Playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Assassin's Creed® Valhalla2021-3-14-19-21-36.jpg

Hey there! Lately, I have been on an Assassin's Creed binge, mostly to diminish my ever growing backlog. So, I grinded away at Assassin's Creed Odyssey, finishing the DLC, which is the only truly worthwhile part of the game, and finally bringing the main story to a close with the best possible ending.

Assassin's Creed® Valhalla2021-3-14-19-26-35.jpg

After the grind that was Odyssey, I was hesitant to start Valhalla. From the marketting, it game me a lot of Odyssey vibes, forsaking the intrigue of the older games, in favor of a numbers game masquerading as an RPG. Lo and behold, one of the first things the game tutorialises is stealth, actual enemy avoidance. Also, it shows a very light survival tint with the healing system, because you heal by gathering food from the environment, and, when your health bar is full, this food is stored as rations for later.

Assassin's Creed® Valhalla2021-3-7-12-18-50.jpg

After a bit of combat and sailing using your own ship, the game gives you free reign in a small open world, which the game locates in Norway. This map is a bite-sized chunk of what to expect from the later parts of the game, featuring settlements, locations to raid with your crew, side quests which are called world events and a few collectibles sprinked about the place.

Assassin's Creed® Valhalla2021-3-14-19-27-35.jpg

Now, let's fast forward a bit: our main character, Eivor, gets a hidden blade as a gift, which can be used to kill enemies from stealth, besides elite enemies, which can only be hurt by this. This seems pretty self explanatory, but Odyssey treated stealth as a means to gain an upper hand in combat, not as a viable alternative, stealth attacks only doing a small chunk of damage to the enemies. All the stealth moves from the previous games are here, you can assasinate by pouncing on an enemy from a rooftop, from a hiding spot, from a ledge below the enemy. It's funny how refreshing it feels to do something which was so intrinsically engraved in my mind by the older games.

Assassin's Creed® Valhalla2021-3-14-19-30-26.jpg

This is just the beginning though, because the game sees the resurgence of social stealth, stronger than it ever was. Most of the game takes place in England, so being a viking with huge weapons tend to bring unwanted attention. As a solution to this problem, you can bring up your hood in cities by using a button froma quick menu. This won't make you invisible, but if you stay a decent distance away from guards, you can go about your business.You can also stage distractions, like baiting a drunk near guards, or blend into the environment by interacting with different tools and market stalls.

Assassin's Creed® Valhalla2021-3-14-19-36-42.jpg

Stealth is indeed one pillar of the game, but there is also the combat. It is a more grounded approach to Oddyssey's combat, removing most of the supernatural stuff (you can still shoot arrows through walls though) and adding a stamina meter, which gets depleted by dodging, missing hits and heavy attacks. WHen your stamina is depleted, you are as good as dead, because the enemies hit pretty hard. Enemies are subject to the same stamina system, and, if you manage to drain their stamina, you can initiate a critical attack on them, which leaves most of them dead and dismembered, which is actually very satisfying. The adrenaline attacks are back too, featuring pouncing on an enemy and alternating punches on them, throwing axes and using a harpoon to drag them during battle, among others.

Assassin's Creed® Valhalla2021-3-14-19-33-52.jpg

So, the gameplay itself is a huge win, but what about the exploration? Well, you will spend most of your time in England, synchronising viewpoints to find points of interest on the map, going to these points of interest and cleaning them up. A point of interest can either be a hostile settlement, which can either be raided or stealthily pillaged, netting you resources, it can be a world event, which nets you a neat little story, or it can be a small exploration puzzle, requiring you to roam around the area in hopes of finding a way to the treasure you want. All locations also have small documents scattered around, to add some unique flavor to the place. The kicker about exploration si that it is based on your current level. Zones are not locked off from you and you can certainly explore through them, but an enemy which is higher in level than you can easily kill you, so youll be herded towards cecrtain areas earlier than others, until you progress enough to take on the bulkier guys.

Assassin's Creed® Valhalla2021-3-14-19-29-47.jpg

Atmosphere-wise, the game pulls of that sense of historical wonder pretty well. You will walk through Roman ruins, understanding that the Roman Empire was ancient even to the people in the 8th century. You'll sneak through british medieval villages, watching people go about their daily lives, be it working the fields, being drunk off their ass or selling stuff at the market, so they can afford to continue living. People gasp in fear if you get too close to them, because they see what lurks under the hood. Your crew either sings or tells stories when you are on your voyages with them. It's pretty good stuff and it helps the world credibility a lot.

Images: personal screenshots


You should check out @free999enigma @unacomn @stefanonsense @cm0isa

Archdruid Discord: https://discord.gg/cw3z74s

GamingHD Discord: https://discord.gg/CZSXJwy

Humble Bundle Referral Link: https://www.humblebundle.com/subscription?refc=h3ntWY

H2
H3
H4
3 columns
2 columns
1 column
1 Comment
Ecency