway still goes on an arc in this game, an interesting arc, an arc that's about, you know, like, the reason the open world of this game fits so well with the themes of this game is that it's about musying around and kind of wasting time. and just doing shit just because you want more, more, more, all this stuff. And the arc that Edward Kenway goes on is a challenge to him of like, yes, you say you fight for, you know, freedom and you say you hate these certain structures. But what are you actually doing to combat that other than just kind of, you know, doing selfish things, right? And so, you know, there's an arc that goes with that.

and in the middle of Edward Kenway or kind of near the end of Edward Kenway working through these feelings they add in this new chapter's like ah but I really love gold though and it's like I think this would have hit a bit more if this new story content was

put in where it makes sense of like they introduced this pirate hunter and show his face in the main story and I think if this chapter was introduced right after that moment, it would have made a lot more sense.

But when his face is shown, and again, I'm trying to keep light on spoilers for a game that's 13 years old, but, you know, um, you know, they show his face and then you don't get back to him for another like six hours.

And it's really weird. Yeah. It's really weirdly placed. I don't think it flows well. I think what it does works, but it kind of goes against where, like, again, where it's introduced in the main story,

it goes against where Edward Kenway is at in his arc. And so it kind of just like muddles the entire thing. The officer that's kind of exclusive to that chapter. I mean, once you unlock him, he's there for the rest of the game, whatever. But his stuff is really touching and really heartfelt. There's still moments that, again, I was like, man, this would hit if I played five hours ago type of thing. So that's kind of my takeaway from it. I had also suggested to you.

I was like, hey, play some stuff as it comes because I imagine, you know, especially with like Steve Bonnet and Blackbeard and all that stuff, there's going to be certain moments that they add that I think hit if, you know, you do it right as you're introduced to it.

That is my official, unofficial gamescasts games. I like that. Like, when they show you that there's new stuff, play it when they introduce it. I go check that out. Yeah, yeah. That's good. Because yeah, I didn't play this until the very end after I had completed the campaign, which was my goal, then I jumped into all of this.

So it was like, oh, I recognize that guy's face, but like, why are we back here right now? But then for me, it was like, oh, I just enjoy the set pieces that they have. Yeah. Right, it was like, like you said, you said so well, it fits into the world. It doesn't feel like, oh, this is out of the blue. They're like very cool set pieces in this. It builds up to exactly what you're thinking as you're recruiting officers onto your boat.

You know where it's kind of like going. And there's some really fun moments along there. and then the final mission, it's like, oh yeah, this is exactly where we were going to take this right now. And, of course, I'm battling for my life. But I do love the officers being added to the boat, right? As Addy is like, hey, I'm not going to be the guy, right? And like, now we start replacing him. And then we add the three.

It's like your boat in the back starts to feel a little more filled out than when it's just, you and Adi and a bunch of faceless guys, like walking or standing in their one spot. They don't move, right? Like the Padre and Lucy are still this, just standing on the side of my ship. but at least it fills in the gaps that would just hold anyways. So I enjoy that. I appreciate that. I will say that I do think.

And really quick, just to stop on top of that is that, again, I think it's really, I think they're capitalizing on the fact that a lot of people got into one piece and actually understands like, you know, what pirates need to make a crew and stuff.

So again, I think it was a smart choice to be like, oh yeah, let's actually like talk about like a ship ride, a man at war, a man of war and all like all that stuff to fill out, all of these different roles that a pirate crew would need. Yeah.

And then, of course, I'll circle back with the bonnet and the Blackbeard missions. Those special side quests are very small, but man, do they hit. Especially when I finished everything, right? And it's like, you're having this warm moment. And these two missions are like nice little warm, cozy, like, hey, that was good. Good job on that one. Yeah. Nothing too crazy, fun little moments.

