Coliseum

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is finally out, and though it’s a remake of the fourth numbered Assassin’s Creed game (which is actually the sixth mainline entry), it’s the perfect place to dive into this massive series. The same could have been said about the original Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, as it was a reset for the series after wrapping up the Desmond Miles storyline that ran through the first five games. But, because of changes made as part of this remake, like essentially removing all traces of the modern-day Assassin’s Creed storyline and enhancing the historical pirate adventure that has made Black Flag a fan-favorite, I can’t imagine a better place to begin one’s Assassin’s Creed journey. 

At one point, Assassin’s Creed was both a historical action series about the centuries-long feud between Assassins and Templars and a sci-fi one where the two organizations raced to defeat each other in the modern day using advanced technology, ancient artifacts, and more. You’d play as Altaïr, Ezio, and Connor/Ratonhnhaké:ton in their respective pasts and then flash forward to Desmond Miles’ story in the years leading up to 2012. I say 2012 specifically because, believe it or not, the Assassin’s Creed plot became about the release of an ancient but highly advanced alien and their plot to destroy the world in… 2012, which weirdly became a year we seriously/jokingly/depends-on-who-you-ask thought was going to be the year our own world ended (based on the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar ending in 2012). It didn’t, and the finale of Desmond Miles’ arc came and went; it was anticlimactic, confusing, and ultimately meaningless, because Assassin’s Creed makes Ubisoft a lot of money, and this publisher was not ready for that cash flow to end. Surprise: it still isn’t ready, and we get new Assassin’s Creed games on a near-yearly cadence now. 

Anyway, for all of that to make sense, you needed to play each of the games – so Assassin’s Creed (Altaïr in 12th Century Jerusalem), Assassin’s Creed II (Ezio in Renaissance Italy), Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (Ezio in 16th Century Rome), Assassin’s Creed Revelations (Ezio in 16th-century Constantinople), and Assassin’s Creed III (Connor during the American Revolutionary War). And even then, it still didn’t make complete sense unless you read all of the codex-style entries, read some books, and watched some YouTube videos. 

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, which first launched as a cross-generational title for PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4 and Xbox 360/Xbox One (as well as the Nintendo WiiU and PC) in 2013, attempted to start a new, de-emphasized modern-day arc, putting you in the shoes of an employee of Abstergo (the evil corporate stand-in for the Templars) tasked with exploring Desmond’s ancestry through DNA and the eyes of pirate Edward Kenway. I quite liked it, though I am admittedly a sucker for the modern-day stuff who still wishes it were a prevalent part of the games, but many argue it doesn’t land well and feels like an afterthought to the otherwise incredible pirate action game happening in the other 90% of Black Flag. 

While I’m disappointed it has been removed entirely from Resynced, replaced with a few sci-fi sequences that connect to where the series is heading as of last year’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows and narrative-enhancing “What If?” scenarios that provide more insight into Edward, I can’t deny that it makes this remake a better starting point for newcomers. If it was replicated in the remake, Resynced comes packaged with years of modern-day storyline baggage that feels abrupt, strange, disconnected, and ultimately pointless to anyone whose first game is Edward’s story. Completely removing it plucks Black Flag’s narrative out of the wider Assassin’s Creed timeline and sets it aside, to be enjoyed with all of, or none of, the series’ prior history. 

Yes, there are Assassins and Templars in Resynced, but Edward is as uninterested in their dealings as, say, perhaps someone jumping into Assassin’s Creed for the first time with this remake. In that sense, it feels thematically correct to start with Resynced. Edward uses the hidden blade because it’s a great tool in his pirate arsenal. He’s chasing the sci-fi MacGuffin in the Caribbean because it can help the pirates of Nassau defeat the omnipresent threat of the British monarchy, the Spanish Empire, and anyone else who stands in the way of their perceived freedom. All the mumbo jumbo you’ll hear about this MacGuffin in Resynced can be shrugged off – Edward does the same.

What’s left is one of my favorite pirate narratives, and easily the greatest pirate video game ever made. It’s a saga about the cost of greed and obsession, the strength of found family and friendship, and the ways capitalism and monarchy can push otherwise decent men into murky waters. You will laugh, you will cry, you will kill a lot of British and Spanish officers, and you will find yourself humming sea shanties in the shower. 

