Assassin's Creed Valhalla

 
I say it almost every time there's a new Assassin's Creed game of late, but Ubisoft should really be commended for what they've done with this series and it makes for an interesting business case study. 

By now, if you're a gamer, you're likely familiar with this franchise's reinvention in 2017 with Origins. It was a huge step forward for a series that was struggling to retain relevance, marred by some generic and buggy predecessors. Origins wisely reinvented the combat and doubled down on the RPG elements, all while taking us to an incredible open world of Egypt. In short, it was one of the best AC games I'd ever played, which is saying quite a lot when you have previous installments like series-high Black Flag or Assassin's Creed II. 

Origins was quickly followed by Odyssey (worrying me that Ubisoft would sacrifice quality for cash flow as they had before with yearly installments), but impressively, the trip to the Greek Islands was also a momentous occasion for the series. It refined elements from Origins, presented a massive world with way too much to do, and featured a captivating core story - like its predecessor - centered around an exquisite female voice performance (if you chose the female warrior).

Valhalla, perhaps more than any Assassin's Creed before it, has had the hype. Ubisoft is now 3x into this new, highly successful model of the storied franchise and the series was going where it never had before: Vikings and England. Sure, it got "beat" to the punch by God of War and Hellblade (on the Xbox) somewhat, but neither of those offered a RPG-style open world that's arguably based in more realism. Like the aforementioned Black Flag, this would also be the first AC title on new gaming consoles. 

Recreate the opening of Mission Impossible 2!

Despite all the hype, Valhalla delivers and it delivers in spades. As is the case with any 60+ hour game (and it's much longer than that TBH), there are shortfalls, but Valhalla's are minimal. And so I return to how impressive it all is that Ubisoft was able to reinvent this franchise and not only breathe new sales potential into it, but breathe new quality into it. 

As far as I'm concerned, they're 3-for-3 when it comes to hitting these new games out of the park. 

Right off the bat, one of Valhalla's biggest strengths is its stories. I use plural there because now, more than ever, there are so many self contained "seasons" within the overall narrative. Like the best open world games often do, there's your overarching narrative fed and propped up with the smaller - but often more intimate - tales of lesser characters. The overall story is captivating, but it's the ones you find throughout England, as you pledge yourself to specific tribes, that stuck with me the most. Not only is the writing stronger than usual for a game like this (to be fair, AC has had some fantastic writers ever since Origins), but the characters feel real and genuine. Once again, I chose to play as a female Viking and my Eivor was a powerful force to be reckoned with. And once again, the female voice actress is superb, offering up a nuanced performance with a distinct, smoky voice to my heroine. Aside from the titular character, the side characters get similar treatment and most are well acted, written, and feel multidimensional. 

These story threads range in terms of fun favors that you have to do that may get out of hand, to murder mysteries that expose members of the larger Order in the narrative, to Game of Throne-esque plays for power where you must choose sides. I found a combined story line (it's acted out over 2 different tribe pledges) of a young man, Ceobert, fearful of fighting and wimpy, who's eventually chosen to be ruler over one of the lands, to be endearing. It'll stick with me for reasons that enter spoiler territory, but it presents a plot of deception, twists, innocence, and more that not only feels right at home in Viking-England, but in any good sword-and-arrow medium. 

[Insert "Don't go losing your head" joke here]

As is the case with most Assassin's Creed games, there's also a distinct focus on history here. There's likely a high degree of historical accuracy - though the game obviously takes certain elements and plays with them to fit the series' overarching story - but this game has a heavy focus on what was happening in the time period. Religion separated many kinds of humans, Vikings were to be feared, England was just forming its cities that we'd know of today, and lands out West were generally undiscovered. Norse mythology was prominent against Christian ideals and this often created conflict. It always impresses me how much research the development teams do on specific eras and time periods and Valhalla is no different. You'll likely learn a thing or two.

The gameplay - one of the biggest leaps forward for the series with the "remodel" - continues to shine and feels especially at home with Valhalla. Stealth, where the series was birthed, is still completely possible if you try but the melee combat with axes, swords, pikes, and bows and arrows is some of gaming's best. Valhalla is a challenging game when you're going up against a large quantity of foes OR someone far higher power than you. Sometimes these difficulty spikes are frustrating and mean that you have to come back later, but more often than not you can get around them if you focus. On top of combat, there are special melee and ranged moves you can equip that are essentially "power moves", featuring awesome animations that fit the brutality of the era. I probably used my axe throw, with Eivor tossing 4(!) axes across various enemies on the battlefield, hundreds of times and never tired from just how damn awesome it was. Valhalla doubles down on this brutality with the goriest Assassin's Creed yet, featuring decapitations aplenty, and gruesome (but very cool) finishing moves on enemies. Outside of combat, there's still plenty of traversing to do, various puzzles to be solved, tombs/caves to be raided, actual raids on towns, and more. Every videogame eventually gets boring (usually meaning you just need to take a break) but I found Valhalla to hold its own better than most. 

