Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced: What are Stalking Zones?

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Black Flag Stalking Zones appear on certain Assassin's Contracts as an additional challenge option to earn a little extra money. Trouble is Resynced never actually says what a stalking zone is, leaving you to work it out for yourself. Fortunately, the answer is simple and, if it seems weird, remember this game is technically 13 years old and it all goes back to how they did things in the old days...

How to assassinate someone from a Stalking Zone in Black Flag

(Image credit: Ubisoft) A stalking zone in Black Flag Resynced is just any bush or grass that hides you. If Edward appears with a white outline, you're in a stalking zone. As you can see from the shot above, it's a very technical distinction leaving Edward very obviously sticking out while completely concealed.

The reason for this is that it's a throwback to the original game where stealth wasn't actually optional, and was instead only triggered by entering specific areas like high grass and bushes. The stalking zone system was introduced in Assassin's Creed 3 and an actual manual, push button crouch didn't actually actually arrive until Unity.

Confusingly, you can also get assassin's contracts where the challenge is to do it from stealth. In those cases you can do it from corners, overhead branches etc - anywhere where you're hidden or undetected, including stalking zones. However, the stalking zone criteria only works from bushes and plants that give you the white outline. There are 30 of these murdery side quests, forming quite a big chunk of the Black Flag Resynced mission list, so you'll be looking for the right spot plenty of times. And, if you have your heart set on completing them all, that will play into how long it takes to beat Black Flag Resynced.

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