Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Debuts HUD Toggle, Underwater Gameplay, Edward Kenway Return

You’ll be treated to some new updates on the Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, and here’s what makes things interesting straight away. We have an incredibly simple yet highly effective option to instantly turn off the HUD during gameplay. The feature isn’t exactly revolutionary, but once you see how it works, you’ll never think of open-world gaming the same way again.

The official account for the game released a video snippet showing how to easily turn the HUD on or off with a single button press. You won’t be fiddling about with any menus to find where your options to turn everything off are hiding. Instead, you will be turning the entire HUD off instantly during the game and then switching it on when needed.

The best part is that you are not bound to one particular setup throughout the entire gameplay.

Now, you can alternate between guided and immersion-focused gameplay whenever you want to. It's important for you, as a player, more than it initially sounds like it is. The advantage offered by HUDs is considerable, yet they can become so omnipresent on the screen that they simply cease to be noticeable over time.

In fact, you only appreciate what the option of removing anything at will can do once you acquire that possibility. When there's nothing to obscure your vision anymore, all you see is the world, the ocean, the ships, the environment; you realize just how much other games could stand to learn from this game regarding the possibilities of removing the interface completely without making the user enter any kind of menu.

At the same time, you can't help wondering about the implications of this for open-world game design as such. While other games allow for customizing HUD elements, this particular game allows you to adapt your gameplay experience while being in the middle of that gameplay. This alone justifies some people's expectations that it will become a feature in many other games.

In addition to that, you have seen the introduction of underwater gameplay that has been showcased by IGN. Here, you spend some time swimming and exploring underwater, and, needless to say, the emphasis is on the visuals. The underwater worlds are designed with great attention to detail in lighting and motion, as well as overall immersion when exploring the environment.

This also implies a certain level of interaction with your surroundings, as you can explore and move around underwater while looting and discovering new areas.

There is even a slight sense of tension towards the end of the video, where you meet a shark that makes this area more dangerous despite it being seemingly calm and peaceful. Again, the clip itself is not long, but at least you get an understanding of what the underwater areas will be like in-game.

Another piece of information about the development of the series comes from an interview with Matt Ryan, who voices Edward Kenway. Now you learn more about the reasons why Edward became such a popular character among the fans of the game series, including Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and the remake of the latter.

According to him, it was Edward's life story and experience that attracted players' attention. In other words, the character begins with a simple dream and a motivation to create a better life, driven by his aspirations, family, and a general desire for stability. At the same time, he is not an ideal person, but he takes a very risky and ruthless road to reach his destination.

The whole process becomes much bigger, so that the desires and needs become two separate things. Success mustn't depend on anything in this case, so that even if there is no success at first, it does not matter that you become more realistic.

However, another view of Edward's popularity holds that his character development is not unique.

The "zero to hero" narrative might be quite conventional and common in video games, whereas the truly unique and memorable character is Edward himself. It could be said that he is one of those rare cases where the protagonist's charisma is far more important than the way his story unfolds.

Thus, in terms of character development, it might be beneficial to compare Edward to the protagonists from other installments of the Assassin's Creed. To begin with, you should keep in mind that in comparison with Ezio, Edward belongs to a completely different era. Moreover, when compared to characters from other video games in the same franchise, Edward is consistently mentioned as one of the most likable and expressive, alongside Ezio himself.

In contrast, the newer versions of the protagonist, which were characterized by much more sophisticated and reserved personalities, did not receive such an affectionate response from their audience. The conversation then transitions into how the current protagonists in Assassin’s Creed have been viewed, with some people noting that recent protagonists do not quite measure up when it comes to charisma.

The point here is that while recent protagonists may still have compelling character arcs, they lack something in terms of having an engaging personality, something that previous protagonists, like Eivor, Naoe, and Yasuke, did have. Another interesting detail is revealed regarding the voice direction for the protagonist, Edward Kenway.

An interesting aspect of Matt Ryan’s comeback as Edward Kenway is how close the character was to sounding completely different.

As it turns out, Matt Ryan’s initial voice acting audition gave him a character arc for a different kind of regional accent than what was actually used when his voice work began. Rather than adhering to the original vision, it seems the game designers modified his character based on his performance.

Such a change becomes defining for Edward as well, and this is another one of these decisions regarding his development that will affect the character as experienced by you in the actual game. Here, you also get the voice actors' reflections on playing Edward after all these years of silence between the two games.

For him, it is an opportunity to return to the character he became attached to years ago, even though doing so brings some novelty, as he has changed since then. There is nostalgia involved here because Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag was quite a successful game when it came out, and coming back to playing it was easy and natural.

Still, this is also a reminder of how much time has passed since the last game with Edward. It has been over ten years already, and a lot has changed in the world. Newer generations who are just beginning their adventures with the franchise are more likely to start with newer entries like Assassin's Creed Origins, and for them, Black Flag is going to be a new experience as well.

This is one reason the discussion about the remake continues. Regardless of whether you’ve played the original and have vivid memories of it, there is a new generation of gamers who have never even encountered the adventures of Edward Kenway. This makes the current remake more than just a remaster; it gives another group of people the chance to get involved in the game.

In the end, you have a pretty good idea of what this particular iteration of Black Flag is trying to communicate through its various design features. Apart from being more contemporary and featuring classical features, there comes the matter of immersion, presentation, and persona. Just talking about a HUD toggle indicates how much consideration the developer has put into designing their HUD system.

The concept of underwater play also emphasizes exploration. Finally, Edward Kenway's involvement and his voice actor’s opinion explain why this hero should have such an iconic status in the franchise. All of this is part of a development process that is designed to cater to both nostalgia and innovation, while also accommodating a whole new group of gamers to play through a classic tale.