The Assassin’s Creed series continues its eternal journey around the globe, and after much deliberation, the time has finally come for the Viking Age and good, old Norway. Most of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will take place in the British Isles, but a small part of the game will take place at these latitudes.
More specifically, it is about Rogaland, or “Rygjafylke” as it was called in the past. In any case, it is only this part of the country we can show for the time being, when in the run-up to next week’s review we have been allowed to unveil the game’s first hours.
We have divided the pictures into a handful of categories we consider to be typical Norwegian, before we finally run a picture carousel with the coolest pictures that fall outside the categories.
sea
There will not be real Viking fun without, salty sea and greedy waves, and as in many of the previous games in the series, you will spend some time on the water in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla as well.
The game obviously offers a very compressed version of our country, so that it does not take more than a handful of minutes to travel from one end of Rygjafylke to the other. However, it is no less spectacular to see along the beautiful coastline, where untamed seas meet forests and mountains.
Already after a scant half an hour you are out on the open sea, and then it goes in chorus and cheerful singing, while you wander back and forth in search of gold and green forests.
In the role of the main character Eivor, of course, you have your own Viking ship with a personal crew, and they are always ready to help when you go on a mission. Whether you want to take a turn in Stavanger or go to the mountains as far into the country as you can, just blow the horn to call on the vessel.
Eventually, as is well known, it carries on to England, where much of the rest of the game will take place. Here it is up to Eivor and the rest of their clan to conquer new territories, create alliances and plunder poorly defended monasteries for the big gold medal.
Mountain
Norway is nothing without its mountains, and this also becomes clear very early in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Rygjafylke is formally full of hills and rocks, which also makes it far more convenient to take the sea route.
Of course possible to climb if you really want to explore and are a little stubborn: In the usual Assassin’s Creed style, this appears to be the lightest thing in the world, where Eivor grabs the flat mountain sides and throws himself towards the sky. It’s not hugely realistic, but it’s very handy.
We are not exactly familiar with Rogaland, but assume that a handful of the game’s digital boulders are modeled after actual peaks around the happy west country. They rage not several thousand meters above sea level, but many of them are still very impressive in and of themselves.
The game’s weather and wind do not significantly affect the mountain hikes, but there is something special about climbing up a slope in step with a rising sun in the distance or seeing how the clouds wash away the horizon.
It is inevitable that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a beautiful game, and moments like this help to sell the game’s universe as a large and beautiful playground. Here I think even Tidemand and Gude could find inspiration.
Buildings
We also manage to spend some time in a couple of Viking villages before the journey takes us on to England, and here you will find exactly what you expect from a stylized interpretation of ancient Viking times. Mysterious fortune tellers, mead drink competitions, tattoo shops and a faithful smithy go hand in hand in Eivor’s hometown, Fornburg.
Wherever you go, there is talk of Norse gods and strange dice games, and in the middle of the village there is a huge longhouse.
A little further out in the fjord gap is Stavanger, where long and muddy streets are central. Stavanger is full of people, idyllic wooden houses and is home to a fantastic stave church that literally asks to be climbed.
As previously mentioned, the world map is far from a direct copy of reality, but the bustle and size here is at least a little more reminiscent of a big city than the other villages found in Rygjafylke.
Along the way, one stumbles upon other small and large structures, including massive watchtowers, small outbuildings and enemy fortresses. The latter plays a fairly large part of the story early in the game, where you eventually have to use violence and cunning to take the castle of a malevolent neighbor clan to crack up on old injustice.
And a little attåt
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a giant game, and there is a lot to look at and explore – even in the relatively small part of Norway you get to explore early in the game. From inadvertent collisions with polar bears and mysterious caves deep under ice, to resilient parkour jumps in the mountains and partying in longhouses – it is a lot experience. Just take a look at the photo carousel at the bottom.
All photos were taken in the game’s photo mode, with the built – in screenshot tool on a standard PlayStation 4 model.
Also stay tuned for next week: We are working hard to play our way through the story so that we can deliver a proper review just over the weekend.
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