The Tyranny of King Washington
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2025 7:44 pm
Assassin's Creed isn't talked about much here though I do get why, the series has fallen into a rut with no game really matching the high quality of Assassin's Creed II. Though personally there is one entry I like, nay love, more then AC2 which is the DLC/Expansion Pack The Tyranny of King Washington.
Tyranny is a AU DLC with the basic premise being "What if the Precedent of the United States was a mad tyrant who has been so corrupt with power that he is more of a threat to the very country he's sworn to serve and protect then those he declares as the enemy of this once great nation."
... Gee I can't imagine why I'm thinking about this DLC today of all days.
All jokes aside Tyranny is honestly an overlooked and underrated game and it does so many thing that honestly should make it a talking point on video games as art as it takes every tool it has to tell a compelling story not just through cutscenes but gameplay as well.
One criticism leveled at this DLC is that the title character doesn't show up that much so we don't get to see much of his tyranny but his tyranny is everywhere in the game. The Frontier is now a wasteland littered with corpses of both men and animals, native Americans are always being carted away as slave labor, and regular civilians are either being attacked by wolves, starving and on the brink of death or about to be executed for "Crimes against the crown". Whole towns and homes are in ruin and the only people you meet regularly all have one unified goal which is to kill you on site as you are public enemy #1 not because you stood up against the King.
Boston is also in ruin with people clearly executed in their houses or on the street with the place in what seems to be a constant storm giving a sense of dread and gloom.
The only place that isn't in such bad condition is New York which has had a massive change up with Washington building his palace aka a Fucking Pyramid in the middle of the City. This the only place where the rest of the area isn't covered in corpses but people are still being executed and slaves are still being carted around all to help build the kings palace.
Speaking of King Washington he's honestly a fantastic villain and one of the more successful antagonists in gaming and manages to be so WITHOUT undercutting the players actions.
My favorite mission in this Expansion Pack is Pieces in Motion. All throughout the second part of the DLC your allies have been making plans to escape Boston while we work on our own plan to recruit Bengimen Franklin to our side. However, we learn that Washington has set a trap for our allies and that their escape plan isn't going to work. Or rather hasn't worked because while we were working on our own plan they were all killed. We go to where they were attacked leading to this cutscene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwsqsCnUeLk&t=3687s
And then there's our new powers. Yeah Connor, or Ratonhnhaké:ton which is what he's often called in this DLC so I've kinda just used that instead, gets a few new magical powers from drinking tea made from something called the Red Willow Tree.
These powers include invisibility, summoning three ghost wolves that can instantly kill three enemies, a kind of flight/teleportation that allows you to reach any place you like and a ground pound that can kill or knock back any enemy hit by it.
While these abilities are good the game keeps it balanced by having it where if you use these powers it drains your health and by increasing the number of enemies you fight throughout the game. So you can just spam ground pound and kill everyone as it won't kill everyone and will drain your health like crazy. You can't just remain invisible as it will leave you with just one health point so you have to use it wisely.
The only power that comes close to being truly OP is the Eagle aka flight as it takes the least amount of health while using but it manages to be balanced out by having limited use. You can use it to traverse the open world, to get to vantage points out of enemy sites and can even use it to slightly kill enemies in stealth and even kill one enemy in combat (if you have it equipped during combat and two enemies take aim at you it will auto target them so you can kill two badies if you press the button fast enough). But none of this is that powerful so it's useful but it's best to stick to your usual weapons and only use these powers when you need them.
But these powers completely change how you play the game and in a good way. Being able to teleport around a fight and use a powerful AOE attack along with the regular combat feel like I was playing an Arkham game with enemies increasing in number as the game went on, combat never got old.
I also love how this Expansion Pack utilized Ratonhnhaké:ton. In the base game I honestly think they undercut his character as he just didn't gel with the antagonists of the game or felt rather boring when paired up with them. But here, Ratonhnhaké:ton acts just like he did in the base game only he plays off much better against Washington who is just hamming it up while Ratonhnhaké:ton remains stoic which makes the few scenes they have together all the more enjoyable to watch.
Ratonhnhaké:ton honestly isn't a bad character he was just paired up with villains that he didn't work with. It's like having Captain America face off against Batman's Rogue's Gallery. It's not a bad idea but there's just not a lot that can be done with this as two hero and villains have very little to really say to each other.
I also like how well Tyranny uses the fact that Ratonhnhaké:ton is very much a stoic and overall quite character. Despite having the most lines Ratonhnhaké:ton doesn't have that much to say during cutscenes as he's often very quite which fits his character a lot more. By contrast King Washington has a ton of dialogue throughout the game and it's all entertaining.
The boss fights with Washington are also a lot of fun. Washington is really the only boss in the game and you fight him a total of three times but game keeps it fresh by having no two encounters play out exactly the same. The first boss fight is a hopeless boss battle as you cannot harm Washington and you cannot runaway safety and his attacks are unavoidable and can do a massive amount of damage.
And the third DLC is just one long string of action packed missions leading to a solid if a bit underwhelming final dungeon.
