What to expect from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla? What kind of a game is this and will it feel like an Assassin’s Creed game or further diversity itself from the origins of the series? Let’s delve into this along several other key questions like release date, plots and narrative directions, new gameplay features, redesigned combat system mechanics and next gen consoles support among many other topics this article covers!
I think it has been more than an year, closer to an year and a half now, since I first heard the rumors of a Assassin’s Creed Vikings game. Ubisoft insisted on keeping their silence on the matter despite the multiple sources that started “confirming” it.
During the Holiday Season of 2020 we expect the Vikings to enter the Assassin’s Creed franchise with thunder and… sharp axes. The release date for the game is November 10, 2020.
With the release of Assassin’s Creed Origins three years ago the studio made a massive turn into a new direction for the games series. A year later they confirmed that the new direction and approach is here to stay with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
Both of these games offered massive open worlds with fewer limitations when it comes to exploration, side quests and optional activities to help you immerse yourself in Ancient Egypt and Greece.
So, what is Assassin’s Creed Valhalla? Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is a third-person action game with RPG elements, set in the Vikings age. You control a male or female viking protagonist called Eivor and set sail to conquer and explore the new lands of the English kingdoms. It builds on top of the previously released AC origins and AC Odyssey and offers brand new mechanics and interesting gameplay features.
Ubisoft made a point in one of their very first official news posts about the game that when they use the term “Vikings” they don’t mean to describe nasty barbarians with that.
“When we say “Vikings” it’s kind of used as a generic word. We know that in the West, it conjures up the image of brutes and plunderers that destroyed monasteries all over Western Europe, but in reality, it’s a bit more complicated than that. The term “Vikings” actually refers to an elite class of the Norse society. They were a certain group of people in Norse culture that were traders, explorers, excellent seafarers, settlers, and, yes, sometimes invaders and plunderers.” – Theirry Noel, historian and content advisor on the new game, explains.
The word “Viking” is primarily used in our culture to describe Norse nations from southern Scandinavia, who from the 8th until around the 11th century sailed, raided and traded all over Europe. Their expeditions also aimed to explore the vast unknown world. That’s exactly what we are to expect from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
The cinematic trailer and the analysis, that Ubisoft provided in their own Trailer Breakdown Dev Commentary video, confirm that we will start Asassin’s Creed Valhalla as Eivor (to be pronounced it as it is spelled), a Viking Raider from Norway.
Eivor can be either a male or a female character, it’s up to you. Same as with the previous game Odyssey.
It’s Eivor’s story that we follow here and that’s what’s most important, Ubisoft devs point out several times in interviews and blog posts.
You start the game from Norway, but wont stay there for long. The main goal of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is to show the process of establishing your new settlement on English ground.
If you have watched at least the first season of the TV Show Vikings, you know how this would likely go and you know what to expect.
The game does not want to focus on the brutality only, though. Sure, you will be going axe-first into battle against the Saxons, but as the cinematic trailer hinted very cleverly, these Vikings are not there just to raid and collect treasures.
One of your main tasks as you play the game is not to only establish your settlement, but also strive to expand, support, defend it.
Upgrading your settlement and securing its future, helping it prosper, will unlock new missions and gameplay options for you.
“In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, nearly every decision you make will have lasting effects throughout the world. Violence won’t be your only tactic for getting what you want; a silver tongue can be as effective as a steel sword when it comes to finding a home for your people. Shifting England’s balance of power and expanding your influence through diplomacy will likely make you more friends than brute force. Every political alliance you build, combat strategy you employ, and dialogue choice you make will alter your journey.” – Ubisoft clarifies in a blog post.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will continue building on what Origins Started and Odyssey expanded. The game will offer a giant open world for you to sail through and explore as your character progresses through levels, gear and gameplay mechanics.
Similar to the skirmishes you were able to participate in Odyssey, in AC Valhalla you will be able to participate in Raids. The game “lets you lead surprise longship attacks to pillage enemy territories for much-needed resources, or launch massive assaults against rival Saxon strongholds“
This is a Vikings game, so brutalities and blood will be in abundance. That is not just an expectation. The trailer and the devs’ words confirm it. Raids will be among the most brutal experiences.
A new combat system has been designed that allows you to bash, dismember and decapitate your foes. I would not expect it to be as complex as what For Honor offers. Valhalla is going to focus a lore more on the story and your character’s personality rather than the combat system.
As a true Viking Eivor will be able to wield axes – double-handed, one in each hand, shield and an axe, even swords. Pretty much anything made of steel that can help him defeat his enemies will be a weapon in his hand, it seems. The devs even confirmed you can dual-wield shields.
That last statement makes me wonder how exactly will balance work in the game. If you can combine pretty much any and all weapons, how will this reflect on the combat system and how will it challenge you.
Balancing for so many options and choices along with the special abilities that Eivor is expected to be able to learn and use, that may get a bit too complex to manage and balance from developer’s point of view.
The variety of enemies you will meet in AC Valhalla is going to be larger than ever before, Ubisoft promises. Of course, the Hidden Blade is going to be the one constant.
For this game the Hidden Blade is mounted on the top of the arm, not underneath it.
Eivor will meet with Assassins during his journey. He would not know what that means exactly, at least not in the beginning. Devs confirmed that Eivor will work with these people. At a certain point in the story Eivor will receive the blade. Most likely as a reward from a mission, as an upgrade to his weapons arsenal.
