As of July 1, with the launch of Ubisoft's remake *Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced* just eight days away, the claim that the female character Anne Bonny has been visually censored is spreading once again. But when GameY cross-checked the images against official materials, we found that many of the comparison pictures being circulated as evidence were not official renders released by Ubisoft — they were second-hand edits posted to Pinterest and Twitter.
The controversy began with the argument that Anne Bonny, who appeared in the original wearing a bold, low-cut top, had her exposure and her face altered after Resynced was revealed. A [side-by-side comparison image posted to X (formerly Twitter) on May 23](https://x.com/Mangalawyer/status/2057885821009629457) racked up more than 170,000 views as it spread, followed by mockery that the new version looked like "a pirate who came straight from a Pride parade."
When GameY checked, the reliability of the claim split depending on which image was being passed around. The right side of the 170,000-view post (claimed to be the new version) did not match [Ubisoft's official Anne Bonny render]. In the official high-resolution render, she wears a cream-colored, off-the-shoulder ruffled blouse with a deep V-neck, and her cleavage is plainly visible. The right side of the viral image, by contrast, had a higher neckline, covered shoulders, and even a different face shape. If it had truly been captured directly from the in-game asset, there would be no reason for it to diverge from the official render.
The controversy then shifted to her face. On May 31, a post appeared on the game's official Steam community demanding that Anne Bonny's face be fixed — arguing that her lips were pulled inward, her nose bridge was crushed, her neck had been lengthened, and the shadow work was inadequate. But the "original versus remake" comparison images this post offered as evidence were, again, not official materials. The link presented as the "original" was a fan capture posted to Pinterest (bearing a NYIRO watermark), and the link presented as the "remake" was an image hosted on Twitter. Whether the accusation was censorship or facial disfigurement, the images serving as the basis for the outrage were unsourced second-hand edits rather than Ubisoft's official renders.
The extent of the manipulation GameY was able to confirm ends there. Whether those images were AI-generated or manually retouched, and who originally posted them, could not be verified. What is confirmed is the mismatch with the official render. Ubisoft has not issued a direct official position on whether Anne Bonny's design was changed, and has released an official character reference guide containing high-resolution renders of Anne Bonny, Blackbeard, and Adewale. Measured against the official render, the change from the original amounts to the V-neck being somewhat shallower — the cleavage itself has not disappeared.
The controversy does not stop at appearance. When the world premiere trailer was released on April 23 without any depiction of blood, censorship suspicions arose, and producer Justin Ng stated via X that the final game would include gore and that it would not be paid DLC. On top of that came complaints about the removal of the hidden blade, an always-online connection requirement, and degraded cutscene quality. With the "it's censorship" backlash and the "it's been inflamed by doctored images" rebuttal facing off against each other, the controversy looks set to run right up to the July 9 launch date.
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