Honestly my only complaint about this Expansion Pack is that it doesn't use Aveline de Grandpré in it. Aveline was the main character in the PSP game Assassin's Creed III Liberation and she's honestly an interesting character I don't like that she's not in this game.
Apparently she was going to be in Tyranny as Ratonhnhaké:ton's love interest but the developers realize that it was hurt the game so they cut her out but if that's the case they could have just included her as the leader of the resistance in New York instead of Thomas Jefferson. Sure it's not giving her much to do but it would be interesting and it's not like you'd run into much of an issue with her taking Jefferson's place since both cases are including a character who isn't in the base game and with Aveline you're at least getting a character fans of the series will be more familiar with and would address my only other issue which is a lack of female characters.
There's really only Ratonhnhaké:ton's mom Kaniehtí:io, who's killed off after the prologue and while she remains a major character who's death, or second death in Ratonhnhaké:ton's eyes (more on that in a bit), she's still doesn't get much to do. The game does manage to avoid the women in refrigerators trope by giving her a constant presents and having her being the one who truly set the plot into motion.
The only other issue I might have with it is the fact that the whole thing might just be a dream but honestly that doesn't bug me here because they make it clear that's what's happening right at the start and it provides an interesting insight into the minds of both Ratonhnhaké:ton and Washington. Both thought themselves incorruptible yet both learn that they are just as fallible as anyone and they both emerge stronger as a result as when they return to their world they're both horrified by what they saw themselves becoming and resolve to be better.
It also shines a new light on the series as this DLC reveals something, the Apples of Eden can think. They are fully self aware and are capable of making people Want them. This makes use question how much was wanting the Apples really the will of anyone who used them and were even the main characters being affected by them?
Further more Tyranny doesn't overstay it's welcome, the whole thing runs at around 5 hours which may seem short but keep in mind that's basically the same length as Shadow of the Colossus one of the best games of all time and Journey is even shorter. And at no point does it feel rushed or poorly paced. Most of the Expansion Pack is actually really low on the action with episode 1 being more stealth based and episode 2 being a mix of stealth and action. It's only episode 3 that is focused mainly on action but still gives the players plenty of time to breathe and take in everything that happens.
It helps that players are the ones really setting the pace. You can either take your time getting to the next major plot point or just fast travel to said next plot point and keep the momentum going.
I honestly, unironically, love The Tyranny of King Washington even more then Assassin's Creed II. It remains my gold standard for what a DLC/Expansion Pack should be, is still fun to play after all these years and really should be taught at gaming school to show how to use every tool in a game to tell a compelling story by using gameplay along with cutscenes, environments and enemies.
And it can also be hugely cathartic as you can use it to imagine beating the ever loving shit out of any president you have issues with. Not that I have any certain president in mind for that, Trump.
Tyranny is a AU DLC with the basic premise being "What if the Precedent of the United States was a mad tyrant who has been so corrupt with power that he is more of a threat to the very country he's sworn to serve and protect then those he declares as the enemy of this once great nation."
... Gee I can't imagine why I'm thinking about this DLC today of all days.
All jokes aside Tyranny is honestly an overlooked and underrated game and it does so many thing that honestly should make it a talking point on video games as art as it takes every tool it has to tell a compelling story not just through cutscenes but gameplay as well.
One criticism leveled at this DLC is that the title character doesn't show up that much so we don't get to see much of his tyranny but his tyranny is everywhere in the game. The Frontier is now a wasteland littered with corpses of both men and animals, native Americans are always being carted away as slave labor, and regular civilians are either being attacked by wolves, starving and on the brink of death or about to be executed for "Crimes against the crown". Whole towns and homes are in ruin and the only people you meet regularly all have one unified goal which is to kill you on site as you are public enemy #1 not because you stood up against the King.
Boston is also in ruin with people clearly executed in their houses or on the street with the place in what seems to be a constant storm giving a sense of dread and gloom.
The only place that isn't in such bad condition is New York which has had a massive change up with Washington building his palace aka a Fucking Pyramid in the middle of the City. This the only place where the rest of the area isn't covered in corpses but people are still being executed and slaves are still being carted around all to help build the kings palace.
Speaking of King Washington he's honestly a fantastic villain and one of the more successful antagonists in gaming and manages to be so WITHOUT undercutting the players actions.
My favorite mission in this Expansion Pack is Pieces in Motion. All throughout the second part of the DLC your allies have been making plans to escape Boston while we work on our own plan to recruit Bengimen Franklin to our side. However, we learn that Washington has set a trap for our allies and that their escape plan isn't going to work. Or rather hasn't worked because while we were working on our own plan they were all killed. We go to where they were attacked leading to this cutscene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwsqsCnUeLk&t=3687s
And then there's our new powers. Yeah Connor, or Ratonhnhaké:ton which is what he's often called in this DLC so I've kinda just used that instead, gets a few new magical powers from drinking tea made from something called the Red Willow Tree.
These powers include invisibility, summoning three ghost wolves that can instantly kill three enemies, a kind of flight/teleportation that allows you to reach any place you like and a ground pound that can kill or knock back any enemy hit by it.
