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Edward Kenway is not your father’s Assassin’s Creed protagonist. Unsworn to ancient oaths or given a better future, he’s just a boy who loves money, hates the law, and his gold-chasing, law-abiding lifestyle sees him caught up in an ancient war between the Templars and the assassins. After being shipwrecked by a man named Walpole who became a Templar, Edward discovers Walpole’s identity in hopes of finding the good he mentioned.
Edward takes life lightly. The world around him is violent and chaotic, and those around him are more busy double-crossing than the Mission: Impossible movie writers’ room. Ed just smiles, undeterred by all of this, and continues to steal. It’s all fun and games for him, and he’s ready to conquer the Caribbean to his heart’s content. It’s a nice addition to the gamer, in that sense, and that’s what the 2013-themed Assassin’s Creed iteration does best: the idea of freedom.
Like the original, Ubisoft Singapore’s Resynced version certainly lives up to the fantasy of mystery. Almost all of your time is spent doing what seems to be the most important part of a pirate’s life: driving a ship across the ocean with your crew, attacking Spanish merchant ships, fighting with a sword, planning a massive conspiracy, playing checkers near the port with powerful sailors. And unlike the first game, they often don’t end up doing things that mess with their minds. Like a tedious mission, sweeping through uncollected mini-maps, or enduring Abstergo’s lengthy interactions.
More than just a lick of paint, this redesign takes the pen back to its original design, adding and subtracting what it deserves. The aforementioned missions, where Edward pursued his targets far and wide for what seemed like years before finding or killing them, were cut. This is great, but it would have been much more interesting to see these missions reworked to make them more meaningful and rewarding.
Gone too are the Abstergo interludes. This is a double-edged sword, because the additional plot – the idea that the player is not a criminal but is recalling past memories in a secret laboratory so that an evil organization can control people – is the most important part of the series. It was mind boggling in the first game, but it’s true that by the time of Black Flag, Abstergo’s episodes started to feel like a break away from the action.
The level of the story is now available as text in the menu, opened by following images floating around the world. Abstergo also appears in short-term challenges that reward you for doing random things like killing enemies in a certain way or completing quests, and reward you with money that you can use to buy cosmetics. At least it’s still true to all the negative aspects of the industry, then. As with the throwing of tailing services, it is the elimination that makes the game better, but it is not the most effective solution.
The updated combat and new missions, however, are clearly superior. Fights give you a lot of options and combo abilities – like hooking an enemy with your hook and sweeping their legs – and best of all, it makes your fights look like pieces of tightly choreographed animation. Another triumph of pirate fantasy. Several new offices, which give you new members with well-written notes, remain unchanged from the original missions.
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The old power of the game still works. The depth and variety of Edward’s daily life is still fascinating – one day he’s leveling the house for his secret home, the next he’s leveling Incan ruins to find Templar treasure. The original game is fast, action-packed, and has the ability to make you a hero. But in the end, it’s the moments in between that make this game special. It’s when you’re driving your boat at night, watching the lights sway, listening to the sailors singing the little house. This game gives you enough opportunities to feel the freedom of pirates, now more than ever. Ubisoft may have looted its library for treasure, but players get their fair share of the loot.
