Tyranny of King Washington episode 3: Redemption

It’s that time again; the final chapter of the Tyranny of King Washington story has been released; so here is the review and story overview of this tale.

Story

The episode begins where it left off; Connor and the group are heading for New York City to attack Washington head on. As they get closer; one of the crew spots some ships coming their way, Connor takes control of the ship and uses its vast power to easily overwhelm the Washington ships.

Connor sends the Aquila into the Man of War

One of the wrecked ships still has some of its flags intact; so the crew of the Aquila pull them aboard and set them atop so they can sneak through the minefield and through to New York itself. As they do; Connor talks about how sailing is in his blood, his grandfather being Edward Kenway, a pirate and the main protagonist in Assassin’s Creed IV (nice little reference for what is to come later this year). They manage to sneak through the minefield unharmed and attack the ships there; however they are vastly outnumbered by them and the Aquila is badly damaged. Connor makes the rest of the crew jump overboard; whilst he steers the ship into the Man of War to buy them some time.

Washington finds Franklin

The ships collide and Connor manages to make his escape; on land Franklin has washed up on shore and is a bit disorientated as to where he is; he wonders further into the city but is found by Washington himself; he calls for help and tells him that he won’t be controlled anymore. Kanen’to:kon suddenly appears to help Franklin; he knocks Washington off his horse, causing him to drop the Sceptre; whilst Franklin hides. He takes on numerous guards, throwing his tomahawk and managing to take a few out and eventually goes after Washington, he begins to plead with Kanen’to:kon but more guards appear and shoot him to hell; causing him to finally be killed.

Kanen'to:kon killed

Washington stands up and is given the sceptre before vanishing back to his Pyramid. Connor finally washes up on shore and sees Franklin crying over his friend’s body; but Connor does not show any regard for his friend’s death and grabs the tea of the great willow in order to seek guidance from the spirit animals once again.

Image of his mother appears again

Connor appears in the dream world again; but as he enters the large visage of his mother asks him what he is doing there again and how she is disappointed that he would ignore her warnings. Connor journeys through; ignoring his mothers ramblings and comes across a enormous bear with four spears sticking out of it. Using the powers of the Eagle; he is able to get to these spears and pull them out; one at a time. The bear being grateful for his; gives Connor his powers, allowing him to slam down and cause a large shockwave.

The Bear

Awakening; Franklin is shocked to see Connor’s eyes are black and wants to know what has happened, but this is short lived as they hear of fighting going on at the Pyramid and go to aid them. Connor heads inside the grounds and meets Thomas Jefferson; who has risen up with the Red Coats to take down Washington. 

Connor and Jefferson meet

Jefferson is thankful for the help and asks that Connor aid them further; by destroying the gates to the Barracks and also breaking open the gate so they can all make their escape. With his new powers; Connor deals with the situation quickly and escapes with the rest of the Red Coat army. The Pyramid shakes and Washington is furious at this; he wants to know what is happening and learns that the people are attacking; he becomes angrier at this situation saying ‘I have given myself to the cause of Freedom; do they not see?’

Angry Washington

The army escapes and Connor falls on the floor with little energy; Jefferson helps him up and asks what his name is. He then explains they are scattering and will join up later; if he wouldn’t mind joining in with the plans to take down Washington.

Connor targets Fitz Williams

Connor eventually meets up with Jefferson; who explains that the people have no food; the man who is supposed to distribute it is making the people pay; John Fitz Williams. Connor does not understand the need of the people; but Jefferson explains that they will never take him down without the support of the people. Connor agrees and begins to follow him to his stores of food and kills him without hesitation; he comes across a poor worker who he asks for his assistance in getting the food to the people.

With great difficulty due to Blue Coat ambushes; they manage to get back to the Harbour and distribute the food amongst the people; they are eternally grateful for what they have done and now support Thomas Jefferson in his cause.

Angry Jefferson

Connor meets up with Jefferson and learns that his friend Paul Ravere and his family have vanished. Connor decides to take up his work in rallying the people and says ‘this country will soon have a new leader’, Jefferson is shocked by this and argues that the country must be run by the people. Connor remains silent and begins his work; by hanging guards, killing captains, beating the truth out of announcers and helping the rebels he manages to start to cause unrest.

Washington addressing the people

So much so that it causes issues with Washington; he decides to address the citizens of New York; Connor and Franklin watch from a distance as he begins to shout about taking care of the British once and for all as they are the true enemy; he will use his vast Armada to destroy them quickly and without hesitation.

However; continuing with his mission, Connor manages to cause so much unrest amongst the people that they now fight for Liberty; which was Washington’s original cause. They begin to fight back against the blue coat army.

