Ubisoft officially confirmed in March 2026 the development of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced, a remake of one of the franchise’s most beloved games.
To make the most of the launch, we’ve prepared a summary of everything Assassin’s Creed built up to Black Flag, so we can go into Black Flag Resynced with fresh memories and not miss a single detail.
Keep in mind that, obviously, this text will contain spoilers for all the games preceding Assassin’s Creed Black Flag.
What Is Assassin’s Creed?
First and foremost, it’s important to understand the essence of Assassin’s Creed. At the heart of the entire franchise is a simple premise: human history was shaped by a secret war between two organizations that have existed for millennia. On one side, the Assassin Brotherhood, guardians of free will, who believe humanity should choose its own destiny. On the other, the Templar Order, which believes peace is only possible through control, and that the ends justify the means.
The entire narrative of the franchise unfolds in two timelines: the past, where the player controls an Assassin in their era, and the present, where a modern-day character accesses their ancestors’ memories through a machine called the Animus.
Before any Assassin or Templar, there was a much more advanced race: the Isu, also called the First Civilization or “Those Who Came Before.” They created humans and developed artifacts of immense power—the Pieces of Eden, like the famous Apple of Eden. A solar catastrophe nearly wiped them out millennia ago. Centuries later, their ruins, technologies, and prophetic messages still directly influence present-day events.
The Beginning of It All
The first game, titled Assassin’s Creed, from 2007, introduces us to two characters at the same time. In the 12th century, we follow Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad, an elite Assassin of the Levantine Brotherhood during the Third Crusade. And in the present day of 2012, we meet Desmond Miles, an ordinary bartender who was kidnapped by the megacorporation Abstergo Industries.
Abstergo is, in fact, a modern-day front for the Templars. Scientist Dr. Warren Vidic forces Desmond into the Animus, a machine capable of accessing the genetic memories contained in a person’s DNA. Vidic’s goal is to find, through Altaïr’s memories, the location of a Piece of Eden.
Initially, Altaïr is an arrogant Assassin who breaks fundamental rules of the Creed during a mission. He is then demoted to the lowest rank of the Brotherhood as punishment. To regain his honor, he is given a series of assassination contracts against Templars in Acre, Damascus, and Jerusalem.
The story’s climax comes when Altaïr discovers that his own Mentor, Al Mualim, is secretly a Templar and was using the Apple of Eden to control Brotherhood members. Altaïr kills the traitor, but the Apple projects a map revealing that there are multiple Pieces of Eden scattered across the globe.
In the present, while Abstergo analyzes the memories, Desmond begins to develop the so-called Bleeding Effect: a phenomenon where the ancestor’s skills transfer to the Animus user. In other words, Desmond gains Altaïr’s combat knowledge and performance. But he also discovers he could lose his sanity if exposed for too long.
The game ends with Desmond escaping Abstergo with the help of Lucy Stillman, an agent who claims to be from the Brotherhood.
Ezio Auditore da Firenze
With Desmond free, he and Lucy team up at a secret base with two other modern-day Assassins: Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane. To gather the skills and knowledge needed to face the Templars, they had to dive back into the Animus. This time, the ancestor was someone else.
Thus begins the story of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a young Florentine nobleman from the late 15th century. Nothing in his life seemed destined for heroism. A son of a good family, a heartthrob, a brawler, worried about girls and reputation. But everything changes when his father Giovanni Auditore—secretly an Assassin—is betrayed and executed along with his brothers by a Templar conspiracy led by the Spaniard Rodrigo Borgia.
Ezio flees with his mother and sister to his uncle Mario Auditore’s villa in Monteriggioni, where he discovers his family’s heritage: he is descended from a long line of Assassins. Mario trains him, and Ezio embarks on a journey of revenge that leads him to cross paths with real historical figures like Leonardo da Vinci, Lorenzo de’ Medici, and Niccolò Machiavelli.
See more: The Main Real-Life Figures Who Have Appeared in Assassin’s Creed
The game’s climax occurs when Rodrigo Borgia, who had become Pope Alexander VI, uses the Papal Staff—another Isu artifact—to open a sacred Vault beneath the Vatican. Ezio confronts him inside, but instead of treasure, he finds only a holographic projection of Minerva, a First Civilization entity.
Minerva speaks, not to Ezio, but through him, to someone who isn’t there. She speaks directly to Desmond, warning of an impending solar catastrophe capable of destroying Earth, just as it destroyed the First Civilization. In this moment, Minerva says Desmond’s name; Ezio hears it but understands nothing. Desmond, in the present, receives the message in a state of shock.
The Brotherhood of Rome
Brotherhood begins immediately after the events of AC II. Ezio returns to the Monteriggioni villa in peace, but not for long. The Borgias, now led by Cesare Borgia, the Pope’s son, attack the villa, steal the Apple of Eden that Ezio had hidden, and kill his uncle Mario.
Ezio goes to Rome to reclaim the city from the Borgias’ clutches and rebuild the Assassin Brotherhood, which had been destroyed. He recruits and trains new Assassins across the city, becoming not just a warrior, but a leader.
