Even though the Assassin’s Creed games have become a biannual release instead of a yearly one prior to Assassin’s Creed: Origins they are still considered one of the big end-of-year releases leading up to the Christmas season. Thanks to releasing every other year, however, both Origins and Odyssey are bigger and packed with more content in their huge sprawling open worlds.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is no different in this regard and it may be the biggest entry in the series to date. This time, instead of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, you will be back in the Dark Ages taking on the role of a Viking warrior called Eivor with the setting taking place in England and Norway. Let’s take a look at what’s still good in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and the areas that could use some improvement.
10 Best: The Historical Setting
If there is one thing that the Assassin’s Creed series always delivers on it is their historical settings. Whether it’s a stunning recreation of a Victorian-era London or Ancient Egypt, the developers at Ubisoft always manage to nail their settings.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla more than lives up to its predecessors with its medieval England setting and it looks incredible and feels authentic. Being able to visit iconic historical landmarks like Stonehenge feels just as special as climbing to the top of a pyramid in Assassin’s Creed: Origins.
9 Worst: A Vast But Empty World
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is a huge open-world game and it certainly is beautiful and vast. Unfortunately, it does suffer from some of the problems as Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey when it comes to the world feeling somewhat empty.
There’s a distinct lack of villages and cities, and the terrain will start to feel like it has been copied and pasted after 30 hours of exploration. In addition, the world doesn’t feel as alive as games like Red Dead Redemption 2 or Ubisoft’s own Far Cry 5.
8 Best: The Visuals Look Amazing Even On Last Gen
For gamers that haven’t been able to make the leap into the next generation yet, it can seem a little disheartening to see the ads for Valhalla proclaiming that the game plays best on the Xbox Series X. While this is obviously true if you own the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, you need not worry because Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is still a very impressive looking game across the board.
7 Worst: The Stealth Mechanics
The Assassin’s Creed franchise went through something of a soft reboot with the release of Assassin’s Creed: Origins after a two-year break. It brought the series into the Witcher 3-inspired action-RPG genre it has become known for now.
However, in that transition, much of the series’ stealth mechanics have been lost the meantime. Aside from some heavy foliage, the environment doesn’t seem to be designed with stealth in mind as the more violent head-on approach is encouraged instead.
6 Best: The Jomsvikings
Historically, the Jomsvikings were Viking mercenaries and they have a strong presence in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla too. In the game, they can be recruited once you have built the barracks on the shore of Ravensthorpe.
You will then be able to recruit them by interacting with the Viking that’s standing outside the new barracks. These Jomsviking work and behave very similarly to the Pawns in Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma but without the same level of customization.
5 Worst: Conversation Choices Lack Impact
Just like Origins and Odyssey, Valhalla has lots of character interactions and dialogue choices. However, many of these conversations trees have very little meaning and have almost no impact on the world that surrounds Eivor.
Considering the obvious inspirations, it’s difficult not to compare Valhalla with The Witcher III and be disappointed with how inconsequential Eivor’s choices actually are in the overarching storyline. Furthermore, Eivor’s actions and choices have very little impact on how the NPCs react to him/her.
4 Best: The Combat System
The combat in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla feels very similar to the Origins and Odyssey. Valhalla though feels far weightier, brutal, and somewhat similar in feel to the recent God of War. In addition, Eivor can now dual-wield, use shields, and larger two-handed weapons.
Eivor can also get pretty creative with dodging, parrying, and more deadly attacks to lay waste to several enemies at once. The power fantasy doesn’t last, however, because Eivor will soon encounter much stronger enemies as the game progress, and leveling up to improve his/her abilities is a must.
3 Worst: It’s Still The Same Ubisoft Formula
Those looking for a game that is significantly different from the usual Ubisoft open-world formula will be disappointed with Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. The way it approaches its albeit prettier open-worlds is almost identical to every Assassin’s game that’s come before it.
Eivor will still have to climb towers to reveal more locations, missions, and World Events as they do in Ghost Recon, Watch Dogs, and Far Cry. As a result, the repetitive nature of these titles is heavily present here. On the plus side, there are still lots of things to do resulting in a lot of gameplay and content for fans of open-world action games.
2 Best: Some Classic Gameplay Mechanics Have Returned
Both Assassin’s Creed: Origins and Odyssey have been met with a lot of critical acclaim for their efforts in breathing new life into the series. However, they have lost many of the mechanics that gave the series its identity like social blending which allows the assassin to disappear into the crowd to avoid detection.
In addition, the hidden blade has returned complete with the stealth takedowns and incorporating it as a weapon. It doesn’t have the stealth or the acrobatics that the first Assassin’s games did but it is a step closer to bringing everything together that’s both old and new in a convincing manner.
1 Worst: The Usual Bugs Are Present
The unfortunate downside to playing a massive open-world game so close to its launch is the bugs and glitches that accompany it. This is usually the case for all games in the genre from Grand Theft Auto to the Just Cause series and it’s usually because of their length and depth that these bugs are so easy to miss.
On the entry-level PlayStation 4 and Xbox One machines, there are some occasional glitches, stuttering during some cutscenes, and NPCs magically appearing on top of impossibly tall buildings or walking into walls.
NEXT: 10 Things We Wish We Knew Before Starting Assassin’s Creed: Origins
