Like any millennial, I love a good dose of nostalgia. These days, however, nostalgia is no longer a scarce resource. Remakes and reboots abound, the entertainment world heavily seesaws between all the franchises that made our child- and teenagerhood so fun. Today, the ever-spinning roulette lands on Assassin’s Creed Black Flag.

Launched not too long ago, the original Black Flag was a pirate life simulator disguised as an Assassin’s Creed game. It was a refreshing breath of fresh air for the series coming after the controversial ending of Desmond Miles’ arc. Unsurprisingly, the game is still the most universally lauded entry in the entire franchise. So, if you ignore how recently it came out, Black Flag makes sense as the first Assassin’s Creed to ever get a remake.

But do we actually need this much nostalgia?

New clothes for the original

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced plays like a dream. It’s the original game but with updated graphics and combat.

Now, the original game still plays very smoothly today. I’d even hazard that the original graphics are still serviceable today, albeit tinged with a tiny bit of datedness. Basically, if I boot up my copy of the original, there’s a very good chance that I’d still find it perfectly modern.

That said, Black Flag Resynced has amazing graphics. There’s a clear difference that elevates the original to heights that put it at par with the newer games. Parkour and combat are also smoother. If you’ve played Shadows or Valhalla, Black Flag Resynced is easy to pick up (or pick up again, for most of you).

There are a few additions, including story content for some characters or even entirely new ones introduced. To be honest, I don’t think they add a lot to the experience, but the additions aren’t bad things at least.

The real meat comes from the tinier quality-of-life changes added to the overall game. For example, those pesky trailing missions are now gone. Stealth is better. Finally, that terrible modern-day storyline was completely removed.

It’s fair to say that Black Flag Resynced is a better version of the game than its original. But, again, is that really enough to warrant buying a new and even more expensive version of a game you bought long ago?

The problem with nostalgia

Earlier this year, I played Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, a remake of the eponymous game from the Yakuza franchise. Though the new version had a substantial expansion bundled inside, it was essentially a trip down memory lane clothed in a “new” skin.

Yes, the nostalgia is largely effective. But after a while, the doubt crept in: It’s just a reskin with some new content. Worse, the reskin is a coat of paint that the series has been using for so many years now.

Black Flag Resynced starts to feel the same. Eventually, the appeal of playing a beloved game runs out, especially since it’s a game that hasn’t been out long enough to develop a more intense form of longing. As such, there’s a bigger burden for it to prove why it should exist.

It’s a hard sell. The original game is just much too recent. In fact, it still holds up well today, despite some inconveniences. The new version is, like Yakuza Kiwami 3, mostly translating the game into a modern system familiar to modern players. But it’s a system that hasn’t really changed much over the years. With another game following the same format, it’s all blending into a homogenous soup.

The Assassin’s Creed franchise needs a reinvention. Though the previous Shadows fulfilled a generational wish to bring the series to feudal Japan, it was just another Assassin’s Creed game but with two protagonists. It’s the same thing with Black Flag Resynced, just another Assassin’s Creed game but with better graphics (and ship combat).

Nostalgia is doing a lot of heavy lifting in Black Flag Resynced. The game isn’t really a reinvention, and if you’ve played the newer titles recently, nostalgia might not be enough.

Is Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced your GameMatch?

If you’ve played the original and just want to experience the same game on a modern system, then Black Flag Resynced is perfect for you. It’s the same enjoyable experience with a bundle of small quality-of-life improvements.

However, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel. If you’re tired of the same old Assassin’s Creed formula, the remake probably won’t do much for you, either.

THE Michael Josh has reviewed every Galaxy Fold since the beginning. But, for almost three weeks, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 has been the phone he reaches for every single day.

In this Galaxy Z Fold 8 review, he is sharing what it’s actually like to live with Samsung’s latest foldable. From the size and multitasking to the cameras, battery, software, durability, and all the little things that become more obvious after weeks of daily use.

Here’s our long-term review on the newest Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8.

I genuinely thought that was it.

The review was done. The feature was out. ASUS had already collected the laptop. In my head, the campaign was over.

