Ubisoft couldn’t even take aim at that easy target, let alone hit it, so it’s not a huge surprise that when the entirety of its game revolves around colonisation it doesn’t even load the bullets. Even Watch Dogs: Legion, which came out just weeks before Valhalla, makes only limp attempts at engaging with the politics that should be inherent in its narrative: a society rising up against a corporation that has installed martial law. Ubisoft, a company that has been plagued by allegations of sexual harassment and multiple high level resignations, has never been a developer that really, truly engages with the politics of the world it’s depicting. For a game that tries to be narrative-driven, much moreso than previous instalments, it’s a massive obstacle to get over. What the game ends up with though, is a protagonist with no depth, unclear motivations, and frankly, no appeal. It’s never clear what motivates Eivor, and Ubisoft tries to split the difference between player agency, by letting us pick what Eivor says and how they react in specific circumstances, and a genuine plot arc, by positioning Eivor as a paradoxically benevolent coloniser. After a few hours, you’ve really explored the breadth of what the game can provide, and if you don’t find it immediately gripping, then you won’t have much more luck 50 hours later.Īnother thing that prevents the game from being truly gripping is Eivor, who follows the unfortunate Ubisoft trend of being a protagonist that is less a beacon through the narrative, and more an empty projection screen. This isn’t helped by the repetitive gameplay, which is a problem that somehow continues to plague this franchise. Britain (and a little bit of Norway) has a limited palette that can make it feel like you’re playing a variant on the same level.
Personally, I found Greece to be a much more varied (if emptier) setting, and a much more enjoyable sandbox to play around in. Your interest in this will largely depend on how invested you are in the setting. The rest of the game is business as usual for an Assassin’s Creed game. Expect to see this a lot while you’re playing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. It’s undoubtedly the best part of Valhalla, and for a game that focuses on raiding and pillaging, it needs to be. The fights remain thrilling throughout the game, and the player is kept on their toes, whether they’re just starting out or if they’re hours deep into it. Here you’re just a human like everybody else, and the combat expects you to play like one. In Odyssey, it only took a few hours before your character felt like a literal demi-god. Where the gameplay is unequivocally an improvement over its predecessor is the combat: it is more brutal, faster paced and much more reactive. It attempts to streamline the fairly monotonous sidequest feature from that game, and provide more concrete rewards for the usual Ubisoft collect-a-thons, by letting those collections build up your settlement and your tribe’s presence in Britain. The gameplay is three steps forward, but two steps back from Odyssey, the previous Greek-set entry in the series. As happens with the rest of the player characters in the franchise, Eivor has to deal with the millennia-long fight between the Brotherhood of Assassins and the Templar Order. Or, more accurately, to steal that land from the people who already live there. The player controls Eivor (a fictional character who can be played as either male or female), a Viking raider who ditches Norway with their adoptive brother to settle a new land. This entry moves the action to ninth century England as it is being colonised by the Vikings.
Valhalla is the 12th major installment in Ubisoft’s flagship Assassin’s Creed series, and the third in its quiet genre reboot, which pivoted the franchise from open world stealth to open world RPG. Unfortunately, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla doesn’t quite provide that revenge fantasy. To do so in a visceral fashion, especially at 4K definition at 60 frames-per-second, should be one of the gaming experiences of the year. But if you want to have a good time while doing so, probably look elsewhere.Īs a New Zealander who hails from a different colonised nation, it should be some weird kind of reverse revenge fantasy to colonise Britain. In the mood for some good old fashioned pillaging? Then play Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.