While these abilities are good the game keeps it balanced by having it where if you use these powers it drains your health and by increasing the number of enemies you fight throughout the game. So you can just spam ground pound and kill everyone as it won't kill everyone and will drain your health like crazy. You can't just remain invisible as it will leave you with just one health point so you have to use it wisely.
The only power that comes close to being truly OP is the Eagle aka flight as it takes the least amount of health while using but it manages to be balanced out by having limited use. You can use it to traverse the open world, to get to vantage points out of enemy sites and can even use it to slightly kill enemies in stealth and even kill one enemy in combat (if you have it equipped during combat and two enemies take aim at you it will auto target them so you can kill two badies if you press the button fast enough). But none of this is that powerful so it's useful but it's best to stick to your usual weapons and only use these powers when you need them.
But these powers completely change how you play the game and in a good way. Being able to teleport around a fight and use a powerful AOE attack along with the regular combat feel like I was playing an Arkham game with enemies increasing in number as the game went on, combat never got old.
I also love how this Expansion Pack utilized Ratonhnhaké:ton. In the base game I honestly think they undercut his character as he just didn't gel with the antagonists of the game or felt rather boring when paired up with them. But here, Ratonhnhaké:ton acts just like he did in the base game only he plays off much better against Washington who is just hamming it up while Ratonhnhaké:ton remains stoic which makes the few scenes they have together all the more enjoyable to watch.
Ratonhnhaké:ton honestly isn't a bad character he was just paired up with villains that he didn't work with. It's like having Captain America face off against Batman's Rogue's Gallery. It's not a bad idea but there's just not a lot that can be done with this as two hero and villains have very little to really say to each other.
I also like how well Tyranny uses the fact that Ratonhnhaké:ton is very much a stoic and overall quite character. Despite having the most lines Ratonhnhaké:ton doesn't have that much to say during cutscenes as he's often very quite which fits his character a lot more. By contrast King Washington has a ton of dialogue throughout the game and it's all entertaining.
The boss fights with Washington are also a lot of fun. Washington is really the only boss in the game and you fight him a total of three times but game keeps it fresh by having no two encounters play out exactly the same. The first boss fight is a hopeless boss battle as you cannot harm Washington and you cannot runaway safety and his attacks are unavoidable and can do a massive amount of damage.
And the third DLC is just one long string of action packed missions leading to a solid if a bit underwhelming final dungeon.
Honestly my only complaint about this Expansion Pack is that it doesn't use Aveline de Grandpré in it. Aveline was the main character in the PSP game Assassin's Creed III Liberation and she's honestly an interesting character I don't like that she's not in this game.
Apparently she was going to be in Tyranny as Ratonhnhaké:ton's love interest but the developers realize that it was hurt the game so they cut her out but if that's the case they could have just included her as the leader of the resistance in New York instead of Thomas Jefferson. Sure it's not giving her much to do but it would be interesting and it's not like you'd run into much of an issue with her taking Jefferson's place since both cases are including a character who isn't in the base game and with Aveline you're at least getting a character fans of the series will be more familiar with and would address my only other issue which is a lack of female characters.
There's really only Ratonhnhaké:ton's mom Kaniehtí:io, who's killed off after the prologue and while she remains a major character who's death, or second death in Ratonhnhaké:ton's eyes (more on that in a bit), she's still doesn't get much to do. The game does manage to avoid the women in refrigerators trope by giving her a constant presents and having her being the one who truly set the plot into motion.
The only other issue I might have with it is the fact that the whole thing might just be a dream but honestly that doesn't bug me here because they make it clear that's what's happening right at the start and it provides an interesting insight into the minds of both Ratonhnhaké:ton and Washington. Both thought themselves incorruptible yet both learn that they are just as fallible as anyone and they both emerge stronger as a result as when they return to their world they're both horrified by what they saw themselves becoming and resolve to be better.
It also shines a new light on the series as this DLC reveals something, the Apples of Eden can think. They are fully self aware and are capable of making people Want them. This makes use question how much was wanting the Apples really the will of anyone who used them and were even the main characters being affected by them?
Further more Tyranny doesn't overstay it's welcome, the whole thing runs at around 5 hours which may seem short but keep in mind that's basically the same length as Shadow of the Colossus one of the best games of all time and Journey is even shorter. And at no point does it feel rushed or poorly paced. Most of the Expansion Pack is actually really low on the action with episode 1 being more stealth based and episode 2 being a mix of stealth and action. It's only episode 3 that is focused mainly on action but still gives the players plenty of time to breathe and take in everything that happens.
It helps that players are the ones really setting the pace. You can either take your time getting to the next major plot point or just fast travel to said next plot point and keep the momentum going.
I honestly, unironically, love The Tyranny of King Washington even more then Assassin's Creed II. It remains my gold standard for what a DLC/Expansion Pack should be, is still fun to play after all these years and really should be taught at gaming school to show how to use every tool in a game to tell a compelling story by using gameplay along with cutscenes, environments and enemies.
And it can also be hugely cathartic as you can use it to imagine beating the ever loving shit out of any president you have issues with. Not that I have any certain president in mind for that, Trump.