Mechanically, Black Flag has never felt better than here in Resynced. Can you believe Black Flag didn’t have a crouch button, instead activating Edward’s stealth in environment-specific instances? Terrible. Now, you can press a button to crouch at any time, making stealthing around the Caribbean better. Enemy AI has been improved to present decent challenges in combat; new abilities have been added to spice up Edward’s swordsmanship; and new naval officers add firepower to the Jackdaw, making being the master and commander of the seas even more exciting and explosive (literally). Additional quality-of-life updates, like the removal of insta-fail tailing missions, being able to remove and put on Edward’s assassin hood at any time (something not possible in the original, to the dismay of fans), completely reworked combat with a more intentional focus on cinematic action, various parkour movement updates, and more further improve the experience. 

It’s also a gorgeous remake, breathing new life into Black Flag, the original version of which I find quite ugly to visit today. Looking at the waves doesn’t get old.

All of this is to say that if you want to finally play an Assassin’s Creed game, Resynced is the best place to start. And if you want to roleplay a charismatic pirate with a massive Caribbean map to explore, it’s great for that, too. 

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. 

For more, read Game Informer’s Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced review here, and then read about how the remake includes eight new endgame missions that pit Edward against a historical pirate hunter. After that, read about why Black Flag was chosen as Ubisoft’s first Assassin’s Creed remake, and then check out Game Informer’s interview with Edward’s voice actor, Matt Ryan. 

Are you playing Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced? Let us know what you think of it so far in the comments below!

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is finally out, and though it’s a remake of the fourth numbered Assassin’s Creed game (which is actually the sixth mainline entry), it’s the perfect place to dive into this massive series. The same could have been said about the original Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, as it was a reset for the series after wrapping up the Desmond Miles storyline that ran through the first five games. But, because of changes made as part of this remake, like essentially removing all traces of the modern-day Assassin’s Creed storyline and enhancing the historical pirate adventure that has made Black Flag a fan-favorite, I can’t imagine a better place to begin one’s Assassin’s Creed journey. 

At one point, Assassin’s Creed was both a historical action series about the centuries-long feud between Assassins and Templars and a sci-fi one where the two organizations raced to defeat each other in the modern day using advanced technology, ancient artifacts, and more. You’d play as Altaïr, Ezio, and Connor/Ratonhnhaké:ton in their respective pasts and then flash forward to Desmond Miles’ story in the years leading up to 2012. I say 2012 specifically because, believe it or not, the Assassin’s Creed plot became about the release of an ancient but highly advanced alien and their plot to destroy the world in… 2012, which weirdly became a year we seriously/jokingly/depends-on-who-you-ask thought was going to be the year our own world ended (based on the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar ending in 2012). It didn’t, and the finale of Desmond Miles’ arc came and went; it was anticlimactic, confusing, and ultimately meaningless, because Assassin’s Creed makes Ubisoft a lot of money, and this publisher was not ready for that cash flow to end. Surprise: it still isn’t ready, and we get new Assassin’s Creed games on a near-yearly cadence now. 

Anyway, for all of that to make sense, you needed to play each of the games – so Assassin’s Creed (Altaïr in 12th Century Jerusalem), Assassin’s Creed II (Ezio in Renaissance Italy), Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (Ezio in 16th Century Rome), Assassin’s Creed Revelations (Ezio in 16th-century Constantinople), and Assassin’s Creed III (Connor during the American Revolutionary War). And even then, it still didn’t make complete sense unless you read all of the codex-style entries, read some books, and watched some YouTube videos. 

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, which first launched as a cross-generational title for PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4 and Xbox 360/Xbox One (as well as the Nintendo WiiU and PC) in 2013, attempted to start a new, de-emphasized modern-day arc, putting you in the shoes of an employee of Abstergo (the evil corporate stand-in for the Templars) tasked with exploring Desmond’s ancestry through DNA and the eyes of pirate Edward Kenway. I quite liked it, though I am admittedly a sucker for the modern-day stuff who still wishes it were a prevalent part of the games, but many argue it doesn’t land well and feels like an afterthought to the otherwise incredible pirate action game happening in the other 90% of Black Flag. 

