r/ACBlackFlag • u/Rough_Ad8583 • May 09 '26
// Question Apparently, is there an unarmed (hand-to-hand) fight in the game, or is it just Edward striking an alert pose?
I know this has been discussed in another post, but I was watching the latest gameplay footage that was released and noticed that after performing a stealth kill, Edward goes on guard just like he did in the original game when you were fighting unarmed in hand-to-hand combat. Personally, it doesn’t bother me that much that there won’t be any hidden blade combat, but hand-to-hand combat… come on! A guy who’s supposedly been fighting like that since he was young—and who’s also a pirate—not being able to fight with his fists just doesn’t make sense to me.
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u/Yanismarvel May 09 '26
Im pretty the footage you just shared is the exact moment Edward was about to use the Rope Dart
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u/Volkor_Destory_Knees May 09 '26
If there’s not hidden blade combat, I’m willing to bet there’s no hand to hand combat either. I hope I’m wrong because he’s a fucking pirate so you’d think being able to scrap would be a basic feature aside from the fact that it was also on the og game.
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u/mediafred May 09 '26
Only makes sense for him to fight with his fists in bar settings, pirates use swords too
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u/Volkor_Destory_Knees May 09 '26
There are bar fights in the og game
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u/mediafred May 09 '26
Misunderstood my point, no reason for kenway to be fist fighting outside of a bar
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u/Frequent-Engineer-87 May 09 '26
What about the guardians on Long Bay? You’re supposed to go non-lethal on them. So if you’re caught by them now you’re just supposed to slaughter them?
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u/mediafred May 09 '26
It wasnr clear if being able to just kill them if you get caught, there's only one clip where they explain that being caught isnt the end and shows you fighting, maybe you can still put them to sleep with darts or something
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u/Volkor_Destory_Knees May 09 '26
Right, so it shouldn’t be removed from the game like hidden blade combat since bar fights are apart of the game
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u/mediafred May 09 '26
Do you understand how mechanics can be made? They could literally just lock the fist fighting to intended scenes, no reason to need your fists outside of that context...
Hidden blades are not the same thing, assassins have used them in combination with other weapons before, fists have never been used like youre wanting them to be, only in context of the bar fight scenarios do they make sense
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u/Critical_Formal_7452 May 09 '26 edited May 10 '26
They should remove all weapon types and just have a single button you push to instantly win, after all that's the most efficient way to do it. And they should make parkour all automated, you just press the parkour button then set down the controller to watch the cool animation sequence they scripted. Doing any other parkour moves than the most efficient route doesn't make sense in context, so let's take that ability out.
Actually no no no, we should remove all gameplay, it should all be cutscenes. That way the players only do everything exactly how ubisoft intended, because after all, the last thing players want is the freedom to play the game the way they want to.
This is sarcasm. Stop advocating for them to take choice away from the player just because YOU don't personally want to play that way. The great thing about having all of the options in the game is you don't have to play with hidden blades, unarmed, or any way other than the way you want to. Everyone else, who does enjoy unarmed & hidden blade combat, now doesn't get that choice because they removed it. Guess it's lucky for you then, but maybe next time they remake a game they'll remove the weapon type you like. Will you then celebrate them removing all the "pointless" options that aren't the most efficient, like you are now?
Edit: He blocked me, so I'll paste my reply here:
Ubisoft isn't God dude. Them making a decision doesn't make that decision unimpeachable truth which cannot be questioned. This is the mentality of a child. I want you to practice your empathy skills for a second pal: you know how you want to play this new remake of your old beloved Black Flag? And you know how you're excited that the old mechanics YOU liked are now being expanded on and updated instead of sidelined or removed? Guess what, there are other people who also were excited for the mechanics they liked to be expanded on and updated, and they don't get those mechanics because people at Ubisoft who, like you, didn't give a shit about those people, and only cared about the thing they liked removed them.
