Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Preview, conquering England

We are finally there, the blanket of smoke behind Assassin's Creed Valhalla it is finally thinning out, already making the whole fan base discuss. In fact, between players who expected a return to their origins and others who wanted a clear revolution, Ubisoft responded with continuity, proposing a product that, although revisited, does not differ much from Origins e Odyssey. This is because the new Game Director Ashraf Ismail, the man behind AC's real change of course, is very satisfied with the work done by the team. Undoubtedly the last chapters of the saga have become bigger and more complex to manage, and despite the difficulties it is undeniable that after years of fairly flat episodes the series has finally taken a significant shock. In Assassin's Creed Valhalla we tried to enlarge and improve when already done in Odyssey, which consequently was the natural evolution of Origins. Net of the criticisms and discordant thoughts that gave rise to the leak published in recent days (which among many things we ensure that it was a very old build), we strongly believe that the new Ubisoft experience, at the time of its release, will reconsider even the most skeptical users. The work will arrive between this generation of consoles and the next, just as happened with Black Flag, and we already look forward to the game in its "final" form when it will be available on PlayStation 5 e Xbox Series X. However, for now it is better not to stray too far from the present, focusing on the current material available.

Where the Animus will take us

In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, players will be catapulted into the shoes of Eivor, whose sex you can choose, a King who is leaving with his people from Norway to discover new lands in search of food and salvation. His long journey will lead him to England, a nation that has no intention of negotiating with the invaders. Being the main character in charge of a kingdom, this game will have its roots not only on wars for power, but on moral choices towards different peoples and interesting political intrigues. Every choice that you will have to make, of course, will be functional in order to save the people of the protagonist, which will have to confront a kingdom already well-established and made up of many cultures often in contrast with them.

This Viking wave will only further destabilize the precarious balance present in England, giving rise to a real war for the territory. The meat on the fire is really a lot, for this reason the title promises to be the studio's most ambitious work, at least below the level of writing and caring for the characters. The most complex work to be carried out by the team is, of course, that of combining the playful elements proposed in the game with facts and events that really happened.

However, as far as the main plot is concerned, the information in our possession ends here, we do not know what will happen after the first landing in England, nor which historical figures will join us - for better or for worse. The certainty is that the aforementioned choice of sex will not affect the plot, thus leaving the user the freedom to express themselves as they see fit. Also, if you use Eivor in the past, you will continue the story of Layla Hassan.

What do we know about the game world

We know that the main structure of the work is strongly linked to the two previous chapters, therefore also as regards the organization of the quests the modus operandi has remained almost unchanged. Some mission segments still seem to be platform oriented where, for example, it will be enough to move some crates to find a hidden door. There will be plots and subplots, mysteries to solve, secrets to unravel and bases to conquer. This is also helped by multiple choice dialogues, which will allow you to shape your story and your destiny. Ubisoft's ambition is palpable, the studio in this sense wants to give fans a product capable of establishing itself among the best chapters of the series. Furthermore, from several statements, we have discovered that the multiculturalism allowed the software house of create well-characterized environments and in some ways unique within the world itself, proposing a certain diversification of the various areas according to the population.

Obviously there will be an important link with the various religions, which also allowed the team to delve into myths and divinities. We do not know anything about this "function", especially since there have been no more precise declarations, but the developers have given a strong customization component in this sense too. In a realm as wide-ranging as the open world set up by the team, travel will be essential. While on the mainland thanks to the always faithful horse you will find points of interest or random events, even on the ship you will have your work cut out, accompanied in both cases by breathtaking views and panoramas.

The new sieges

This mechanic had already been tested in Odyssey, but we saw it in a totally different form in games like Shadow of War. Basically it is a real siege, where the player will have to conquer the enemy stronghold or encampment. Obviously there will be some steps to take, starting from the arrival by ship to the real battle outside and inside the walls. The fairly limited pitched battle seen in Odyssey has therefore been improved, increased and, above all, able to give a profound change of pace to the experience. In the adventure of Alexios, in fact, these segments after several hours began to be redundant, without being able to propose something different and removing the player's interest in this feature. Net of an unconvincing implementation, however, the basic idea worked and had potential, and finally in Assassin's Creed Valhalla we will reap the benefits.

The Viking sieges have been very faithfully reproduced by the team, plus some phases of the siege will also trigger mini-games inserted in a very coherent way: to knock down a wooden door of a settlement the Vikings will use the ram, if you want to interact with it or not the choice will depend on you, but if you decide to do so you will start a sequence in which you will be asked to take a run and to throw yourself violently against the doors to open them. As basic as it is, this small example helps you understand the studio's focus on this aspect of production.

Gameplay and development

The combat system of Assassin's Creed Valhalla improves but does not differ from what was seen in Origins and Odyssey, filing everything to make it much more fluid and dynamic. There will be the lock on the target, the skills, parry, dodge and of course the classic attacks, all very changeable also according to the chosen equipment. The Vikings also gave a lot of weight to hand-to-hand combat, which is why the study has deepened this aspect by inserting the possibility of tackling enemies in the race and much more. Imagine a staging of the clashes much more bloody than the one seen in Odyssey - also given the brutality of the Norse populations we would not have expected anything else from Ubisoft.

As you can imagine, rivers and rivers of blood will flow on the battlefields, healing will be essential and can be done using berries or foods readily available during exploration, a bit like the medical bag of Aloy in Horizon: Zero Dawn. There is obviously no AC without the stealth phase and, although it still does not shine with its own light, the team has shown that it knows how to do it. Instead of the eagle, Eivor will have a crow, from which you can observe the affected area from above, mark the targets and prepare a well-organized action plan. However we immediately remove the elephant from the room, the return of the hidden blade is something that has warmed the hearts of fans. This, of course, will grant you a bonus kill, but you'll also need to be skilled at getting it: when you have to perform a stealth kill, you have to be quick to hit the key at the right time. In case of success, congratulations, in case of failure instead you will only take a part of the enemy's life and you will have to start the fight. The compromise used by the team seems to us the right way, because it finally makes the management of hit points consistent with the component of instant killing.

As in all self-respecting role-playing games, the new protagonist will also have a leveling and development system but totally revisited. So forget the classic level, now Eivor's strength is measured in power. Don't worry though, experience points will always be there, but only to get skill points to spend in the skill tree. This will differ in three different branches but which will still be connected to each other: the Corvo will be stealth, the Wolf strength and, finally, the bear for endurance. Each time you complete an experience threshold you will get a point to spend as you see fit in the skill table. The latter on the screen are represented by real nodes, each connected and which in the long run can unlock wider and richer branches. This total freedom will allow the player to shape the gameplay according to his quality, preferences and needs, all to make the final experience as personal as possible for each player.

Of course, much more attention was paid to the equipment as well, but in Valhalla this was handled in a slightly different but equally effective way. Also in this case, forget the large amount of equipment available, everything has been reduced to allow the user to play continuously, without necessarily having to change a piece of armor for each enemy killed. However, this guarantees more unique armor and above all to be developed, since each piece of Eivor's equipment can be improved by leveling it up through materials that will be obtained in the game world.

In conclusion we can say that Assassin's Creed Valhalla is the natural evolution of the series, bringing unprecedented improvements also with regard to this new course of the saga. Our first impressions of the title are more than positive, but to be confirmed we will naturally have to wait for the review phase. The title tries to take the good things done by its two predecessors, raising the bar of ambition of the whole studio. If this AC will be remembered as the most ambitious of the saga, only time will tell, but for now it will certainly remain one of the most anticipated titles of this year.