First Play Review - Assassin's Creed: Liberation Remastered (2019)

In 2012 Assassin's Creed III: Liberation was a PlayStation Vita title, later ported and remastered for PC and consoles in 2014 as Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD and finally in 2019 it was remastered (again) and bundled in with a the remastered release of Assassin’s Creed III. Now mainly because I didn't think the mainline Assassin’s Creed III: Remastered was too great, I wasn't too interested on playing this stand-alone DLC game; but as it just installed with Assassin's Creed III: Remastered, I kept it around until I got a chance. I also wanted to see why this game of all games got remastered twice and what made it worth this treatment.

Well after about 3 hours, I can't tell you really. This was a very different AC game in comparison to the others I've played because you don't get a significant 'origin' per se, you are already an Assassin and expected to know the lore, the main tools and move-set to a degree, albeit much both simpler and yet clunky. I chalk that down to whatever the controls were on it's original platform the PlayStation Vita that just don't translate well to KBM.

It wasn't just the controls though, the general game itself was fairly bland. Your character is Aveline de Grandpré, the first female protagonist of the series and sadly not a very auspicious start. While the game's setting is 1765 French Louisiana which is pretty unique for a videogame I'll grant you, the tale itself seemed pretty ho-hum and uninteresting as while your character is one of the noble elite, you've also elected to join the Brotherhood of Assassins and you've additionally committed yourself to freeing slaves which seems a very mixed bag.

The game is just far too derivative of the others with the only innovating feature - a method of changing your characters outfit from noblewoman, to slave to Assassin by the use of interacting with safe zones to do so, after unlocking them. The game restricts certain actions while in certain outfits like completely raiding your notoriety level to maximum while in the Assassin garb but restricting your movement while as a noblewoman which is more annoying than anything else to be honest.

It's not often it happens but after a couple of hours of this I was bored, but thought there might me some reprieve as I was sent to the bayou and had a nice time doing the usual AC gameplay of eliminating an entire camp of heavily armed enemies with a knife and a blowgun until I went downstream and got mauled by a crocodile. Getting attacked by wildlife wasn't new, as Conor in the previous game I had taken down several wolf packs, some mountain lions and even so
me grizzly bears. This fucking crocodile however had far too tight of a QTE window to master and I just said fuck it, after about a dozen attempts. In my canon, Aveline de Grandpré, the first female protagonist of the series, got eaten by a crocodile in the bayou of French Louisiana in 1765. 

Final Verdict: Not worth the install to be honest. Should have stayed on the PS Vita (whatever the fuck that is/was).

Technicals: 2 hrs playtime approx though Ubisoft Connect in 2560x1440 @ 60FPS (engine cap) on RTX5080 in Windows 11.

Availability: Assassin's Creed: Liberation Remastered comes with purchases of Assassin's Creed III: Remastered on Steam or the Ubisoft Store for €39.99. Review copy came as DLC included with a purchase of Assassin's Creed Odyssey - Gold Edition for €33.43 in November 2019. 

Series Timeline [PC]:

• Assassin's Creed [2007]
• Assassin's Creed II [2010]
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood [2011]
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations [2011]
• Assassin's Creed III [2012]
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag [2013] 
• - Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry [2014]
• - Assassin's Creed III: Liberation HD [2014]
• Assassin's Creed Unity [2014]
• Assassin's Creed Rogue [2015]
• Assassin's Creed Syndicate [2015]
• Assassin's Creed Origins [2017]
• Assassin's Creed Odyssey [2018]
• - Assassin's Creed III Remastered [2019] 
• - Assassin's Creed III Liberation Remastered [2019] 
• Assassin's Creed Valhalla [2020]
• Assassin's Creed Mirage [2023] 
• Assassin's Creed Shadows [2025]
• - Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced [2026]
• Assassin’s Creed Hexe [202?]