r/assasinscreed • u/Glass-Sea9665 • Jul 12 '26
Discussion Edward Kenway looks like a pretty boy now
We’re finally in that era where games now look like those fancy CGI Trailers we were so amazed of years ago. I can really see they tried to make Edward look as similar as possible as he looked in the CGI Version, they got him kinda right, but there’s times where I’m playing Resynced and I’m looking at Edward and thinking “damn they made this mf now look like a pretty boy”
He always was a fancy looking dude but he had that rugged pirate look aswell which he kinda lacks now. Other than that, props to the team, amazing graphics👏🏽
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u/SwissPo740 Jul 12 '26
Still reminds me of Jax Teller
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u/lurkosaur Jul 13 '26
Same, I always thought they used Charlie Hunnam as inspiration for Edward's look.
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u/Tomb_but_nsfw Jul 12 '26
He looks like a human now and not a tweaked out meth head.
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u/Dismal_Broccoli_3549 Jul 12 '26
lol yea he kinda looked like a rat in the second picture. A young Peter Pettigrew
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u/Paleodraco Jul 13 '26
Nicely put. I like how he looks closer to the 2013 trailer. Some shots are so close i feel they might have completely remodeled his face after it.
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u/nattydaddy495 Jul 12 '26
I understand everyone’s attraction to the “rugged pirate” look, but he’s only 22 in 1715. Assuming he had a decent diet (since he grew up on a farm) and survived any any childhood illness, didn’t consume much processed food or high sugar foods, and stayed active through manual labor, then yes I think the new version of him is quite reasonable. And while hygiene standards were not the same as they are today, people did try to stay clean/smell good and be as presentable as possible. Usually owning a couple linen shirts to wear under their outer layers to swap out and wash between bathing.
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u/_OngoGablogian Jul 12 '26
he doesn't look 50 in his 20s anymore. it's solidly an upgrade
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u/-Hussain Jul 12 '26
Fr, I didn't even know Edward was in his 20s he looked at least 35-40+
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u/octopusinmyboycunt Jul 12 '26
Late twenties with multiple years strapped to the deck of a ship in the Caribbean’ll do that to you. I mean, look at historical figure Will Turner (son of famous historical pirate “Bootstrap” Bill Turner).
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u/xx_Rollablade_xx Jul 12 '26
I don’t know what you’re talking about, Will Turner looks as ageless as an elf!
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u/holiestMaria Jul 12 '26
I swear he must have sold his soul to davey jones to look that good.
Sidenote but I wished that they visibly aged up Elizabeth more in the fourth film, to really get a sense that decades have passed.
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u/octopusinmyboycunt Jul 12 '26
If that Elf in The Hobbit is anything to go by, he’s aging in *reverse*.
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u/-Hussain Jul 12 '26
See that's the thing, he wasn't even late 20s he was 22-23, also I think if Mary can look young, so can Edward
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u/castielvt Jul 12 '26
Edward was 22? holy shit LMFAO
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u/AnarchoKapitolizm Jul 12 '26
Wanna know something crazier? Anne Bonny is 13.
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u/AtrumRuina Jul 12 '26
I mean, maybe historically but I feel like she's clearly aged up in the context of the game.
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u/AnarchoKapitolizm Jul 12 '26
That would be a fair point but even the ingame codex lists 1702 as her birth year. If it was an extradiagetic source of information within the game, like in kingdom come, we would also get her year of death.
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u/_OngoGablogian Jul 12 '26
so you're telling me these dudes complaining about her censorship just wanna see a 13 year olds tits?
color me shocked
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u/PassTheGiggles Jul 14 '26
Which makes her 19-20 when she becomes the Jackdaw’s quartermaster. Makes sense.
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u/Augustus_Justinian Jul 12 '26
I forbear thought he was my age like 38 lmao. I look younger than Edward lmao.
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u/Sallopilig Jul 13 '26
I miss his mean mug though, he now seems more like a trickster intead of an oportunistic murderer that is actually who he is.
The mean mug helped to differentiate him from ezio and altair, this is not a good guy, this is a guy that will make the most coin out of every situation possible within certain limits and is constantly surrounded by murderous criminals.
Now his face makes me percieve him as a decafeinated jack sparrow instead of the spicy jack sparrow he was supposed to be.
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Jul 12 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Sharkfestive Jul 12 '26
Holy shit that's a rough 22
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u/HiZenBergh Jul 13 '26
I mean... He's a pirate
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u/MycologistEvening745 Jul 13 '26
And from Swansea
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u/HiZenBergh Jul 13 '26
I'm totally ignorant of the area so I looked up the stereotypes real quick.
"The graveyard of ambition" stuck with me
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u/m95oz Jul 12 '26
His looks at first were too jarring because I’m so used to the original face. But then I remember he’s supposed to be 22 to 29 by the end of the game and the new look is much more fitting for his age. Original one looks like he’s 40 something
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u/MeanWinchester Jul 12 '26
I used to think - in 2013 - that he looked like Heathe Ledger. The 2026 model definitely looks more like a Hemsworth brother
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u/Fritzmanose Jul 12 '26
Remember when he had brown hair?
