Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is getting New Game+ and Nightmare difficulty in its final major content update. Ubisoft has scheduled Title Update 1.0.8 for October 27 at 14:00 UTC on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, with smaller quality-of-life updates to follow over the coming months.
Although Ubisoft's update overview describes it as live, the detailed patch notes give that specific rollout time. The update adds tougher repeat playthroughs, new rewards and six hidden community chests to Edward Kenway's adventure.
Nightmare settings don't require a fresh start
Nightmare difficulty can be enabled at any point in the story, independently for combat, stealth, naval encounters and activities. You don't need to restart in New Game+ to use it, and you can raise the challenge in one area without changing every setting.
On land, enemies deal 1.8 times as much damage, parry timing is tighter and ranged enemies fire more often. The protection against one-shot kills is also disabled. Stealth becomes less forgiving through quicker detection and enemies hearing Edward when he moves faster than a walk. At sea, ship damage increases, while underwater activities bring faster oxygen depletion and more dangerous wildlife.
What carries into New Game+
New Game+ lets you replay the campaign while keeping Edward's gear, weapons, tools and trinkets, along with currency, inventory resources, pets and visual customisation. Jackdaw upgrades, hideout progression and Kenway Fleet ships carry over too.
Keeping those upgrades doesn't mean having immediate access to everything. The Jackdaw and hideout still unlock through story progression, and officers must be recruited again. Quests, quest items, map discovery, location progress and forts reset.
There are five New Game+ iterations, each adding difficulty modifiers. Ubisoft's patch notes specify more frequent Elite Soldiers and patrols by maximum-rank ships. Repeat runs also introduce Escudos, a currency earned through challenges and previously completed chests, or exchanged for Reales at the General Store. Escudos buy exclusive New Game+ outfits and items; existing Reales purchases keep their vendors and prices.
Other additions include outfits, sails, crew customisation, trinkets and pet appearances earned through exploration, activities, hidden challenges and New Game+ progression. New takedown variations appear randomly during combat, so players can't assign specific animations.
Ubisoft lists download sizes of 15.5 GB on Xbox Series X|S, 4.5 GB on PS5, 4.3 GB on PC and a separate 2.1 GB figure for Steam. The patch also fixes an offline-launch issue after losing a server connection and several quest progression blockers.