While attempting to disrupt Templar activities in the Caribbean Sea on behalf of their rival organization, the Brotherhood of Assassins, Adéwalé finds himself shipwrecked in Saint-Domingue, where he comes face-to-face with some of the most brutal slavery practices in the West Indies.

Critics generally praised the game's storytelling and the decision to focus on an already established side character, but were disappointed by its short length and the lack of substantial gameplay improvements over Black Flag.

Players assume the role of Adéwalé, a former slave from Trinidad who served as the quartermaster of Black Flag protagonist Edward Kenway onboard his ship the Jackdaw before joining the Brotherhood of Assassins.

In 1735, while leading an attack on a Templar convoy in the West Indies, Adéwalé (Tristan D. Lalla) manages to recover a package containing an ancient artifact, but his ship, the Victoire, is caught in a violent storm shortly afterwards.

Adéwalé is persuaded by Bastienne to aid the Maroon cause; he meets their leader Augustin Dieufort (Christian Paul), and commandeers a new ship called the Experto Crede to disrupt the regional slave trade.

While working for Bastienne, Adéwalé learns that the governor of Port-au-Prince, Pierre de Fayet (Marcel Jeannin), is planning a clandestine expedition to gather geographical data which would facilitate navigation and the slave trade.

In a 2014 review, Electronic Gaming Monthly lauded the story of Freedom Cry as the "most powerful, poignant tale" in the Assassin’s Creed universe and the DLC pack's singular highlight, and noted that it was unusual to feature a side character as the player avatar.

[11] The UK edition of Official Xbox Magazine thought the otherwise nice extra story "suffers a little from resetting and restarting progress", but otherwise welcomed the additional downloadable content for Black Flag.

[15] IGN described Freedom Cry to be "an entire Assassin's Creed game distilled into five hours", but claimed that its mechanics have omitted much of the forward thinking decisions that kept Black Flag relevant at the time of its release.

[14] Eurogamer commented that gameplay mechanics "remain resolutely locked up" to the Assassin's Creed framework, and claimed that player weariness in response to its over-familiarity ultimately undermines its strong narrative.