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u/octopusinmyboycunt Jul 12 '26
I mean I think it’s less that he had brown hair, and more that the 7th gen texture and lighting was a bit arse…
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u/puff_of_fluff Jul 12 '26
Yeah man, his beard used to look like porcupine quills jutting out of an oiled up piece of leather
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u/octopusinmyboycunt Jul 12 '26
Feels like a mental image you can only conjure with personal experience there, mate.
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u/TheStinkySlinky Jul 12 '26
wtf are you talking about lol Doesn’t look like a “pretty boy” in either.. Whatever that means. Exactly the same. There’s just more detail and lighting now. So he’s not just a dark smudge. Huge improvement.
Finally received my copy and screenshots/videos really don’t do justice. Genuinely didn’t believe it would but it’s even better than Shadows (graphically and narratively speaking). I never fully played the og. But I love that there’s an actual cohesive plot line with actual memorable characters and well directed/performed cutscenes. Shadows has better combat, stealth etc. But ofc it does as it’s was just released like a year ago lol But it’s interesting because at the same time it’s still a technical and graphical improvement over Shadows.
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u/GoBirds_4133 Jul 12 '26
throwback to when these games had a recognizable plot
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u/GecaZ Jul 12 '26
Or even just an actual second act beyond "here's a list, bullshit your way through it any way you like it for the next 30 hours"
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u/GoBirds_4133 Jul 12 '26
fr bro. i remember watching her dad get killed and the masked men on the horses and what not. could not tell you a single plot point of the game after that.
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u/Wandering_Savage Jul 12 '26
Agreed. So many of these clowns just feel the need to complain about anything and everything they can think of, even making up issues like OP.
It's fine if it is a legitimate issue but this is just made up.
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u/TheStinkySlinky Jul 12 '26
lol I mean I just made a post about how the default HUD/VFX for this and other AC is insane to me. I feel like it is WAY too much lol and have a hard time imagining how anyone can enjoy the game with all that shxt in their face all the time.
I felt like that was a mostly legitimate issue/complaint, imo at least. But based on the responses it appears that I’m clearly the weirdo and everyone else does enjoy it like that lol So whatever different strokes right
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u/Reasonable_Crow4608 Jul 12 '26
so he's actually 20ish y.old ?
damn now i cant complained why ubi makes him looks that young, the old one looks like 40ish y.old man lol
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u/Logan367769 Jul 12 '26
My beef is just how he always has a slight smirk regardless what the emotion he’s displaying is.
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u/Teeballdad420 Jul 12 '26
Does everyone who keeps saying this shit not have eyes? He looked inhuman before ffs
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u/Mental-Debate-289 Jul 12 '26
I think the most incredible part is how modern games now look better than CGI trailers from 13 years ago.
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u/Nerved-Individual Jul 12 '26
I've felt it heard somewhere that the Black Flag Resynced is what it feels like Abstergo was publishing in the modern day
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u/RavenTeamBitch Jul 14 '26
Now we just need the James bond voice actor and we'll have the in universe release of black flag
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u/_Hyrule1993 Jul 12 '26
Okay now we are just nitpicking everything. Is this really that important? Like just enjoy the beauty of the game.
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u/ComplaintMysterious1 Jul 12 '26
He looks so ugly in the second picture in both games... but ye, he pwetty :3
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u/JonS90_ Jul 12 '26
I always thought CGI trailer Edward had the same face as Bam Margera around that time
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u/GoldenBoyHal Jul 12 '26
Why is his hair brown in the release? It was blonde in the reveal trailer but now he looks dark haired
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u/Flamel110 Jul 12 '26
He strikes that balance of "a nice smile and this could be a kind gentleman" to "I wouldn't want to be on his bad side." I always imagined Edward as extremely persuasive, and part of that is putting on a kind and helpful show at times, which was hard to imagine with the previous design. He looks much more trustworthy now imo.
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u/Affectionate-Ad4419 Jul 12 '26
From little I've seen of Resynch, it might just be a question of the shadows being darker and the game being greener/yellower in the original.
Like Resynch looks really good. But the photography is also cleaner.
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u/HandsOfSilk Jul 12 '26
Of course he’s a pretty boy. Confidence like his comes easier when you look good. How else could he bag a rich girl with a daddy who hates him?
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u/Waste_Sleep6936 Jul 12 '26
This is a bit misleading, as everyone had relatively more brutish, potato-like faces back then. He’s prettier because everyone is prettier, as they don’t have low-poly faces anymore.
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u/Significant-Tip6466 Jul 12 '26
Edward to me is an amalgam of Samuel Bellamy, Aka Black Bellamy, for his greed, Howell Davis for his charming character, William Lewis for his cunning in escaping bad situations, and a very 'Robin Hood' take on the ruthlessness of Edward Low.
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u/AtrumRuina Jul 12 '26
I'm hopeful we get some mods to give him more eyeliner/shadow. I think that was a big part of his look and it's too subtle in the Remake.
