Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Accessibility Spotlight

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is set to launch on July 9 on Steam. A renewed and enhanced experience, the game invites players back into the adventure of Edward Kenway as he sails the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy. Among the enhancements from the original Assassin’s Creed Black Flag are improved and new accessibility features to make the game playable for as many people as possible. 

We spoke with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced’s Director of User Experience Jonathan Bedard and Game Designer Maksym Smolynets about their approach to accessibility in the game, accessibility innovations in the past decade, and what new features they’re most proud of.  

What was your approach to accessibility in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced? 

Jonathan Bedard: For us, the approach was really about bringing a beloved classic, one enjoyed by millions, up to today’s Ubisoft standards, which have been shaped and refined over many years by our teams and our games. 
 
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remains one of the most appreciated entries in the franchise, so it was important to be respectful of the original game's intentions. 

Maksym Smolynets: It was also very important for us to stay closely connected to our community, to understand how players welcomed the accessibility improvements introduced in our more recent titles, and where they felt the experience could be pushed further. 
 
We kept an eye on what was being done on other Ubisoft projects, as well as in the industry, learning from it and sharing approaches. That cross‑team inspiration helped us improve the game and how players can interact with it. 

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag is over a decade old. How has accessibility in games evolved since its release? 

JB: The accessibility space has been shaped by many inspiring people and teams who have done tremendous work since Black Flag’s original release. They built the foundation on which we stand today. Many features that were once considered exceptional or optional have since become best practices. 
 
As developers, we’ve continuously pushed each other—both within Ubisoft and across the wider industry—in a spirit of friendly competition that ultimately benefits everyone, and most importantly, the players. While it was not possible to carry everything from recent titles to the game, it comes with a lot of expected improvements you could expect from a Ubisoft title in 2026.  

What new accessibility features are in Resynced? 

MS: Players will find many refinements and additions to core features. 
Much like with the rest of the remaster, our focus was first on expanding and improving existing functionality rather than introducing entirely new systems. 
 
Among the additions, we included a persistent, customizable camera dot at the center of the screen to help alleviate motion sickness. It’s a relatively minor feature, but it was widely requested and meaningful for many players. 

Does the nature of Resynced being a remake create any challenges in adding accessibility features? How does it differ from creating accessibility features in a new IP? 

JB: While the original game was not created with today’s accessibility standards in mind, the way we make games now allows us to build on it more effectively. Our modern pipelines and processes made it possible to improve the experience by integrating many of our recent developments. This is one huge way in which our constant investments in Accessibility over the last few years paid off. 
 
Systems like control remapping, color‑blind options, subtitles, and similar features were easier to bring up to standard because they were developed with long‑term scalability and reuse in mind.  

MS: For Resynced, our goal was to further improve the quality and customization of our features, settings and options. 

We had a very solid framework based on iterations and improvements made across recent releases. Ubisoft Kyiv in particular has strong experience designing and delivering accessibility features for Assassin’s Creed and many other Ubisoft titles. 

What new accessibility features are you particularly proud of?  

MS: I would answer with not a single feature, but instead many little improvements: subtitles are larger and clearer, colorblind options now modify important color‑coded visual effects like attacks and intuition highlights, and control customization is more intuitive, with more input options available.  
 
The Audio Glossary has been expanded, HUD customization is deeper, and narration now supports more elements, and its speed can be increased further. Together, these changes make the experience more comfortable and readable for a wider range of players. 

JB: I'll cheat a little too and say all of it! I’m proud that we can bring back one of my favorite games for both new players and longtime fans, while aligning it more closely with today's accessibility standards. 
 
This allows more players to discover—or rediscover—this timeless classic, including some who might have felt the original was not accessible enough for them to fully enjoy. It’s a reflection, and a testament of the efforts made across the industry in general, and some for our teams in particular. 

ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES LIST 

Visual 

• Colorblind options - color presets now not only affect the UI but all the essential color-coded VFX, such as special attacks or ‘intuition’ glows. 

• Screen Narration - Within both menus and game - all information that is delivered through text, should be narrated. Including coordinates, Locations and Ship Info panels, essential for Black Flag gameplay. 

• HUD / VFX Customization - Select from presets or adjust HUD elements individually, in Resynced this menu was expanded to be more granular and include Gameplay VFX such as highlights of docking spaces, areas of interest, glow for telegraphed attacks etc. Backgrounds also cover more elements, when toggled on, f.e. interaction prompts in-world. 

• Toggle Motion Blur, Screen Shake, and Camera Effects to reduce blurring, distortion and uncontrolled camera movement. Allowing to deal with potentially low visibility and motion sickness during gameplay. 

• Toggle Camera Dot - a permanent HUD element in the center of the screen, on top of other reticles and huds, aimed to help with motion sickness. Size and color can be customized 

Audio 

• Subtitles - Better color modifications, speaker directions and speaker emotions, now have fourth, ‘Largest’ size at 46px. 

• Gameplay Captions - short captions describing ongoing events that can not be perceived only through visuals. 

• Audio Cues/Audio Glossary - Support for naval gameplay events added for Resynced, along with previous package of essential sound cues and helpers. 

• Granular audio customization, with preview sound 

Navigation and Guidance 

• FTUE - First time user experience flow is back, offering first-access critical options 

• Accessibility Presets - A new menu that is part of the FTUE flow and options menu, containing a selection of critical accessibility settings gathered and classified within one menu. Toggle the presets or customize individual options within.  

• Tutorials Section - Tutorials can be found in the Codex section at any time 

• Menu Tutorials - Always alerts when there are new menu functions   

Controls 

• Control Remapping - Customize inputs, menu split by gameplay contexts, in Resynced it offers even deeper customization 

• Hold/Toggle Modes for multitude of gameplay actions, both naval and on ground. 

• Multiple input devices and auto switch - Mouse and keyboard, controllers, combinations 

• Lock-On Camera - Lock the camera on an enemy 

• X and Y axis inversion - Multitude of granular inversion options, individual settings split into sections for ship and on-foot, aiming, camera, world map navigation 

• Stick inversion - Invert the analog-stick behavior, inverting all input altogether. 

• Deadzone and Threshold - customize the feel of the analog inputs to your liking 

Gameplay 

• Multiple difficulty settings for Naval, Ground, Activity and Stealth gameplay. 

• Advanced Parkour and Manual Jump - customize how the game controls, whether you like classic AC or more modern control scheme 

• Quick Time Events - Shark attacks and other QTEs can be skipped 

• Aim Assistance - Four levels of aim assistance are offered (off, light, moderate, full) 

• Unlimited Oxygen - allows access to underwater activities for players that need more time to adapt