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The Templar Hunt bug in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is a quest-state rollback: leaving a Templar Hunt side quest chain unfinished in a region, then later triggering a main story mission in that same region, can reset the game’s quest system to the point before the Hunt started, erasing any exploration, ship upgrades, and discoveries made since then. Outlets including GamesRadar and ComicBook picked this up in the days after launch, and it remains one of the most searched issues tied to the game weeks later. This guide covers what actually happens, what you stand to lose, and the two workarounds the community has landed on while a real fix is still pending.
Warning
This bug can cost you real hours, not minor busywork. Stephen Totilo, who first flagged the issue, described losing roughly five hours of progress to it, and other reports describe losses ranging from a couple of hours upward depending on how much exploring happened in between.
TL;DR
- Leaving a Templar Hunt chain unfinished and then running a main quest in the same region can roll your save back to before the Hunt began
- Exploration, Jackdaw upgrades, and other progress made in that window get wiped, not just the Hunt itself
- Ubisoft has acknowledged the bug but has not shipped a dedicated fix or timeline
- Title Update 1.0.5 is PC-only and addresses stuttering, not this bug
- PS5 and Xbox are still on build 1.0.4, so console players have no newer build at all
Where and How the Templar Hunt Bug Triggers
The issue is tied to the Templar Hunt side quests scattered throughout the game world, and these quests are region-based and unlock in sequences as players progress through the main story. The pattern that keeps showing up in reports: a player starts a Templar Hunt chain in a region such as Kingston, leaves partway through to explore, do other side content, or push the main story elsewhere, and then eventually triggers a main story mission back in that same region. When a new Templar Hunt triggers in a region, it can cause the game’s quest system to revert progress to the point just before the Hunt activated, and any exploration, upgrades, ship improvements, or discoveries made between that activation point and the present get completely wiped.
It’s worth being precise about what’s confirmed versus reconstructed here. What’s confirmed: the bug exists, it’s tied to Templar Hunt chains, and a Ubisoft representative reportedly told Totilo that the team has identified the bug and is working on a fix that should arrive in an upcoming update. What’s reconstructed from player and journalist reports rather than an official technical breakdown: the exact trigger sequence. Totilo returned to Kingston to start a main story mission and discovered that the side quest and the main mission were blocking each other, preventing further progress, which forced a reload from an earlier save. Ubisoft hasn’t published a technical explanation of why the quest system rolls back the way it does, so treat the trigger mechanism as the community’s best current explanation, not a verified root cause.
Step-by-Step: Avoiding the Templar Hunt Progress Loss
Follow this sequence to get it done fast.
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1
Check your platform's current build before you play
PC players should confirm they're on Title Update 1.0.5, while PS5 and Xbox players are currently capped at 1.0.4 with no separate fix available yet.
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2
Decide upfront: finish or skip
either commit to completing every Templar Hunt chain the moment you start it, or don't start Templar Hunts at all until a patch lands.
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3
Stay in the region until the chain is done
the most consistent way to avoid the glitch is to pursue a Templar Hunt side quest until all of them are completed within that region before leaving.
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4
Avoid triggering main story missions mid-Hunt
don't advance the golden path in a region where a Templar Hunt chain is sitting unfinished, since that's the specific combination reports point to.
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5
Keep a manual save before starting a Templar Hunt
a save from just before you pick up the chain gives you a clean rollback point if the bug hits anyway.
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6
Watch official patch notes for a named fix
Ubisoft has acknowledged the issue but hasn't given a date, so don't assume it's resolved just because a new update drops.
Ways to Protect Your Save Before the Fix Lands
Tip
If you’re not chasing the Templar armor set specifically, skipping Templar Hunts until a real fix ships is the simplest way to remove the risk entirely rather than managing around it.
| Method | Speed | Effort | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finish each Templar Hunt chain immediately | Slower short-term | Low | Players who want the Templar Keys and don't mind detouring |
| Skip Templar Hunts entirely until patched | Fast | Very low | Players focused on the main story or Jackdaw progression |
| Manual-save before every region change | Neutral | Medium | Players already mid-chain who don't want to backtrack |
| Check the bug tracker before each session | Neutral | Low | Anyone unsure if their platform's build addresses it |
What You Lose When the Templar Hunt Bug Triggers
Templar Keys and the Armor Set
Templar Hunts are missions where you collect a series of keys that unlock the Templar Armor set for Edward, and there are four quests in the game that allow you to unlock these keys, played in order. The first of these quests is called This Old Cove, occurring at the beginning of Sequence 4. If the rollback hits, you can lose progress toward these keys along with everything else in the affected window.
Jackdaw Upgrades and Ship Progress
Ship upgrades made to the Jackdaw between the Hunt’s activation and the point the bug triggers are among the specific losses reports call out, alongside general exploration and discoveries. That makes this bug sting more than a typical quest glitch, since it isn’t limited to the side content itself.
General Exploration and World Progress
Anything picked up while roaming a region during that window, from map discoveries to incidental collectibles, falls under the same rollback. The scale of loss depends entirely on how long you were exploring before the trigger, which is why reports range from a couple of hours to considerably more.
Common Misconceptions About the Templar Hunt Bug
Myth: Any unfinished side quest can trigger this
The reports are specific to Templar Hunt chains interacting with main story missions in the same region, not side content in general. Don’t assume every optional objective carries the same risk.
Myth: Title Update 1.0.5 fixed it
The 1.0.5 update released on PC only to alleviate stuttering issues experienced by some PC players, and the patch focuses solely on stutter reduction and does not address other reported bugs like parkour glitches. Nothing in its release material mentions Templar Hunt progress loss.
Myth: Console players got a quieter, separate fix
They didn’t. The current verified version on consoles remains Title Update 1.0.4, released on July 16 with save/load, stability, fast-travel, Jackdaw, harpooning, localization, and quest fixes, but that predates and doesn’t name this specific Templar Hunt rollback as resolved.
Our Take: Is the Templar Hunt Bug Still a Real Risk?
Our Take
Yes, and treating it as fixed because a patch shipped is the actual trap.
The frustrating part isn’t that a launch bug exists, it’s that the fix everyone can point to, 1.0.5, was never aimed at this problem in the first place. It’s a PC-only stutter patch with no accompanying notes on quest logic, so anyone assuming it quietly cleared up the Templar Hunt rollback is working off hope, not evidence. Console players are in an even flatter spot: still on 1.0.4, with no newer build to even speculate about.
Given that Ubisoft has confirmed awareness without giving a timeline, the safest posture is the boring one: pick a lane on Templar Hunts, either clear each chain the moment you start it or leave them alone until an update explicitly names this issue as resolved. The Jackdaw upgrades and exploration hours this bug eats are exactly the kind of progress that’s tedious to redo, which is why it’s worth building the habit now rather than after it happens to you.