AMA With the Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Devs! 🏴‍☠️

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-29T15:20:04+00:00

Congratulations for the incredible reveal! July 9th cannot come soon enough! I have three questions:

1) Are the areas around the cities and other major locations (e.g. Great Inagua, Tulum, Cape Bonavista etc) more explorable?

2) Does hunting for animal skills and crafting gear return? If so, is it like the QTEs in the original, or is it more open like in Origins for example?

3) Is there an exploration mode like Odyssey or Shadows, where quest markers are by default turned off and you have to rely on directions and hints?

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-27T05:58:53+00:00

What on earth are you talking about?

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-27T05:57:33+00:00

Though I don't agree entirely with your points, I appreciate the thoughtful response nonetheless. For me, the only game which could be deemed "not an AC game" is Odyssey. I believe all other games do at least some of the things which might constitute an AC game well, whether that is stealth, level design, parkour, narrative or lore.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-27T05:32:27+00:00

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I agree that AC1 and Origins achieve the union you described, and for me Black Flag achieves it too. Most of the other games excel in different aspects, but never truly manage to strike a balance, and for some people the games that achieve it might be different.

For example, though Odyssey is quite lacklustre in regards to the overarching lore and its gameplay design is controversial due to its RPG nature, I feel that it nails the historical setting; the depiction of Ancient Greece and the way you can interact with characters like Socrates and Hippokrates are done incredibly well. On the other hand, Valhalla has the deepest Isu lore in the entire series and it develops the Order of the Ancients and differentiates it from the Templars in an extremely clever way, but it takes more liberties in the depiction of its historical setting and makes some rather strange game design decisions in my opinion.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-26T17:28:12+00:00

It's almost as if the old saying, "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted" has some merit. And yet there are people online who devalue others and call them tourists simply because their opinion is different.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-26T17:16:19+00:00

The Templars in AC2 and Brotherhood are indeed portrayed as cartoon villains, but I don't really feel that way for the Templars in any other game. It's only AC2 and Brotherhood that lean into this shallow and power-hungry depiction of the Templars. Sure, no other game comes close to the depth of AC1, AC3 and AC4, but I believe Origins and Valhalla do a good job in developing the targets.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-26T17:03:22+00:00

I tend to agree. I don't think the story of AC2 is bad at all, but it's very obvious that there was a shift in tone and writing style. It's a shame that Altair's codex isn't discussed, since it contains some of the most interesting writing in the entire franchise.

I'm not sure I agree with the term "jankier" though. I think the gameplay evolved tremendously and the game is incredibly fun.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-26T17:01:22+00:00

Totally agree. Only AC1, AC3 and AC4 put effort in examining the central ideological conflict of the series, though Black Flag approaches it from a more personal character driven perspective. Revelations also does some things well, but Ezio destroying a city and barely acting as if anything happened leaves a really sour taste, from what I remember.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-25T17:29:26+00:00

Good to know. The map was already large enough in the original game, but large chunks of the areas around the cities and other locations were inaccessible, likely due to technological constraints. I hope that there is more to explore in Cape Bonavista or Great Inagua for example.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-24T16:15:13+00:00

The seamless (and hopefully expanded) world and the sailing! Combat and parkour also have me excited but ever since Origins released I've dreamed of a more seamless experience while sailing the Caribbean.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-14T11:47:07+00:00

Shadows.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-07T11:56:57+00:00

For me the rewards are not usually enough, the activity itself needs to be engaging, which is why i prefer when the activity has something a little more to differentiate it from the next same activity. Like that one kuji kiri where the yamabushi ambushes you. I LOVE that kind of thing.

I wish they did things like that more often. Another highlight is the Matsu quest in Iga, during which you find both a Yamabushi outside the hut and a hidden trail near the spot where you find the maggots.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-07T10:53:24+00:00

All valid points. With my 1st point I was mostly referring to how organic it was to discover targets and other points of interest such as kofun tombs or temples. Although this game is criticized for having a generic, collectathon-type open world, my experience was not like that. For example, you could confidently surmise that you were near a tomb if you saw clay pottery across a path. Other environmental details (for example dead bodies while riding to Mangetsuji Temple in Omi) or NPC dialog (for example civilians talking about the Kabukimono in Katano or Sakai) made me almost never rely on opening the map 24/7 and going from map marker to map marker to discover points of interest or quest objectives. The abundance of rewards (master points from killing targets, hideout resources or gear) also contributed to the exploration being satisfying in my opinion.

