Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is stunning on all three consoles

This week, Ubisoft launches Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, a game we have covered during its reveal with our preview and interview. It clearly isn't as much of an RPG despite being a modern Assassin's Creed release, but it does smartly bring classic and modern Assassin's Creed together as you can see in our Branching Path feature from Hayes. I've been very interested in the technical side of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced after how incredible Assassin's Creed Shadows was across platforms. I've had access to the PS5 and Xbox Series versions pre-release it has been amazing to play this remake across three consoles with cross platform progression.

I never finished Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag despite buying it twice, but I did enjoy what I played. It has been years since I last tried it. I've been approaching Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced as a new game and it is excellent to play. I've had access to it for about a week across PS5 Pro, PS5, and Xbox Series X. Resynced is basically stunning on all three consoles. If you own any of those platforms and are curious how it runs, this feature will focus on just that.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced on PS5, PS5 Pro, and Xbox Series X includes three visual modes: Performance, Balanced, and Fidelity. All three modes deliver a 4K upscaled output, but the frame rate target and other graphics vary. The other difference is ray tracing which is limited on base consoles in the performance mode (only global illumination for diffuse lighting) while fidelity and balanced deliver an extended suite with global illumination for both diffuse lighting and relfective surfaces. The PS5 Pro features this extended ray tracing in all three modes.

I've tested the three modes here for the PlayStation 5 consoles, but only two modes on my Xbox Series X. Because of capture issues, I was unable to try out the Balanced mode outputting to 4K and would've had to use 1440p or 1080p. To keep things consistent across comparisons, I used 4K capture for all modes here. 

While the PS5 Pro delivers a better overall resolve even in its performance mode for distant details, it still has reduced foliage and a few other graphics settings in parts. Basically, don't expect the PS5 Pro's performance mode to be better than the Fidelity or Balanced mode on base console in every way. It is better than playing on the base consoles in the same modes though. That is consistent in my testing.

Note: For the comparison, I used cross progression and loaded the exact same save file on all platforms covered in the modes mentioned in the image. Pay attention to the foliage in the distance, the textures, clarity, and more across the modes and consoles.

I usually play Ubisoft games on multiple platforms and my picks are the balanced mode on PS5 or Xbox Series X with either performance or balanced on PS5 Pro. I play on a 1440p monitor usually and those modes looked fantastic there. 

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced PS5 console features

Beyond just visuals and performance, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced on PS5 has excellent DualSense haptics and light bar support. It also supports PS5 Activity Card tracking for quests and progress in-game.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Xbox Series console features

While it is disappointing that Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced does not support Xbox Play Anywhere, it does have Quick Resume support and does support cross progression with other platforms. You could resume your save through the PC version on Steam or Ubisoft Connect.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced load times across PS5, PS5 Pro, and Xbox Series X

To test load times, I measured the time taken to load the title screen from the console dashboard and also the time taken to load the exact same file on all consoles. I have Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced installed to the internal SSD on all consoles. 

All console versions take longer than they should to load because of a lot of forced animations and warning screens to sit through. The connecting online aspect also adds to the initial time. Thankfully getting into your save takes between 7 and 8 seconds on all consoles I tested. Normally, I'd say Quick Resume is a good way to deal with the initial load being long, but you should keep in mind that it will interfere with cross progression if you do plan on playing it elsewhere. If you don't, this is one to play with Quick Resume. 

Overall, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is gorgeous and I think it absolutely shines in the Balanced mode on base consoles. If you have a PS5 Pro, you see benefits even in the Performance mode over the same mode on base consoles and in general thanks to the upgraded PSSR. In its current state, it is a polished visual experience on all consoles, but it shines on PS5 Pro.