The Tyranny of King Washington Episode 1: An AC DLC Review

It sounds awesome on paper: George Washington goes mad with power and turns the USA into a dictatorship. Connor, the game's protagonist, must then tap into his Native side to topple the corrupted figurehead. I snatched it up because, with a premise like that, I just had to play it. And, since we're being honest, it wasn't much fun at all.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a badly put-together addition. It was really interesting to see the fallout from abuse of the Apple's power. A piece of ancient technology, it could bring civilisations to their knees in the wrong hands. And that's exactly what happens, with the downside of turning Washington mad. IT was great to see great men such as Benedict Arnold playing ball for the bad guys.

Another awesome point to make is the atmosphere that is set. Bodies litter the Frontier, wolves run amok in large packs and the Bluecoat forces are more common than ever. Natives are being made into slaves, and you really get to dip your feet in that culture. Spirit quests, totem spirits, it's all in there. But while that is one of its greatest points, it's also one of the weakest.

About a quarter of the way through Episode 1, Connor drinks tea from the Red Willow Tree and goes on a vision quest. The journey he goes on feels less psychedelic and more lazy. You follow three wolves for a bit, then hunt down an elk by listening for its heartbeat. You kill the elk and feed it to the wolves, waking up shortly after. And then it gets downright stupid: You get the Wolf Cloak, which allows you to turn invisible. Seriously. At the cost of a regularly depleting health bar, you can go Predator on their arses. I took out an entire fort using only that.

It breaks any real element of stealth, and becomes a get-out-of-jail card. It can be used for escaping, even when your enemy is looking directly at you. You can also summon a spectral wolf pack, who aid you in battle. At least, that's the intended function. They kind of just stand there most of the time, occasionally jumping in to give you a hand.

This new DLC feels buggy and unpolished, a feeling which disappoints me but doesn't surprise me. The entire game had that feeling, so why change the theme? To wrap this brief review up, I did enjoy the 'what if' idea. What I didn't enjoy was its painfully poor execution, somewhat sloppy storytelling and lack of emotion. I would advise giving it a look if you're into alternate history. Otherwise, best to leave it.