While I’m disappointed it has been removed entirely from Resynced, replaced with a few sci-fi sequences that connect to where the series is heading as of last year’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows and narrative-enhancing “What If?” scenarios that provide more insight into Edward, I can’t deny that it makes this remake a better starting point for newcomers. If it was replicated in the remake, Resynced comes packaged with years of modern-day storyline baggage that feels abrupt, strange, disconnected, and ultimately pointless to anyone whose first game is Edward’s story. Completely removing it plucks Black Flag’s narrative out of the wider Assassin’s Creed timeline and sets it aside, to be enjoyed with all of, or none of, the series’ prior history. 

Yes, there are Assassins and Templars in Resynced, but Edward is as uninterested in their dealings as, say, perhaps someone jumping into Assassin’s Creed for the first time with this remake. In that sense, it feels thematically correct to start with Resynced. Edward uses the hidden blade because it’s a great tool in his pirate arsenal. He’s chasing the sci-fi MacGuffin in the Caribbean because it can help the pirates of Nassau defeat the omnipresent threat of the British monarchy, the Spanish Empire, and anyone else who stands in the way of their perceived freedom. All the mumbo jumbo you’ll hear about this MacGuffin in Resynced can be shrugged off – Edward does the same.

What’s left is one of my favorite pirate narratives, and easily the greatest pirate video game ever made. It’s a saga about the cost of greed and obsession, the strength of found family and friendship, and the ways capitalism and monarchy can push otherwise decent men into murky waters. You will laugh, you will cry, you will kill a lot of British and Spanish officers, and you will find yourself humming sea shanties in the shower. 

Mechanically, Black Flag has never felt better than here in Resynced. Can you believe Black Flag didn’t have a crouch button, instead activating Edward’s stealth in environment-specific instances? Terrible. Now, you can press a button to crouch at any time, making stealthing around the Caribbean better. Enemy AI has been improved to present decent challenges in combat; new abilities have been added to spice up Edward’s swordsmanship; and new naval officers add firepower to the Jackdaw, making being the master and commander of the seas even more exciting and explosive (literally). Additional quality-of-life updates, like the removal of insta-fail tailing missions, being able to remove and put on Edward’s assassin hood at any time (something not possible in the original, to the dismay of fans), completely reworked combat with a more intentional focus on cinematic action, various parkour movement updates, and more further improve the experience. 

It’s also a gorgeous remake, breathing new life into Black Flag, the original version of which I find quite ugly to visit today. Looking at the waves doesn’t get old.

All of this is to say that if you want to finally play an Assassin’s Creed game, Resynced is the best place to start. And if you want to roleplay a charismatic pirate with a massive Caribbean map to explore, it’s great for that, too. 

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. 

For more, read Game Informer’s Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced review here, and then read about how the remake includes eight new endgame missions that pit Edward against a historical pirate hunter. After that, read about why Black Flag was chosen as Ubisoft’s first Assassin’s Creed remake, and then check out Game Informer’s interview with Edward’s voice actor, Matt Ryan. 

Are you playing Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced? Let us know what you think of it so far in the comments below!

League of Legends’ trading card game, Riftbound, is nearing the launch of its fourth official set, Vendetta. And true to its name, the set is embracing “enemy” color pairings; matching up both the color identities that are diametrically opposed, and corresponding Legends who love a good rivalry.

For our reveal during this preview season, Game Informer gets to show off another Overnumbered card, and it’s a doozy for those who love Arcane. Say hello to the Overnumbered variant for Ambessa’s Legend, Matriarch of War.

For those who need a refresher, Legends are the determining factor for the colors of your deck, and also add a persistent effect or presence  for you to utilize during the course of a Riftbound match. For Ambessa’s Legend, this means utilizing Empower, a new mechanic for the Vendetta set.

Ambessa’s Legend becomes Empowered when you Empower something else — usually for an additional cost described on the card — and you can then expend that Empowered state, along with recycling a Rune and exhausting her, to “ready” a unit. This means you can move creatures around the board quickly, make use of multiple exhaust effects, or any other number of potential combat tricks.

