Ubisoft made some major changes to the Assassin’s Creed series with 2017 Origins. Those changes revived the series both commercially and critically. This games writer actually loved the grittier combat and steep difficulty curve but could understand the misgivings of long-time fans who felt the game had changed a little too much. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla aims to be a halfway house between the stealth and exploration-focused gameplay of yore and the challenging RPG-lites of late.
Helped immensely by the incredible environmental design and artwork, Valhalla looks like the Norway and England that most players will imagine when thinking of Vikings. Fulfilling a mainstream historical fantasy is something that Assassin’s Creed games are known for so it’s no surprise that Valhalla shines as it does in this respect.
Not a Nice Person (No Spoilers)
It’s actually really refreshing to play a bad b*****d every once in a while. In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla you play a right one. However, Ubisoft made a little effort to give Eivor some personal motivation so s/he wouldn’t come across as a sociopath and/or have the game banned like Manhunt 2.
Eivor sees some terrible stuff as a kid. As a result, they are motivated by revenge and let loose by a complete absence of empathy. There are occasions where you can flex your humanity but you are mostly brutal and unmerciful.
Our band of raiders are truly terrible. As we survey the beautiful English countryside, our crew jokes about using church spires as a sign of treasure. Sure, there’s some shady cabal you have to stop but it’s an afterthought, really.
It’s somewhat funny to watch Eivor behave exactly like his/her object of revenge – burning towns to the ground and murdering beaten warriors. Creating a host of mini-Eivors, striving for revenge on you with a cold heart. Seriously, as you slay hundreds during your invasion, statistically-speaking a few children will have seen you mangle their parents.
Even when there are cruel rulers to deal with in old Albion, they come out the more sympathetic. Most of them are just defending their people from an invasion of murdering thieves. Similarly, the poor soldiers trying to defend their homeland look genuinely terrified and will try to flee when all seems lost. Most of these poor lads are probably conscripts.
Viking Visual Feast
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a gorgeous game. Technically, it’s impressive but the narrative frames these stunning visuals perfectly. The game begins in frigid and barren Norway, a stark blue and grey dominates. The early theme of a people under pressure, looking for a paradise to forcefully take from somebody else’s cold, dead hands is supported by the sparse and harsh surroundings.
I felt myself hoarding everything I could see in Norway. As if I might never eat or find an arrow again. The sense of want is palpable, something for which Ubisoft deserve credit. By the time you reach the promised land a few hours in, you will probably feel the cold.
The contrast of the cold blues of Norway with the pastoral golds and green of England could not be greater. The rocky, angular Norway is hard on the eyes, England is welcoming and bountiful. This form of hard contrast is an age-old technique that never seems to wear thin.
Choices
The most important choices are the three concerning your game. Players can choose four levels of combat difficulty with three levels available for both stealth and exploration. Combat and stealth levels are up to you but I do recommend the ‘hard’ exploration difficulty. As with Origins and Odyssey, this gives clues to locate their maguffin on the map rather than a pinpoint marker to chase. Not only is this more immersive but it makes players more familiar with the landscape and encourages them to use their raven to scout ahead.
At the beginning of the game proper, we are given the choice of a male of female Eivor. It doesn’t really matter which one you choose beyond the aesthetic. It would have been interesting to have a different path depending on your choice but there are other choices that will have an effect throughout the game.
One particular offer is thrust in a player’s lap early on and if you are ill-prepared to avail of the offer, you will make a powerful enemy. The game sets up a warlord as being of the ‘no-nonsense’ variety and the game admirably keeps her word.
The aforementioned moments where a player can show mercy can turn on a player. Letting a helpful captive run free has consequences – you are still an invader after all.
RPG-ish
Weapons armour now scale with your ability. This lets players use their favourite gear throughout the game instead of always finding something to match their level. The game also gives players a large selection of meaningful runes and special abilities. A player has limited slots available for each so adjusting your lineup to your style is necessary.
The levelling system is like a scaled-down version of that seen in TES V: Skyrim‘s. One point fills out a star in constellations representing the various disciplines. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has three; one for ranged, one for stealth and one for melee.
