Line up Arno Dorian, Jacob Frye, and Ezio Auditore, and they'd all have something Edward Kenway does not: being likeable blokes. The Welsh pirate was never meant to be a decent guy from the off. As an aimless drunk trying to find himself in the West Indies after royally fumbling the bag when it comes to his estranged wife back in Bristol, that offputting loser vibe was already there in the 2013 original. But it has to be said that while Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is an absolutely gorgeous and incredibly fun new game, it magnifies its protagonist's asshattery by dragging out his redemption arc for an unbearably long time.
I get it. We all love a rehabilitated bad boy, as anyone who plays dishonorable Arthur up to a certain point in Red Dead Redemption 2 will tell you. But, unlike a gruff outlaw atoning for his none-too-egregious sins at the dawn of a new world order, Black Flag Resynced gives me very little to root for in Edward. His personality traits are money, dubloons, and reales, and I am so very bored of it. How is it possible that over five hours and four sequences into the remake, I'm still rolling my eyes at a very two-dimensional anti-hero, waiting for the moment he starts feeling worth the emotional investment?