For this Overnumbered version, 196/166 in the set, we see Aliya Chen take up the pen to depict Ambessa in full battle gear. It’s a powerful visual, and I’m sure anyone running a beatdown deck with Ambessa at the helm will want this gorgeously ferocious art to match it.

Riftbound’s Vendetta set goes live on July 31 in English and Chinese. You can see the rest of the card gallery as preview season carries on here.

Octopath Traveler series developer Team Asano launched its HD-2D action RPG, The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, last month on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. Though many are enjoying the game, there is near-universal agreement that Faie, the companion fairy that accompanies Elliot on his adventure, talks way too much. A new update released today across all platforms lets you turn off Faie’s voice completely, providing a fix for the game’s most annoying feature. 

The Adventures of Elliot is, no doubt, aiming to be a Zelda-like adventure, and Faie can be seen as a stand-in for Navi. Despite general grievances with Link’s fairy in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who finds Navi to be more talkative than Faie. Team Asano was seemingly aware of Faie’s communication style, giving players the option to tone down how often she speaks in the game’s options – which was available from the jump. However, listening to player feedback since the game’s launch, today’s 1.1.0 update allows you to completely turn off Faie’s voice. 

The update’s patch notes are short and sweet. In addition to adding an option to turn off Faie’s voice, this update also “adjusts tutorial behavior,” fixes FPS drops on some PCs when Faie is present, and fixes some minor bugs. The update is available to download right now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. 

In the meantime, read Game Informer’s review of The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales to learn why we enjoyed the game, despite Faie’s insistence on preventing any and all silence. After that, check out our reviews for Team Asano’s other games, like Octopath Traveler 0, Octopath Traveler II, and Triangle Strategy. 

What are your thoughts on Faie? Let us know in the comments below!

The US Federal Reserve has announced new task forces for advancing monetary policy. Led by chairman Kevin Warsh, the list of advisors for each task force includes Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.

“The Federal Reserve’s commitment to price stability and maximum employment is unwavering. As is our resolve to pursue our mandate with rigor,” writes Chairman Kevin Warsh in a press release. “The U.S. economy has changed significantly over the last generation, and never more so than right now. Each task force will carefully consider whether policymakers’ means and methods, analytical tools and policy approaches can be improved upon. I am honored that the best minds from a range of disciplines have agreed to work with us to sharpen our performance as an institution. The goal is straightforward: to ensure the Fed is best positioned to achieve our objectives in this consequential time.”

The five task forces are Communications, Balance Sheet Policy, Data, Productivity and Jobs, and Inflation Frameworks. Each will be co-led by external advisors “with deep expertise in their fields.” Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been named as one of three advisors for the Productivity and Jobs task force, which aims to “assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve’s policy judgments.” 

Sharma was president of Microsoft’s CoreAI before becoming CEO of Xbox, which undoubtedly led to the role of providing expertise on the economic impact of AI. Notably, Sharma is also the only active CEO among the entire list of advisors, which largely includes professors and former business leaders/politicians.

Sharma was appointed Xbox CEO in February following the departures of former heads Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond. Among other moves, such as revealing new details of the next Xbox console, codename Project Helix, Sharma’s biggest initiative to date is a massive restructuring of Xbox that began this week, which will result in over 3,000 layoffs across each game division. The company has also divested from five development studios: Compulsion Games, Double Fine Productions, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, and Arkane Studios. 

Reviewed on:
Xbox Series X/S

Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

Publisher:
EA Sports

Developer:
EA Tiburon

Release:
July 9, 2026

Rating:
Everyone

Every college football player knows their third year defines their career trajectory. That’s why one of EA Sports College Football 27’s (CFB27) cover athletes, Dante Moore, opted to return to Oregon rather than declare for the 2026 NFL Draft. The talented quarterback understood that another strong season would increase his already-impressive draft stock. Like Moore, CFB27 enters its junior year with high expectations. The previous two entries showcased bursts of potential, and EA Tiburon’s third effort brings strong tweaks and new mechanics to both sides of the ball while also reintroducing a well-liked arcade mode. Thankfully, these updates expand on the series’ highlight reel, even if some egregious lowlights threaten to tarnish its legacy. 

