Assassin’s Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington – Infamy Review

Because The Madness of King George was already taken as a title.

George Washington is a relatively sanctified figure in American History. We love him so much, we tell a dumb story about him cutting down a cherry tree and not lying about it (were cherry trees a big fucking deal in Colonial America?) as proof of his virtues, as if he were some sort of American Buddha or messiah whose childhood verity provides proof of his sainthood. In The Infamy, the first of three episodes of Assassin's Creed 3 DLC that make up a campaign set in an alternate history, Washington trades virtue for monarchal power: The Tyranny of King Washington.

The whole series of events of AC3 prior is rewritten by the Apple of Eden to place Washington in totalitarian power. You are awoken as Ratonhnhaké:ton—no Connor here, the Native American tradition holding sway—by your mother, Kaniehtí:io, still living, to face off against Washington's bands of villainous Bluecoats. This first chapter pits you against the first of Washington's two lieutenants, Benedict Arnold, after a long series of set-pieces leading to an unbeatable King George, showing off the powers and tactics he's sure to employ in later showdowns.

Stripped of your weapons and abilities by the history swap, you begin the game with only your Tomahawk and bow, but the game soon makes up for it with new spiritual powers. In Infamy, it's the abilities to call a pack of phantom wolves and turn invisible at the cost of your health over time.

Though powerful, the invisibility of the Wolf Cloak is almost game-breaking, making stealth incredibly easy. Though the game does introduce tracking dogs who can sniff through it, this power makes the rest of the game a quiet invisible dash from one set of bushes to the next, as you silently lay waste to a populace of American soldiers. It's as if you've turned into a cloaked Predator wearing The One Ring.

If you skip content outside of the primary missions, The Infamy can be completed in a relatively brief three hours or so. Once the intro of linear set pieces (about the first hour or so) gave way to the open world, I'd estimate there's probably a good four to five hours of content if you do absolutely everything—more, if you attempt to complete the optional mission objectives.

The Infamy isn't a half-bad DLC entry, with a lot of side mission content; an engaging, if at times bizarre, alternate history story (though it's hardly the most incendiary or silly alternate account of Washington). However, the invisibility feature is so overpowered that it heavily removes the challenge, and the first hour is so linear that it begs to be more open world, with you being able to explore more during that section of the game. Still, The Infamy a strong first addition in this new, additional campaign.