What if George Washington, upon being handed the reins of power in a newly formed America, had held onto them as tyrannically as the king he had helped to overthrow?
Would you assassinate the father of our country?
That's the premise of "The Tyranny of King George," an additional storyline that will be added to the upcoming game Assassin's Creed III as downloadable extra content.
The main storyline of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U and PC game sticks closely to the actual events of the American Revolution – besides the fact that it posits that the paranoid conspiracy theorist's favorite group, the Knights Templar, are behind it all and casts you as an assassin devoted to taking them down.
But "Tyranny" is more of a Bizarro-world, what-if scenario – what "could have happened," a Ubisoft representative said in a statement on Wednesday.
How far will Ubisoft's designers go? Will the player actually shove a knife into one of America's most revered historical figures? The statement only said that the player's goal will be to "dethrone" King Washington. But that hasn't typically ended well for your targets in previous Assassin's Creed games.
"Tyranny" will be released episodically, in three consecutive downloadable installments following the release of the game on Oct. 30.
Releasing this provocative playable content is Ubisoft's strategy of extending the tail of Assassin's Creed III. By promising future gameplay, it hopes to keep players from trading the game back to the store after they're finished.
Additionally, extra content means it can charge more money for the experience above and beyond the initial $60 price tag. While Ubisoft will sell the bits of content separately, it will also introduce a "Season Pass" option that gives players every piece of content for an up-front $30 payment.
As an additional incentive, Season Pass holders will get the content one week in advance of buyers who choose to wait.
