While Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced has been quite popular, with many enjoying the remake’s take on the beloved 2013 game, one notable exception has been the fact that some of the original’s combat options were removed. This includes the ability to pick up enemy weapons and even the ability to use the hidden blade in fights. In an interview with YouTuber JorRaptor, game director Richard Knight has spoken about these omissions.
One of the first things he says on the subject is that fans shouldn’t stop asking for things from the developers. “We can’t make any promises, [but] we’re listening to the community,” he said. “We’re interested in what people want the most.” Further in the conversation, he explained that the removal of these systems came down to the development team’s priorities for the limited resources they had. Along with this is the fact that protagonist Edward Kenway is already so powerful with his base kit that revolves around the use of his dual swords.
“During development, if you looked at Edward – he’s so powerful right now and has so many tools – and so we prioritized core combat because we needed to nail that,” he said. “Something like throwing weapons, while it’s cool, it’s just like ‘he already has ten ways to kill somebody’. So, given the cost to reinvent the feature and rebuild it from the ground up with today’s characters, rigs, and animations, there’s a lot more that goes into it. It was just lower priority for us.”
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced was released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S last week, and its PC version has already proven to be quite popular. On launch, the title managed to hit almost 100,000 concurrent players on Steam, despite also getting “Mixed” reviews on the storefront due to an abundance of microtransaction options.
Responding to this backlash, Ubisoft released a statement in which it reaffirmed that the basic Standard Edition of the game is the complete experience and that DLCs like the Character and Naval Packs, while offering power boosts through gear with unique perks, are still completely optional.
“We’ve seen your feedback since launch, and we’re reading all of it. Thank you for caring this much about Black Flag Resynced. We want to be clear on one point: the Standard Edition is the full, complete experience.”
“Every mission, every island, the full story and the complete world are all there, with nothing held back. The additional packs are entirely optional extras for players who want them, never a requirement to enjoy or complete the game. We’ll keep listening as you play!”
The strategy seems to have been a winning one for Ubisoft, with a recent report indicating that the DLC packs have already made almost $1 million in addition to the revenue generated by Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced on Steam.
For more details, take a look at our review. Also check out our thoughts on why exactly Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced surpasses the 2013 original in “almost every conceivable way.”
