Assassins Creed III

 

After playing Fallout 4 last year, I got into a Boston kick. We were able to visit Boston earlier this year and went on the Freedom Trail tour. Ever since, I've been on a revolutionary war kick. Assassin's Creed (AC): Valhalla was the first AC game I've played, and enjoyed it, and thus I've been interested in playing other AC games. AC III takes the franchise to the 1770s during the time of the American Revolutionary War, and thus was the perfect blending of recent interests.

AC III is a Playstation 3 era game, and was remastered for the Playstation 4. The remastered PS4 game is what I played, and initially it looked terrible. It looked like I was playing the game through a bad Instagram filter. A quick Google search took me to a Reddit thread which explained that this was an issue with HDR, and turning off HDR in the Playstation options would fix the problem. Sure enough, turning off HDR did fix the issue. In the grand scheme of things it was a minor issue. I only bring it up because of how strange of an issue it was. Now, onto the game. Below is a summary of the historical timeline, from ChatGTP:

1. Haytham Kenway (1754)
• The game begins with Haytham Kenway, an Englishman & Templar who appears to be an Assassin, sent to the American Colonies to locate a mysterious First Civilization temple.
• During his travels, Haytham meets and falls in love with a Native American woman named Kaniehtí:io (Ziio).

1. Ratonhnhaké:ton / Connor (1760s–1783)

• The story shifts to their son, Ratonhnhaké:ton, who grows up in his mother’s Mohawk village.
• When the village is attacked by colonists led by Charles Lee (a Templar), Connor vows revenge and joins the Assassin Brotherhood under mentor Achilles Davenport.
• Taking the name Connor, he fights against the Templars’ influence in the colonies, believing they threaten liberty.

1. The American Revolution

• Connor becomes embroiled in key historical events, including The Boston Massacre, The Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere’s ride, Battles at Lexington and Concord, And George Washington’s campaign.
• He works with figures like Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, and George Washington, while trying to protect his people and stop the Templars’ manipulation of the revolution.

1. Father vs. Son

• Connor eventually learns that his father, Haytham Kenway, is a high-ranking Templar.
• They briefly work together against a common threat but ultimately clash over ideology — freedom vs. order.
• Connor kills Haytham in their final confrontation.

1. The End of Charles Lee

• Connor hunts down and kills Charles Lee, the man responsible for his mother’s death, bringing an end to the Templar plot in the colonies.
• He secures the land for his people, but the encroachment of settlers continues — symbolizing the bittersweet cost of freedom.

It is really cool to see historical Boston and play through some of the major revolutionary war events listed above. It was by far the best part of the game, and to be fair, the majority of the game focused on the historical events. The AC games always have an underlying Assassins vs Templars theme, incorporating modern day events with the historical story using the Animus device. For me, these modern day events missed the mark. First of all, I didn't really understand what was going on. I think it was a continuation of a storyline from the first two games, maybe? It never really explained it, and every time the game jumped to modern day, I immediately wanted it to go back to revolutionary Boston. There were a couple of other gameplay issues that I had (the map was confusing, the gameplay was a bit simple), but in general I really enjoyed the historical timeline aspect of this game. It was fun playing through the historical events and learning about some of the historical figures. AC Odyssey was a miss for me. I'm glad I enjoyed AC 3. It restored my faith in the series, and I plan to play other AC games again because of it.