"It's definitely an old-school, classic Assassin's Creed." When I ask Paul Fu, creative director on Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced and a Ubisoft veteran whose work dates back to the time of Ezio Auditore, where this remake sits in the franchise – whether the 'classic' era that ended with Syndicate or the 'modern' one that started with Origins – his answer is clear. The trappings of modern Assassin's Creed are here, but they're arranged atop an authentic remake of the original experience.
"Right from the beginning," Fu explains, "we made notes of every single part of the original Black Flag to decide what we should and should not change. And most of it doesn't change. We simply added onto it." Even that simple design philosophy was driven by an almost slavish pursuit of the original creators' intentions. Whenever the team considered adding a new feature or cutscene, they looked to the work of Black Flag's creative director, Jean Guesdon, and lead writer Darby McDevitt. If the new idea didn't fit with their respective visions, "then we just didn't put it in the game."