In the present, the Bleeding Effect was becoming increasingly dangerous for Desmond. Hallucinations, visions of the past emerging in the present. His mind was being consumed by his ancestors’ memories.
The ending of Brotherhood is one of the most shocking in the series. Desmond and his group find the Apple of Eden, but the entity Juno, another Isu with a dark and hostile nature toward humanity, uses the artifact to take control of Desmond’s body. Against his will, he is forced to stab Lucy with his hidden blade. Both collapse, bringing Brotherhood to an end.
The End of Two Legends
With Desmond unconscious, Rebecca connects him to the Animus to preserve his mind while they transport him. But instead of waking up, Desmond is trapped in a virtual space inside the machine, a limbo called the Animus Island.
There, he meets Clay Kaczmarek, “Subject 16,” a previous Animus user who had gone mad and died, but left behind a digital echo of his consciousness. Clay explains that the only way for Desmond to free himself is to continue reliving his ancestors’ memories until there is nothing left to reveal.
Thus, Desmond dives into the memories of an older Ezio, in his final chapter. At over 50 years old, the Master Assassin travels to Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, in search of the Masyaf Keys.
The Masyaf Keys are five memory seals created by Altaïr, each containing fragments of his life and the knowledge accumulated over decades as Mentor of the Brotherhood. Gathered together, they serve as the only way to open the secret library hidden beneath the Masyaf fortress—a repository of all the knowledge Altaïr preserved before he died.
Revelations closes not only Ezio’s story but also Altaïr’s. We see Altaïr at the end of his life. We see Ezio, now wise, realizing that his entire life was meant to be a messenger.
“I have heard your name once before, Desmond. A long time ago. And now it lingers in my mind like an image from an old dream. I do not know where you are, or by what means you can hear me. But I know you are listening. I have lived my life as best I could, not knowing its purpose, but drawn forward like a moth to a distant moon. And here, at last, I discover a strange truth. That I am only a conduit for a message that eludes my understanding. Who are we, who have been so blessed to share our stories like this? To speak across centuries? Maybe you will answer all the questions I have asked. Maybe you will be the one to make all this suffering worth something in the end.”
In the end, Desmond receives definitive confirmation from Jupiter—another Isu entity: the solar catastrophe is coming on December 21, 2012, and there is a Temple capable of containing it. Desmond finally wakes from his coma.
Connor and Desmond’s Sacrifice
AC III is the chapter that definitively closes Desmond Miles’ arc. Desmond, his father William Miles, Rebecca, and Shaun locate the First Civilization’s Grand Temple hidden in a cave in New York. To open it and find the solution to the catastrophe, they need the memories of a new ancestor: Ratonhnhaké:ton, better known as Connor.
The game starts differently: the first chapters are played not by Connor, but by his father, Haytham Kenway, a charismatic, efficient, and calculating British man who reveals himself to be a Templar.
Connor, on the other hand, grew up in a tribe, and his life is marked by tragedy from an early age. Guided by a vision of an Isu he had as a child, he seeks out the Master Assassin Achilles Davenport, who trains him and helps him rebuild the colonial Brotherhood. Connor’s journey takes place during the American Revolutionary War, alongside historical figures like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.
During the story, Connor kills Haytham in a melancholic end. His father dies without accepting his son’s path.
With all the pieces in place, Desmond enters the Temple’s final chamber. Juno and Minerva await him, each with a proposal to save the world. Minerva says the best path is to let the catastrophe happen—Desmond could survive and lead humanity’s reconstruction. Juno, on the other hand, claims there is a way to stop the disaster, but at the cost of Desmond’s life and her own liberation.
Desmond already knows he can’t trust Juno. But he also knows that letting billions of people die is not something he can accept. So Desmond touches the sphere, an energy field expands across the planet, and the catastrophe is averted. However, Desmond dies and Juno is freed from her confinement.
What to Expect from Black Flag Resynced
With Desmond’s death, the franchise had to reinvent the “present day.” That’s why in Black Flag, Abstergo, now reorganized as Abstergo Entertainment, began using Desmond’s genetic memories, collected posthumously, to create virtual reality entertainment experiences.
The “protagonist” in Black Flag’s present day isn’t an assassin, but simply an anonymous employee at Abstergo Entertainment, hired to analyze the memories of Edward Kenway, another of Desmond’s ancestors and the protagonist of Black Flag’s past. But they soon discover there is much more going on in the company’s bowels.
It’s also worth understanding where Black Flag fits in the timeline. Edward Kenway’s story takes place decades before AC III. Edward is Connor’s grandfather and Haytham’s father. In other words: the Kenway family saga is told backwards. Black Flag tells a prequel story to AC III regarding the historical period, but a sequel regarding the present day.
Confirmed in March 2026 with concept art of Edward Kenway on a ship’s mast, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced is the franchise’s first remake. The project, led by Ubisoft Singapore, brings a very different protagonist from previous games. Edward is not a hero, but a man who puts his own interests above all else. Learning to like him gradually, following his evolution, is the true heart of the game.
There are rumors, however, that the remake might remove the present day and focus 100% on the past. Regardless, you now have the foundation you need to play. Keep an eye on Jogaverso so you don’t miss any information.