Then, out of nowhere, they sent it back.

Between the original review period and this unexpected encore, I ended up living with the ExpertBook Ultra for close to 30 days.

I wasn’t expecting to spend more time with it, but I certainly wasn’t going to complain. If anything, I just hoped they wouldn’t ask for it back again anytime soon.

Picking it back up felt familiar.

Like seeing an ex.

The butterflies came back almost immediately. So did everything I remembered about it.

It also got me thinking.

Maybe the best follow-up to a review isn’t spending another week with a laptop. Maybe it’s asking yourself one simple question:

How much did you actually miss it after it was gone?

That question was surprisingly easy to answer.

It still feels impossibly light

The first thing I noticed wasn’t the display. It wasn’t the keyboard either.

It was the weight.

That became painfully obvious on days when I absolutely had to bring my laptop around. The 0.99kg starting weight really does make a difference when you’re bouncing between cafés, meetings, and wherever else work decides to take you.

So when the ExpertBook Ultra came back, it slipped right back into the same routine. Same cafés. Dinner after. Then back home where work usually followed me all the way to bed.

Most definitely inside the Bravo Tote V2. I upgraded my bag too lol.

The thing I noticed almost immediately wasn’t that it was light. I already knew that. It was how quickly everything came back.

Like we never parted.

The ASUS ExpertBook Ultra is still everything I want my MacBook Pro to look and feel like.

I still have a weird relationship with the Nano Ceramic finish

I know this sounds ridiculous, but I still catch myself running my hand across the lid before opening the laptop.

It’s just become part of the ritual.

Pick it up. Marvel at how light it is. Run my hand across the 9H Nano Ceramic finish. Then get to work.

One of the things I wondered after ASUS took the laptop back was whether I’d still care about the finish once the honeymoon phase had worn off. It felt like one of those features that would naturally lose its magic over time.

Apparently not. If anything, the time apart made me appreciate it even more. And as I continued to use it, these words came to mind: “I wish we never parted. I wish you stayed. And I wish you never go away.”

I forgot how much I liked working on it

One thing that didn’t change while the ExpertBook Ultra was away was the kind of work I do.

The breadth and depth of it certainly didn’t magically change. I still spent my days coordinating projects, replying to emails, juggling deadlines, and letting ChatGPT help me process unresolved feelings and questionable timing in between writing articles.

That also meant I wasn’t really the target audience for some of the ExpertBook Ultra’s AI for Work features. I appreciated having tools like MyExpert, AI ExpertMeet, and Copilot+ within reach, but my workflow rarely called for them. Most days, I was simply too busy doing the work instead of exploring new ways to do it.

Although, I will say I did a lot more coordination work than the emotionally charged reviews and features I usually enjoy writing.

I also started editing a reel before eventually handing it over to one of our video editors for reasons completely unrelated to the ExpertBook Ultra. Rodneil issue.

The keyboard, though, was just as lovely as I remembered. The 1.5 mm key travel still struck a nice balance between comfort and responsiveness, while the ASUS ExpertCool keyboard with its Excimer UV coating gave me one less thing to worry about during long workdays.

People often say a good keyboard is one you stop thinking about. I never did.

Every now and then I’d be halfway through an article and randomly catch myself appreciating how good it felt to type on. It’s one of those things you don’t expect to notice after days of use, but somehow you still do.

The haptic touchpad, on the other hand, started feeling like it was fighting me a little this time around. I still think that’s more of a software thing than an ASUS thing. If there’s one thing Apple still has over practically everyone else, it’s the MacBook trackpad.

That said, I still never found myself reaching for a mouse.

I got distracted… again (thanks, 3K Tandem OLED)

Eventually, though, my brain would tap out.

That’s usually when I’d stop pretending to be productive and switch to whatever was helping me decompress that week.

This time, it was See You at Work Tomorrow. I initially watched for second female lead Kang Mina (due for a lead role, btw) but got hooked with the rest of the cast pretty quickly.

I also started Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You. It’s quietly become one of my comfort shows of late.

And naturally, there were the occasional fancams. This time, mostly of Kim Chaewon during LE SSERAFIM’s PUREFLOW concert stops.