So yeah...on PS5 this game is jaw-dropping

One of the main reasons driving that is the incredible world Valhalla provides, another strong staple of this entire series, but especially the last three. Spread across Norway, England (where you spend most of your time), and a couple "secret" locations, Valhalla has a much more condensed map that Odyssey's sprawling Greek isles, but it's still big. Having just played Watch Dogs Legion (a series that desperately needs an AC-esque revamp) it was kind of wild to be running around Lunden (how it was spelled in Viking days) and other various parts of England before any of the hustle and bustle of a city. The countryside is gorgeous and continuously captivates with jaw-dropping imagery. On the PS5, the draw distances are spectacular and always indicate something "just over there" you'll want to check out. There are rivers, fields, plains, mountain ridges, caves, and more just begging to be explored. Oddly enough - despite the fantastic Shadow of Mordor series - I felt like this was the closest I've ever come to a Lord of the Rings environment in a game. Consistently, I kept envisioning scenes from (mostly) The Two Towers as much of this England map represents Rohan aesthetics. I can only hope that the eventual/rumored Lord of the Rings RPG in the works takes worlds like this into consideration -- there's a lot to be said for riding across a wide open field, watching it blow in the wind, and coming to a ridge on a mountainside and looking out over the land. It's videogame magic; just ask Ghost of Tsushima. 

Eivor bout to drop the hammer [read: axe]

I swear that I did not do this

One of the bigger changes several years ago was the decision to double down on the RPG elements, thus shifting the game from the odd half-in, half-out model it was before to a fully fledged experience. It not only extends the life of these games, but makes them inherently more interesting and "addictive". Dialogue - even if it doesn't have too much effect on the outcomes - allows the wonderful voice work to shine and makes you feel more ownership for the character. The skill tree in Valhalla - aside from being awkwardly organized - is vast. Some upgrades are simple "under the hood" ones while others are brand new, awesome skills. In addition, armor and weapons can be swapped out, upgraded, and purchased. For some reason or another, I found that I swapped these out a lot less this time around - I enjoyed the armor I acquired early in the game and invested into the axe you also get early on. Either way, it's the RPG elements that are probably the biggest change for this series and they continue to be the things that give it extra life, so it was definitely the right move.

Unfortunately, Valhalla is not a perfect game - though it does get close. I experienced a handful of bugs throughout that never fully crashed my PS4/PS5, but were irksome and some quality of life improvements from the last game are gone (why does running and getting on my horse feel more challenging this game?). Additionally, there are some difficulty spikes in areas where I was appropriately leveled that really pissed me off - some boss battles being the main culprits. I'm all for a challenging foe, but when I level up 50 more levels and come back to the boss to whoop his a** and find that I'm getting wrecked, it's no longer fun. Additionally, there are some side diversions to other locations that, while gorgeous, are rather boring. One strips you completely of all your gear and your horse so it legitimately felt like a chore that I tried to get over with ASAP. In a game full of good design, it felt like an odd misstep.

"Simba, our Kingdom is all that you can see..."

This past generation, upgrading games was better thought out so I was lucky to not have to restart Valhalla like I did with Black Flag when moving from the PS3 to the PS4. Valhalla was already an impressive game on PS4, but it's downright incredible on PS5. As is the case with open world games, you'll get stuck on edges, some look rough if you get real close, etc, but by and large this game is actually a fantastic representation of what the next gen is capable of. I stuck with the graphics-heavy mode (as opposed to favoring framerate) and the draw distances are some of the best I've ever seen, the lighting is on-par/better than any Naughty Dog game, and the level of detail among grass, flowers, rain, etc. is staggering. And the load times I mentioned with my Miles Morales review? They're not instantaneous here, but I'd venture to say I never waited more than 10 seconds (likely less) where on PS4 I was typically waiting 30-60 seconds to load in. The graphical powerhouse of the PS5 lets this world truly feel real, like you're venturing over the hills and land of old-England in actuality. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the incredible original score - one of the few videogame ones that has found its way to my writing playlist - because it's that perfect. Full of sweeping, epic tunes that feel grandiose, it helps the game to feel as big as its trying to be.

If you haven't figured out by now, after 3 glowing reviews, I f**king love the Assassin's Creed series, and I particularly love the direction they've taken it. It was a series that had mostly grown stale and now with Valhalla, it's clear this format is here to stay and can be applied to a wide variety of historical periods with great success. For a series with very high highs, Valhalla is yet another to add to the list. 

CONS

• Couple of odd design decisions with boring (but pretty) side-locations that feel like chores
• Difficulty spikes throughout, even when you level up and try to come back to them
• Handful of bugs that slowly dissipated as patches came out
• Some weird quality-of-life things removed from Odyssey
• I miss the ship gameplay; it had become one of the series' highlights

PROS

• Yet another incredible story, cast of characters, and female voice performance for this series. I was invested in the overall story arc, but some of the more minor ones were full of shocking plot twists, memorable characters, and standout moments
• Eivor is yet another standout central character who I became attached to
• As with most AC historical periods, its clear the development team has dove headfirst into this era. This feels Viking and you're likely to learn a thing or do, even despite some more fantastical elements
• The gameplay holds strong. Combat is bloody, intense, and can be challenging. Stealth is probably the best it has been since this "remodel" started, and traversal/exploring remains addicting
• And seriously, there are some flat-out awesome special moves. They never got old
• An impressive and more appropriately scaled open world. It's smaller than Odyssey but there's still plenty to do and go discover. Hits that "just one more thing" itch
• Exciting from a geography perspective too -- it consistently felt like something out of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• RPG elements are welcomed here and after getting oriented with the skill tree, armor and weapon layout, runes, and special moves there's a lot to grind and/or go searching for
• Really good looking on PS4 and jaw-dropping on PS5 with no-nonsense load times. The draw distance, lighting, and level of detail were the most substantial "wow" moments for me
• Well-constructed photo mode always deserves a call-out
• Epic, grandiose, and perfectly-fit original score. It blew me away at a few points
• Another memorable, exciting, and gorgeous game for this storied franchise that shows no signs of slowing down

Rath's Review Score | 9.5/10

Enjoy these additional screenshots!