College football is about extreme speed and physicality. CFB27 embraces that from the moment the ball is hiked. Pass catchers and blitzers attempt to jump the snap, finding holes in coverage and blocks, respectively. Defensive backs use their hands to jostle receivers at the line of scrimmage and in the secondary, disrupting routes. Desperate quarterbacks lunge over manpiles at the one-yard line. Success on CFB27’s gridiron, like in real life, is tied to split-second decision-making and timing. Throwing a dot through double coverage and making a risky time-based catch against human or computer-controlled opponents is always exciting. And flicking a stick to wrap up a beefy runner, rather than clicking a button, feels strikingly organic. Everything looks great and plays well, especially during inclement weather, and EA Tiburon finally included a detailed skills trainer in the main menu to help freshmen and seniors alike learn these new and improved interactions.

Most of the smart gameplay changes are best experienced in Road to Glory. The new edge, free safety, and tight end positions are welcome additions to the loop, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Edges see the most action per down, fighting through double teams, chip blocks, and tackle-avoidant ball carriers. Stat increases come easily when you’re that close to the quarterback, but the same can’t be said for the often deflating safety experience. I was usually too far back to stop the run, and unless the offense needed a deep pass, my zones were rarely targeted. Playing as a tight end, however, offered a more dynamic career. If I wasn’t one-handing catches between the hashes, I was pancaking rushers like the dynamic playmaker scouts projected me to be. 

 

Sadly, my other responsibilities, balancing academics, leadership, health, fitness, and brand, are less interesting. Not much happens beyond weekly practices and matchups. Moreover, none of the micromanagement activities come close to feeling as impactful as my gameday performances. Occasionally, teammates, classmates, coaches, and sponsors spice up the monotony, offering extracurricular opportunities, like skipping class for a party, watching film, or starring in commercials, but beyond accepting or declining their invitations for temporary buffs/debuffs, the loop grew stale long before I hung up my cleats. And inconsistencies in presentation, like being berated by my coach even after scoring a flashy, game-winning touchdown, as well as context – the university newspaper interviewed me about being a quarterback even though I was a linebacker – were concerning. 

Unfortunately, intrusive microtransactions have also been added to the mix. In Road to Glory, ability points can be purchased to sidestep the slow burn of player progression. That, in and of itself, is bad enough, but CFB27 takes this a step further by including similar predatory tactics in its beloved Dynasty mode. By removing options to accelerate coach progression, players are now forced to either gradually increase their level over a long 30-year career or spend money to unlock their favorite skills ASAP. Fast-tracking your player or coach’s development using the latter method is nowhere near as intrusive as the College Football Ultimate Team advertisements that litter the main menu. Even so, incentivizing players to disengage with Road to Glory and Dynasty’s deep progression systems is a massive step back, rendering CFB’s most popular game modes inconsistent at best and hollow at worst. 

This shift is particularly alarming because Dynasty is otherwise in the best shape it’s ever been in. Dynamic athletic director expectations imbue each college with much-needed personality. The fans and wider administration of the University of Alabama expect playoff berths every year and won’t be too keen on keeping you around if losses start to mount. But the less prominent Kent State is more focused on rebuilding following a mass exodus of talent after a middling 2025 season, understanding that true success takes years to achieve. I loved playing within the confines of both extremes. Losing to hated rival Ohio State in my first year with Michigan was serious enough to land me on the hot seat, while signing my first three-star recruit after winning a bowl game with a small school practically transformed me into a community hero overnight. 

Both outcomes felt deeply personalized and empowered me to invest dozens of hours in Dynasty’s best new feature, Blueprint, which gave me unprecedented control over how I built my football program. From dumping a fortune or a few pennies’ worth of Dynasty Points into equipment like ice baths, reducing the wear and tear of my players, to hiring support staff for a sports performance department that facilitated offseason training, CFB27’s newfound level of freedom in recruiting, developing, and retaining talent has never been more intuitive or satisfying. That’s not to say the mode is without flaws – I’ve witnessed major schools with truckloads of NIL money sign dozens of highly touted recruits, leaving the rest of the college football landscape in shambles. This might not be so far removed from the bleak realities of the sport, but seeing Georgia bring in a whopping 25 four-star and 9 five-star players each year is downright immersion-breaking and, quite frankly, ridiculous. 