And then just a good little wrap up at the end. I really, I'm glad that they put those two in there. Yeah. And I think it all comes in. service to, you know, to me, thinking back on Black Flag back in 2013, that game all culminates in like one scene pretty much at the end of the game. And I think everything they add to it or, you know, quote unquote, enhance what have you still kind of helps make that ending moment hit. I think the one thing I would have liked is because so much context is taken away of

like what's going on with the assassins like world and all this stuff. Like I am fascinated if someone who's never played an Assassin's Creed game. Let's say Andy Cortez finally says this is the one goes on this journey. Does he get confused by any of like what the fuck is going on type of thing? Like I got so in my head of I if you're going to cut away like cut out all of the modern day stuff and like cut out all of the context of like what's going on with the assassins and Templars. I would have liked a little bit more added like, hey, this is what this stuff is about. Um, just a little bit.

Just a little bit to kind of like get people a little bit more intrigued about this story at large outside of just Edward Kenway. Um, because outside of Edward Kenway, there's not really any Edward Kenway left. So if people got really attached to this character, this part of the world, like, you're kind of shit out of luck if you want more of that, right? Yeah, it's interesting looking at it like that because, yeah, if you never played an Assassin's Creed name, knew nothing about the actual story and everything that's going on around it,

I think you would have a great pirate game. You would probably get a little hint of like assassins and Templars. What are they doing? But there is no clear like, hey, y'all, if you've never played this, this is what's happening here. No, you'd be like, okay, well, these two groups are just fighting each other. And don't really know why. These guys are on one island.

They all got their hoods and cool outfits on. And then the other group over there, they're just a bunch of dudes who are trying to take over the world. Like, all right, cool, you know. But like, other than that, I don't think you're walking away going, I understand what's happening in the greater Assassin's Creed franchise. And I think with that,

like, there's just like some moments naturally that, like, come off a little bit weird. Like, almost like you're still supposed to be in the know of what's going on. It's like, I think some scenes could have done with a little bit of rework. I would have loved more time also spent with some of the pirates again to really make that final moment hit. There's one, you know, the vague way I'll talk about is like there's one moment.

Redward Kenway looks at a table and that's all I'm going to say. Like to make that moment hit even more, I would have loved a bit more time to flesh out, you know, the rest of the pirates of Nassau that I'm blanking on the names of outside of just a blackbeard, right? But there's like a whole crew that you're kind of like, yeah, that you're messing with. you get a little bit of time with, but I would have loved to see maybe instead of the captains, you know, on your ship, maybe fleshing that stuff out a bit more, I would have loved to see.

And then also, because it's pretty much a one-to-one remake, one big thing I noticed is like the awkward presentation of some moments. You know, we talked about the title card. Yes. Like a week ago. Yeah.

You know, in the original Black Flag, you take over Steed Bonnet's ship. And he's like, oh, you must have been on some great adventures or, you know, we're going to go on a great adventure. Edward Kennery's like, yeah, we're about to do that. And then, you know, it fades away. And you see, like, his ship from far away.

It fades out. And in the original game, you come out of the animus. And that's where you're introduced all the modern day stuff and all this stuff. And you do a little 15-minute segment of modern day. And then you come back and then the title card hits and you're like, oh, shit. I'm being a pirate, all this stuff. Because they don't really change anything, but still taking out the modern day stuff, They still kind of do the fade away, which this time around, I think should have been the title card.

But instead, it just kind of like awkwardly fades to black. And then a moment with no music playing. And then fades back, it fades in to a title card with kind of without any context. And then like the music awkwardly like comes in. And there's, I'm not saying like, oh, this moment like I'm, that's the reason why it's an eight and not a 10 or something like that. right, but there's, I think enough of those little things that I would have loved to have seen adjusted just a little bit, you know? If you're going to make a remake, you know, like it touched up some things to make those

moments hit in 2026. There, we got a couple super chats coming in right there. We got kebabs right again and says, took out the animus, but still called it re-synced. Yeah, but like, you know, there's the animus hub now, you know, which is the main, which is the main menu of all Assassin's Creed games now, which is really, let's just cut to it. The Animus Hub is really just an advertisement for other Assassin's Creed. Oh, you own this one? Well, here's a list of other games that, like, you can't load through this launcher.

