Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
It’s not very Viking to lurk in the shadows, so forget Assassin’s Creed games of old… because the pillage people are in town and they don’t mind announcing their arrival
Eivor is a Viking, and has no desire to conceal her ‘Hidden Blade’ from anyone. True warriors have no time for that kind of cowardice… which makes this game an odd fit for the Assassin’s Creed brand. Never mind all that stealthy scouting – Eivor and her clan announce their arrival with the blast of a warhorn.
Raids are noisy, bloody affairs, with bodies littering the ground. Fights are not always easy to win, though – and many of the things we’ve taken for granted in prior games, like the leap of faith or the stealth assassination, aren’t available from the off.
Valhalla forces you to play differently… and it’s no bad thing. Combat and controls have been refreshed, taking a couple of hours to retrain your muscle memory; and unlike Origins, which forever threw gear at you, this game tasks you to upgrade it as you go.
Despite the brutality of the Vikings’ approach to international relations, they were a spiritual bunch. How perfect, then, to have a skill tree up in the skies, where Eivor can draw on the strength of Odin and pals to buff her stats. While loosely categorised (the Bear line for melee, Raven for stealth, Wolf for ranged combat), it’s difficult to follow one single branch as much is hidden in fog and only revealed as you progress. If you’re a cagey player rather than all axes blazing, this results in quite a well-rounded warrior.
And it’s not all about slaying and looting: Valhalla also touches on life as a Viking. You’ll have drinking competitions and poetry battles, build settlements and forge alliances, and your choices impact on your adventure regardless of whether you’re sailing or hoofing it through the countryside.
The game is stunning in scope and looks truly mesmeric on next-gen hardware, albeit marred by technical glitches and a lack of last-minute polish that could have turned a great game into an unmissable one.
Vikki Blake