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There are some games that are so good that you want to keep playing them forever, and for Ubisoft fans, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag is one such example of that. The game came at a key point in the franchise, and it’s still being played by fans today in places like Steam. Now, though, Ubisoft is making a remake of the game, and it’s important to know what you’ll get from it.
Why Are We Getting This?
That is a good question, now isn’t it? Granted, we’ve gotten remasters and ports of previous entries, not to mention collections of classic titles featuring Ezio, but why is the Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Remake truly happening?
In truth, there are many ways to answer that. However, the biggest one might just be the state of the franchise…and the state of Ubisoft itself.
You might recall that the series’ most recent entry, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, had a very troubled development history, including having to be delayed from 2024 to 2025 due to some key issues with the game’s visuals, gameplay, and landmarks. Then, when it did come out, it had some issues that players were happy to point out, and even recently, Ubisoft hasn’t revealed just how much the game has sold. We know it sold a couple of million at launch, but during a recent financial briefing, the game was revealed to have “5 million unique players,” which doesn’t mean as much as you might think, given where those “unique players” may have come from.
Considering that an entry from not too long ago sold over 20 million units in its lifetime, that’s a stark drop, and that’s just one of many “misfires” that Ubisoft has been dealing with recently, which leaves many to wonder if the publisher will be around much longer due to certain financial difficulties.
Bringing this back to the Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Remake, the reason that many might say this is happening is because of how the game was a surefire hit back in its original form, and doing a remake might bring in fans old and knew to re-experience all that the game offered, while also delivering some new visuals and thrills that they might enjoy. However, that does raise the question of…
What Will Be New In The Remake?
Another good question, and one that we may have some specific details on, depending on how much you trust a LinkedIn profile. Very basically, a person at Ubisoft accidentally dropped some details about the game on their profile, and when people saw it, they instantly started spreading the word. While the post itself was taken down, the internet never forgets…
One of the key things to point out is that the game’s visuals will be on the Anvil Engine. That’s important to note, because that’s what Ubisoft has been using for its other assassin titles, so there will be a great consistency there. Plus, the original version had a much weaker engine, so that means that the overall visual aesthetic for the game should be good and eye-catching.
To that end, part of that leak was that the world will have more “ecosystems focus on wildlife,” which means that our protagonist, Edward Kenway, could find himself dealing with animals just as much as people at times, which could lead to new quests, and a new “breath of life” within the world itself.
As if all of that isn’t enough for you, the leak further stated that there would be new combat systems implemented with overall improved “gameplay mechanics.”
Obviously, that’s a bit vague, and could mean anything from big jumps to tiny addresses of issues from the original game. It’s fair to think that Ubisoft will make things “bigger and better” with the remake, as they know from fan praise that things like the ship battles were incredible. Many players likely can’t tell you what the game’s story is about, but they’ll tell you what it was like to command a ship and go to battle against other vessels. It was a good time.
However, we seem to recall Ubisoft trying this with another game…
The Skull & Bones Effect
Yeah…many of you probably saw this coming, and for good reason. You see, after the success of the main game, and the people talking about how much they loved ship combat, Ubisoft basically said, “Hey, let’s just make a game focused on that! How hard could it be?” Well, as the saying goes, “As hard as you want to make it.”
Despite having the literal blueprint for all they needed to do to have a successful game, Ubisoft spent basically the next eight years failing to make a game around that core concept. Mean? Not even close, because we can back it up in various ways. First, Skull & Bones was such a flop that Ubisoft tried to give “puffery numbers” to make it seem like a success on some level, when it absolutely wasn’t. Second, Ubisoft basically lied to players beforehand by saying that the game was “so good” that it was the first “AAAA title,” when it wasn’t even a good AAA one.
Arguably most importantly, when players did jump into the game and looked at the graphics, they noticed that they weren’t even as good as the original Assassin’s Creed Black Flag! That doesn’t even talk about things like the microtransactions and lackluster overall gameplay.
The game sucked, pure and simple, and that is enough to make many worry about the remake that’s coming, and whether it’ll be in that “same vein.” Adding to the fear is a recent comment by Ubisoft about how “microtransactions in single-player games make them more fun,” even though gamers will tell you the exact opposite almost 100% of the time.
There’s little doubt in our minds that the failure of this game led to the other game’s remake, because they need to claw back some of the money that they lost. However, if Ubisoft doesn’t pull through with, or goes too far with the changes to try and make more money, it’ll just be the latest in a long line of backfires.