Walled Off
Unfortunately, one of the RPG aspirations of later games in the series is still here. England’s counties have different levels assigned to them. Some of them may be north of level 200 and once your character is too far below this level, you won’t kill a single dude there. I can understand not being able to murder a better-trained soldier in a fair fight. But a big stabbing stick to the back of the neck shouldn’t care how good they are. Similarly, our assassin dropping sword-first from the Karman Line should be a fatal attack no matter what pay-grade we are landing on.
It is slightly fairer than previous iterations. Our protagonist can fight up steeper hills than before but there is still a hard limit on the penetrability of certain skin.
There are roaming bosses that feed the secondary quest of assassinating the shady cabal but you will totally have forgotten their role in anything by the time you are strong enough to beat a few of them. In a game with so much content, walling off so much of the best of it until a player has invested a huge amount of time into the game just seems cruel.
Whatsmore, the problem doesn’t doesn’t really become visible until a player has played dozens of hours. Those of you sticking mainly to the main quest may find yourself hooked and stuck.
Unpolished
Valhalla features some less-than-perfect delivery. Player controls can be inaccurate when parkouring and this, coupled with Eivor’s ability to climb anything, grealy hurts the founding mechanic of the series. It’s jarring enough to see Eivor dangle from everything and anything but s/he also gets stuck on random scenery. There are occasions when you just cannot grab on to what you want.
Movement in these situations was never perfect in Assassin’s Creed games but you always had a great sense of being in control. Valhalla is one of the poorest parkour experiences in the series so far. The animations of the parkour elements are generally poor compared to those of hacking lads to death. If you loved the stealth of AC‘s past, you will notice more than those who love the later series’ combat focus.
There is also a problem with screen-tearing. This is most noticeable when watching cut-scenes but is present throughout the game when playing at a constant refresh rate as most of you will be doing. It’s supposedly not an issue when playing the game with VRR. Xbox Series X and Valhalla support Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) but it’s not a common technology outside of PC monitors and very expensive televisions.
One issue that VRR isn’t going to fix also resides in cutscenes – NPCs have a weird habit of arriving late. It may be a frame or a full second but there is a good chance someone will be tardy to any given scene. This sort of cutscene jank is distracting, even if it is a series tradition.
While Assassin’s Creed Valhalla shows off the power of 9th gen. in many areas, the occasional sloppiness stands out.
Following Up Odyssey and Origins
Despite aiming for a middle-ground, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla ends up a more action-oriented game than any in the series so far. Stealthy parkour just isn’t one of this game’s strengths; it looks and feels imprecise and clunky.
Eivor is an unstoppable wrecking-machine that replenishes stamina every time s/he lands a quick strike, there is no penalty for going into a large group and hacking away once you’re at the right level. That feeling of power and fury is addictive and subsequently, the very best experiences of the game are its combat/battle sequences. Raids, the least subtle activity ever devised, are the game’s very best feature.
Mandatory cloaked sequences feel forced. When you are free roaming and there is a chance to hood up, most of you won’t. There is one terrible control choice that needs to be addressed – the button for sprint is L3 and the button for locking on is R3. Players can find themselves clicking both at the same time and opening photo mode. It can be infuriating.
Worth the Step Up?
Valhalla feels like an 8th gen. title. The jump to 60 fps and the improvement LoD are two aspects that will impress anyone making the leap. The game is gorgeous, even though it’s in a dynamic 4K, rather than native 4K. The hills of England are luscious with thick foliage as far as the eye can see.
Loading is quick but far from instant. 20-30 seconds from the menu without Quick Resume is still excellent for a game of this scale. Quick Resume works perfectly with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and the feature definitely feels like the future of single-player experiences on Xbox Series X.
However, the improvements are noticeable but not mind-blowing. Whereas Watch Dogs Legion seems to be running at the very limits of Xbox One X, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla seems equally at home there. Perhaps it’s because games in its series of similar scale and complexity exist while Watch Dogs Legion is a leap in terms of detail and adds immersive ray tracing to the mix.
That being said, huge open worlds at 60 frames with the sort of detail offered by Valhalla are welcome this early on 9th gen. hardware. And of course, it’s worth the risk since it can be upgraded from Xbox One and PS4 versions to their respective 9th gen. counterparts for free.
