Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is an upcoming action pretending computer game created by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the twelfth major installment and the twenty-second release in the Assassin’s Creed series, and a successor to the 2018 game Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has been officially announced, confirming a lot of what we already suspected: Ubisoft’s next Assassin’s Creed game is coming in 2020, and it’s all about Vikings. As the leader of a Viking clan, players will clash with the Saxons as the Norse warriors attempt to settle in England.
There’s no specific launch date yet, but Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is coming “Holiday 2020.” The latest rumors point toward November 17, but we’ll know for sure soon enough. Wes as of late sat down and played a meaty 3-hour demo of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. He making the most of his time with Ubisoft’s new sprawling RPG but hopes the final game is additionally surprising. “Valhalla retains classic Assassin’s Creed’s climbing and stealth, but I ended up thrust into combat or picking off enemies with a bow far more than going in for assassinations. The stealth feels like a remainder from an alternate game, but Valhalla‘s combat having more stuff in it than Origins or Odyssey doesn’t necessarily make it all the more engaging over the long haul, either,” Wes said.
You can watch the trailer for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla directly here. It’s cinematic, so we don’t get a gander at any real gameplay, but it gives some pleasant story flavor and reminds us near the end that, yes, this is still definitely an Assassin’s Creed game. And here’s a ‘first-look gameplay trailer’ which, frankly, doesn’t really show much gameplay either, but you can see a couple of seconds of running, some tackling, a knee to the head, and an ax being tossed, plus some short battering ram action, alongside some more cinematic visuals. You’ll play as Eivor, a warrior and Viking clan leader. While not shown in the trailer, players will have the option to choose which version of Eivor they want to play, male or female. You can get a glance at female Eivor in figurine form: She comes with the expensive ($200!) physical collector’s edition, however, we don’t yet have the foggiest idea whether there’s any in-game distinction between the two versions of Eivor beside appearance and an alternate voice actor.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla takes place in England in the ninth century, beginning in the year 873. Your clan has deserted Norway to start another life in England, which may be slightly more hospitable, but staking out some new territory won’t be easy. You’ll still have to deal with the Saxons, who aren’t thrilled about your presence. In real history, Vikings armies invaded and vanquished a lot of England between 860 and 900 AD, but smaller raids were happening decades before that. King Alfred the Great of Wessex, a real figure, is in the Valhalla trailer above sending his soldiers out to battle the Vikings. He was one of only a handful, not many English rulers to successfully beat back the Norse armies. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey transformed the familiar stealth-action series into a full-bodied RPG experience, adding branching dialog and player choices that could change the course of the story. It was a welcome change for the series, so we’re happy to see RPG systems will continue in Valhalla.
“Advanced RPG mechanics allow you to shape the development of your character and influence your general surroundings,” says Ubisoft. There’s a major battle in the cinematic trailer, and creative director Ashraf Ismail talks in detail about it in this designer’s commentary video. “In case you’re going to make a Viking game, the combat needs to be visceral. It needs to be quite brutal,” he says. Ismail says there will be large, epic-scale battles in the game in addition to raids. It’s hard to extrapolate how combat will really feel from a cinematic trailer, but it does contain some things we’ll experience in the game, including some tall, heavily armored Saxon warriors. Ismail says these soldiers will have some weak points, which is hinted at in the video when Eivor stabs him through the knee.
The classic assassin’s concealed blade is back, although it’s less shrouded this time: it comes out of a chamber on the topside of Eivor’s gauntlet. Ubisoft is staying mysterious about Valhalla’s story at the present time, but creative director Ashraf Ismail told us a bit about Eivor’s association with the Assassins during the cinematic trailer breakdown. In the trailer’s climactic battle, Eivor uses a concealed blade (mounted on top of their wrist, distinctly unhidden), but that doesn’t mean that they’re part of the Assassin organization. Ismail said that Eivor does meet and work with assassins early in the game, but clarified that Eivor doesn’t know much about them. He mentions that Evior shares a “shared view” with the assassins, probably meaning that Eivor’s toppling of Saxon rulers also rids the assassins of a couple of Templars. As for why Eivor mounts their concealed blade on top of the wrist? “Eivor puts on [the covered up blade] and believes, ‘This is such a kickass weapon, for what reason would I want to conceal it from my enemies?'”
Eivor’s indirect link to the Assassins is reminiscent of another AC protagonist: Assassin’s Creed 4’s Edward Kenway. At the beginning of the game, Kenway is a free-roaming pirate who happens upon assassin robes and a shrouded blade. And however he works with assassins and eventually leads London’s brotherhood later throughout everyday life, he spends most of AC4 ambivalent to the Assassin organization and its goals. Eivor may follow a similar path in Valhalla. The Assassin’s Creed series has occasionally dove into customizable bases in the past, but in Valhalla, base management will play a major job. “It’s your own Viking village you’ll see prosper and develop, and which your clanmates will live in,” lead maker Julien Laferrière told Eurogamer. “It’s at the focal point of our quests and the focal point of the decisions you make. We want players to see the consequences of their actions.”
You’ll manage and grow a Viking settlement in England, which will include constructing and upgrading various buildings like barracks, a blacksmith, and even a tattoo parlor—so you can keep yourself and your clan inked up.s you expand your Viking clan’s reach from Norway into England, you’ll lead massive raids against your Saxon enemies. Launch attacks from your longboat, overcome Saxon forts, and even do a bit of diplomacy: Apparently you’ll have the option to “forge alliances” with some of the lords of England, however, we don’t have details of exactly how that will function yet.
You’ll also have the option to fabricate interesting mercenary Viking raiders to battle alongside your clan, and you’ll have the option to share these marauders with your friends for them to use in their own raids. You can even earn some plunder when your friends use your custom Vikings in their games. Following The Division 2’s exclusive PC release on the Epic Games Store rather than Steam, Ubisoft said it would be releasing “several” additional games on the Epic Store later on. Now we know Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is one of them. It will also be available on Ubisoft’s Uplay launcher. There was a lot of romancing in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and Valhalla is carrying forward that game’s “advanced RPG mechanics.” Love in the hour of Vikings can apparently happen: Eurogamer’s piece states that romance options are available and take place in the Viking settlement you manage.
That’s right. The cutting edge character of Layla Hassan first appeared in Assassin’s Creed Origins and then again in Odyssey, and players will inhabit her for a third time in Valhalla. “We’ve figured out how to mix the present day into another kind of experience for players,” lead maker Julien Laferrière told Eurogamer.As was as of late let slip, apparently there will be a The Legend of Beowulf DLC mission for Valhalla where players will “discover the unfeeling truth” behind the saint. Beowulf is an Old English epic sonnet that follows the life of the brutal warrior and his battles with three vicious monsters, including one terrifying dragon. Well, we don’t know for sure yet, but there’s an image of Eivor next to a badass bear that would seem to suggest you spend some time with a bear in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. We are definitely in favor of spending some time with a badass bear. There was animal taming in Origins and Odyssey, so maybe we’ll see something similar in Valhalla. As soon as we have more bear info, we’ll share it here.
