He hasn't fully thought through the trials, turmoil, and labor that being at sea will actually cost him.
Thirteen years after a pirate's story was first told, its original architect returned to ask what had been left unsaid. Darby McDevitt, the writer who shaped Edward Kenway's journey in 2013, has come back to Ubisoft's Black Flag Resynced to add three new scenes — small, intimate moments between Edward and his wife Caroline that the original game never had room for. In the space of a cup of chocolate, a love letter finally read aloud, and a reframed farewell, McDevitt attempts what all storytellers eventually must: to return to an abandoned poem and find the lines that were always missing.
- The original Black Flag skipped past Edward's tenderness entirely — one moment he's dreaming of fortune, the next he's already a ruined man, with no scene to show why Caroline ever mattered to him.
- Three new cutscenes, written by McDevitt himself, now anchor Edward's arc in genuine love — a cup of chocolate, a letter finally heard, a confrontation with Blackbeard recast in Caroline's shadow.
- A historian's correction turned a small anachronism into a richer detail: Edward sips liquid chocolate, not bites a bonbon, and the specificity makes his naive optimism feel achingly real.
- The modern-day 2013 framing — Desmond's death, Templar conspiracies — has been stripped away entirely, repositioning Resynced as a clean Animus memory for players who never knew that story.
- McDevitt, quoting Valéry, frames the whole endeavor simply: a poem is never finished, only abandoned — and after thirteen years, he finally had the chance to revise.
Thirteen years after Assassin's Creed Black Flag first shipped, its original lead writer Darby McDevitt returned to ask a simple question: what did we miss? When Ubisoft approached him to consult on Black Flag Resynced — a full remake built on the engine behind Assassin's Creed Shadows — he found himself drawn back to Edward Kenway and to the relationship he'd always felt was underserved: Edward's marriage to Caroline.
The most surprising addition to the remake is narrative rather than mechanical. Three new cutscenes, all written by McDevitt, focus on deepening Edward's bond with the woman he loved and ultimately failed. The first, which Ubisoft revealed exclusively, takes place over a cup of chocolate — a genuine luxury in the early 18th century. Edward presents it to Caroline with the naive optimism of a man convinced that privateering will transform their fortunes. He doesn't yet understand what the sea costs a person.
McDevitt was candid about the gap the scene fills. In the original game, Edward's arc accelerates without pause — there was no tender Edward, no moment showing why he was chasing wealth in the first place. The chocolate scene was designed to anchor that devotion. The detail of liquid rather than solid chocolate came from a historian's correction, and McDevitt embraced it: that kind of specificity, he said, is what makes a character's desperation feel true.
The other two new scenes round out Caroline's presence across the full game. One finally lets players hear the contents of the letter Edward sends asking her to join him in the New World. Another reframes his confrontation with Blackbeard to bring her back into that exchange. Together, McDevitt hopes, they make Caroline feel like a presence throughout Edward's journey rather than a ghost at its edges.
Resynced also removes the modern-day 2013 framing entirely — the Desmond storyline, the Templar recovery plot — repositioning the game as a fresh Animus experience for contemporary players. McDevitt adjusted the final Blackbeard scene accordingly, letting the historical story breathe on its own terms without building toward a twist that no longer serves the current canon.
Asked whether he winced at his own decade-old writing, McDevitt said no. He's proud of Black Flag — shaped in part by his admiration for HBO's Deadwood, built to give players a stylized feeling of the past. He quoted Valéry: a poem is never finished, only abandoned. Given the chance to return, he took it without hesitation.
Thirteen years after Assassin's Creed Black Flag first shipped, its original lead writer sat down to ask himself a simple question: what did we miss? Darby McDevitt, the man who earned a Writers Guild of America nomination for the 2013 pirate adventure, had moved on from Ubisoft, written novels, worked on other games. But when the studio approached him about consulting on Black Flag Resynced—a full remake running on the same engine that powered Assassin's Creed Shadows—he found himself drawn back to Edward Kenway, the privateer at the game's center, and to a relationship he'd always felt was undercooked: Edward's marriage to Caroline.
The remake isn't a simple visual refresh. Combat has been overhauled, mechanics have been rethought, and the story itself has been refined. But the most surprising addition lives in the narrative: three new cutscenes, all focused on deepening Edward's connection to the woman he loved and failed. The first of these, which Ubisoft is revealing exclusively, takes place over a cup of chocolate—a luxury item in the early 18th century, something Edward had to save for. In the scene, he presents it to Caroline with the naive optimism of a man convinced that privateering in the New World will transform their fortunes. He imagines returning with wonderful things, with wealth, with proof that he can provide for a woman he married above his station. He doesn't yet understand the cost of the sea, the way it changes a man, the way good intentions curdle into something else entirely.
