ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA
What’s better than one axe? Two axes, of course
East Anglia is delightfully muddy, making a refreshing change of setting from Odyssey’s sunny Greece and Syndicate’s bustling industrial revolution. But gameplay-wise Valhalla doesn’t rock the Assassin’s Creed longboat. It takes Odyssey’s more RPG-focussed model and tweaks it. It looks different, but doesn’t feel especially new.
Squint at some of the in-game action and you could easily mistake what’s happening on screen for footage of the last game. Your character Eivor’s combat skills are displayed on the UI and accessed by holding a trigger ( i for close-quarters, p for long-range), corpses glow with looty treasure, and numbers pop out of enemies. Functionally, much is as it ever was, with minor tweaks: auto-riding your horse now features a cinematic camera (à la Red Dead Redemption 2); in-battle health gains are governed by rations; and this time Eivor’s threepronged skill trees resemble constellations.
RUN TO THE HILLS
All that said, it’s hard to object to the similarities to past games when Valhalla is on a roll. Waging an assault on Burgh Castle, Eivor takes command of the approach by sea, their longboat one of many Viking craft rolling over the rocky waves in the middle of a storm, lightning flashes illuminating the castle in
the distance. It’s gorgeous. Viking drums increase in tempo and you can’t help but feel a surge of adrenaline as Eivor hops out of the boat to storm the castle, entering the bloody fray.
This assault on the castle showcases how mission structure has evolved to let you choose how you reach your goal. You can stick with your crew as you cut down enemies, helping them to crew the battering ram as you bash it into doors, or you can clamber up the castle walls, getting the drop on enemies and opening the doors from the other side, using the chaos of the assault to mask your movements. The battle feels active and varied, reminding us of some of our favourite base-storming sections in Assassin’s Creed Rogue. Don’t think it’s all clashing in open combat though: while these plotimportant assaults go large, smaller raids on camps give you even more choice, allowing you to toot your battle horn to take on a raid in full combat with a crew or go it alone to clear it entirely using stealth.
WHERE EAGLES DARE
Combat is still a numbers game (perhaps now more than ever, as weapons boast crunch stats like Attack, Speed, Impact, and Crit Percentage), but the devs seem to be making a concerted effort to stop you worrying about those figures too much while in the fray. Enemies no longer have their level number next to their heads, though they now have a stamina bar underneath their health. Crunch them with enough highimpact attacks and you can overwhelm their stamina, stunning them, allowing you to close the gap for a one-hit kill regardless of their health with a satisfying click of .
You can stamp on downed enemies with
as well to deal a portion of stun damage. For the castle’s big Viking boss this seems to be the prevailing strategy, as Eivor’s dualwielded whirling axes can only chip away at his large health bar (you can dual-wield any two weapons). It’s possible to drop any enemy in one hit regardless of level thanks to Advanced Assassination, which gives you the chance to press a button at the right time after initiating assassination to take them out. Seemingly the bigger the level difference, the harder it will be to pull off. But the fact it is possible is the big thing. But it’s a double-edged Viking axe. Eivor also has a stamina meter, with dodges and some heavier attacks draining it, along with damage you take.
These might be small changes, but together they give Valhalla’s combat a unique cadence. They make battles more considered and weighty, but at the same time you really feel the quickened pace when you do close in and use your skills to overpower and drain enemies’ stamina before taking them out one by one. It gives you the sense that every blow matters.
Thunder, flames, and Viking drums are a thrill, but aren’t exactly the assassin way – but the open objectives of the castle assault might point to sneaky options ahead and some welcome adaptability. Social stealth returns – Eivor’s able to don an assassiny cloak and hood to blend in among the population of settlements, avoiding suspicious guards. If you were expecting a reinvention of the hidden blade for the series’ first PS5 outing you might be disappointed, but Valhalla’s familiar drumbeat is sure to have us nodding along, even if that heavenly hall of heroes is an architectural déjà vu.