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Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Information Thread, update: "The Last Chapter" trailer - free update that ties up the loose ends of Eivor's story

Commissar SFLUFAN

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Dre801

Dre801

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Let me guess.  Overwhelmingly huge map where you get to loot treasures and take out camp leaders.  Just bigger and prettier.

 

I've finished Origins and put a lot of time into Odyssey, so I don't think I'll be playing Valhalla for a long time after it's released.

 

 

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crispy4000

crispy4000

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I avoided the leaks, figured I'd let Ubisoft show the game themselves.  I finished watching the first season Kingdoms lately and hoped it would also spark my interest in parallel.

Nope.  This didn't do it for me at all.  If I had to pick, I'd probably pick up Tsushima over this, even though it looks formulaic too.

 

Visuals also disappoint me a little.  I feel like Ubisoft has plateaued earlier than other studios this gen.  It might not matter what power you throw at this, it probably won't ever look better than RDR2.

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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Assassin's Creed Valhalla wants to be The Witcher 3, but with deeper combat and the occasional climb (PC Gamer)

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With a few months to go, Valhalla clearly needs some more polish. I ran into a few bugs, including getting stuck in a corner and having my entire screen turn blurry after I engaged the cinematic camera, which smoothly swaps between camera angles as your horse carries you to your next destination. And just generally, it doesn't feel like a game with the wow factor I'd hope for, considering it's debuting on next-gen consoles.

 

Combat is responsive, but AI characters tend to move with the same old stilted animations, which stand out more and more as games become more detailed. And though the environment looks beautiful, nothing in Valhalla really blew me away—from my memory it looks comparable to The Witcher 3, which came out in 2015.

 

 

 

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla hands-on: raiding, drinking, fighting, and flyting (PCGamesN)

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This sense of place is strengthened by nods to East Anglia’s myths and legends, including a battle with the Black Shuck, a ghostly dog of East Anglian folklore. I spent the remainder of the hands-on session clearing map icons and was pleasantly surprised by the wealth of mysteries and curios waiting to be discovered. In an hour of roaming around I helped out with pagan rituals, slayed a demon goddess, and stumbled upon a murderous Anglo-Saxon nun. There’s plenty of weirdness and wickedness in this world if you seek it out.

 

The immersion is finally broken when exploring an anomaly, which is a parkour puzzle that ties Valhalla back to the ongoing Abstergo meta story. With this abrupt interruption over with, the demo ends and I’m cruelly thrust back into modern-day, pandemic-induced lockdown Britain. Ubisoft seem to have pulled off the impossible: making Dark Ages England as mystifying and enchanting as Ancient Egypt and Greece. And just like with Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey, I can’t wait to see more.

 

 

Assassin's Creed Valhalla isn't really an AC game, but it's still great (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)

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The joke, right, is that AC maps (Ubi games in general, really) are as covered in pock marks as my face was when I was a teenager and needed to go to the doctors for antibiotics. In Assassin’s Creed Oranges and Odyssey, they’d started trying to pare that back. But how do you get rid of map markers when your map is so big? Ubi seem to have finally found an elegant compromise.

 

The map is peculiarly barren. After exploring an area, or syncing a high point, little markers will start to pop up. That’s all they are – little points of light on the map that indicate something interesting might be there. Gold ones for valuables, blue ones for just something interesting. That’s all you get, aside from a marker for the quest you’re doing right that second. And then, on top of that, there are things you just have to look out for. I went up to a cool looking tree and found two orphan kids living in the woods, and they didn’t have a marker at all.

 

 

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla preview: Sailing into the storm (Polygon)

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Assassin’s Creed Valhalla might be the first Assassin’s Creed game to feel like it was born as an open-world RPG, rather than an open-world RPG that is also an Assassin’s Creed game. That’s fitting, since it comes from Ubisoft Montréal, which provided the blueprint for this change in Assassin’s Creed Origins.

 

Players who feel that the game’s traditional assassinations are being sidelined may not be swayed by Valhalla. Certainly we’ve been told that what we might consider the franchise’s calling cards are still a feature, but the story missions that I played were all castle-taking brawls, at one point complete with battering ram.

