Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Resynced has brought back a fan-favorite entry in Ubisoft’s historical fiction series to modern platforms, and Ubisoft is using the remake’s final big patch to add something the original game didn’t have in 2013: New Game+.
Once you see Edward Kenway’s swashbuckling sea adventures through to the end, you’ll be able to restart the game with some of your progress intact. There will be some restrictions, however, as Ubisoft lays out in the announcement. Here’s what will transfer over from one playthrough to the next, as well as some stipulations on what won’t:
- All of Edward’s tools, upgrades, unlocked weapons, and trinkets.
- All the Jackdaw’s upgrades, unlocked officer abilities and pets.
- Officers will not physically be on ship and need to be recruited again
- All money, materials and trade goods from inventory.
- There is a new currency used for NG+
- Quest-related items will be removed
- All unlocked customizable outfits and their options.
- Hideout progression, perks, and art collection.
- All Kenway fleet ships.
- However, forts will need to be taken over again as the map’s fog will be reset.
- Codex items including each treasure map, acquired and completed.
- Items purchased from the store.
While some New Game+ modes can leave players feeling overpowered and able to quickly cut through challenges they struggled with before, Resynced is making each subsequent New Game+ playthrough more challenging with, among other tweaks, Elite Soldiers appearing more often and max-rank ships setting sail with higher frequency. This added difficulty stacks up to five times, so if you’re looking for a new challenge, you can find it by replaying the game.
New Game+ playthroughs also have their own currency that you earn by completing challenges and looting old chests, and it can be used to buy new outfits and items that you won’t get in the first playthrough.
Also included in the update is a new difficulty mode called Nightmare, which affects all aspects of the game but can also be turned on for only specific mechanics like ground combat, stealth, and ship combat if you prefer. Here’s how each pillar of the game is altered in the new mode:
Ground Combat
- Enemies do 1.8x damage
- The timing for parrying is reduced
- No more white glint on enemy attacks
- Ranged enemies shoot more often
- The one-shot kill safety is disabled.
- This is the most impactful since the game does not prevent an instant death, even if the player has a lot of health left. Players should be extremely mindful of bullets and explosives.
Stealth
- Detection time greatly reduced
- Investigation time extended
- Enemies can hear the player when they’re moving faster than a walk
- Edward needs to be at least 6m above an enemy to stay hidden in a high spot, instead of just 4m
Naval
- All ship damages are increased
Activities
- Underwater sharks deal more damage
- Urchins and jellyfish damage is doubled
- Oxygen meter depletes faster
- All harpooning wildlife deals more damage
Ubisoft rounds out the patch with new takedown animations resembling ones from the original game that weren’t included in the remake, as well as new cosmetics. As for the technical stuff, here’s the patch notes for the bug fixes:
General
- Fixed an issue where Players were unable to launch the game in Offline Mode if connection to servers was lost whilst playing.
- Increased number of Rogue Waves happening during storms.
- Fixed an issue where Players owning the Deluxe edition did not have the Blackbeard items displayed as ‘Owned’ in the Exchange.
- Fixed an issue where Players were able to Fast Travel to unsynchronized viewpoints in Havana and Long Bay.
- Fixed an issue where the Game would freeze while playing ‘Nine-Man Morris, Checkers or Fanorona’ at a Tavern.
- Fixed an issue where Camera Field of View was permanently altered indoors after experiencing ‘Delirium’.
- Fixed an issue where Pistol ‘Customize’ did not affect the pistols on Edward’s hips.
- Fixed an issue where the Rope Dart was still attached to Edward’s hand in the following cutscenes after assassinating a ‘Boss’ with it.
- Fixed an issue where the Guardian Beast trinket’s healing effect was still active even after quitting to memories.
- Fixed multiple world map location icons that were not updated when all activities were completed.
- General spelling and punctuation fixes.
- Fixed some Accessibility Narration issues.
Gameplay
- Fixed an issue where Edward could get stuck in an aiming position if he got hit while taking corner cover and aiming with a smoke bomb.
- Fixed an issue where Edward was unable to assassinate sleeping casualties if they collapsed onto a bush hiding spot.
- Fixed minor issues experienced while fighting and assassinating.
- Fixed quality of life issues while handling tools.
- Fixed and issue where Players were unable to raise travel sails after certain quests.
World
- Fixed an issue where the chest icon might remain visible after clearing the San Ignacio wreck.
Progression & Economy
- Fixed wrong location for Capuchin Monkey’s Codex entry.
UI/Menu
- Fixed an issue where the World map could be grayed out and locked controls for a while.
- Fixed and issue where hidden gear would still appear in the pause menu.
Visuals & Graphics
- Fixed an issue where the Jackdaw might remain looking damaged despite repairing the ship.
- Fixed general issues where Enemies would snap to their feet if Edward assassinated them while they slept.
Stability & Optimizations
- Improved stability.
Audio
- Fixed an issue where the Gunshots were muffled after exiting inventory and activating the ‘Blades of the Damned’ sword perk.
- Fixed some gunshot sounds that were silent.
Controls
- Fixed an issue for Mouse and Keyboard where the Player was unable to dive underwater if they changed the ‘Walk’ input from ‘Hold’ to ‘Toggle’.
Quests
- “This Tyro Captain”:- Fixed an issue where some Players could be soft locked after skinning the Ocelots.
- “The Traveling Salesman”:- Fixed an issue where the quest might disappear after retrieving documents from Prin’s courtyard.
- “We Demand a Parley”:- Fixed an issue where Rogers might die of mysterious circumstances, preventing you from fully tailing him.
- “Commodore Eighty-Sixed”:- Fixed an issue where the Player was unable to proceed if they managed to berserk dart the Commodore before the fight begins.
- “Captain Stede Bonnet”:- Fixed an issue where the Loyalists would not move if Edward took an alternative route.
- “A World Without Gold: Not Even a Real Captain”:- Fixed an issue where Players were unable to loot dead enemies and get stuck at 2/3 Intel.
- “Officer Quest: The One with the Gun”:- Fixed an issue where the plantain was missing if the players started “A World Without Gold at the same time.
- “Templar Hunt: Anto – Under Attack”:- Fixed and issue where Players were unable to continue the mission if the final enemy wave did not spawn.
- “Templar Hunt: Rhona – A Thief in the Market”:- Fixed an issue where the Player was unable to move if they stood at a specific spot in a crowd during “Locate a hiding spot in the market”.
- “Naval Contract: Realities of War”:- Fixed multiple issues where the Contract giver was missing, or the contract could not be completed.
- “Naval Contract: Hunter Gatherer”:- Fixed an issue where the quest icon and objectives were missing after entering the mission area.
- “Rift: Edward’s Memories”:- Fixed parkouring issues in the spiked tunnel if You chose not to obey EGO and wait.