From expansion to standalone title.

Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry is an action-adventure downloadable content developed by Ubisoft Québec and published by Ubisoft, first released as a part of Season Pass to Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, currently also available as a standalone title!

Story
I recommend playing Assassin's Creed Black Flag before getting into this entry.

Freedom Cry is set 20 years after events that took place in Black Flag.
You play as Adewale, once a slave and right-hand man of Edward Kenway, now a member of Assassin brotherhood.
During his attempt to intercept Templar activity in the Carribean Sea, he is shipwrecked off the coast of Haiti, where he gets involved with Maroons into liberating slaves and fighting for their cause.

Gameplay
Take Black Flag, make it smaller, replace piracy theme with slavery and voila!

Main elements are the same. Open world featuring naval and land combat/exploration, with progression focused on completing missions and slave liberation.

Biggest change outside of map size which now has been scaled down to being just a mere chunk of Caribbean Sea, comes in activities you can do while roaming. Most of them is now focused on already mentioned slave liberation.
No more forts, assassination contracts or collectibles hunting, here you liberate slaves from auctions or plantations, save those who are wounded or intercept ships with human cargo on board. Every saved person counts as for reaching milestones in that department you get rewarded by receiving new weapons or pouches increasing your item capacity.

Naval combat and exploration remain untouched, with only difference being in ship state, as game features less upgrade options so you can tackle bigger opponents straight from the start.
You still can board enemy ships and plunder them in order to gain materials you might sell or keep for upgrades.
On the ground, instead of two swords Adewale is using a machete, and as a replacement for a pistol he chose blunderbuss so now you can eliminate multiple enemies with a single well placed shot.
He also has new item to play with, firecrakers, which can distract opponents with their noise.

Playtime, replayability and other modes
It took me 8 hours to complete everything Freedom Cry has to offer, that is 100% missions, exploring, collecting and fully upgrading my ship.
It doesn't have a lot of replayability, plus like most AC titles it offers option of continuing after the ending if you want to replay specific missions, further explore or engage in combat.
Only Single Player story is available.

Pros and cons
Freedom Cry keeps good elements from Black Flag, including naval gameplay and stealth mechanics, plus adds new activities fitting with a narrative which make it stand out from main game. Story doesn't drag on and additional character development of Adewale is appreciated as his journey was cut rather short in main game.

However, removal of every single activity that was in Black Flag took a toll on exploration, where beside few unique weapons or upgrades you can only collect more coin chests, making this aspect feel unnecessary and boring at times, even with replacement game offers.
Plus keeping most expensive ship upgrades means you still will spend a good moment grinding to obtain resources to improve it, one of less popular elements of Black Flag.
Guess that's a one way to keep player busy for a bit longer.
Also standalone version of the game doesn't have shanties! Unthinkable.

Final words and conclusion
If you are wondering about the differences between DLC and Standalone version of Freedom Cry, from what I could gather there aren't any, beside already mentioned lack of shanties in standalone version. However dlc has some audio issues from what I've read and obviously you need to own Black Flag before being able to play Freedom Cry.

Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry brings out more of gameplay known from Black Flag, with new storyline and activities that fit into new theme. Short, but a decent adventure nonetheless.

Check out my curator page for more reviews!

From expansion to standalone title. [i]Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry[/i] is an action-adventure downloadable content developed by Ubisoft Québec and published by Ubisoft, first released as a part of Season Pass to [i]Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag[/i], currently also available as a standalone title! [b]Story[/b] I recommend playing Assassin's Creed Black Flag before getting into this entry. Freedom Cry is set 20 years after events that took place in Black Flag. You play as Adewale, once a slave and right-hand man of Edward Kenway, now a member of Assassin brotherhood. During his attempt to intercept Templar activity in the Carribean Sea, he is shipwrecked off the coast of Haiti, where he gets involved with Maroons into liberating slaves and fighting for their cause. [b]Gameplay[/b] Take Black Flag, make it smaller, replace piracy theme with slavery and voila! Main elements are the same. Open world featuring naval and land combat/exploration, with progression focused on completing missions and slave liberation. Biggest change outside of map size which now has been scaled down to being just a mere chunk of Caribbean Sea, comes in activities you can do while roaming. Most of them is now focused on already mentioned slave liberation. No more forts, assassination contracts or collectibles hunting, here you liberate slaves from auctions or plantations, save those who are wounded or intercept ships with human cargo on board. Every saved person counts as for reaching milestones in that department you get rewarded by receiving new weapons or pouches increasing your item capacity. Naval combat and exploration remain untouched, with only difference being in ship state, as game features less upgrade options so you can tackle bigger opponents straight from the start. You still can board enemy ships and plunder them in order to gain materials you might sell or keep for upgrades. On the ground, instead of two swords Adewale is using a machete, and as a replacement for a pistol he chose blunderbuss so now you can eliminate multiple enemies with a single well placed shot. He also has new item to play with, firecrakers, which can distract opponents with their noise. [b]Playtime, replayability and other modes[/b] It took me 8 hours to complete everything Freedom Cry has to offer, that is 100% missions, exploring, collecting and fully upgrading my ship. It doesn't have a lot of replayability, plus like most AC titles it offers option of continuing after the ending if you want to replay specific missions, further explore or engage in combat. Only Single Player story is available. [b]Pros and cons[/b] Freedom Cry keeps good elements from Black Flag, including naval gameplay and stealth mechanics, plus adds new activities fitting with a narrative which make it stand out from main game. Story doesn't drag on and additional character development of Adewale is appreciated as his journey was cut rather short in main game. However, removal of every single activity that was in Black Flag took a toll on exploration, where beside few unique weapons or upgrades you can only collect more coin chests, making this aspect feel unnecessary and boring at times, even with replacement game offers. Plus keeping most expensive ship upgrades means you still will spend a good moment grinding to obtain resources to improve it, one of less popular elements of Black Flag. Guess that's a one way to keep player busy for a bit longer. Also standalone version of the game doesn't have shanties! Unthinkable. [b]Final words and conclusion[/b] If you are wondering about the differences between DLC and Standalone version of Freedom Cry, from what I could gather there aren't any, beside already mentioned lack of shanties in standalone version. However dlc has some audio issues from what I've read and obviously you need to own Black Flag before being able to play Freedom Cry. Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry brings out more of gameplay known from Black Flag, with new storyline and activities that fit into new theme. Short, but a decent adventure nonetheless. Check out [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/31947302/] my curator page for more reviews! [/url]