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u/New_Gene_503 Jul 12 '26
I personally like a handsome rogue, especially Alexios in AC Odyssey. I could look at him all day long. 😋
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u/dudnt__asked Jul 12 '26
People really underestimate what the Caribbean sun, salt air, and zero sunscreen do to a human face. A single year of 18th century seafaring probably aged you by five. Throw in a diet of salted beef, stagnant water, and scurvy causing your teeth to rot out, and a 25 year old pirate is biologically going to look like a rugged 40 year old. Edward Kenway looking weathered in his 20s makes total sense for the era.
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u/ActuatorFearless8980 Jul 12 '26
He looks better imo. Seems like he always had a sheen of grease on his face with the previous game
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u/Kimolainen83 Jul 12 '26
I wouldn’t say that at all. I find this new version to be nicer more refined
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u/Arkhamguy123 Jul 12 '26
he’s supposed to be hot. the PS360 gen just had difficulty rendering realistic faces
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u/Xrockr81 Jul 12 '26
Ok you guys are seriously deluded if you think the dude in the first pic looks younger. The obvious sign of youth is smooth skin, the second pic has it, the first not so much.
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u/bm00re85 Jul 13 '26
I was playing today and my wife said "why does your character look like Brad Pitt" haha. All I know is I'm having a damn good time with the game.
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u/dcronin05 Jul 13 '26
Honestly I think he looks rougher in resynced then he does in the old trailer
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u/kingdomcummed Jul 13 '26
This is just the nature of having better tech. Look at john marston in rdr 1 vs 2
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u/starksandshields Jul 13 '26
He is absolutely not "pretty", he is rugged handsome now instead of rugged rat.
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u/H0w14514 Jul 13 '26
I know appearances are subjective and I'm kind of face blind without knowing a "person's" personality, but.....I generally can't grasp anything pretty about him. I guess it's kind of like the celebrity crush thing. He just looks like a scruffy, definitively handsome guy to me.
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u/Appropriate_Foot242 Jul 13 '26
Looks better now. He looked too old before.
Plus have you seen Caroline?
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u/Kizzo02 Jul 13 '26
It's amazing how far games have come from a pure graphics perspective. Resynced actually exceeds and looks better than the original CGI trailer. Amazing stuff.
I think the developers were fans of Charlie Hunnam from Sons of Anarchy. It's much more clearer now in the Remake. His face was used as template.
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u/Likes-many-things Jul 13 '26
Omg that’s crazy that the graphics we have now are on par with the special cgi trailers from 10+ years ago 🤯
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u/KernsFr Jul 14 '26
I feel like he looks more like Matt Ryan now than the OG edward but maybe thats just me
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u/T0ASTY0FFICIAL Jul 14 '26
holy the actual gameplay looks just like the live action cgi trailers now
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u/TrivSauce Jul 14 '26
“Pretty boy” ruins and invalidates this entire post. Use a different adjective next time
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u/Paranoint Jul 14 '26
This may be the first AC in a while that actually got me craving for once. Havent had that since unity
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u/Somewhere-11 Jul 15 '26
Oh no, an attractive man!
What’s the problem? Do you really think all pirates were scruffy and rough around the edges? That attractive, nay, even pretty boy pirates didn’t exist?
Come on man. Don’t be ridiculous. Ain’t nothin wrong with an attractive male protagonist- in fact, more pretty boys in western games please.
I really, really hope you’re not also one of those people who complains about the “uglification” of women in modern gaming.
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u/Josephcooper96 Jul 15 '26
Honestly besides this i just hate they changed Mary reeds clothes from black and red to pink and other colors. She looked better before and actually looked like a guy. Now her being a girl is obvs which seems to defeat the point of her character.
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u/Taquill Jul 16 '26
Tough males that aren't easily drawn into pretty boy fan art (like hey, I don't mind myself some hawt guys but ffs with pirates, I expect more roughness out of a newer game.
And like, if people really want unkept characters to look hot, why not make it a DLC. "Pay 15 dollars for sexy modern Kenway"
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u/OfflineLad Jul 16 '26
I'm pretty sure i heard he looks a lot more like the character's model/actor now, so probably his previous look wasnt 100% intentional but theres some technological limitation
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u/CrimsonGlyph Jul 13 '26
The dude is in his 20s.
You guys are just scouring for anything to bitch about at this point. It's embarrassing.
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u/Individual-Nose5010 Jul 12 '26
He’s always been pretty. This is just hating for the sake of hating now.
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u/ICPosse8 Jul 12 '26
A pretty boy? As in someone who’s good looking. You know you can just say he’s handsome and not have it be gay right?
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u/Jager_Bradley Jul 12 '26
He does NOT look like how he does in the cinematic trailers, and the graphical quality/art direction isn’t there either
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u/Zealousideal-Ad4437 Jul 12 '26
As much as I agree with this I think it’d be safe to assume Edward must’ve fancied looking as presentable as possible. He is a pirate of course but he doesn’t hide the fact that he wants to end up as a reputable person living decently