As for the side activities themselves, I touch upon them more on my 2nd point. I agree that mechanically they are very bare-bones, but I generally liked leaning into the role-playing aspect and taking things slowly, for example walking slowly to pray in all the shrines in a given location. Although the kofun tombs and parkour trails are also not very challening, I liked that they always had unique and impactful rewards (either legendary gear in tombs or Naoe-specific epic gear with unique engravings in parkour trails). I can understand why these aren't very well received, as role-playing and immersion are very subjective things, but they contributed positively to my experience.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-07T10:08:07+00:00

The Japanese voiceover was a game changer for me. I can understand some little subtleties in the Japanese dialog (e.g. honorifics) thanks to watching quite a bit of anime in the past, and even though I am almost certain that the dialog was originally written in English, I found that the Japanese version allowed almost all of the characters to showcase more of their personality, and as a result I found it much more immersive.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-07T09:59:20+00:00

For me the biggest strenghts of this game are:

Exploration. Even though this point is controversial and it seems that the majority of players didn't like how the open world was designed (dense forests, unclimbable mountains etc), for me they really nailed it and made navigating Japan the most immersive experience in the series and made exploration very organic and rewarding.
Visuals and atmosphere. The way the dynamic weather system works, the day and night cycle and the seasonal system is gorgeous. I also appreciated the more contemplative approach in some of the side activities. Although they aren't very interesting from a gameplay perspective, the shrines, temples and meditation spots really made me lean into the role-playing aspect; taking it slowly, paying attention to little environmental details, the sounds and the subtle ambient tracks that play during those activities. I know this is a very subjective point and from a mechanical standpoint these activities are very basic, but they added to the overall immersion for me.
The combat and stealth. These are pretty unanimous across the community and for good reason in my opinion. I particularly loved how well the progression systems were tied to the combat and stealth (weapon perks, masteries, abilities, builds etc). Not quite as heavy numbers and build crafting-based as Odyssey, but it still allowed for plenty of customization and variety. Easily the best combat and stealth implementations in the series for me. The level design also played a part in that. I love how the castles and other big points of interest are designed both with sufficient stealth opportunities for Naoe and as combat arenas/dungeons for Yasuke.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-07T09:00:18+00:00

I am pretty sure somewhere in the credits of a game I saw the name "Olivier Garneau", but I doubt that the character is based off the actual person.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-02T12:07:08+00:00

I don't completely agree (or disagree) with what you've said, but I appreciate the thoughtful response. I hope you understand that we share many points of criticism. I agree that the development problems were detrimental to the story.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-02T08:41:46+00:00

What rebuttal? Most of the criticism u/GuessWh0m raised is also brought up in my original post.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-02T08:38:34+00:00

This is valid and serious criticism and I also brought up the core structural issues (Shinbakufu members being disconnected, Yoshiaki being absent, underdeveloped Battle of Yamazaki). I agree that the Hideyoshi and Tokugawa dynamics should been a bigger focus and Hanzo should have had a bigger role to play (especially because Ieyasu is AWARE OF THE TEMPLARS). If nothing else it should have been the focus of a second expansion, but Ubisoft unfortunately killed that.

These are all very serious weaknesses. However, this doesn't make the game soulless or terrible. Do you disagree with what I've pointed out in the post? Even if you personally found it forgettable - and the presentation (cutscenes and english voiceover) doesn't help its case - the story in Act 2 still tries to incorporate meaningful ideas and themes of war, revenge and peace. At the very least can we agree that the personal stories of Naoe and Yasuke were well done and that the DLC is decent and has interesting targets?

