Downloadable content is a hard nut to crack. The pricing, the content, the list goes on. The Assassin’s Creed franchise never really did a major single player content like Freedom Cry before making it truly ambitious and out of the ordinary. Does it live up to the full game which I personally felt, was so much fun and content filled that it redeemed itself from the so-so third entry, or does it fall short into the category of another dismal downloadable content offering?
Freedom Cry takes place roughly fifteen years after the final gameplay events of Assassin’s Creed IV. Adawale is now apart of the Brotherhood of Assassin’s and is sent on his way to what he believes is just a simple routine assassination mission. He soon finds out that luck doesn’t befall him so easily as his ship is destroyed and he is washed ashore with nothing but a package that the enemy was hauling. Adawale makes his way around Port Au Prince and makes some new allies with the leader of an underground movement to free the slaves and fight back against the French and English oppressors who traffic slaves around the surrounding islands.
Gameplay stays the same but adds unique interesting story based twists to Adawale’s adventure that sets it apart to Kenway’s. Adawale’s tale feels more brutal and unforgiving, while watching it unfold and seeing the blood pour I often akin the style almost to that of Quentin Tarintino’s Django: Unchained in the sense that he was unrelenting, smart, and did what he had to do. His weapon of choice is a machete that he gets early on in the adventure which is extremely brutal. His firearm is simply a badass shotgun of the time period, a blunderbuss which doles out a spread shot wide enough to take out a room full of enemies. He comes with the basic weaponry for an assassin of the period, rope dart, sleep and beserk darts and smoke bombs but it seems he has unique firecrackers which can be used as noisemakers to distract enemy patrols.
Freeing slaves and captives are a large part of the content in Freedom Cry, which clearly is why it is called what it is. However, they made it rather interesting with a lot of options. Sure each area has treasure chests and such, but you will be looking for opportunities to free slaves and gain mercenaries for the liberation because as you continue to do so you will unlock more things in the store and better equipment upgrades. Equipment upgrades are free in Freedom Cry as well as weapons, you only have to pay to upgrade your ship. Although even the ship customization is free, if you unlock them. Also it is good to note that some story missions won’t unlock until you have a set amount of freed slaves or recruited liberation members. It is great incentive to push the player to explore and I personally felt more compelled to go off on a freedom tangent.
