The fastest way through the Sage’s Buried Secret statue puzzle solution in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is to work one color at a time. Lower the red and blue statues in the first chamber by standing on them, then use the rotating platform in the next two rooms to line up each statue’s color with the matching floor segment before you drop it into its slot. Do that in order and the whole Mayan temple opens up without much trial and error.

This puzzle sits inside The Sage’s Buried Secret, the main story quest that picks up right after Nothing is True and drops Edward back at Tulum with James Kidd, part of the Sequence 4 stretch of the campaign. Kidd is voiced by Olivia Morgan, one name among the game’s largely returning 2013 voice cast. Kidd leads Edward into a hidden Mayan temple looking for whatever the sage buried down there, and the ruins are guarded by three separate statue puzzles that get more complicated as you go. None of them are unfair once you know what the game wants from you, so let’s go through the whole thing room by room.

Bookmark this guide before you head in, because it’s easy to get turned around once the platforms start spinning, and you’ll probably want to check back in on the second or third puzzle.

Crossing the Collapsing Bridge Before the First Statue Puzzle

Right at the start, all you have to do is run forward behind Kidd. You’ll reach a spot where the ground gives way and Kidd leaps across using a set of rickety wooden supports that collapse the second his weight leaves them. Don’t try to follow him across the same way. It won’t work, and you’ll just end up falling.

Instead, turn left when you reach the gap and climb the wall next to it. There’s a huge root hanging down from above, thick enough to grab onto, and you can use it to swing across the chasm along the wall instead of jumping the gap directly. Once you’re across, you’re standing right in front of the first puzzle.

Solving the First Sage’s Buried Secret Statue Puzzle

The first room is the easiest of the three, and it’s a good warm up for what’s coming. You’ll see two elevated stone heads, one red and one blue, sitting above open slots in the floor. Climb up next to the red one, hook your foot or your whole body onto it, and your own weight will drag it down into place.

Do the same thing with the blue statue on the other side, either by climbing up from below or dropping onto it from above. Once both stones are lowered, a passage opens up ahead. There’s no color matching in this room, just weight, so this part of the temple should only take you a minute or two.

The Second Puzzle: Matching Colors on a Rotating Floor

The next room raises the difficulty. There’s a lever in the center of the floor, and once you grab it you’ll notice the base beneath it is split into colored segments, red, blue, and green. Rotate the base until the red segment sits directly underneath the red stone hanging above you on the left.

Only once the colors line up should you climb onto the stone and let your weight bring it down. Line the colors up first, then lower the statue, and the path forward opens on its own. Trying to lower a statue onto the wrong colored segment just wastes your time, since the door won’t budge until the colors actually match.

Following James Kidd Through the Underwater Tunnel

After the second puzzle, keep following Kidd and you’ll reach a point where you both need to take a leap of faith straight down into water. Swim behind Kidd through the flooded tunnel. About halfway across, Kidd surfaces to grab a breath, and you can either follow their lead or keep swimming forward on your own line.

The underwater stretch isn’t long enough to worry about running out of air either way. On the other side, hop across a series of stone beams sitting above the water, climb the wall at the far end, and you’ll land right at the entrance to the temple’s final sanctuary, and the last statue puzzle.

Sage’s Buried Secret Statue Puzzle Solution: The Hardest Puzzle Yet

This last room is where most people get stuck, mostly because there are three statues moving at once instead of one or two. You’ll start by noticing the blue stone on the left is resting on a red segment, which is wrong. Lift it up first. Grab the lever in the center and rotate the base until the blue segment sits under the blue stone, then lower it into place.

That triggers a partial door animation, so you’ll know you’re on the right track. Next, you’ll see the red stone sitting on a green segment. Rotate the base again so the red stone lines up with the empty counterweight on the left, then lower that counterweight. The red stone rises up on its own and frees the green segment underneath it. Rotate the base once more so the green segment sits under the green stone on the right, and lower it into place for a second door animation. Only one stone is left at that point, the red one, so rotate the base a final time until the red segment sits under it and lower it down.

That solves the puzzle completely and opens the last passage. If you accidentally raise or lower a statue onto the wrong colored segment partway through, there’s a counterweight to the left of the red statue that resets its position, so you’re never stuck redoing the whole sequence from scratch.

What Happens After the Mayan Temple Puzzle in Black Flag Resynced

Once the final statue drops into place, the quest moves into its closing scene between Kidd and Edward, and long time series fans will probably notice a small transparent cube that shows up during it. It’s a quiet nod to precursor tech that the rest of the campaign builds on much later, and it won’t mean a whole lot on its own until you’ve seen how the wider story wraps up. If you want the full picture on where all of that eventually leads, our full spoiler breakdown of the ending walks through it in detail.

After this scene, the story moves on to a few more tasks in the area, and none of them involve any puzzles, so you’ll be back to open world sailing and side content soon enough. Sequence 4 is also roughly when the Damn Fine Gear side quest and its five Templar Keys open up back on the mainland, so if you’re looking for a worthwhile detour once the temple is behind you, that’s a good place to point the Jackdaw next. A couple of small habits make the whole climb faster on a repeat run too.

Always rotate the platform before you climb onto a statue, never after, and remember that lowering a stone onto the wrong colored segment doesn’t break anything permanently thanks to the reset counterweight, it just costs you time you don’t need to lose. If you’re sailing into Tulum for the first time this playthrough, the coastline nearby has more going on than just this temple, so keeping your fleet of legendary ships in good shape before you arrive isn’t a bad idea either.

Sage’s Buried Secret Statue Puzzle Solution FAQ

What sequence is The Sage’s Buried Secret in?
It falls in Sequence 4 of Black Flag Resynced’s main campaign, right after the Nothing is True mission wraps up.

Where does the Mayan temple puzzle take place?
The whole sequence is set in the ruins outside Tulum, where Edward follows James Kidd underground.

What happens if I fall behind James Kidd during the underwater swim?
Nothing serious. You can swim straight through the tunnel on your own without following Kidd’s exact path, and there’s more than enough air to make it across either way.

Can I reset a statue puzzle if I rotate the platform wrong?
Yes. On the final puzzle there’s a counterweight to the left of the red statue that lets you undo a mistake without restarting the whole room.

Who is James Kidd in Black Flag Resynced?
James Kidd travels with Edward through most of the early game and turns out to be far more than a simple crewmate, though the full reveal is best experienced in the story rather than spoiled here.

That covers the entire Sage’s Buried Secret statue puzzle solution from the collapsing bridge to the final door in the temple. It looks intimidating with three separate rooms and a rotating floor, but once you know to match colors before you commit to lowering a statue, none of it takes more than a few tries. Check out our other guides on ingametor.com if you’re working through more of Black Flag Resynced’s story or hunting down its side content.