The Freedom Cry DLC has hit Assassin’s Creed IV: Blackflag in both an update to the original Blackflag story as well as a standalone game. How does Assassin Creed IV’s world work with a new main character replacing Edward Kenway?

Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry is a 2014 standalone game and 2013 DLC expansion of Assassin’s Creed IV: Blackflag. It is developed and published by Ubisoft and is available on PC, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Adewale performing a stealth kill.

Freedom Cry derives itself from Edward Kenway’s world and gives players new insight into the character and story of the Jackdaw’s former first mate turned captain Adewale. There was very little known about Adewale in the main story besides him being a slave, and with him now captaining the Jackdaw it gives him a bit more character, when he kind of just felt there in the original story, though with characters like Jake Kidd and Black Beard taking up most of the spotlight it isn’t too surprising given the fact that he was the then first mate.

Adewale’s character becomes more fleshed out in Freedom Cry, compared to mediocre importance in Blackflag.

THE GOOD: Learning about Adewale’s character and origin was a nice experience. I enjoyed getting more out of him, especially considering his place in the story after he gets introduced to players. New dialog from the crew responding to Adewale and his orders was a good addition, as the original dialog with the crew would often get repetitive and old. Gameplay from both ground and sea is pretty much the same with Adewale.

Adewale in combat. It doesn’t variate much between Kenway and Adewale.

THE BAD: Combat is pretty much the same, it would have been nice if they had a little variation between Edward Kenway and Adewale. The map would often be confusing especially during the first mission where you have to trail someone connected to the slavery dealings.

Adewale looks over the scenery.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry is a nice change of pace for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Giving the Jackdaw’s former first mate-turned-Captain the spotlight was an excellent way of reintroducing him to players after a lackluster involvement in the original game’s story. It would have been cool if Ubisoft had expanded on the differences between Edward Kenway and Adewale even further by giving Adewale a different moveset and more original skills that would have helped Freedom Cry feel like a true Adewale story. Confusing maps and Eagle Vision would get in the way of gameplay as well. However, for what it is Freedom Cry is an excellent piece of narrative into an excellent secondary character in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag’s world.