Like, we're going to present it like it's a launcher. But, hey, here's some other modern Assassin's Creed game. Oh, you don't own this one? You know, you know, if you press X, it'll take you to the PlayStation store to buy it. And it's so awkwardly, like, showcased as well. Because, you know, the good way to do an advertisement, you know, one of the, one of the, best things about assassin's street, Mike. What is it? Tell me. Music. Ah.

The music, the themes. Atseo's family theme. So, like, in the main menu of this, like, weird anima's you go to Black Flag and it's kind of like, there's a little bit of an ambient noise. You got the weird digital. Yeah. And then when you scroll to the other games, there's just, like, kind of nothing. Yeah.

And you're just kind of awkwardly, like, and it's like, if you're going to just, if you're going to do the advertisement on my game menu, like, I don't know, put some TLC into it, man. Yeah. Yeah. You're making, you're not selling me on going to these other games if I'm a new person in the series. I love that.

Just a, just a thought there. I always appreciate the store being front and center. I appreciate the, uh, the battle passes that we have now. Yeah. That's great. Kababs is also saying like, you know, they were saying, you know, there is no animus. There technically is at the very beginning. They're like, ah, like you're being introduced to Edward Kenway.

But, you know, the world isn't as you truly see it and blah, blah, blah. And then they don't ever really address it. That's like the closest you get to there being modern day stuff in this, which I think is really funny. Zach writes in and says, is there a button scheme for combat on the face buttons for those of us who hate combat on the bumpers and triggers? You were playing more with the accessibility stuff than I was.

I don't know what the options were there. Yeah. You know what? If you tune into the stream later this afternoon, I'll answer that for you because I'm going to be playing Assassin's Creed Black Flag synced on stream. and then of course Jimbo writes in with the fun one says to buy a disc version or not winky face of course uh Barrett we are coming to the end of the podcast with our final thought reviews

I have a question for you but is there anything that we miss that you want to talk about or that maybe we need to dive a little bit? The one thing that highlights me and you know I'm going to whack some more poetic here just to lay it on us chat who like to cry whenever I do this um you know black flag originally came out the fall after I graduated high school. And so, you know, being an adult, like, you know, adult, right, on my own for the first time, like, not living with my family, still living in San Francisco. But, you know, there is, being young, there is such a, the, the pull of, like, this promise of, you know, like going out and being a free pirate. And, you know,

that was always, like, the pull of romanticizing what a pirate. Pirates life is. And now playing it 13 years later, being a broken 31-year-old who kind of has seen a lot of the world at large in the world close to him, kind of crumble around him. This game kind of hits a bit differently. And I think this time around, I see it a bit more for what it is actually like looking to kind of comment on with. like kind of chasing this idea of an era of your life that is free. But what are you truly doing to pursue that for not just yourself but for others? And that really hit me this time around.

You know, a lot of the big thing with Edward Kenway is like, all right, you like to talk to the talk. Or do you walk in the walk? Yeah. Are you standing on business? And that really hit this time around. And so I think for people who have not played Black Flag before, I think, you're in for honestly a story that I think is still a major highlight within the Assassin's Creed franchise still to this day. So that's what I'll say there.

And then you had a question earlier, but we'll get back to that later. Anything else that you want to talk about, Mike? No, I just want to remind people that's currently sitting right now before the podcast was Metacritic 84, Open Critic 86. Bear gave it an eight. I gave it an eight five. I think it's great. I think that's where everybody seems to be. I'm really happy about it, Bear.

Like, you know, you and I were in the review last week. We're prepping everything. And then they opened it up to early access for influencers, reviewers to start, like, streaming in a little bit, sharing photos. And it was really nice to see a lot of people like, hey, this game looks great. And I was like, oh, man, like, I'm happy people are seeing this and, like, remembering those moments of 2013. And now, I'll see a game that they love and go, wow, it's really pretty now. And, like, I'm excited to get back into it. That felt like the vibe leading up to today, which I enjoyed.

