Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - Freedom Cry

Freedom Cry is the first and only large story expansion for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. It was originally released as DLC for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4 and is also part of the Season Pass and certain special editions, but in February 2014, after the release, it was announced it would also become available as standalone for PS3, PS4 and PC. The Xbox versions only have access to it as DLC. It is not available for the Wii U version of the game. There are no changes between the standalone and DLC version save for the dependency.

It takes place fifteen years after the events of Black Flag with Adéwalé, Edward Kenway's second-in-command in the original game, as the main protagonist. Originally a slave and trained as pirate, he has since become a member of the Assassin's Order, but sets his duties aside to help with the Maroon rebellion in Saint Domingue. The game starts in 1735 when after killing a Templar admiral in a naval battle he is shipwrecked in a storm and ends up without a ship or crew in Port-au-Prince, the main city of this game. Disgusted by the slave trading, he attempts to disrupt the economy, free the slaves and bring justice to those who trade them. The core mechanics for Adéwalé are identical, with fighting, sneaking and naval battles, but all at a smaller scale. Typical objectives such as eavesdropping and tailing characters with eagle vision are also still present, and there are nine main missions in total, with slavery as the central theme.

Because of the colour of his skin, he has to watch out for overseers that will attempt to take him down and enslave him. He can perform various mini-missions shown as icons on the map that involve freeing slaves, killing the pursuer of an escaped slave, opening cages etc. The main upgrades for Adéwalé are now tied to his progress in liberating slaves for the resistance, instead of relying on resources. Based on the amount of freed slaves he gets access to new weapons such as smoke bombs, a dart pouch, a blunderbuss ammo pouch, a firecracker bag, new machetes, a portable cannon and more. These are grouped together as liberation rewards. Firecrackers are a new item used to distract guards. Maroons can also be recruited for the resistance. These are grouped together as resistance rewards and offer additional crew members, plantation raid bonuses, access to resistance fighters and additional ammunition.

On land most slaves are freed from plantations with invasion sneaking mechanics similar to the warehouses in the original game. The main difference is that once discovered, Adéwalé risks having the remaining slaves killed in the process. Reales are still present as a currency for smaller upgrades and ammo refills. Once on the seas there are several locations to visit, but on a much smaller area than the original game. Most naval mission types are still present, including treasure hunting and diving bells, with the addition of boarding slave ships to free the slaves inside. There are still ship upgrades for cannons, shots, hull and ram in exchange for the currency and resources, but only for up to two or three levels.