Ultimate Team is the same polarizing, heavily monetized mode as in previous games. Complete challenges, collect (or buy) currency, open card packs. Rinse and repeat. I can see how the allure of acquiring coveted players and maxing their overalls can be appealing to competitive football fans, but the deeper and more expansive Dynasty and Road to Glory campaigns will likely monopolize my time. 

I’ll probably even jump into Mascot Mashup on occasion, too. A nice callback to the classic, zany quickplay mode from EA Sports’ NCAA Football franchise, Mascot Mashup pits over 100 teams of iconic mascots against each other. Unlocking them is as simple as winning a Play Now match with the college of your choice. Mascot Matchup serves as a nice break from some of the other, more intense offerings. There’s plenty of laughs to be had alone or with friends, especially after seeing an Indiana Hoosier side-flip-juke a Stanford tree and run 60 yards to daylight.

On the field, CFB27 dazzles. I never tired of running down The Hill in Clemson Memorial Stadium, the pyrotechnics lighting the night sky and a swarm of drones tracing a Tiger above a distant jumbotron. Sudden rain and snowstorms constantly made fourth-quarter bouts more epic. And celebrating with my guys after running back an interception was arguably more cathartic than watching the real thing. Nevertheless, the off-the-field issues, namely, shallow progression systems and the transformative inclusion of microtransactions in practically every mode, were disappointing. CFB27 made some fantastic key plays down the stretch in its junior season, but the team will need to make more improvements in the offseason if it wants to hoist that championship trophy next year. 

Score:
7.5

About Game Informer’s review system

Obsidian Entertainment is developing a new Fallout game, according to a report by Bloomberg. The report also states that the studio has canceled several in-development projects, including a planned sequel to its 2025 RPG, Avowed.

The ongoing layoffs across Xbox’s gaming division have reportedly impacted roughly 25% of Obsidian’s staff, including long-time art director Daniel Alpert. Bloomberg reports that, as part of Xbox’s new initiative to largely focus on its biggest existing franchises, Obsidian’s development pipeline has shifted toward developing a new Fallout game, with studio design director Josh Sawyer at the helm. Obsidian has worked in this universe before, having previously made 2010’s well-received Fallout: New Vegas. 

Obsidian had been working on Avowed 2, which was said to be going well and on track to be announced within the next year. However, the sequel did not fit into Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s new company strategy. Although that project is effectively shelved, Bloomberg states that some employees will continue working on it as the new Fallout comes together in hopes of a potential revival.

Avowed was one of three games Obsidian released in 2025, alongside Grounded 2 (which launched in Early Access) and The Outer Worlds 2. Unfortunately, although Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 garnered generally positive reviews, both underperformed in sales. Despite pivoting to a new Fallout, Obsidian will also continue working on Grounded 2 and DLC for The Outer Worlds 2. 

For more on Xbox’s massive ongoing restructuring, read about how Doom developer id Software lost roughly half of its staff. You can also read how Hitman developer IO Interactive regained ownership of its online RPG Project Fantasy following its split from Xbox. For more on Obsidian, check out our reviews for Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2.  

[Source: Bloomberg]

Bithell Games, creators of games such as Volume, John Wick Hex, and Tron: Catalyst, has announced a new immersive sim called Vampirium:1997. The game takes place in an England ruled by Dracula, with players controlling an assassin tasked with eliminating threats to his vampiric empire.

The minimalist point-and-click gameplay challenges players to infiltrate living areas to kill targets by whatever means they see fit. Vampirium: 1997 offers multiple methods for completing objectives, whether you prefer a stealthier approach that limits the body count or using weapons like a silver katana to massacre everyone in sight.

