We had the chance to explore the new part of the Assassin’s Creed saga, Valhalla, expected for this end of the year. A 2-hour test that allowed us to get an idea of what the new Assassin’s Creed will offer us in the era of the Vikings. Come aboard our longship, we share our first impressions with you.
Exit the magnificent exotic landscapes of ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla immerses us in medieval times, when the Anglo-Saxons tried to repel the Viking invaders. A period which is therefore particularly conducive to confrontations and violence that we will explore on the side of the Vikings, in the shoes of a village chief / chief, Eivor.
This choice of time and context should certainly delight fans of the Vikings series and Nordic culture, even if some should be surprised by the much darker setting than that of Origins and Odyssey.
Our test immersed us in a rather advanced arc of the main story. We had to repel invaders from an Allied village, and what better way to do it than a little raid. This is indeed one of the great novelties of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and we were able to experience it during the mission. Accompanied by his valiant companions, our hero / heroine Eivor therefore set out to massacre his enemies. And the term “massacre” is particularly representative of the sequence.
If Origins and Odyssey proposed rather brutal confrontations, this is nothing compared to the melee in Valhalla. The clashes are very violent (severed head, broken head), which will please some and shock others. We will still note the appearance of new attacks and very interesting assassination sequences on the technical and animation levels that stick to the Viking spirit. The mechanics are still very similar to those of Origins and Odyssey with special attacks depending on the trance bar. And if our main character is more violent, the enemies are too. The mini-bosses are more numerous, more powerful and seem to benefit from a more advanced AI. We were particularly amazed at this level (and we died several times). The fights in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla seem much more demanding than the previous components.
It will also be noted that the community aspect of the Vikings is found in the fighting. This will help a fallen comrade, take part in the massacre of the water hammer doors, etc. The game seems to bet a lot on this aspect and new mechanisms related to this should certainly be integrated, even if our test did not allow us to deepen the question.
A tree of skills and abilities
Our hero or heroine will be fully customizable at the aesthetic level – even if, once again, we have not been able to experience this particularity -, but also at the level of equipment and skills.
The RPG experience will be particularly reinforced in this section, in particular thanks to a skills tree which is emerging. By gaining experience, the player will be able to unlock bonuses through a tree divided into three specializations; bears, wolves and raven. Each specialization corresponds to what we have already seen in Assassin’s Creed; power, agility and discretion.
At first glance, this addition seems interesting. It brings a plus in the personalization of his character and in the way of understanding the fight, but it will be necessary to dig more to see the real interest of this tree of specialization.
Many new features
Outside of the combat phases, we were able to observe several innovations within Valhalla. First of all, like the Viking people, horses are just as comfortable on land as in water. Animals on all fours can indeed swim in water, even if they have no feet. It’s surprising.
The developers have also integrated several new activities, including fishing, but also kinds of mini-challenges as we already found in previous sections. Players will have fun stacking stones in balance, but also reforming designs at a certain angle. A way to make you want to explore the open-world and lengthen the life of the game. If the activities change, we stay on something already seen in the franchise.
To finish with the gameplay, we regret not having been able to discover the big news announced by Ubisoft. It is indeed question that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla integrates a village management system since the adventure of Eivor will take place around a central point: his village. In the end, we mostly had the impression of experimenting with porting the gameplay of Odyssey to the Viking Age. It works, there is no doubt about it and it makes it possible to reinforce the violence, but we would have appreciated exploring also the management side of the game. We would also have appreciated being able to discover the lands of Norway, which was not the case. We are still hungry, but we are delighted to be able to return to the game to explore these aspects.
England at 9e century
The game is still in development, we will not dwell on the graphics, details and other visual bugs that we have faced. It would not be correct. We just hope that the final rendering will be of the level – or even more – of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. We cross fingers.
We could all the same realize that the environment, like the previous section, was very rich, whether in nature with very diverse trees and plants, than in the villages. There are many houses and other buildings and the details are just as numerous. The game also seems to develop a clean aesthetic, which fits perfectly with the setting and the era of the Vikings. If we can do many places with Odyssey in terms of mechanics, Valhalla seems to be equipped to develop its own universe and disorient the players.
Difficult to give his point of view on such a short test. While we were able to get a general overview of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, it is minimal compared to what the game seems to have to offer. We regret indeed not to have surveyed the lands of Norway nor to have been able to explore the game management system. We have found many similarities with Odyssey, perhaps too much, although they work perfectly here. Fortunately, the differences in the phases of combat seem to indicate that the Viking aspect will have a real central place in the gameplay, as well as in the experience of the game. One thing is certain, the franchise Assassin’s Creed always integrates more RPG elements and mainly focusing on hand-to-hand confrontations – particularly brutal – while also integrating a tree of specializations. The few new activities seem nice. We are delighted to see more and especially to play more. See you at the end of the year.
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