AC3: The Redemption is the final episode in the Tyranny of King George Washington DLC and picks up immediately where the last episode ended with Connor and his crew on a ship heading to New York to defeat King Washington. And as if it was a nod to the upcoming Assassin’s Creed 4 (and Connor even mentions his grandfather) this one starts off with a naval battle. One doesn’t simply sail into NY without…ok all overused LOTR references aside NY was very well guarded. After making it to shore King Washington kills another one in Connor’s crew. So will you finally be able to put an end to this madman’s reign or will King Washington solidify his rule and forever alter the course of a young America?

GAMEPLAY

When I first heard about the Tyranny of King Washington at GameStop when picking up my copy of Assassin’s Creed 3 it was very intriguing to me. I enjoyed episode 1, The Infamy, and it made me excited about the potential of this storyline. And even though episode 2, The Betrayal, didn’t offer up full explanations regarding the origin of this alternate reality I really liked the new spirit powers among other things. However this episode didn’t quite live up to the full potential of the concept of the story line and didn’t answer any questions either as part of the story. King Washington was a complete badass in the first episode as well as the 2nd to some extent and so it made perfect sense for Connor to seek and acquire his spirit powers in order to defeat Washington. Curiously, Washington was portrayed differently in an encounter at the beginning of this episode and in a way it made Connor’s desire to acquire a new spirit power in order to defeat Washington seem unnecessary.  The new spirit power this time around is called Bear Might and when using it Connor pounds on the ground and unleashes a devastating attack that takes out all surrounding enemies or structures. I’ll get into more about this new power later.

A pompous King Washington

I got the feeling mid way through this episode that there wasn’t going to be much of an explanation regarding this alternate reality and if it wasn’t mentioned that this would be part of canon I would have been more forgiving of that. But at some point there has to be a payoff with the story line or else there’s a feeling of detachment from the tasks that are required to be completed. And that’s one of the things that happened here. (It also didn’t help that the objectives were the same as the side missions in AC3 campaign mode.) After arriving in NY, Connor or rather Ratonhnhaké:ton meets Thomas Jefferson during an assault on King Washington’s pyramid and helps him and his troops escape. And afterward Jefferson tells Ratonhnhaké:ton that in order to truly defeat Washington they would need the will of the people because America needed to be governed by the will of the people. So despite the massacres that took place, the extreme poverty and the fact there was already open war with King Washington the tasks that had to take place were to win over the people? Even if I say I understand needing the people because things did change in the streets as progress was made it didn’t make for exciting game play to have to perform tasks that were only deemed worthy of being side missions in the full game. It seemed excessive for Ratonhnhaké:ton to acquire so many spirit powers just to deliver food instead of more complicated tasks.

The new spirit power was enjoyable and there was a satisfying feeling when unleashing a mini-earthquake to take out enemies or structures. Aside from the specific tasks that required the use of it, the fact that it drained alot of health limited the number of times I actually used it in combat. And just like the previous episodes you’re never incognito so unleashing an extremely loud attack could turn even a remote area into a war zone with new guards rushing in. So the feeling of being an assassin was virtually gone this episode. I’ll never underestimate the importance of being able to walk around in an Assassin’s Creed game incognito every again. And considering the dangers of spirit journeys, the side effects of acquiring these powers was never explored even though it was repeatedly mentioned in these episodes. Outside of Ratonhnhaké:ton’s eyes turning blue there were none. Ratonhnhaké:ton still had the other spirit powers but I found Eagle Flight controls to be less responsive. It was fluid in episode 2 and in this episode the landing spots were either reduced or more difficult to target. And I won’t give any spoilers however there’s a part where you have to analyze clues (very obvious clues) and the sequences revealed question the need for any of the spirit powers and that wasn’t the best decision.

Stress relief?

There is obviously a confrontation with King George Washington and there are scenes where his megalomanical plans are shown. It was only slightly interesting to figure out how to defeat him but there was no real danger to it and I’ll leave it at that. There was an interesting question posed to Ratonhnhaké:ton about his last spirit power, Bear Might, and if the feeling he gets when he uses that power makes him want to rule over the people like Washington has done with the apple. And again, there were no real answers given about the alternate reality in the story.

At the start of the Tyranny of King Washington DLC I was very glad that more was shown of Ratonhnhaké:ton interacting with his tribe because I felt there was so much potential there as a protagonist and I loved the way the spirit powers were tied into the culture of his tribe to give his character more depth. This episode made me realize this could be it to Ratonhnhaké:ton’s story and if it is I feel this character deserved more. The shout out to Assassin’s Creed 4 at the very beginning of the episode kept that thought in my mind throughout. I thought more of what wasn’t explored with this character and not just in this DLC than the actual story line that took place in the DLC. And it’s unfortunate that if this was canon that it added nothing to the character’s story overall even if it was enjoyable at times.

SUMMARY

 AC3: The Redemption was an underwhelming final episode in the Tyranny of King George Washington DLC. Without finding the lucid memories scattered throughout and syncing memories there won’t be any answers as to the origin of this alternate reality. It makes me question the need for keeping it suspenseful when it would’ve helped in viewing the entire story line differently. The new spirit powers in the DLC overall were enjoyable and I wonder if they’ll make an appearance in future Assassin’s Creed games in some other form. If you haven’t purchased any of the episodes yet the spirit powers, the changes to well-known figures for the sake of this story line and battling George Washington might be intriguing enough. Or you could just work on completing all the side quests in AC3 because I found those to be as entertaining as some of the objectives in the DLC and just wait for reduced price. If you’ve brought the first 2 episodes then you might want to play this to get to the conclusion. I just hope down the line Ratonhnhaké:ton’s story isn’t one that is forgotten