McDevitt explained the thinking behind the addition. In the original game, Edward's arc ramps up quickly—one moment he's declaring his intention to become a privateer, the next he's drunk and rolling on the floor while his father-in-law calls him a ruined man. There was no sweet Edward, no anchor showing why he was doing any of it. "I didn't get to show the sweet side of Edward with his wife, because they really did love each other, and he really, really did want the best for her," McDevitt said. The chocolate scene was designed to tap into that devotion, to show a man trying to prove himself through a small gesture, not yet corrupted by the promise of easy money.
The choice of chocolate itself was deliberate. At the end of the original Black Flag, when Edward is back in London with his family, he mentions taking someone to White's Chocolate House. The new scene bookends that moment, creating a narrative arc that spans the entire game. McDevitt initially wrote the scene with hard chocolate bonbons, but a historian caught the anachronism—liquid chocolate was what people actually drank in that era. So they changed it. Edward sips chocolate, not bites it. The detail matters because it's the kind of specificity that makes a scene feel true, that makes a character's desperation feel real.
The three new scenes all center on Caroline, a character who in the original game is mostly defined by her absence. She haunts Edward's mind—he writes letters to her, mentions her in passing—but she never fully materializes as a presence. McDevitt wanted to change that. One scene is the chocolate moment. Another shows Edward finally sending word to Caroline asking her to come join him in the New World, and players now hear the actual contents of that letter. The third reframes Edward's final confrontation with the pirate Blackbeard, bringing Caroline back into that exchange as well. The effect, McDevitt hopes, is that players will feel her presence throughout Edward's entire journey, not just at the beginning and end.
One significant change in Resynced is the removal of the modern-day framing entirely. The original Black Flag was set in 2013, dealing with the death of Desmond Miles and the Templars' recovery of his body. McDevitt wrote all that modern-day content, but it's not relevant to the current Assassin's Creed storyline. He tweaked the final scene with Blackbeard to emphasize the historical story rather than build toward the original's twist ending. The twist still exists for people playing the 2013 version—it hasn't been erased from canon—but it's no longer the focal point. Resynced positions itself as a fresh experience through the Animus, 13 years after Desmond's story concluded, with new eyes on an old memory.
When asked if he winced at his own writing from over a decade ago, McDevitt said no. He's proud of Black Flag. He was deeply influenced by the HBO series Deadwood when he wrote it, and he wanted the game's language to carry that same stylized flavor, to give players a feeling of the past even if it wasn't historically precise. An obscure word, he said, can add salt to chocolate—extending and abusing the metaphor. He's written more games since then, written novels, learned things. But Black Flag remains, in his mind, a complete package, one of his best early examples of what he thought he was capable of. Given the chance to revisit it, he took it. He'd do it again if asked. "A poem is never finished, only abandoned," he said, quoting Valéry. He's in the Walt Whitman camp—always revising, always finding something new to say.
Notable Quotes
I didn't get to show the sweet side of Edward with his wife, because they really did love each other, and he really, really did want the best for her.— Darby McDevitt
A poem is never finished, only abandoned. If you give me an opportunity to rewrite something, even something that's been on shelves and in people's hands for years, I will still do it.— Darby McDevitt
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why go back at all? The game shipped, it was successful, people loved it. What does adding three scenes to a 13-year-old story actually accomplish?
It's about the things you see only in hindsight. When you're writing under deadline, you make choices that feel right at the time. But then you live with those choices for years, and you start to notice the gaps. Edward and Caroline—they loved each other, but the game never really showed that sweetness. It showed the failure, but not the reason for it.
So this is personal? You wanted to fix something that bothered you?
It's both. Yes, I wanted to address what I saw as a missed opportunity. But also, the team at Ubisoft asked what I thought was missing, and I told them. We landed on Caroline material because that felt like the core of Edward's motivation. Everything he does—the privateering, the piracy, all of it—it comes from wanting to provide for her.
The chocolate scene is interesting because it's so small. He buys her chocolate. Why is that the moment that matters?
Because it shows him before he's transformed. He's not yet a pirate. He's a man who saved money for a luxury item because he loves his wife and wants to give her something that proves he can take care of her. He's naive about what the sea will cost him. He thinks he'll go out, make money, come back. He hasn't thought through the labor, the suffering, the way it changes you.
And the chocolate bookends the story—he mentions White's Chocolate House at the very end, when he's back in London.
Exactly. It's a small detail, but it creates a shape. You see him at the beginning, full of hope, giving her this small luxury. And then at the end, he's back, and he's thinking about chocolate houses again. But he's not the same man.
Caroline was mostly absent in the original. Why not make her more present throughout?
We thought about playable sequences with her early on, but we couldn't figure out how to make them work mechanically. You don't want her just walking around interacting with objects. So instead, we made sure she's always on Edward's mind—he's writing letters to her, thinking about her. And now, with these three scenes, her presence extends further into the game. She's not just a ghost at the beginning and end. She's woven through his entire journey.