Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Remake’s Map Size & Improvements Revealed

Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced was the worst-kept secret in the industry for some time, as a flurry of leaks, reports, and rumors all but confirmed the remake’s existence. Ubisoft even directly poked fun at this for its teaser for the game’s first trailer. Said trailer came alongside a ton of new information about the game. Despite that flurry, though, Ubisoft recently took to Reddit to speak more about the upcoming open-world title, touching on topics like its refined combat system, how big its map is, new features for naval navigation, and more.

The Reddit AMA had input from creative director Paul Fu and game director Richard Knight. When prompted about the map size, Fu noted how it was still 16 square kilometers like the original, but is “little more dense, with new islands and new locations nestled in the cities.” Going off what Ubisoft stated during the game’s reveal, going through this big world is now seamless and won’t be interrupted by load screens like the original. According to a comparison by YouTuber Perkovic, Black Flag has the second-biggest map in the entire franchise, coming in just behind Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Odyssey, like Black Flag, has a lot of sailable ocean, but the 2018 Grecian RPG has more land, explaining how it was able to edge out the 2013 title.

Players will be able to utilize the autopilot feature seen in other Assassin’s Creed games while sailing, but Knight said players will still have to pay attention because “you never know when an attack is coming.” And like the recent Assassin’s Creed games, Resynced also ditches the mini-map in favor of a compass, something Knight said was to subtly direct players and keep their eyes focused on the ocean “without taking up a lot of screen space or distracting from the sea.”

Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced Will Carry Over Many Systems From the Original

Resynced‘s oceans and lands alike will also have all the same side activity types of the original. Knight said they’ll all be “rebuilt from the ground up,” and the team will be sharing more “soon.” He was more cagey about the original’s social chests, saying “a pirate never confirms or denies the existence of his treasure.” These odd chests tied into Uplay at the time, and given how the Kenway’s Fleet system that was also tied to Uplay is being reworked, it’s likely the chests will be, as well. Like the side missions, social stealth and all 30 or so of the original’s costumes will be returning, but Knight didn’t spill any more details on those features.

Read Next

5 Things the Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag Remake Needs to Have

Fu went on to speak more about Resynced‘s overhauled combat, noting the studio took inspiration from the fans who were proficient with a cutlass and pistol. He then explained how the studio is attempting to add substance to the more flashy parts of Edward Kenway’s arsenal for Resynced, as some weapons mostly didn’t have much gameplay utility aside from looking cool.

“Resynced‘s combat is heavily inspired by fan made combo/tool videos from the original,” said Fu. “We set off with a target to bring back Edward’s parry-based, flashy style of combat, but we also knew that the bar for fight systems is higher in 2026. In the original, using the pistol and tools in combat were great fun, but they were mostly visual. In Resynced, different moves need to be used in different situations. This means that one needs to react quickly in order to pull off a flashy series of moves.”

While there were some nuggets here and from the debut media blitz, there will still be more information drops in the coming weeks before the game’s July 9th launch. Fu said a naval deep dive was slated for May and a combat deep dive will go up “very soon.” Knight also spoke of a gameplay deep dive coming soon, but it is unclear if this is separate from the aforementioned breakdowns.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!