The living environments are designed to compel players to adapt to new conditions during missions. You can observe enemy patrol routes to effectively plan routes and access restricted areas, and manipulate environmental elements such as lights and other items to your advantage. Interacting with characters offers multiple responses to glean information or maintain your secrecy, including performing tasks for them. Or you can use the power of hypnotism to compel certain characters to do what you want. Missions are designed to be highly replayable since new tasks will unlock after you complete a level for the first time. Director Mike Bithell posted an 8-minute gameplay walkthrough that gives a better look at what Vampirium: 1997 has in store.

It’s nice to see Bithell Games bounce back with a new project after it was forced to lay off most of its staff last August due to funding issues. Vampirium: 1997 will launch into Steam Early Access at an unannounced date. 

Reviewed on:
PlayStation 5

Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Publisher:
Ubisoft

Developer:
Ubisoft

Release:
July 9, 2026

Rating:
Mature

After well over a dozen mainline entries, Black Flag remains one of the most fondly remembered in the long canon of Assassin’s Creed entries. It’s little surprise that Ubisoft chose this installment for a robust reenvisioning. While not a fundamental remake of the original 2013 game, Resynced is also far more than the standard remaster some might expect, as it features expansive gameplay and narrative additions and tweaks, along with a complete visual overhaul. The result is an impressive and sizeable game that maintains both the charm and some of the rough edges that defined the original. After 13 years, there’s enough new here to delight returning fans, but it’s also notable for being modernized to a degree that new players should find a lot to enjoy.

Black Flag benefits tremendously from one of the great narrative maxims: pirates are fun. Across the series’ many historical time periods, few have featured such an inherently attractive setting and concept. Black Flag Resynced ably captures what works about the pirate fantasy. The revamped ship combat is approachable and explosive, if eventually a bit repetitive. The narrative dialogue is salty and rowdy. The sea shanties are jaunty. The many islands at the edge of the horizon are filled with secret chests, messages in bottles, and forgotten treasure caves. The sunsets across the West Indies are to die for. The game’s greatest success is its spot-on pirate experience, and that alone is worth a lot.

The story of Edward Kenway is one of my least favorite of the many Assassins we’ve met. He spends most of the tale obsessed with his own acquisition of wealth, and the plot fails to nail what works for me about the Assassin’s Creed formula. That hasn’t changed in Resynced, and the broader narrative can still sometimes feel disjointed and missing in some important transitional moments, especially in the later hours. However, re-recorded and expanded dialogue helps the storytelling feel modern and dramatic. And new content helps fill in some important gaps that previously felt barren. I especially like the new naval officer missions, which help your ship’s crew feel a bit more dynamic. I also like some of the expanded storytelling around historical pirates like Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet. The modern-day story component from the original Black Flag is now absent. While that was never a high point, I still feel the series as a whole misses the boat by not tying these historical narratives together with a more meaningful twist on the modern-day Assassin/Templar conflict.

 

Virtually every element of gameplay has been retouched in some way, and it’s all for the better. Parkour feels smoother and more flexible. Combat has increased options for parries, takedowns, and tools. Poor tailing missions are scaled back. Stealth is easier to navigate. The Hideout in Great Inagua offers new options for expansion and growth, fostering a stronger sense of investment in the place. Explorable locations are fleshed out, with more secrets to uncover. Difficulty and accessibility settings dramatically expand the play customizability. Taken together, these improvements make a big difference and help Resynced feel fresh and up to date, and that extends to the visuals, too.

The Caribbean seas and islands of Black Flag Resynced make it an exceptionally beautiful game, adding to a clear allure in going off the beaten path and exploring. Beyond nailing the pirate aesthetic, it’s the sense of freeform discovery that is the game’s other undeniable success. There’s so much to do, and a lot of it is great fun. Dive for sunken treasure. Hunt animals. Build a pirate fleet. Hunt Templars. Fill your mansion with art. Track down legendary ships. Conquer forts. Follow treasure maps. Even when Black Flag Resynced flirts with feature bloat, there’s no denying its capacity to distract and offer more to do.   

