Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, which had promised the glorious revival of a 2013 masterpiece, ran into unexpected headwinds from its very first day on sale. Released worldwide through Ubisoft on July 9, the game saw its Steam rating momentarily sink as low as "Mostly Negative," dragged down by a paid-DLC controversy and a wave of review bombing originating in China. As of July 11, its second day out, it has rebounded to "Mostly Positive." By the Steam store's "All Reviews" count it stands at roughly 8,511 reviews, and across all languages a total of 9,811 (6,963 positive, 2,848 negative), for a positive rate of about 71%.
What's interesting is that the thing that dragged down early reviews wasn't the quality of the game itself, but "factors outside the game" like DLC and promotions. Immediately after launch, Steam concurrent players surged, drawing series-record levels of attention — but that attention didn't translate straight into praise, and public sentiment swung wildly during the first few days.
The biggest spark was the massive amount of DLC that poured out on launch day. According to overseas communities and reviews, roughly $84.91 (about €85) worth of paid DLC was already prepared at release. As of July 10, nine DLC items had been registered, and buying all of them comfortably exceeds the game's base list price (69,000 won on Steam). Even the Deluxe Edition includes only two of seven packs, with the remaining six sold separately at €9.99 each (one at €4.99).
One user review jabbed, "What's the point of buying the Deluxe version? The moment I launch the game, it tells me $84.91 worth of 'DLC' isn't mine." Another sharpened the point: "You put out a €70 game and on launch day you shove €85 worth of DLC packs at me. And not just cosmetics — things that give gameplay advantages."
As the controversy grew, Ubisoft itself stepped in to push back directly across many of the negative reviews. The company explained, "The Standard Edition is a complete and whole experience. Every mission, every island, the full story and a finished world are all included, and nothing is missing," adding that "the additional packs are entirely optional elements for players who want them, and are never required to enjoy or complete the game." But there's no shortage of views that this explanation only poured fuel on the fire.
The regional divergence is stark. As of July 11, filtering by Steam language, English is "Mostly Positive" (4,365 reviews); Russian, German, Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish are "Very Positive"; and French is "Mostly Positive." Simplified Chinese (the Chinese-language sphere), by contrast, stands uniquely low at "Mostly Negative" (1,299 reviews). Behind the low Chinese-language scores lies discontent over a pre-launch early-play promotion aimed at streamers. Paying regular customers couldn't even begin preloading, while obscure cross-genre streamers were playing and streaming for free three days ahead. In fact, one review that was widely upvoted as "helpful" bitingly took aim at Ubisoft: "Let us celebrate their establishment of a complete and mature 'caste system' in the gaming world."
Technical problems were also flagged. On some PC setups, cutscenes were reported to be locked at 30fps. Ubisoft, via its Steam news page, said a fix is coming in an update, and recommended not setting "Ray Tracing," "BVH," and "Terrain Quality" to "Ultra High" until then. According to overseas outlet DSOG, a user-made mod that resolves the issue has already appeared. Beyond this, difficulty finding language packs and the absence of Japanese voice-over were also cited as inconveniences.
Domestic community reactions crossed hope with anxiety. One game-café user said, "I heard the Black Flag everyone called a masterpiece was coming back, so I bought it thinking I'd let them fool me just one more time," revealing cautious expectation. Another wrote, "It came out on Steam today so I bought it, but did I waste my money…? The reviews are mixed… though once it hit 8 o'clock they flipped to Mostly Positive… ahh, my 60,000 won ㅠ it'll be fun, right?" — capturing the feeling of watching a rating wobble in the early hours. In the comment section of the original article, reactions split too. The view that drew the most agreement pointed out a hole in the review-bombing system: "Shouldn't reviews from users who refunded be excluded from the rating breakdown?" Cynicism also surfaced — "If it's because of the promotion policy, then it's still Ubisoft's fault in the end," and "a company where only the IP has value" — while there were also defenders: "You don't have to buy all the DLC, just buy the ones you're interested in."
The assessment of the game's actual substance, meanwhile, is fairly solid. Domestic outlet reviews offered lines like "a faithful re-chewing of the original" and "an old anchor left on a remodeled ship," noting that the upgrade to the latest engine (Anvil) coexists with the original's limitations. Another outlet scored it 7.9/10, calling it "a remake closer to a remaster — a point you absolutely must keep in mind." On top of that, news broke on launch day of a 51-person layoff at Ubisoft's Barcelona studio, which added to a chill in public sentiment that belied the strong pre-release buzz.
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