We speak to Ubisoft Singapore's Terry Han about the tough yet fulfilling challenge of remaking one of the Assassin's Creed franchise's best games from scratch.10:00, 11 Jul 2026With Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced now out in the wild, we speak to the game's game content director about the tall task of breathing new life into Edward Kenway's classic adventure.‌While the original game was already pretty much perfect, earlier this week saw Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag return in visually sumptuous form by way of the all-new Resynced remake. Bringing with it up-to-date graphical fidelity, a fresh suite of side and endgame content, and a totally revised control system, it’s the type of instant win Ubisoft needed after a flurry of development hiccups and cancellations.‌I myself absolutely loved my time returning to the Caribbean as Edward Kenway, calling Resynced a ‘remake that once again proves it's a pirate's life most players crave’.‌Shortly after publishing my review I was fortunate enough to speak to Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced’s game content director, Terry Han, where we were able to chat all about Ubisoft Singapore’s first ever Assassin’s Creed game as lead development studio. From the evolution of naval-based combat to the challenge of remaking a 13-year-old game in an entirely fresh engine, here’s what he had to say…First of all, I'm curious, how far into the development, I'm going to come right out with it, into Skull & Bones, did you and the team realise that, okay, next on our plate is going to be Black Flag?Skull & Bones and Black Flag Resynced are completely different projects and one doesn't necessarily lead to another. On our side, I think one of the key things is that we know our strengths in the naval combat experience, and we have been delivering naval combat gameplay since Assassin's Creed 3. So when the idea of making Resynced came up, it got us excited about the potential of getting the game up to modernised standards using our latest engine and being able to modernise our gameplay mechanics as well.We thought it would be a good opportunity for us to jump onto this with our expertise and experience on the brand so far, to deliver this game. That was kind of the chain of thought behind being able to leverage on our skill sets, as well as the technology that has been developed so far on Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and we were able to leverage on that for this.‌Why do you think that Assassin's Creed Black Flag in particular has had such a special place in players' hearts for all this time?It's also got a special place in my heart as well… I think Edward Kenway is a very unique character. It is the first time that you see a character that is more like an outsider. He’s an outsider looking in as a pirate, trying to understand the whole Assassin philosophy. I think that's what makes him unique, and that's what makes him compelling as a character. And as a character, or as a player, you sort of grow with him and get exposed to all those elements together with him, both in terms of narrative and gameplay.That was a very brilliant and interesting move from the original team that works on the game. The cast of characters are quite memorable and interesting, and that sticks [with] our fans.‌And of course, from a gameplay standpoint, there's a lot of variety on offer, not just in terms of land gameplay, navigation, parkour, combat, but also the epic moments that you can get from naval combat, which a lot of people have learned to love since Assassin's Creed 3. It’s a lot of these very interesting elements coming into place, and it's a really good holistic package. At least that's my take on it.In terms of going back to Black Flag for Resynced, almost as this sacred text, how was it rebuilding that game in the modern Anvil engine?It's definitely a daunting challenge for many reasons. Of course, it's also the first lead project on Assassin's Creed for the Singapore studio. So that in itself, it's a big challenge. And I think one key thing is that, even though we have the original game as a basis, as a reference, a lot of things actually have to be built from scratch.So right from the very beginning, we have to reconsider how assets and props work in the modern AC. And especially when Assassin's Creed Shadows pushed the boundary in terms of destructibles, we needed to consider how props would work for our game.‌Also, in terms of the modern formula of our quests, in the original game there's a couple of tail missions that you can fail while encountering those quests. How do we handle those things in the modern version of the game? That, plus the fact that we need to push the graphics, dynamism of the weather, time of day, and so on and so forth...I think there's a lot of things to consider when it comes to just making the game what it is and then iterating on some of the existing mechanics or adapting it to the modern standards of what you expect an AC game to be.And of course, [it’s important to] still retain the roots of Assassin's Creed Black Flag, which is an action-adventure game at its core. Being able to reconcile that with the modern version of AC. So yeah, I think it's certainly a daunting task, but I hope that the end result will speak for itself and I hope that players will enjoy it.‌Yes, I was saying this earlier this week, it's the type of remake where it plays and looks as you remember the original was.That's the challenge, right? Being able to hit that benchmark of what people remember the game to be. Because oftentimes we always see that people have entered rose-tinted lenses, right? When you think about the fond memories they had playing some of the best games a decade ago, and being able to hit that expectation. I think that’s also a challenge for us to be able to strive to achieve.In terms of the new content, how long did it sort of take you and the team to figure out what extra trimmings this remake would have versus the original?So we started off with trying to reproduce some of the key narrative beats of the original game, and trying to [work out] what are the loose ends. We wanted to tie in some of the key characters, try to find some closure for them as well. So as you know, we have Blackbeard and Stede both part of our additional content offerings.On top of that, I think one of the things that we have always wanted to do when it comes to naval combat is to be able to put a face on your crew and your officers. The idea actually goes all the way back to Assassin's Creed 3, when we first started to develop the naval combat experience for that game. It has always been kind of in the back of our head, and we thought that for resynced, it is a good opportunity for us to leverage on that.‌So, aside from being able to revisit the existing cast members and to expand on their stories a bit more, we also try to introduce new characters, new faces. But at the same time, I think one of the key things that is really critical for our writers is to be able to hit that right tone; that right narrative flavour. Because the players might be able to tell what is the new line, what is the old line.For you personally, as someone who's worked on like a lot of these games, does the future of naval combat exist outside of Assassin's Creed and beyond Skull and Bones, would you say?It's a bit hard to say what the future holds and what the future Assassin's Creed setting would be. I think a lot really requires the understanding of the creative vision and what that entails. I think in the original Assassin's Creed 3, and of course, extending to Black Flag, naval played a huge role in the American Revolution.‌And then in the pirate fantasy, I think it's very fitting, because that's your bread and butter. You could sail to loot, board ships, steal things… It's a part of the core fantasy. Of course, working on the naval combat experience for so long, I think it would definitely be cool to see future possibilities. But right now, it's a bit hard to say where the franchise is going and the future offerings that we will have.Is there a particular reason why Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced didn’t come to Nintendo Switch 2? Assassin’s Creed Shadows looked great.I'm probably not the best person to answer that question, because I'm more of a creative and content person. I think you might want to direct that question to more of our technical people. But there are a lot of considerations when it comes to developing a game in terms of feasibility and the platforms that we are supposed to release on.And finally, is there a particular game in the Assassin's Creed franchise that you'd like to remake next? Terry, not Ubisoft. Terry, as a long-time veteran.To be honest, right now I'm deep into the launch event of Resync, so I have not considered any other remakes. I think it would definitely need a discussion. It's not as simple as one person's preference or, ‘okay, let's do this or that’. I think there's multiple factors to consider.Article continues belowAs mentioned, we had to build a lot of things from scratch for Black Flag Resynced. I think the feasibility of working on a remake needs to be greatly evaluated before we can even jump on one. So for now, I have not yet thought of anything yet because I'm still focussing on releasing this game.Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is available now on PS5, Xbox, and PC.