Released first on the PlayStation 3 and as a launch title for the PlayStation 4, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag has remained a defining entry in the series for more than a decade. When we first explored the idea of bringing Edward Kenway’s journey to modern hardware, it quickly became clear that a traditional remaster wouldn’t be enough to do it justice.
Instead, we rebuilt the game from the ground up on the latest version of the Anvil engine, modernizing nearly every system while preserving the spirit and identity of the original game. The result is an experience tailored for modern PlayStation hardware, with 60 FPS options, HDR support, Dolby Atmos, DualSense haptic feedback, and plenty of other improvements. You can find the list of graphics modes available at launch for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro below.
With all these new features and graphics options, we’ve been able to take full advantage of the PlayStation 5 hardware and deliver the best experience possible for players when the game launches on July 9.
In this article, we’d like to take a closer look at some of the technologies that bring this new version of the Caribbean to life.
A more reactive Caribbean with ray tracing
In Resynced, our goal was to make the world feel more alive, more dynamic, and more responsive to the player’s journey.
A major part of that comes from our updated lighting system, now fully dynamic and powered by hardware-accelerated ray tracing.
Instead of relying on precomputed lighting, the world reacts in real time to changes in time of day, weather, and environment. Interiors respond more accurately to outdoor light sources, and weather conditions dramatically reshape the mood of the world.
Ray-traced diffuse lighting allows light to bounce across surfaces, creating natural color bleeding and more consistent shading throughout environments. Meanwhile, Ray-Traced Specular Reflections enhance surfaces like wet wood, metal, and ocean spray, helping the Caribbean feel more physically grounded and reactive.
To ensure a consistent experience, Ray-Traced Global Illumination is e