We really enjoyed Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and after playing through it on Xbox 360 were more than happy to do so again on Xbox One. We’ve also been happy to have another excuse to play some more thanks to the first single-player DLC – Freedom Cry.
Freedom Cry is a nine-mission story set fifteen years after the events of the main game. The DLC switches focus from Edward Kenway to his first mate Adéwalé. Following on from his freedom as Kenway’s second-in-command aboard the Jackdaw he has now become an assassin.
Much of your time in Freedom Cry is spent on land and the mission types are mostly what we’ve seen before. This isn’t a bad thing but some new ideas would have been great to see. Adéwalé plays much like any other Assassin’s Creed protagonist. His weapons of choice are a machete and blunderbuss. These are brutal and the blunderbuss although slow to reload is devastating to groups of enemies at close range.
Adéwalé starts his adventure aboard his own ship with his own crew but this is short-lived. Mirroring the start of Kenway’s adventure Adéwalé finds himself shipwrecked. He’s in possession of a mysterious Templar package and while pursuing that quest he becomes embroiled in a personal quest to fight the slave trade which is rife in the area.
Having once been a slave himself, Adéwalé’s adventure is an emotional one. During the five-hour DLC you get to witness the horrors of the slave trade as well as trying to save and free as many as you can find. Everywhere you go you come across slaves in cages, being tortured and auctioned. You’ll also find jailers on the lookout for escapees and see those that have escaped running for their lives.
Whenever you come across them you feel compelled to help and liberate as many as you can. This means hunting down the keys for cages, taking out the jailers and guards in pursuit as well as stopping the torture and auctions that are taking place.
When you take to the seas you can liberate slave ships by taking out their escort ships. Another way to save large numbers is to track down the locations of plantations and then take out all the guards. To save as many as possible you should take a stealthy approach as if you get spotted the guards will ring bells. When this happens they will turn on the slaves and begin killing them. Getting spotted becomes a race against time to stop the guards.
The slaves you do save go towards your new crew and influence. These are directly linked to upgrading your abilities and your new ship. Winning battles at sea and capturing ships also allows you to upgrade your own.
Overall we really enjoyed the Freedom Cry DLC and it’s definitely better than many of the previous Assassin’s Creed story DLC’s. Players looking for an excuse to play more Black Flag should definitely pick it up.
