Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla continued the trend started in Origins and Odyssey of taking players out of the smaller, more sandboxed environments of Renaissance Europe or even the Carribean and dropping us into a massive, endlessly-explorable open world. Instead of the ancient worlds of Egypt and Greece, Valhalla treats players to the beautiful islands and waterways of the British Isles during the Dark Ages. As the name suggests, players get to explore the world as a viking, Eivor (either male or female), pillaging and plundering their way across England while also seeking to build a home and alliances to retain and expand their power.
Valhalla didn’t just introduce a new locale, however. The combat system was reworked to be more impactful, and while stealth was still quite prevalent, it took more of a backseat to how you accomplished each mission. Also, the amount of loot and objectives to accomplish was mercifully dialed back quite a bit, so it didn’t feel as much like a never-ending slog to complete everything. That being said, the exploration and discovery were quite a bit more enjoyable as they came about through world events as opposed to standard NPC side quests and missions.
Really, the only knock against Valhalla is that the story and characters aren’t quite as deep as we’ve come to expect from an AC game. Also, the Assassin’s vs. Templars story seemed a bit of a stretch at times in Viking land, but it worked. Overall, it’s one of the best and one of my personal favorite entries in the series. There’s plenty to do, and it’s varied enough to not get too repetitive.
Release Date: November 10, 2020
– Jason Cockerham
Read the full article here