If there is one game coming out this year to challenge the might of Grand Theft Auto 6, it is Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced. A controversial statement perhaps, but those who braved its high seas back in 2014 know the call to become swashbuckling pirate assassin Edward Kenway, helming his trusty Jackdaw straight into the beautiful, but deadly waters of the Caribbean.My favourite part is you get to plunder and pillage the Colonial British Empire circa 1715, just before they colonised India. All that aside, Black Flag Resynced is improved and re-crafted with love, sporting some of the most gorgeous visuals of any game to date. Set in the 1700s during the golden age of piracy, in a world where European superpowers are busy trying to colonise everything they set foot on, you play Edward Kenway, a rogue with no code of honour and a dream to make enough money to retire to England with his love.From the time you seize the Jackdaw, a mid-sized but powerful brig from the Spaniards, the Caribbean opens up to you. Every island, tiny city, town or coastline is laid out to be explored to your heart’s content from Spain-controlled Havana to the free port of Nassau. Edward’s journey with his trusty quartermaster Adéwalé is a storied one, and along the way you get to meet Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, Bartholomew ‘Black Bart’ Roberts and a whole gamut of good, bad and ugly pirates. Almost every aspect of the game has been improved in Black Flag Resynced to match the current standard set by Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The action system has been made a bit modern, with a dash of Sekiro in the timed parry and takedown system allowing Edward to stylishly dispatch off a bunch of Her Majesty’s finest in just a few well-timed hits. The dual sword fighting is flashy, but the special kicks and sweeps really add to the dynamism.Assassin’s Creed games can sometimes feel overpowered with its stealth mode — you can dispatch enemies by whistling from the bushes. While this is possible in Black Flag too, you can increase the difficulty of stealth, letting you tweak your playstyle.This has upped the stealth challenge, forcing me to parkour more aggressively and take advantage of vertical kills. One qualm here would be the camera and the fact you have to hold the X or A button when free running. This makes it tough to focus the camera, especially while chasing floating music notes over rooftops in a particular minigame. Hopefully, it gets fixed; I did not face this in Shadows.Where the game truly shines is in the mechanics that started it all. The ship combat is still unparalleled and while it has been done in so many games, Black Flag is somehow the best. Looking around the ship allows you to engage various armaments and cannons to obliterate enemy ships. While the Jackdaw moves slowly, this allows time for strategy and the action gets no less frantic as you steer, aim and disable. Boarding is fun, as you jump aboard the enemy ship and swashbuckle away. Truly, some of the most memorable moments in this game lie in discovery. Pristine blue green waters, your crew singing a melancholy sea shanty about your love visiting you in a dream, the sound of the waves and the wind in your sails — Black Flag Resynced has made this experience even better, creating a feeling of the Jackdaw cutting through the swells. The night and day system is beautiful, as sunrise paints reflections, sunset brings the shadows on the sea and at night, you can see lights in cabins of ships passing by.Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag ResyncedPublisher: UbisoftDeveloper: UbisoftPrice: ₹4,999 on Playstation 5, PC, XboxBlack Flag Resynced is one of the best looking games to date. If you are lucky to have obtained a Playstation Pro or have a beefy computer, the ray-traced reflections add great depth to every scene. There are so many little things that make this world believable. Pan the camera close to the water and you can see the sun kissing the waves making it glow; this is called subsurface scattering, and its implementation is gorgeous. The sound design is excellent with superb voice acting from Matt Ryan, who plays the TV Constantine. Ralph Ineson brings his trademark gravelly voice to Charles Vane, having previously been the voice of Galactus in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. An excellent cast, with superb sound effects — a good pair of headphones or surround sound system and Black Flag Resynced’s Caribbean will come to life. No matter how many times you played Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, Resynced will make you want to return. It is like visiting an old friend in his swanky new house. If you have played the game before, have fun uncovering all that is new. If you have not, you are in for a treat. So, go out and experience this classic reborn!