Kotaku: Why isn’t this on the disc?P
Jill Murray: I’ll tell you this much:
Black Flag is a huge game. If the DLC had been developed at the same time, I wouldn’t have had the chance to write it. The new DLC features a new hero, new animations and weapons and a new environment and, by the time Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag launches, development on the DLC will continue.
Kotaku: With this announcement, the Assassin’s Creed franchise revisits on the era of chattel slavery. How do you see the Freedom’s Cry DLC in connection toAssassin’s Creed 3: Liberation game and the upcoming ACIV chapters focused on Aveline?
Murray: This DLC takes place in the 1730s, about fifteen years after
Black Flag. We get to see Saint-Domingue as it was in the generation before Liberation’s elder cohort— Agate, Baptiste, and Jeanne— were enslaved there. We see the Maroon Resistance before they became involved in it, and take an open-eyed look at the conditions they would inherit and rebel against in a very different way than Adewale chooses. Adewale’s heroism is informed by a life at sea, as a pirate, and then as an Assassin. Agate, Baptiste, and Jeanne are children there in
Liberation, and their reaction is very different.
As for Aveline, she was removed from slavery by one generation and the degree of privilege granted by her social status. In
Liberation, slavery was something she chose to engage with, when she could have pretended to ignore it. The events of
Liberation give her good reason to question her ties to the Assassins, but never her commitment to the people she helped. The events of the upcoming DLC introduce her to a new ally, who plays a role in helping her resolve her ambitions and her doubts.
Kotaku: What’s the thinking behind focusing on Adewale as a separate branch of stories?
Murray: Adewale’s firm conviction, sagacity, power, and
under-explored perspective make his point of view interesting. By following him on this journey, we get to see new parts of the world, meet new people, and examine facets of history that Edward’s perspective couldn’t show us— and that Adewale himself couldn’t have explored in Edward’s company.
Kotaku: Is he an Assassin? Or just a different sort of hyper-capable warrior on a mission?P
Murray: Adewale is a hyper-capable Assassin who listens to his heart and conscience. “Everything is permitted…” takes on new colours when contrasted against the harsh conditions of slavery under the French Code Noir in 18th century Saint-Domingue.
@ killing slavemasters..........YES.
