Prologue Walkthrough

The prologue of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced drops you straight into the North Atlantic circa 1715, years before Edward Kenway captains the Jackdaw or understands the Assassin-Templar war. You play as Edward aboard a privateer vessel allied with Benjamin Hornigold and Edward Thatch, privateers licensed to harass Spanish shipping under the guise of British interests. The remake opens with a cinematic naval skirmish that immediately teaches rudimentary deck combat—musket fire, brace commands, and the chaos of boarding actions—before the weather turns lethal. This opening is deliberately louder and faster than the 2013 version, with clearer button prompts and a shorter time-to-first-parry so new players engage the remake's core combat loop within minutes.

The Emperor and the Storm

Your first playable segment takes place during a storm-chase sequence. Follow on-screen prompts to help the crew secure rigging and return fire on pursuing Spanish ships. You do not yet have full freedom of movement; treat this as a tutorial rail. When Edward is thrown overboard or separated from the main deck—exact trigger varies slightly in Resynced due to scripting tweaks—control shifts to a swimming segment. Reach floating debris and climb aboard wreckage. The water physics are updated in the remake: Edward swims faster, and the camera pulls tighter during heavy seas so orientation is easier on console and handheld displays.

Reaching the Beach

After the storm subsides, Edward washes ashore on a rocky Caribbean beach littered with bodies and broken crates. Walk forward to trigger a scavenging tutorial. Loot corpses and crates for your first few reales and a basic pistol. Resynced adds a subtle loot shimmer on interactable objects, reducing the chance you miss starting ammunition. Head inland following marker beacons; the path is linear until you hear voices ahead.

Duncan Walpole and the First Duel

Edward discovers Duncan Walpole, an Assassin in white robes, dueling Spanish soldiers near a jungle clearing. In the remake, this fight showcases the parry system before you control it directly: watch Duncan deflect strikes and counter with single-hit takedowns. Once the soldiers fall, a cutscene plays. Duncan offers Edward passage off the island in exchange for help reaching a British ship. Accept the prompt to follow him. When ambushed again, you gain full combat control. This is your first mandatory melee encounter using Resynced mechanics.

Combat Tutorial: Parry and Counter

• Hold the block button to raise your guard when an enemy's weapon flashes red. Release into attack during the parry window for a perfect parry that staggers the foe.
• Press the takedown button on a staggered enemy to perform a swift kill. See the takedown guide for the four types unlocked later.
• Spanish soldiers here use simple slash patterns. Only one attacks at a time, making this an ideal practice arena.
• If you struggle with timing, lower combat difficulty in settings—parry windows widen without changing story outcomes.
• Edward still wields single swords in the prologue; dual-wield and pistol finishers unlock in Sequence 01.

Clear the second wave of soldiers, then follow Duncan through the jungle path. Resynced allows crouch-anywhere stealth even though the game does not yet require it. You may optionally crouch and assassinate a lone sentry ahead of the main group for early practice. Doing so does not affect synchronization because formal optional objectives have not activated yet.

The Betrayal on the Beach

The prologue's pivotal moment arrives when Edward and Duncan reach a secluded cove where a sloop waits. Duncan reveals his true destination: a Templar rendezvous in Havana, carrying maps and a blood vial as proof of his defection. Greed overtakes Edward. During the argument, you are prompted to fight Duncan in a one-on-one duel. This encounter is more demanding than the soldier fights: Duncan uses Assassin techniques, including a smoke bomb disengage and aggressive combo strings.

Defeating Duncan Walpole

• Watch for Duncan's smoke vanish—when he reappears, he attacks from your flank. Roll or dodge sideways rather than backward.
• Perfect parries open larger stagger windows against elite enemies like Duncan. Two or three successful parry chains typically end the fight on normal difficulty.
• Do not waste pistol shots; Edward carries limited ammo and the duel ends before you can restock.
• If you die repeatedly, the remake's checkpoint places you at the duel start rather than the entire beach sequence.
• After victory, a cutscene shows Edward claiming Duncan's robes, hidden blades, and identity papers.

Edward dons the Assassin hood—ironically, the symbol of an order he has never sworn to uphold. The prologue closes with Edward sailing toward civilization, believing he can fool Templar grandmasters and collect a fortune for Assassin secrets he does not possess. Narratively, this sets up Sequence 01 and the Havana infiltration. Mechanically, you should exit the prologue comfortable with basic parrying, pistol shots, and jungle traversal including rope-assisted cliff climbs introduced in the final approach to Duncan's camp.

Prologue Completion Checklist

• Complete the naval intro and swimming segment without skipping cutscenes if you want full lore context about privateering licenses.
• Practice at least one perfect parry during the soldier fights; the game tracks combat mastery for a late prologue tooltip about advanced chains.
• Loot all crates on the beach for starting currency used in Sequence 01 shops.
• Optional: assassinate the lone jungle sentry using crouch approach from tall grass introduced along the path.
• Proceed to Sequence 01 when the memory loads aboard your escape vessel.

The prologue contains no formal synchronization percentage constraints in either the original or Resynced versions, so you cannot fail optional objectives here. Use this freedom to experiment with control remapping and difficulty sliders before the game grades your performance in Havana. Edward's journey from impostor to pirate captain begins in earnest once you reach port—carry forward the habit of parrying rather than button-mashing, because Resynced punishes mindless aggression against even basic guards in later memories.