Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Released on Steam: Nearly 100,000 Players Online, but Most Reviews Are Mixed

July 9th is a major day for all Assassin's Creed fans, as it marked the release of a remake of 2013's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, now titled Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced. Critics praised Ubisoft's new entry highly, with the game now standing as the highest-rated title in the franchise since 2013, when the original was released. However, Steam users don't seem quite as enthusiastic.

At the time of writing, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has mixed reviews, with only 52% of them positive. Users are widely criticizing the game for numerous issues related to the Ubisoft Launcher, the 30 FPS cap during cutscenes, and other technical problems. There are also some complaints about the gameplay, such as the reworked combat system, which feels like a hybrid of the original and more recent series entries; the inability to use the hidden blade as a usable weapon; and health icons above enemies that turn certain ones into "mini-bosses."

As for its advantages, the graphics in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced have received much praise for looking truly astonishing, along with solid optimization and improved mission design—especially during stealth sequences. Moreover, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced has attracted nearly one hundred thousand players worldwide, with the current count at 99,451. This has set a new record, marking the highest number of concurrent players in the history of the Assassin's Creed franchise. The previous record was held by Assassin's Creed Shadows, with 64,825 players, as you can check out below:

Another aspect that has faced significant criticism—one that is, by the way, often associated with Ubisoft—is its pricing policy and monetization. As spotted by user Pirat_Nation on X, all the cosmetic DLCs for Black Flag Resynced are priced higher than the game's Deluxe Edition, as you can see below:

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's DLCs cost more than the full game itself.

This is content removed from the game and then sold again Ubisoft's greed knows no limits.

Nevertheless, despite some nuances, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's sales are likely to please the developers. According to Alinea Analytics, the game has already sold around 300,000 copies from pre-orders alone, bringing in approximately $14 million and surpassing the total sales of another pirate-themed title, Skull & Bones, released in 2024. However, even with this success, Insider Gaming reports that 51 employees from Ubisoft Barcelona, all of whom worked on Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, were recently laid off. Gaming media outlets add that Ubisoft often reallocates developers to new projects before current ones are completed, but last summer, the Barcelona team had no idea what they would be working on next. As it turned out, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced became their final project.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is now available on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5.