10 Games to Play Before Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced

Whether you've adored the golden age of Ubisoft or grown accustomed to hating their modern practices and agendas, somehow, someway, Edward Kenway returned. Alright, but cheeky references aside, you can't blame me for at least trying to stay hyped for Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced.

The game has a plethora of new changes and features coming its way, with a fair amount of positivity from early previews and test footage. And as the days are slowly being counted down to the release day, I'm sure some of you might be anticipating how this remake goes down, whether in smoke and ashes or as a triumphant comeback.

Until that day arrives, I invite you to go on a seafaring cruise with this AC4 fanboy today, as I've put together a list of the best games you can play while waiting for Black Flag Resynced to arrive. Not all of them, but a few here are genuinely worth your time and intrigue.

10 Ghost of Yotei

For All the Explorer Enthusiasts

Hey, I did say a "few" of these are worth it, but given the stark difference in the stylistic tone here, that's exactly why I suppose Ghost of Yotei deserves the bottom spot.

Sure, you don't have renegade pirates crossing cutlasses or even deadly naval ships tossing cannonballs at each other here, but what you do have is a fantastic game from Sucker Punch that absolutely nails the sense of discovery. Ironically, it is the same gameplay design aspect that many open-world Ubisoft titles have struggled with, thus earning them a cookie-cutter reputation.

Yotei also has nuanced combat with every new weapon type, constantly keeping each encounter refreshing, and every Yotei Six boss fight pushes you to the utmost with their tenacity. You can freely discover everything it has to offer at your pace, and if the base game gets dreary, then I implore you to try the Legends multiplayer mode for its laser-focused mission design and cooperative teamwork.

9 Caribbean Legend

The Somewhat Successor to Sea Dogs

Caribbean Legend is based on an equally old game series called Sea Dogs, but believe me when I say it: that game was a janky mess even by 2000s standards. But hey, while it doesn't have Ubisoft's production values or polished presentation, this game offers something many pirate fans crave: the freedom to truly live as a pirate captain in the Caribbean.

Just like Black Flag, you're dropped into a sprawling Caribbean world filled with ports, islands, merchants, naval battles, and opportunities for adventure. There are simulation-oriented naval battles, and the fact that you're constantly managing your ship from recruiting crew members, maintaining supplies. It all contributes to the feeling that you're actually captaining a vessel during the Golden Age of Piracy.

Just keep in mind that there's a reason I put this at the bottom of the picks as well: the game does very little hand-holding to immerse you, and while the naval combat shines, on-foot gameplay can often feel clunky and outdated compared to Black Flag Resynced's fluid combat.

8 Greedfall

A Political RPG that Deserves Some Appraisal

I know, not another pirate adventure, but bear with me when I say that Greedfall scratches several of the same itches that made Black Flag memorable in the first place: exploration, colonial-era politics, and just the feeling of stepping into a world caught between old traditions and expanding empires.

Another plus point is how, if you generally adore the whole ancestral Templars versus Assassins conflict in the AC games, well, GreedFall leans heavily into faction politics instead.

Nearly every major quest forces you to navigate tensions between colonists, religious zealots, and indigenous tribes. It genuinely has some strong elements like that on the surface that mostly get bogged down by the fact that it's an AA RPG with an evidently limited budget.

7 The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

For When You Fancy Some Whimsicalness

If you're not someone who gets bothered or turned off by the idea of a stylized art style or anything like that, then I invite any newcomer or first-timer to give Toon Link's charming adventure in Zelda: The Wind Waker a shot.

That's mainly because both this and Black Flag understand that the ocean isn’t just a space to travel across; it’s the heart of the adventure. Then you have the dungeon gameplay or even the island exploration aspect, where Wind Waker leans into the classic Zelda structure. They're filled with locked doors, enemy encounters, and key items that completely change how you interact with the world.

One might give you the grappling hook, and another might introduce a weapon that changes how you solve puzzles entirely. And speaking of weapons, the combat is a balance between being simple in complexity and being readable, since there are times when you’re constantly swapping between gear like bombs, bows, and hookshots depending on the situation.

6 Windrose

A True Modern Pirate Survival

Earlier this year, Windrose quickly became one of the most popular Early Access titles, mostly coming down to a combination of timing, strong core fantasy, and how well it understood what players actually want from a survival-lite style game.

Early access players tend to gravitate toward games that feel unfinished but at least promising enough, and Windrose hit that sweet spot where the foundation was already fun even before everything was fully polished.