The giant guy that Eivor fights in the cinematic trailer is a special kind of enemy – The Ring Leader. I think these would be like mini bosses that you will encounter during Raids. Similar to the giant guys you fought in Odyssey, really. There they were called differently, but I get an impression these might be the new “Mercenaries” type of enemy.
Special enemies (and maybe not only) will have certain weak spots and areas where you can hit them for a much more devastating effect.
In the trailer we saw Eivor hitting the Ring Leader with his battle axe right across the stomach, but the armor appeared to be too tough and the weapon just bounced off . This is a good example that when fighting strong opponents, you need to look out for their weak spots.
I would expect a certain ability would help you find these spots. It’s not clear how these would be revealed and when, but based on my personal experience with several other titles I would not be surprised if Eivor learns to see these at some point. Or perhaps he would have it from the very beginning. I hope for the former, not the latter.
Now that I mentioned the Hidden Blade, I must admit that I somewhat share the ironic comments on forums and Reddit that if this trailer premiered on E3 or any other convention, the viewer would not recognize this was an Assassin’s Creed game trailer until the very end.
True! Valhalla reminds me way more of a Vikings-based role-playing game and this is what I expect. Ubisoft already demonstrated where they want to take this franchise with Origins and Odyssey. Valhalla should simply continue to follow that path.
The game will not be a typical classical Assassin’s Creed title. I expect it to be more of an story-driven RPG than anything else. However…
“We spent a lot of time overlapping and intertwining threads to make sure every moment of it really feels connected and integrated, that when you play this game, you are in not just a Viking game, but an Assassin’s Creed game” – Narrative Director Darby McDevitt explains.
I doubt that after what I have witnessed for so many countless hours with Origins and Odyssey myself.
To be different is not bad. I didn’t mind the fact that the scenes in the present time were cut to the minimum in the last two games. I didn’t mind that the main character in Odyssey could be a male or female. That only gave me an additional incentive to replay the game.
Going back to the trailer for a few comments regarding the graphics you should expect from the new game.
The cinematic starts off with a dark, icy cold place – what seems to be a typical Norse settlement. The devs confirmed that this is where you will start the game.
Shortly after that we see another Viking settlement. It’s a bright day, the grass is ever so green and children are running and playing around instead of shivering from the cold.
This is an intended contrast and I expect it will be heavily involved in the game’s story. The Norse people are looking for new land. They desperately need a less hostile in terms of weather conditions environment where they can grow crops and “live off the land” as the Vikings TV Show likes to repeat every so often.
I am far from the thought that what we saw in the cinematic or in all of the images and posters represents what we will actually see in-game. The Graphics will get hit and a downgrade is absolutely normally to occur.
I don’t even think that the trailer intends to represent what the game’s actual graphics will look like. Unlike other trailers and teasers, this one does not advertise that this is an in-engine rendered content.
In fact I don’t think this cinematic trailer is ground-breaking or something unseen until now. It does feature incredibly detailed and well-modeled characters and environments, but so did Blur’s SWTOR cinematic for KOTFE. Hell, even the Diablo 3 trailers are great, although they do show some of its age by now.
The most important thing to take out from the trailer when it comes to visuals is that it is not intended to mislead the audience that this is what Valhalla will look like. Nowhere did Ubisoft or any of the devs made such promise and we know how us, gamers, tend to overhype our expectations when we see a cool cinematic like this one.
Sure, the graphics will be amazing and very detailed, but it would be a bad idea to get the wrong impression that Eivor will have this much detail on his hair, beard, clothing.
Odyssey was incredibly beautiful game and Valhalla will surely build upon that aspect as it will on several others I already discussed in this article.
AC Valhalla will allow you to lead your own Norse clan of people and help them establish their new lives on English soil. This wont be easy.
The land may be fertile and the weather may be a lot more forgiving, but the Saxons would not. They will meet you with hostility and attempt to drive you off from their lands, at least at first.
Based on history lessons and notes we know that the Norse people very rapidly and successfully settled on the shores of England. What you will witness and play in the game is only a small part of the massive invasion that started around the end of the 8th century.
Sailing on a Viking long ship is also going to be a core gameplay mechanic in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. You will be able to upgrade and modify your ship and crew
In conclusion I am very impressed with this upcoming game. Even despite the little information we have at this moment, I think Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be worth spending both your money and time.
It may not be a classical Assassin’s Creed game, but that does not bother me even little. I expect that the new mechanics and features Valhalla will introduce will be worth and we wont get the feeling we are playing a “Viking’s Odyssey” if you get my meaning.
Speaking of money – Valhalla does come in what is now traditional for Ubisoft – an abundance of different game editions and packages.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will have a Season Pass, meaning that you should expect continuous coverage after the release with both free and paid DLCs.
The game was originally set to release in late November. Development, apparently, moved well and the game settled on an earlier release date – November 10, 2020.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be available for Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Epic Games, Uplay and Stadia. It’s already available for pre-order as well.
The game will be available in all of its glory to the new Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles. On PC it will support everything you can imagine – HDR, DLSS and RTX.
In case you have missed the two videos I am often referencing in this article, here they are:
Note: All images used in this article are sourced from ubisoft.com and the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla news articles and the trailer.
