A good four months after the launch of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced—the remake of the fourth installment in the series, beloved by many fans—Patch 1.0.8, the final content update for this reimagining of Edward Kenway’s adventure, is being released today.
With this patch, the team at Ubisoft Singapore is wrapping up their work on Black Flag Resynced and, in a sense, letting the game sail off into the sunset—only minor quality-of-life patches are expected to follow in the coming months. To wrap things up, however, the developers are treating the pirate adventure to a few nice—and much-needed—improvements.
First things first: Update 1.0.8 will be released on October 27 at 3:00 p.m. local time on all platforms. The update is 4.3 gigabytes on Uplay and 2.1 gigabytes on Steam. On Xbox, you’ll need to download 15.5 gigabytes, while on PlayStation 5, it’s only 4.5 GB.
What’s included?
A new difficulty level: At launch, we criticized in our review that Black Flag Resynced was far too easy—especially on land—due to its flawed AI and over-simplified stealth system. The developers now aim to remedy this and are introducing a new, more challenging difficulty level called “Nightmare Mode.”
This mode is designed to make enemies react faster and punish mistakes in combat much more severely. Enemies deal about 1.8 times more damage, enemy shooters reload much faster, and you’ll be spotted more quickly if you sneak carelessly.
New Game Plus+: By now, this has become almost an industry standard for major action and role-playing games. After completing the main story, you can start Edward Kenway’s journey through the Caribbean all over again, carrying over your ship upgrades, tools, ships, and hideout improvements. This way, you’ll start the new playthrough significantly stronger.
Table of Contents
Anything else?
Of course, that’s not all. Also new are “Community Chests,” which hide some of the rewards most requested by fans throughout the game world. Additionally, there are several new takedowns, cosmetics, and many minor bug fixes.
You can read the full patch notes for Update 1.0.8, straight from Ubisoft, on the second page of this article.
Patch sizes
Xbox Series X/S: 15.5 GB
PlayStation®5: 4.5 GB
PC: 4.3 GB
Steam: 2.1 GB
Patch Highlights:
New Game+
Set Sail Again (& Again & Again & Again & Again)
Explore the Caribbean over and over again. “New Game+” is finally here—dive back into Edward Kenway’s legendary journey, explore the open seas, and rebuild your crew while keeping everything you’ve earned!
What Carries Over:
- All of Edward’s tools, upgrades, unlocked weapons, and jewelry.
- All “Jackdaw” upgrades, unlocked officer abilities, and pets.
- Officers are not physically on the ship and must be recruited again
- All money, materials, and trade goods from your inventory.
- A new currency is used for NG+
- Quest-related items are removed
- All unlocked customizable outfits and their options.
- Progress in the hideout, perks, and art collection.
- All ships in the Kenway Fleet.
- However, forts must be recaptured, as the fog of war on the map is reset.
- Codex items, including all treasure maps that have been acquired and completed.
- Items purchased from the shop.
With each “New Game+” playthrough, the seas become more dangerous. Elite soldiers appear more frequently, and ships of the highest rank begin patrolling the waters. The difficulty increases each time you dive back in. You can play up to “New Game+++++” (i.e., five times).
We’ve also introduced a new currency exclusive to “New Game+” runs, which you can earn by completing challenges and looting chests you’ve already opened. You can also exchange Reales for Escudos at the General Store. With Escudos, you can buy new outfits and items available exclusively in “New Game+.” Everything that was previously purchasable with Reales remains unchanged and can still be purchased from the same merchant at the same price.
Nightmare Mode
No second chances. No mercy. Nightmare Mode transforms “Black Flag Resynced” into a brutal struggle for survival, where every duel could be your last. Enemies react faster, strike harder, and punish any hesitation. The Caribbean is as beautiful as ever, but beneath the waves and beyond the horizon, death lurks for the unprepared.
Land Combat
- Enemies deal 1.8 times the damage
- The parry window is shorter
- No white glow when enemies attack
- Ranged enemies fire more frequently
- The “one-shot-kill” safeguard is disabled.
- This has the greatest impact, as the game does not prevent instant death even if the player still has plenty of health remaining. Players should exercise extreme caution with bullets and explosives.
Stealth
- Detection time greatly reduced
- Search time increased
- Enemies can hear the player if they move faster than walking speed
- Edward must be at least 6 m above an enemy to remain hidden on an elevated position, instead of just 4 m
Sea
- All ship damage has been increased
Activities
- Sharks underwater deal more damage
- Damage from sea urchins and jellyfish is doubled
- The oxygen meter depletes faster
- Spearfishing wildlife deals more damage
Hidden Community Chests!