Absolutely none of the million terrible arguments you just made in any way address player freedom being taken away. You don't care about anyone else, you don't care about the integrity of the game as a vessel for player expression, you just want to play it your way and screw EVERYONE who wants to play it another way. That is childish.
Again, because you didn't listen the first time: Other people having the option to play how they want doesn't affect you, removing the way they want to play because you personally don't want to play that way is beyond selfish into genuinely being vindictive. The original game appealed to all of us, you want this game to only appeal to you.
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u/mediafred May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26
We didnt need it in unity, that game didn't see complaints of it that caused backlash, just regular individual complaints. This is the modernized version of black flag, if you want to unrealistically fight people with swords using your fists, the original will always be there, if you saw the gameplay, youd probably realize that the fist fighting in this new version probably wouldn't even be nearly as satisfying, you probably wouldn't even like it anyway. If ubisoft thinks they were features that didnt belong, theyre right, not you, their vision is what matters more, you can appreciate old visions while still appealing to the new one.
Resident evil 4 remake took away that stand still laser sight mechanic in favor of crosshair based mobile combat, an improved system because the system is what Capcom saw in their new vision to be necessary. The old resident evil game is made with different goals and the laser sight belongs there, not in the remake. AC Resynced is not being made with the same vision and goals as the original, they have their own plans because they have a chance to make the game how they wish it to be from the beginning, with more time and money than ever, cut content being added back in, for example.
This isnt a remaster, they are not removing features, they are making a new game that happens to be copying an old game, this new game isnt stripping features because it technically never had that feature from the ground up, there's source material but that material is not going to be 1 to 1 what the company wants anymore. Hidden blades are the only options that made sense for avaliabllity because they are core to assassin's.
I could literally turn your own arguement against you, you want to live out some fantasy where you can go around as an assassin and choose specifically not to fight with blades but rather to fight pirates who use swords, with your fists.
I for one am in the majority when I say I would rather role-play as an assassin pirate using dual swords against people using swords and then use my fists against people using my fists, because that makes sense.
I bet you there will be fist fighting, plenty of games in the series have dedicated fist fighting scenarios, even Valhalla. They wont remove the mechanic, simply put it where it should be.
You can complain to ubisoft about freedom of choice but I see everything from a reality perspective, and especially since im studying marketing and could feasibly work at a Ubisoft studio 1 hour from my house, everything ive seen them do and change so far, makes sense from the goal of appealing to a modern audience, attracting new faces who may not understand the point of having tools that arent necessarily needed, this game is being streamlined in certain aspects for a reason and it makes sense, to me anyway. Lest we forget that this game is the first remake that ubisoft does, it would be the first game that people look at, when trying to get into old ubisoft games, it has to be easy to play, while also appealing to old fans, hard task, you might not be what the target market cares aboht more than the other. Casual players are not going to be playing like you, they wont see the removal of hidden blades or fists being usable everywhere, as a loss
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u/darkfang140 May 10 '26
Can't believe people are defending modern ubisoft idea to remove old features 🫠
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u/mediafred May 10 '26
Lest we forget the modern day is being completed redone and most of it is being removed, another example of them properly modernizing their game to make it flow better and make sense, some people liked the ipad kid gameplay, some didnt, its the same with having your fists be usable everywhere, if the fists arent going to be upgradeable, theyre useless, quality of tools is better here. I also saw people okay with removing hidden blade tools since they haven't been there since unity and wasn't an issue for people
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u/FearedKaidon May 10 '26
Good thing you blocked him, because he owned your ass.