You start small, you explore, you gather resources, you upgrade your ship, and suddenly you’re surviving encounters that would’ve destroyed you hours earlier. That kind of visible progression is incredibly addictive because you can feel the game improving session by session. Also, it has a strong community feedback loop, so you can expect the developers to continually polish it beyond what it already feels like.

5 Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

The Mad Dog's Sailing on the High Seas

Last year was filled with surprises, and one such that slipped under some radars was Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, a spinoff game to the mainline Yakuza series from RGG Studios. Despite adoring it in my review, it understandably wasn't the focal point the series had needed, other than being a long-awaited solo game for Goro Majima.

However, what it did do amazingly was deliver the AC Black Flag vibes, especially to an obsessed fan like me. I get that this game's narrative is woven into current events, but I'd still recommend playing it because the story is mostly centered on Majima, and you don't really need to have a specific understanding of the past games' events.

Your Goromaru ship can be outfitted with a bunch of crazy weaponry like lasers, plus the game is filled with various things to do, from exploring the massive landscape of Hawaii to performing skirmishes against criminal gangs and factions across the sea and on islands when plundering them for treasures.

4 Sea of Thieves

Grab a Friend or Two

This is undoubtedly a game better with friends, but Sea of Thieves is just as good when you take the time to learn the mechanics as well as commandeer an entire vessel on your own.

That's because you're in charge of raising the sails, adjusting angles to catch the wind, patching holes during combat, and physically firing cannons at enemy ships. And that makes every voyage feel like an adventure instead of a simple trip from point A to point B that you would normally take aboard the Jackdaw.

Moreover, SoT offers a vastly unpredictable version of being a golden-age pirate because you're fighting real players and constantly encountering dynamic world events, such as new islands and stronger enemy ships. It's essentially an MMO-lite, with pirate ships and reward incentives tied to new cosmetics for your ship and character.

3 Sid Meier's Pirates!

Aged like Fine Wine

Despite being over two decades old, Sid Meier's Pirates remains one of the most beloved pirate games ever made because it captures the fantasy of living as a pirate captain better than almost anything else.

Rather than following a conclusive narrative, you're dropped into the Caribbean and allowed to forge your own path, sort of like the unpredictability of SoT. You can do almost anything here, from hunting treasure, attacking merchant vessels and other pirate ships, serving colonial powers, dueling rival captains, courting governors' daughters, or simply building a fortune through naval combat and trade.

If your favorite part of Black Flag was abandoning the main story to chase down ships and carve out your own reputation across the seas, Sid Meier's Pirates delivers that experience in a more sandbox-driven form that I know anyone willing enough will adore if they look past the aged visuals.

2 Captain Blood

Endless Cutlass Duels with Burning Stride

Captain Blood fully embraces the fantasy of being a swashbuckling pirate. If you're looking for a game that focuses more on the grounded action of a pirate, look no further, because this game has a high emphasis on sword fights with the occasional naval battles and boarding actions, making it an easy recommendation for anyone craving high-seas action until Black Flag Resynced launches next month.

Originally developed in the 2000s and finally released years later, it plays like a relic of an era when action games prioritized linear-based spectacle over bloated maps and endless side activities.

On-foot gameplay is a mix of hack-and-slash, where you'll battle groups of enemies using swords, pistols, and flashy combo chain attacks. Meanwhile, the naval sections are where the pirate fantasy really shines as you engage enemy vessels with your cannons, maneuver around hostile ships, and eventually board them to finish the fight in close-quarters combat.

1 Assassin's Creed Rogue

His Name is Shay Patrick Cormac

Seems like the most ironic way to cap off this list, but given the similarities between the two games, this is your chance to revisit Assassin's Creed Rogue before BF Resynced hits shelves. This game was the last Assassin's Creed entry released during the PS3 and Xbox 360 era, and it was fitting, as it served as a bridge to Unity, the first next-gen title on the PS4 and Xbox One.

Most importantly, apart from one time you controlled Haytham for his brief section in AC3, this was the first actual game where you could fully play as a Templar with Shay Cormac. Furthermore, with Rogue and Black Flag being on the same engine, the former features the exact same naval combat and exploration, albeit without the tropical Caribbean seas.

With a month away from the remake, this is the opportune time to experience why this was one of the most underrated games in the series, especially with how it presented the Assassins as no more demoralizing than the Templars, and how some things escalated in it.