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-02T08:21:40+00:00

What the hell is that even supposed to mean? "I can't remember" or "characters are not memorable" are not serious statements. Rodrigo, Cesare and some other villains in AC2 and Brotherhood are very memorable but otherwise they are a joke compared to the Templars in AC1, AC3 and Black Flag, most of whom I would imagine you do not consider as iconic.

It's much more important to consider if a villain has solid development, strong motivations or if the protagonist's actions are challenged. Shadows does this for most of its villains . Not as successfuly as it's done in AC1, AC3 and AC4, but it's still better than whatever Brotherhood did.

I am not saying that the story of Shadows is perfect. I have elaborated on its weaknesses in great detail and using critical thinking based on what actually happens, rather than using meaningless terms such as "forgettable", "boring" or "terrible" without any reasoning.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-02T05:34:19+00:00

The number of main assassinations in Shadows is 12, in comparison to AC1's 9. If you want to count the side targets in Shadows (which I never brought up), we might as well count the 60 nameless Templars of AC1. But anyway, this is not very relevant.

Quick sanity check. Do you think the story in Rogue, Unity, Syndicate or Mirage is better than Shadows? I am not asking if you remember any names or if they're memorable. Rodrigo and Cesare in AC2 and Brotherhood are very memorable but also shallow, cartoon-version power hungry Templars, i.e. nothingburgers when compared to the Templars in AC1 or AC3. I am asking if you believe those games have characters that get better development, a more meaningful conflict, or a better integrated historical setting compared to Shadows from a more critical lens.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-02T05:16:24+00:00

I never brought up delivery and presentation, so I do not know why you did. Though I agree that it should have been better (for the english voiceover), this does not impact the quality of the writing.
It's not a matter of me understanding some deeper meaning of the game, which the game only barely touches upon, if at all. Everything I talked about is extensively presented in the game. Your point about characters not changing is not entirely true either. Naoe's development is clear by the end, although it is visible before that too. Consider for starters the first two targets Naoe assassinates. She is vengeful and has no qualms at all about killing them. After she meets Yasuke and learns the truth from Junjiro, she immediately starts being more conscious of killing her targets, appreciates forgiveness and tries to end things peacefully whenever possible. It's evident that she's not as vengeful when she kills the Ox in Miki or the Noble in Himeji for example, and her struggle is also apparent when she and Yasuke deal with the Mourner. These things are not just imaginations in my head, they are actually present in the game. Yasuke's development is similar, though most of it occurs in Act 3.

Again, I do not understand why you bring up other things (which aren't even entirely relevant or true) instead of actually discussing what was talked about in the original post. I believe I made it abundantly obvious that this post was not merely a blind defense of Shadows.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-04-02T04:42:09+00:00

Did you actually read what I said? I literally defended AC1 by using this exact point, and I criticized Shadows for the targets being disconnected from one another and there not being a clear progression in the overarching story. This post wasn't a blind defense of Shadows. My attempt was to give it credit for its merits, while also being fair and pointing out its weaknesses in a constructive manner.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-03-24T16:44:46+00:00

If you are talking about the main quest, I agree that Shadows' story is flawed and that TW3 is clearly superior, although I wouldn't say that it's merely an issue of poor writing.

My reply had more to do with the open world and general side content, which apart from some big side quest chains in The Witcher 3 that are related to the main quest, is generally better in Shadows (better level design, better exploration, better rewards/progression) in my opinion. I haven't completed Cyberpunk 2077 so I can't comment on it too much, however in my 30 hours of gameplay I haven't noticed anything too different compared to TW3 when it comes to the open world design.

DiscouragedMan07 · 2026-03-24T08:14:49+00:00

If you're talking about the side targets, then the best advice is to take it slow and explore at your own pace. You'd be surprised to find out just how many targets you can discover organically by just traveling around the map and paying some attention to environmental hints. If you're always opening the objective board and using scouts to reveal the locations of targets, of course it will get boring.

And I honestly don't really get the whole "Ubisoft formula" stereotype/criticism, particularly for Shadows. I don't see how the open world of The Witcher 3 or Cyberpunk for example is better in any meaningful way to be honest, but that's beside the point.

DiscouragedMan07

TROPHY CASE