Funny enough, I don’t think I consciously appreciated the 3K Tandem OLED display as much this time around. I think I just got used to how good it looked.

Somewhere between deadlines, comfort shows, anime, and Chaewon fancams, I stopped noticing the display altogether. I just enjoyed whatever happened to be on it.

That’s probably the highest compliment I can give it.

Turns out, I hadn’t changed my mind

One of the reasons I was genuinely happy the ExpertBook Ultra came back was because I wanted to see whether I’d remembered it too fondly. After all, that’s usually what time does. You remember the good parts, forget the little annoyances, and convince yourself something was better than it actually was.

That never happened here.

If anything, getting the laptop back just reinforced the conclusions I had already come to the first time around. It still feels impossibly light. I still think it’s everything I want my MacBook Pro to look and feel like. And yes, I still wish it ran macOS.

Sorry, Windows.

What surprised me more was that I never really found myself looking for reasons to disagree with my original review. I wasn’t paying attention to the little things anymore. Nor was I trying to re-review the laptop or see if I’d somehow missed a fatal flaw the first time around.

I just… used it.

It stopped feeling like a review unit and simply became the laptop I reached for whenever I had work to do or wanted to unwind with a K-drama at the end of the day. Looking back, that’s probably why nothing really changed. I had already formed my opinion. Getting it back just confirmed it.

The person I picture using this laptop also hasn’t changed. It’s still for people who’ve made strides in life and want a machine that reflects where they are while keeping up with everything they’re taking on.

That’s who I pictured when I first wrote about the ExpertBook Ultra.

Funny enough… That’s still who I picture today.

Sometimes the best review begins after the review ends

When ASUS took the laptop back, there was actually some relief. It signalled that the campaign was over.

That feeling didn’t last very long.

I couldn’t help but long for it shortly after, especially on days that I absolutely had to bring a laptop around. The weight really does play a big factor during days like this. And as ridiculous as it sounds, I never quite got over the Nano Ceramic finish either.

That’s probably what surprised me the most. Not that I still liked the ExpertBook Ultra. I already knew that.

It was realizing just how much of the experience stayed with me after it was gone.

If you’ve been considering the ExpertBook Ultra, my advice probably hasn’t changed after spending close to 30 days with it. Don’t buy it because it’s the lightest laptop around or because it packs every feature under the sun. Buy it because you want a machine that quietly gets out of your way and lets you focus on the work that matters. That’s what it ended up doing for me.

After this reunion, the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra will likely leave me again. Some exes are just like that. They’re meant to be exes.

And while they don’t stay, they leave an imprint on how you go about life moving forward.

I just know some part of me will always look for the best that I’ve found with the ExpertBook Ultra whenever another laptop lands on my desk.

Is that fair? Perhaps not. But it is what it is.

Thinking of making the switch?

If you’ve been considering the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra, ASUS Business Philippines is currently running an Early Bird Bundle Promo until August 31, 2026. Purchase any ASUS ExpertBook Ultra from participating ASUS Expert Stores and select tech retailers to receive over Php 13,000 worth of freebies, including an ASUS 100W GaN Charger and SSI Gift Certificates. (DTI Fair Trade Permit No. FTEB-261070 Series of 2026.)

The ASUS ExpertBook Ultra starts at Php 129,995 and is available through select ASUS authorized stores and tech retailers nationwide.

Every purchase also includes a 3-year battery and charger warranty extension, with upgradeable warranty coverage of up to 5 years, giving you added peace of mind long after you’ve taken it home.

Where to buy:

ASUS ExpertBook Ultra: https://ph.asus.click/ExpertBookUltra-WheretoBuy
ASUS Expert Store – Lazada: https://ph.asus.click/ASUSExpertBookStoreLazada
ASUS Expert Store – Shopee: https://ph.asus.click/ASUSExpertBookStoreShopee

For businesses, ASUS Business Philippines also offers flexible configurations tailored to your organization’s needs. To learn more about volume purchases, visit:
https://ph.asus.click/Business-VolumePurchase