 

 

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla preview – more Geralt than Altair (VG 24/7)

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It’s hard to get a sense for how this will all shake out into the full game, since I only got a small taste of the main missions and a handful of side activities. So much of your enjoyment of an Assassin’s Creed game comes from the main character, the story you’re told, and the missions you take on. But Ubisoft has nailed the world, the music, and made some smart refinements to how it plays. The early build I played was a bit janky in parts, though, and it feels like the game could do with a fair bit more polish at this point. Still, I’m excited to see the final thing when it releases later this year. I’m going to put my cat on a boat and rhythmically insult my wife in preparation.

 

 

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is brutal, bleak and really, really bloody (GamesRadar+)

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If you're wondering what it's going to be like diving into life as a Viking, in just three hours with Assassin's Creed Valhalla I managed to have a drinking competition with a bearded warrior, have sex during someone else's wedding, and win an axe fight with a particularly angry nun. Safe to say that Dark Ages England is going to be quite the playground for debauchery – and blood. Lots and lots of blood. 

 

Ubisoft's new breed of Assassin's Creed game that started with Assassin's Creed Origins, and then continued with Assassin's Creed Odyssey, is evolving once again with Valhalla. Ubisoft Montreal is taking the RPG elements of Odyssey and parts of Origins' combat to create something that feels unique, works well with a Viking spin, and is still able to feel a part of the new format adopted by the long-running series.

 

 

 

 

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Hands-On: A Flatter Earth, Dual Wielding, Raids, And All The Other Big Changes (USgamer)

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Walking away from my three-hour demo, I largely felt like Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a continuation of what came before. Origins was a new start for the series, and Odyssey took that idea further afield. Valhalla seems like the Origins team trying to pull back a bit, while also tweaking certain mechanics. It's the continuation (or end?) of a generation of Assassin's Creed, rather than the start of a new one. If you liked Origins and Odyssey, Valhalla is shaping up to be the ur-version of that concept.

 

But I admit that I walked away from my paired demos of Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion seeing the latter as the vanguard of more "new" ideas. It's still clearly well done, but this isn't the teardown year for Assassin's Creed. Perhaps that comes next, when this trilogy is done.

 

 

Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Upgraded Animus Allows You to Change Eivor's Gender and Bring Layla Into the Open World (IGN)

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Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will introduce new narrative elements for the Animus that provide lore justifications for new gameplay possibilities, namely the ability to switch the gender of the player character at will, as well as bring modern-day protagonist Layla into the historical open world.

 

A recent hands-on demonstration of Assassin's Creed Valhalla I took part in featured the ability to swap Eivor's gender from a menu. But it turns out this isn't a demo feature to allow journalists to show both male and female versions of the character to readers. Talking to IGN, Valhalla’s Narrative Director Darby McDevitt explained - while avoiding any story spoilers - that this is a new gameplay feature to ensure both male and female versions of Eivor are considered canon. The feature is backed up by new lore that upgrades the abilities of the Animus, the machine that allows Assassin’s Creed’s characters to explore the memories of their ancestors.

 

Raiding, Drinking, and Stomping in Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Hands-On Preview (IGN)

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It should also be noted that Valhalla embraces British folklore perhaps more than it does Norse Mythology; as I explored this small chunk of the world I came across Black Shuck, a huge black dog that’s part of classic East Anglian folklore, as well as two members of the Daughters of Lerion; Gaelic women dressed in skulls with a fondness for sacrificial rituals and the supernatural. As with Odyssey, exploring uncovers optional bosses and other fun activities, although this time it’s all a lot more goth.

 

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla looks to be, as is the tradition of the series, an iterative update on its predecessors. If the new approach to RPG design and gear-based progression has put you off the series, this slice of the game indicates that you’ll likely be unconvinced by Valhalla’s barely altered direction. But the few changes it makes to those systems suggests developer Ubisoft Montreal may have a newfound confidence in its RPG abilities, and a willingness to embrace more of the genre’s toolset. If its branching story points are frequent occurrences, it may be that Valhalla’s real innovation comes from player agency in the narrative, rather than any mechanical revisions. Provided the game delivers on that promise, my only genuine concern is that the return of the lethal hidden blade hasn’t resulted in instantly satisfying stealth. It currently feels underbaked due to those stationary guards, and so needs some extra challenge to make it a worthwhile alternative to the entertainingly barbaric combat encounters. Fix that, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla might well be able to both reclaim its lineage and further its admirable RPG ambitions.