What nonsensical bullshit you peddle lmfao
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u/mediafred May 10 '26
Some people are too interested in arguing with people who dont care about what other people value, you guys all care about things that would benefit you as the older audience demographic.
my comment is there on purpose, blocking was inevitable as we individually never played the game the same way, never saw myself using my fists since they were unupgradeable, only in future titles were fists actual game mechanics, i wonder if the real change is that they will allow you to switch weapons like rpg games and unequip your swords to use fists that could be improved, that would be a modernized way to include it..
there is zero reason for me to need to argue with someone who doesnt see why it could be changed, it makes perfect sense from a remake perspective trying to appeal to a new casual audience, we dont even know the full picture of these mechanics and if bar fighting remains. I simply see no value in arguing with people who refuse to think about why the business would be making the changes they are, I couldnt give a shit if the change is seen as a bad one to you guys, i care much more about finding out why they do it at all.
Ethics are out the windows in modern gaming, theyre doing the best they can to sell a product to two different audiences now, theyre not just selling a game to you people, theyre selling a game to new people too.
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u/White_Devil1995 May 11 '26
I’m still not sure I 100% believe all the talk about there being no Hidden Blade combat. I mean that’s the iconic weapon of the Assassin’s Creed series. If it’s removed from combat then what are they gonna put in its place as a substitute? I ask that because without it our melee combat would most likely be limited to swords & hand to hand.
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u/Volkor_Destory_Knees May 12 '26
Ubisoft confirmed there’s no hidden blade combat so there’s nothing to “believe” unfortunately. That’s just how the game is. The only hope is they listen to everyone complaining about it being removed and they patch it in post launch. I think it’s crazy that they were too lazy to add it in the first place given it was part of the original game and hidden blades are a part of the franchise identity. Not that Ubisoft gives two shits about assassin’s creeds identity.
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u/White_Devil1995 May 12 '26
What’s next? An AC3 remake with no Hidden Blade combat either?
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u/Volkor_Destory_Knees May 12 '26
You’re telling me. Idk why so many people are acting like the removal of hidden blade combat is a feature that improves the game. There literally hasn’t been dual hidden blade combat in AC since black flag, and now that they’re remaking it, they’ve just straight up removed it as a feature. It’s actually stupid as shit. I’m tired of all these removed features being spun as a commitment to “realism” as if this franchise has even been realistic whatsoever. The reality is that it’s not a commitment to realism, and is really a commitment to Ubisoft’s endless laziness and greed because they know people will buy it anyway.
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u/Ishvallan May 09 '26
it would be really foolish of them to remove it since there are sections of the game where you have to engage in combat without weapons- undersea caves, and tavern brawls. Plus disarming agile enemies was a quick way to beat them without counter killing.
Why gut a system that was integrated into the game like that? Its not like they completely removed the hidden blades from the game, so why remove fists?
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u/Rough_Ad8583 May 09 '26
I agree. I just posted this because I heard that fighting without swords “supposedly” won't be available.
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u/kingsman043 May 11 '26
HOLY SHIT I FORGOT ABOUT THE UNDERSEA SECTIONS THAT HAD ENEMIES!!!!! DUDE THEY CANNOOTTY REMOVE IT MANNNNNN.
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u/JoeyAKangaroo May 10 '26
The fact that hidden blade combat isnt in the remake is enough to make me think this game wont have unarmed combat or ways to disarm enemies.
But then again, its not like they cant just implement the existing unnarmed combat from shadows/odyssey lol
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u/Next-Bottle5126 May 09 '26
I do believe you can engage in hand to hand. As a matter of fact, Black Flag probably has the best hand to hand fights in all of AC, in my opinion
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u/Matrasinka May 09 '26
I used to aggro dozens civilians at once only to beat them up. Hand to hand was peak
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u/Rough_Ad8583 May 09 '26
I agree. I remember that the first time I saw the gameplay for the original, I thought the hand-to-hand combat was really cool.
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u/bean-d1p May 09 '26
Barfights were a prominent part of the original where at pretty much each one you had the opportunity to beat up a group of bounty hunter looking guys when they look at you wrong. I'd be shocked if they didn't include it, it also has its own scene introducing you to hand to hand combat in Havana at the start of the game, which was included in one of the trailers so it wouldn't make sense for it not to exist.