Many Assassin’s Creed fans (and lovers of pirate adventures) were excited when Ubisoft finally, after many leaks, announced the upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag remake. But then Ubisoft confirmed some bad news: The new remake, out in July on consoles and PC, wouldn’t include a remade version of that game’s Freedom Cry DLC. It’s a disappointing decision, but it does sound like it’s possible the side-adventure starring slave-turned-pirate assassin Adewale might still happen…one day.
Originally released as DLC for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag back in 2013, Freedom Cry stars Adewale, a major side character featured in the main game, on his own journey set years after the events of Black Flag. In the short but fantastic DLC, Adewale is shipwrecked in Saint-Domingue and discovers a horrific slave trade industry. He uses his skills to help free the slaves in the area and fight back against the evil slave traders and owners in charge. In 2014, Freedom Cry was slightly remastered and released as a standalone digital game on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and later Switch. Over a decade later, it’s still one of the few AAA video games to star a former slave and have a narrative focused entirely on the barbaric practice of slavery. For many, it’s an important piece of Assassin’s Creed content that not only expands on Adewale’s character, but also connects to Assassin’s Creed Rogue and the larger Templar vs. Assassin storyline.
And, as already confirmed by Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry is not included in Black Flag Resynced. However, the possibility had been considered at one point. When I asked the game’s creative director, Paul Fu, if not remaking Freedom Cry was a decision made on day one, like cutting Black Flag’s multiplayer had been, he clarified that Ubisoft had toyed around with the idea of remaking the DLC earlier in development.
“I wouldn’t say [it had been ruled out] from day one,” Fu told Kotaku in an interview earlier this month. “We considered it for quite a while. But definitely, we had to make the decision early to make sure that we focus on the right things.”
Freedom Cry star Adewale is still in Black Flag with new content
“I do love Freedom Cry‘s story, first of all,” said Fu. “And we made the hard decision not to include it, because we knew from the beginning that bringing Black Flag back was already a monumental task. It’s a huge game, even by today’s standards. And we wanted to focus on Edward’s story.”
I pointed out that while Edward’s story is very important and people love it, there are plenty of Adewale fans out there who might feel slighted that his solo adventure isn’t getting the same fancy remake treatment. But don’t worry, as Fu explained that Adewale fans will have some new content to look forward to in the remake.
“For Adewale fans, because I do feel that his story needs to be expanded in Black Flag, and we have,” said Fu. “There are new moments in Resynced where you spend time with your bro Adewale in the forest, or you fight alongside him. [These are moments] that didn’t exist or are shorter in the original game.”
Richard Knight, Black Flag Resynced‘s game director, further explained that Ubisoft never thought of cutting Adewale, even if Freedom Cry isn’t included in the upcoming remake.
“It was mandatory that he was also in Black Flag,” said Knight. “So Adewale is back. We 4k’d him as well. His voice actor is back. You know, we’ve done the new mocap and stuff. He’s still there. He’s still part of this game. He’s, like, a non-negotiable part of Black Flag.”
Freedom Cry might get a full remake in the future…
Of course, I had to ask if Ubisoft had any plans to remake Freedom Cry in the future. When you consider all the work that went into Black Flag Resynced and how much of the new content, assets, and more could be used in a Freedom Cry remake, it seemed reasonable to ask. Paul Fu dodged the question, simply telling me, “Who knows?” and that for now, Ubisoft was focused on the Black Flag remake. However, Richard Knight offered more hope for Adewale fans.
“We’ll see what the future brings in terms of his story,” said Knight. “What I’d say is that with Assassin’s Creed, we have such a mix of existing games and new things we could cover. So yeah, I would never say anything is off the table.”
My read is that it seems very, very likely that there is some team of Ubisoft devs working on a Freedom Cry remake that will arrive at a later date. But for now, Ubisoft won’t say yes or no.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced (without Freedom Cry, but with new Adewale content) is set to launch on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC on July 9.