The people fight back

Jefferson and Connor begin a new plot; they are to attack the Blue Coats stores and destroy their gunpowder; as well as giving a signal in order to attack the Pyramid head on; causing issues for Washington. Connor frees members of the rebellion in order to get them to help him take down the tower; this a simple task with the abilities of the Eagle and the Bear. Connor sets the torch alight and then breaks the base of the tower with the power of the Bear; this gives the signal to the Red Coats to attack the courtyard and take it over.

Connor's mother escaping the Pyramid

Using the opportunity to its fullest advantage; Connor enters the Pyramid and gathers clues; that point to his mother entering and running off with the sceptre; he uses his senses and begins to backtrack his mothers footsteps in order to find where Washington is hiding. It turns out that his mother managed to get the Sceptre but Putnam shot it off her back right at the last second; but it was far too late and she had to escape.

Connor and Washington argue

Connor journey’s through the Pyramid and manages to get to Washington who is positioned on top of it awaiting Connor’s arrival. They begin to speak and Washington begins to claim that he is not mad; he is just doing what is right and that Connor wants the Apple for himself; Connor dismisses this and says that he works for the good of the people; but Washington does not agree; they begin to fight as they had done before.

Connor seeing his true self sat on the throne

Using all of his powers; Connor manages to weaken Washington slightly; but the only way he can truly defeat Washington is by destroying the stain glass window they are stood on. The two men begin to fall and slam into the throne room below. Washington grabs the apple and sits in his throne by ends up dying there and then due to the impact. Connor stands up in pain and begins to walk to the throne; it begins to shift backwards as he gets closer; with visages of people he knows appearing and asking him not to take it. Kanen’to:kon, his mother and then the last is Connor himself; who demands he take the apple now. He does so and suddenly the game switches back to the real world.

Washington gives Connor the Applie

It appears that Connor was inside Washington’s nightmare after all; he begins to try and calm a very nervous Washington down into giving him the apple and eventually he does; demanding that Connor throw it into the sea.

Wahington beats his nightmares

It begins to switch between events that occur after what has happened; Connor is aboard the Aquila heading out to the ocean to throw the apple into its depths. Whilst Washington is doing paperwork in his office; one of his generals walks in and begins to talk to him about Washington taking his role as king and that the people need such a strong leader; but Washington dismisses this; he begins to argue back that the people need freedom; they should not be enslaved and should be allowed to do as they will; he asks the man to forget this horrible thought but the man has vanished and Washington has overcome his nightmares.

Connor finally gets rid of the apple and asks that the man at the helm set a course back for home; as the credits begin to roll.

Connor heads home

Gameplay

Nothing has really changed since episode two; however this one is much worse for the blue coat syndrome. With it being the main capital of the game and Washington’s main fortress; New York is overrun with Blue Coats as expected; however this is once again very annoying as it forces you to either fight in long drawn out battles as more and more Blue coats show up; or have extremely long chase sequences even with the eagle power as there are hardly any hiding places. This made it more difficult to actually complete the chapter; not in terms of difficulty but in terms of just trying to have a look around; then being spotted instantly.

The wolf cloak would often wear off for no reason and Connor sent into another fight or Connor would be spotted in the wolf cloak. Another issue was being spotted through walls by Blue Coats; which made it even more annoying.

The player still has the option to do the four extra missions to help civilians; three are the same, give food, save the civilian and stop the slave convoy; however another was introduced where you defend the civilian. They will fight with you and you have to protect all of them from dying; which the player only has to do three times.

There are still numerous chests in this episode; giving you basic items to new weapons such as Washington’s Replica Sword; and once again the three lucid artefacts are back. This time they depict

1. Connor being hung
2. Connor and Haythum fighting
3. Desmond touching the device

This time with the Lucid memory; the player is shown Washington and Connor talking, Connor asks for him to relinquish the Apple but Washington is weary due to the nightmares; Connor manages to settle him down and places his hand on the apple. This causes him to go into Washington’s nightmare in the first place.

 

Connor touches the Apple

New Mechanics

The Bear Power

Like with parts one and two; the final mechanic introduced to this is the Bear spirit animal. Using its power; Connor can slam down on the ground; which in turn causes a ripple effect knocking enemies flying. This again uses a piece of the health bar to keep it from being overused.

This can also be done as a running attack; by running then pressing the activation button, Connor will jump and slam down. This is useful in a situation where you have to run into a crowd but it can be annoying if you forget it is there; as in instances where you are running from the enemy and you press it you’ll launch and waste the attack.

The Bear attack can also be used as an assassination; Connor will jump and slam down as usual, sending enemies around him in different directions; but it also does a swipe attack when it hits the intended target; killing them instantly. This attack can kill civilians as well.

Overall Scores

Story 8/10 – A brilliant finish to the story and helps understand everything clearly; the ending was ok but it could have been so much better than a ‘let’s go home’ scenario

Gameplay 7/10 – Whilst the bear was fun to use; it wasn’t as necessary as the other two and the guards chasing you constantly was a big hindrance and a grind than it should have been.