 

 

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Eivor's Mysterious Identity, Interwoven Story, And Hidden Ones Connection (Gamespot)

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Prior to the announcement of the release date for Assassin's Creed Valhalla at Ubisoft Forward, I sat down with the game's narrative director Darby McDevitt and assistant level design director Laurence Letalien to talk about the upcoming entry in the history-based franchise.

 

We talked about numerous aspects of Valhalla--such as side quests being almost nonexistent, in-game romances changing, and combat transforming to focus on moment-to-moment decisions--but what struck me the most was that you can switch between female and male Eivor whenever you want throughout their story, and that this feature actually ties into one of the major mysteries in the upcoming Assassin's Creed game. The way that Valhalla weaves together the different parts of Eivor's story and will drop additional nuggets of lore about the Hidden Ones' evolution into the Assassin Brotherhood sounds pretty cool too.

 

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Will Have Almost No Side Quests (Gamespot)

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The Assassin's Creed series has always been filled with side quests to complete alongside the main storyline, and these have grown especially prominent in the recent role-playing games like Origins and Odyssey. For Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, however, Ubisoft has completely changed its approach to side quests. In fact, they aren’t really in the game at all.

 

Speaking to GameSpot just before Ubisoft Forward, narrative director Darby McDevitt explained that “world events” are included in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, but the traditional side quest is “almost nonexistent.” There are longer story arcs to complete as part of the main questline, but extra activities you complete will happen more spontaneously and won’t necessarily be quests you have to seek out.

 

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Reminds Me Of Playing Black Flag Gamespot)

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I genuinely tried to stealth my way through most encounters in the first hour of my three-hour preview demo of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. I'd crouch among the sparse bushes and use a mixture of well-placed arrow shots and instant-kill hidden blade assassinations to carefully chip away at an outpost's defenses. But it wasn't exactly easy and it felt like I wasn't adequately responding to the situation at hand.

 

Perhaps additional abilities, additional enemy types, and new environments in other parts of the game will allow Eivor to pull off more types of silent kills and make stealth a more enjoyable option, but the placement of enemies in most of the encounters I experienced in the demo seemed to encourage fighting out in the open over skulking in the shadows. So for the latter two hours of my time with the demo I decided to do just that.

 

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crispy4000

crispy4000

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With a few months to go, Valhalla clearly needs some more polish. I ran into a few bugs, including getting stuck in a corner and having my entire screen turn blurry after I engaged the cinematic camera, which smoothly swaps between camera angles as your horse carries you to your next destination. And just generally, it doesn't feel like a game with the wow factor I'd hope for, considering it's debuting on next-gen consoles.


So it will be delayed? ;)

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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Other Assassin's Creed Valhalla multimedia properties:

  • On July 17, a seven-song EP taken from the official soundtrack featuring original compositions from Jesper Kyd and Sarah Schachner as well as an original song by Einar Selvik, will be available to listen to on Spotify and purchase on iTunes. Spotify pre-save and iTunes pre-order are available now and the full soundtrack will be released at a later date.
  • The Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – Geirmund’s Saga novel, written by Matthew J. Kirby, will tell an original story set in the world of the game. Players will discover the epic tale of Geirmund Hellskin, a man determined to prove his worth as a Viking and a warrior who joins the ranks of King Guthrum’s army to participate in the invasion of England. The book cover will be revealed on renowned Korean artist Jung Gi Kim’s Instagram account in late July.
  • Dark Horse Comics will release Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – Song of Glory, a comic series written by Cavan Scott, illustrated by Martin Tunica and colored by Michael Atiyeh. In this prequel to the game, fearless Vikings Eivor and Sigurd embark on separate adventures to show their mettle and seek glory. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – Song of Glory #1 (of three) will be in comic shops on October 21, 2020.
  • Finally, The Art of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and The Art of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Deluxe Edition will invite readers on a visual journey through the world of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – a world defined by the harsh beauty of Viking life, rich with fascinating characters and breathtaking landscapes. This book offers an enticing collection of art and commentary that is sure to attract returning fans and newcomers alike.

 

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Phaseknox

Phaseknox

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This game looks really good, I might get it on day one.