Oh, yeah. I'm happy about that. Barrett? I want to ask you a question, though, to ask this podcast. And I want to ask the audience who are currently watching on Twitch and on YouTube, if you could re-sync another Assassin's Creed game, which would it be? There's such a big franchisee. You don't need to.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate already has a current gen update, 60 frames per second on PS5 that you can play right now. And I would say that's another one that you don't quite need the full context of the rest of the series. and what people think back to Brotherhood as is like oh Brotherhood was the first one to really figure out what the Assassin's Creed formula is. Syndicate is the best, like that is the game that they built to for so long of like actually like not perfecting

but like doing a masterful version of taking over a city slowly. It is fucking fantastic. Not enough people played it because rightfully so we all had Assassin's Creed fatigue because they released two. the Assassin's Creed games the year before it, but not enough people play it. And hey, if you want a small Edward Kenway tie, maybe you can find it in syndicate somewhere. I love that answer, bear, because mine would have been syndicate as well.

I think it's just hot, flashy. It is at the tail end of Assassin's Creed's being great games and being like low-key hits still, but people kind of slowing down on the franchise, I would love for them to do a re-sync on that and be like, hey, it's back again. You might have missed it. Maybe you loved it. It's here. here's another one for you I put down.

It's not an Assassin's Creed game, so I'm cheating. Far Cry 3. Go back to Far Cry 3, another tropical area, so the colors are going to pop. There's a story that everybody loves. This is a game that, like, if we're going to go back to the Treasure Trove and be like, hey, let's try to do this. I think Far Cry 3 is the answer there of like people would jump on this one, just like we saw with this.

Another one that I want to bring up really quick. you know, there's a big kind of, rightfully so I would say kind of uproar and like, yo, where's freedom cry? Where's the Ottawa DLC? I was sitting there the whole time going, oh man, are we going to talk about this?

I think, you know, I'm of two minds of this. This is a Ubisoft that canceled a, what is it, a post-Civil War Assassin's Creed game, right? Yeah. That was something that came out a year ago because, you know,

it's too political to kill sleep. of owners. So maybe that's, maybe that's your answer. But then the other part of my brain is like, but maybe they're doing the Persona 3 reload route, where, you know, they launched that game and it's just the base game. And then months later, because people are like,

where's the new Fez content, which was called The Answer? And then they repackaged that as episode I guess, like months and months later, or maybe a year later. I could see them going that route, you know, like launching this game today, tomorrow, what have you, and then maybe, you know, we get the Freedom Cry update, DLC pack that you pay another 25 bucks for, you know, late this year, early next year. I could see that.

I'm of two minds. I'm leading towards the prior one, though, so. Okay. Barrett, been a fun review with you. I'm excited to see what's next for the games that you will be reviewing. I'm excited to hear more thoughts on Assassin's Creed. Black flag. Maybe I'll get more pretentious.

about it. I'm going to get more pretentious and, you know, smell on my own farts about how I think about video games with every review I get on. I think you were fantastic today, Barry. You did a great job. I love hearing your thoughts. I appreciate everything that you brought to the table, Big Cat. I appreciate everything you bring to the table, Mike. And you know what? We need to come back to this table again soon. Chairs flipped because we got some anime to talk about. We got a whole lot to talk about with all of you. Just wrap up the show.

I could talk about. We got a whole lot to talk about with all of you when it comes to video games. We have reviews, previews, opinions all coming throughout each and every day. And we also have a live stream after this. If you are interested in Assassin's Creed Black Flag, Resynced, I'm going to play the game live on stream

to answer all of your burning questions to show off all the cool looks of the game, show you how it plays, and we're going to have some fun. Playing it on PC, so you can see how it runs on PC. Hell yeah, man, we're going to crank those things up, too. With that, that is the end of today's games cast. Leave a comment down below. You jumping in to Assassin's Creed, Black Flag,

re-synced tomorrow. And what do you think? Until then, we'll see you later. Goodbye, gamers.