If you haven’t noticed there is a tipping point happening within the gaming community, and Trini-Canadian actor Tristan D. Lalla is a healthy reason for its change.
The newest chapter of the Assassin’s Creed series branched off into some uncharted waters, as the fourth installment prompted a standalone game featuring the former slave-turned-pirate, Adéwalé.
Voiced by Montreal, Quebec born and raised Tristan D. Lalla, the character made his first appearance in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, which chronicled the story of Desmond Miles and his ancestor Edward Kenway. Without giving away any spoilers, as quartermaster of the Jackdaw, Adéwalé fought off an attempt to overtake the ship and set off on his own course, believing he made the right choice. Add to that the success of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, Ubisoft doubled-down on their pledge to create a “historically accurate” game by allowing gamers to play as Adéwalé in a stand alone game.
Taking place 15 years after the events of Assassin’s Creed: IV‘s main campaign, the Freedom Cry DLC focuses on Adéwalé’s attempt to fight against slavery and release his fellow brothers and sisters from captivity.
Tristan D. Lalla is no stranger to the gaming community, as he has also lent his vocal talents to titles such as Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Far Cry 2 and the upcoming Watch Dogs. He originally got his start as an emerging star working in Shakespeare in the Park productions, and got his first big screen role in Ian Iqbal Rashid’s How She Move. A pure talent and a gamer’s gamer, Tristan is a Brian Cloutte Memorial Award recipient and continues to champion creativity on his personal Twitter account.
VIBE got a chance to speak to Tristan D. Lalla exclusively about his origins as an actor, his thoughts on the increased diversity of characters within the gaming industry, and his thoughts on who would be on his own video game Mount Rushmore.
Listen to the chat in full below:
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and the Freedom Cry DLC are available now for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.