 

5 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

So.. Male or Female? I went female with Odyssey but I may go dood here.

I almost always choose to play as female characters in games if given the choice because I personally prefer female characters in general. You play as male characters in most games, and I get a little tired of playing them for that reason and also because I find a lot of them to have douche-y tough guy personalities and voices. There are of course some really good male protagonists in games, but I tend to find more to be unlikable than likable.

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Commissar SFLUFAN

Commissar SFLUFAN

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Everything We Learned About Assassin’s Creed Valhalla After Playing It (Kotaku)

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Last Tuesday, I played a preview build of this fall’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla for three hours by streaming it directly from one of Ubisoft’s computers. That’s how Ubisoft is doing E3-style previews this summer. It’s useful. Three hours is a lot of time to spend with a game that’s not even out yet, but it’s also barely enough to scratch the surface of the sprawling open world role-playing games modern Assassin’s Creeds have become.

 

The demo turned out to be an impressive tour of Ubisoft’s latest video game world, but the experience was also very limited. It was more difficult than I expected to learn a lot about the soon-to-be released blockbuster. The person running the demo wasn’t involved with the development of the game and didn’t (or at least claimed not to) know anything about Valhalla outside of what existed in the demo.

 

 

Assassin's Creed Valhalla made me want to visit East Anglia (Engadget)

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It's hard to get a feel for a game in a couple of hours. It's even harder when your screen is filled with streaming artifacts, but such is life in 2020. Ahead of Ubisoft's Forward gaming event, the company offered us some remote demos of two of its AAA releases this year. While my colleague had no issues playing Watch Dogs Legion, my substandard internet connection meant my session with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was taxing. But I like what I think I saw.

 

 

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s new Vikings don’t change up the formula much (The Verge)

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Obviously, Valhalla promises to be a massive game, and it’s hard to make any real judgements from the comparatively brief snippet I played. (One of Valhalla’s biggest new features — a customizable Viking settlement that also serves as the main customization hub for Eivor — wasn’t available in this demo to test out.)

 

But at its core, Valhalla feels extremely similar to the titles that came before it, which isn’t a bad thing: both Odyssey and Origins were fresh and deeper takes on the classic Assassin’s Creed style. If what you’re looking for is more of that, then Valhalla will absolutely provide.

 

 

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla hands-on: An incomplete Witcher-ization (Ars Technica)

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Assassin's Creed's many-year transition to becoming a full-blown RPG is complete. The November 17 launch of Assassin's Creed Valhalla on PC (UPlay, Epic Games Store), Stadia, PS4, and Xbox One follows the progression we saw in 2017's AC Origins and 2018's AC Odyssey, which guided the series' open-world formula away from sneak-and-assassinate parkour and toward a full-fledged hero story.

 

Ahead of today's Ubi Forward reveal event, Ubisoft invited us to a 3.5-hour hands-on session with a prerelease build of AC Valhalla. And our experience confirmed exactly what we'd assumed when the game's concept (codenamed Ragnarok) leaked late last year: the series has gone full Witcher. Sadly, thus far, that comparison isn't as watertight as AC fans may hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Phaseknox

Phaseknox

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6 hours ago, ARZ said:

Have to admit though, while I plan on playing as the female in Odyssey as the voice work seems far superior for her....i'm definitely leaning male in Valhalla from what i've seen.

In most games that allow you to choose between a male or female protagonist the female voice work is usually superior IMO, and that appears to be the case with Assassin's Creed Valhalla as well. Female Eivor has a strong and fitting voice, while male Eivor has a bit of a mild/tame voice that I don't find as fitting for the character. It all comes down to personal preference, and for me female Eivor is the more appealing of the two.

 

5 hours ago, TwinIon said:

After finishing Odyssey I've gone back to play some of the older AC games and I very much prefer the new open world RPG style of AC over it's predecessors.

 

Everything from Valhalla makes it look like a very worthy successor.

I agree, but that's because big sprawling open world action RPGs are one of my favorite genres. Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla are very different games from earlier Assassin's Creed games which are more smaller scale action stealth games. While Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood and Syndicate are some of my favorite AC games, I like Origins and Odyssey more and I expect to like Valhalla more as well since it's the same formula as those.

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