Ubisoft details PS5 Pro enhancements for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced
Extra features include extended ray tracing support and improved hair
Ubisoft has detailed some of the improvements made for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, including those specific to the PlayStation 5 Pro version of the game.
Set for release on July 9, Resynced isn’t a straight remaster of the 2013 game Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, but an entire remake rebuilt using the latest version of the Anvil engine used for such titles as Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
In a new post on the official PlayStation Blog, Ubisoft has explained some of the improvements made to the game, as well as some of the extra improvements PS5 Pro owners can expect.
The game will have 60fps Performance, 30fps Fidelity and 40fps Balanced graphics modes on both the base PS5 and PS5 Pro, but the PS5 Pro version will use PSSR to improve resolution upscaling to 2160p.
The PS5 Pro version will also have extended ray tracing across all three graphics modes, whereas on base PS5 the 60fps Performance mode will have ‘standard’ ray tracing.
According to Ubisoft, the standard ray tracing involves global illumination of the game world, whereas the extended ray tracing also includes specular reflections which “enhance surfaces like wet wood, metal, and ocean spray”.
Because this information is provided on the PlayStation Blog, information for Xbox Series X/S has not yet been made available, but it’s likely that the Xbox Series X version will have similar specs to the base PS5, with any differences expected to be minor.
With specific regard to the PS5 Pro version, Ubisoft says the improved ray tracing is accompanied by sharper resolution with PSSR and improved hair rendering for each character.
“Across all graphics modes, players on PS5 Pro benefit from extended ray tracing support, including both Ray-Traced Global Illumination and Ray-Traced Specular Reflections,” the blog reads.
“This enables richer lighting and reflection quality while maintaining higher performance targets across Performance, Balanced, and Fidelity modes.
“We’ve also expanded our strand-based hair on PS5 Pro. Rather than relying solely on traditional hair cards, the engine can simulate and render individual strands for more natural motion and response to wind. All of this allows us to get a very realistic hair render for our characters.
“On PS5 Pro, strand-based hair is available for Edward in all modes. In Fidelity mode, nearby crowd characters also benefit from strand simulation during gameplay, while cinematics use strand-based hair for all characters regardless of mode.
“In addition, Black Flag Resynced supports the latest version of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), helping deliver better image quality and improved reconstruction, reducing the visual gap between performance and fidelity modes.”
VGC recently went hands-on with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced and called it “a perfect summer jaunt back to the Caribbean in a game loved by so many.”
“The gameplay elements that made the original beloved are still great, and where Ubisoft Singapore has gone in and touched things up, they’ve done it subtly,” we wrote. “Things like the epic visuals and new perfect parry system are the headline additions, but director Paul Fu’s approach has been one of someone who’s clearly extremely reverent to the original.”