For me, a lot of the joy and excitement of Assassin’s Creed comes from visiting a new era in history and rediscovering the series’ conflict through the lens of that time and place. This return to a familiar locale lacks that, but it should still offer it for newer players who never experienced the game more than a decade ago. But even without that sense of newness, Black Flag Resynced is an impressive rework, setting a high bar for how to return to an older action game and make it relevant once more. I’d prefer to sail to new horizons, but I’m also happy to rediscover a journey that reminds me why I embraced the franchise in the first place.

Score:
8.25

About Game Informer’s review system

Marvel Rivals introduced its newest season, The Mystery of Thebes, in a livestream earlier today, which will add the new characters Jubilee and The Hood into the game. The cinematic trailer was followed by the routine dev vision video where creative director Guangguang and lead combat designer Zhiyong go over balance changes and new team-up abilities, but this update was anything but routine. In addition to overhauling the Team-Up system (more on that later), they’ve almost completely reworked Black Widow’s mechanics.

In a game where most heroes have generally similar power levels, Black Widow has consistently been the least powerful character on the roster. As a sniper, she’s in a delicate position where the developers know that boosting her damage too high can quickly make her frustratingly overpowered. But since the rest of her ability kit is underwhelming, she’s never been a meta pick, and some players even get mad when you select her in a competitive game.

Now, she’s completely different. Her damage has been reduced, but her fire rate has been greatly increased, giving her gun a more of a mid-range, semi-automatic feel. Her old ultimate ability has become a standard ability on her toolbar, and her stamina costs for sprinting and super jumping have been eliminated. She has a new ability that launches her towards enemies and slams her gauntlets into the ground. She also has a new Ultimate, which allows her to aim down the scope of her rifle and temporarily transform it back into the sniper it used to be. The new sniper has increased damage, a larger hitbox, and can pierce enemies. While it won’t one-shot any foes, it requires much less skill to land a hit and lasts for 20 seconds or until you use all six of her shots.

Black Widow’s new ult in Marvel Rivals season 9.

While this is a major shift for Black Widow players, the next change is huge for everyone else: Team-Ups are changing entirely. It’s the mechanic that makes Marvel Rivals really stand out amongst its peers, adding new mechanics or buffs if two players on the same team play compatible characters. After a while, however, the developers admit it’s been “uninspired,” for a while, saying they were adding and subtracting team-ups just for the sake of checking boxes in a new update. Season 9 takes it much further, overhauling the system altogether.

“Now, every single hero will possess two completely independent Team-Up Ability loadouts,” Zhiyong says. “The abilities granted by these loadouts vary; some are entirely new abilities, some are entirely new standalone abilities, while others replace an existing base ability.”

These new Team-Ups can be swapped out whenever you swap your character out before matches, between rounds, or when you die and return to the spawn room. In an example clip, Black Panther chooses between Team-Ups with Magik and Storm. Each Team-Up also now has a base effect and an enhanced effect. The base effect gives each player the Team-Up’s core mechanic, but it is active regardless of whether the Team-Up partner is actually on your team. Going back to the above example, Black Panther can use his Team-Up ability with Magik regardless of whether she’s on the team. But if Magik is present, his ability gets its enhanced effect, granting it a significant boost in power, sometimes producing alternate effects entirely.

 

To exemplify further, the video shows off the Hulk’s new Team-Up effects. His new Team-Up ability with Captain America, Incredible Leap, allows him to jump up and slam into the ground to damage nearby enemies. It also reduces his cooldowns based on how depleted his health is. But if Cap is on the same team, the enhanced effect means Incredible Leap does more damage and adds a debuff that makes foes take more damage.

“We have been holding our tongue on this version update for so long, and we couldn’t be happier to finally talk about it,” Guangguang says. “We actually started planning our Team-Up overhaul just under a year ago. Over the last few seasons, we’ve been closely following the community’s discussions regarding Team-Ups, and honestly, the pressure has been immense.”

Zhiyong also says the development team will constantly be monitoring the interactions between all of the game’s new Team-Up abilities and be on standby to roll out rapid balance patches if needed – something the team doesn’t do often. It’s a pretty significant shake-up – here’s hoping the update doesn’t break the game.

These changes will be implemented when Season 9 starts on Friday, July 10. You can read the full Season 9 patch notes here. For more Marvel Rivals, check out the newest playable character: Jubilee.