We’ve hidden new Community Chests for you, some of which contain special rewards requested by the community.
Since you’re all excellent detectives, we’ve hidden these chests a little more carefully and won’t be giving you any easy clues. Good luck, pirates!
More Highlights
New Takedowns
We’ve brought back the takedown animations from the original game, including takedowns with the Hidden Blade, unarmed, with a sword, and with the Gunblade.
New Cosmetic Items
As mentioned above, this update includes a whole host of new cosmetic items. From outfits to new pet skins and jewelry—collect them all by playing through “New Game+.”
List of Bug Fixes
General
- Fixed an issue where players couldn’t start the game in offline mode if their connection to the servers was lost while playing.
- The number of “Rogue Waves” that occur during storms has been increased.
- Fixed an issue where players who own the Deluxe Edition did not see the Blackbeard items listed as “Owned” in the Trading Post.
- Fixed an issue where players could fast-travel to unsynced viewpoints in Havana and Long Bay.
- Fixed an issue where the game would freeze while playing “Nine-Man Morris,” “Checkers,” or “Fanorona” in a tavern.
- Fixed an issue where the camera’s field of view would permanently change indoors after a “Delirium.”
- Fixed an issue where the “Customize” option for pistols had no effect on the pistols on Edward’s hips.
- Fixed an issue where the rope dart remained attached to Edward’s hand in the following cutscenes after he used it to kill a “boss.”
- Fixed an issue where the Merlion Amulet’s healing effect remained active even after switching to Memories.
- Corrected several location markers on the world map that were not updating after completing all activities.
- General corrections to spelling and punctuation.
- Several issues with the accessibility voice output have been fixed.
Gameplay
- An issue has been fixed where Edward could get stuck in a target position if he was hit while taking cover behind a corner and aiming with a smoke bomb.
- Fixed an issue where Edward could not murder sleeping victims if they had fallen into a hiding spot in a bush.
- Fixed minor issues that occurred during combat and murder sequences.
- Fixed issues with tool handling.
- Fixed an issue where players could no longer set sail after completing certain quests.
World
- Fixed an issue where the chest icon might remain visible after completing the San Ignacio Wreck.
Progress & Economy
- The incorrect location for the Capuchin Monkey codex entry has been corrected.
User Interface/Menu
- Fixed an issue where the world map was grayed out for a short time and controls were locked.
- Fixed an issue where hidden equipment continued to appear in the pause menu.
Visuals & Graphics
- An issue was fixed where the “Jackdaw” continued to appear damaged even after the ship was repaired.
- General issues were fixed where enemies would instantly jump up when Edward murdered them in their sleep.
Stability & Optimizations
- Stability has been improved.
Audio
- Fixed an issue where gunshot sounds were muffled after exiting the inventory and activating the “Blades of the Damned” sword perk.
- Fixed several silent gunshot sounds.
Controls
- An issue with mouse and keyboard controls was fixed where the player could not dive underwater if they changed the “Walk” input from “Hold” to “Shift.”
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Quests
- “That Tyro Captain”:– Fixed an issue where some players could get stuck in a soft lock after skinning the ocelots.
- “The Traveling Salesman”:– Fixed an issue where the quest could disappear after retrieving documents from Prins Hof.
- “We Demand a Meeting”:– Fixed an issue where Rogers could die under mysterious circumstances, making it impossible to fully tail him.
- “Commodore Eighty-Sixed”:– Fixed a bug that caused the player to get stuck if they managed to hit the Commodore with a Berserker Arrow before the fight began.
- “Captain Stede Bonnet”:– Fixed a bug where the Loyalists would not move if Edward chose an alternative path.
- “A World Without Gold: Not Even a Real Captain”:– Fixed a bug that prevented players from looting dead enemies and caused them to get stuck at 2/3 of the information.
- “Officer Quest: The One with the Gun”:– Fixed an issue where the plantain was missing if players started “A World Without Gold” at the same time.
- “Templar Hunt: Anto – Under Fire”:– Fixed a bug that prevented players from continuing the mission if the final wave of enemies did not appear.
- “Templar Hunt: Rhona – A Thief in the Market”:– Fixed an issue where the player could not move if they stood in a specific spot in a crowd during the “Find a Hideout in the Market” task.
- “Naval Mission: Realities of War”:– Several issues were fixed where the client was missing or the mission could not be completed.
- “Naval Mission: Hunter and Gatherer”:– An issue was fixed where the quest icon and objectives were missing after entering the mission area.
- “Rift: Edwards’ Memories”:– Issues with parkour in the Spiked Tunnel were fixed when the player chose not to obey EGO and to wait.
