ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA
It’s Frigg-ing brilliant
RELEASED OUT NOW! Reviewed on Playstation 4
Also on Playstation 5, Xbox One,
Xbox Series X|S, PC Publisher Ubisoft
VIDEOGAME Like Mr Benn with a bloodlust, this year’s time-hopping Assassin’s Creed entry swaps sandals for Saxons as we enter 875 AD England.
As Eivor you are a Viking looking to settle down, raise a small army, and drink Odin’s weight in mead. Fundamentally there’s little new about Valhalla: you’ll spend 80-plus hours cavorting around Dark Ages England, looting resources, unlocking new skills and building alliances. Combat is again a blend of light Dark Souls duelling and stealth killing from the rafters. There are some nuanced changes, such as the fact that timing is needed to land perfect Hidden Blade attacks, but largely this is carefree skull-splitting fun with missions softly gated behind stat-levelling.
Where Valhalla excels is in its town-building meta-game. Resources looted can now be put towards developing your clan’s home. Build a bakery and a new mission appears. Craft a barracks and Eivor can recruit more allies, making raids on those scurvy Saxons a little easier. This structure ensures that the open world has roots and gives greater purpose to the events that unfold as you orbit your home for new quests and character interactions.
The world is stunning, too. By jigsawing crumbling Roman ruins in with Saxon huts and castles, as well as layering in Celtic mythology, a trip to Ásgardr, and present-day plot twists, Ubisoft has created a mist-soaked, sun-dappled view of England that feels both fantastical and real. It’s a place so well made that even monks parodying The Prodigy – singing “Smack My Bishop” – isn’t out of place. This is a staycation you need to take. Ian Dean
The food found in a log cabin nods to Ubisoft staff – like a can of salsa featuring a photo of an environment artist.