Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry was originally downloadable content for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. However, it was later released as a standalone. Given that, you can expect a short runtime as well as gameplay mechanics that would be a carbon copy of the Black Flag. Therefore, you must temper your expectations going into the game.
The game follows Adewale, who is shipwrecked in Saint-Domingue. The plot mostly follows him trying to free the slaves and the gameplay reflects that. Given that this was originally a DLC, it assumes you already know the controls well enough. Thus, if you hadn’t played Assassin’s Creed in a while, you may struggle in the opening scenes in how to counter, strike and dodge. It does not include a very good tutorial at all and can lead to some slight frustrations.
Otherwise, Adewale is dropped into the new area and you’re pretty much left free to explore however you like. He has all the abilities of an assassin, being able to climb and parkour with the best of them. He carries some weapons, a machete, the assassin blades, some darts and smoke bombs. They’re enough to get by and you will unlock more as you progress through the story.
A prominent element of the game are all the slaves that are being oppressed. You’re immediately presented with many small pockets of opportunities where you can kill their oppressors to free the slaves. Freeing slaves will allow them to join you, and this will unlock perks for Adewale, so it is in your best interest to do so. That’s not to mention that freeing a certain number of slaves will also allow you to progress through the story.
There are set pieces that provide the opportunity for the stealth gameplay that the series is known for. These are bigger areas with patrolling guards that you can pick off one by one. That could be through hiding in the bush and luring them to their deaths, or the good old-fashioned air assassination by jumping down from the roof above them. The guards are mostly stupid, and if you don’t like stealth, you can brute force your way by fighting everyone, although Adewale can get quickly overwhelmed.
It’s understandable but this DLC is effectively a carbon copy of Black Flag. It’s like a shorter miniaturized version. You might be initially impressed with the scope of the game’s map until you realise most of its size is open water, and the other areas you can visit are small maps to take over and free slaves. The story is short but dragged on due to the requirement to free a certain number of slaves before the next mission is unlocked.
There are a few other annoying aspects of the DLC. There are enemies walking around that will always target you, so Adewale never really has the freedom to run around without getting into combat. Too many of the missions require eavesdropping or tailing, which are extremely annoying when coupled with the inability to stay incognito when running about. It’s just a terrible design that overshadows some of the better parts of the game such as the soundtrack, and epic feel of a few grander missions.
The DLC only takes around four to five hours to finish, even less if you just beeline for the missions (after doing the compulsory grinding to unlock those missions of course). It’s a short story, and to be honest, like most games in the series, not very engaging. The final mission was anticlimactic as the main villain, if they can even be called that, went down so easily. Afterwards, you can just continue to do all the side activities but since you’ve been doing this all game and probably during Black Flag anyway, it’s repetitive and boring.
Overall, Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry is an average DLC. Having it available as a standalone is not a bad idea, especially since you probably don’t want to play it too soon after Black Flag. It doesn’t add any meaningful new features, so it can feel repetitive with what you are required to do (which is basically upgrade the ships again).
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