Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the latest addition to the AC Saga by Ubisoft. It’s an eighty-hour long campaign that spans over the entirety of Norway and England, and largely changes the Melee and Ranged combat from the previous Assassin’s Creed games.
Comparing it to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, it is a much longer game and for a 100% completion could take up to 100 hours on average for a player. The inclusion of multiple packages of downloadable content further increases the size of the game, and therefore, the magnitude at which it stands in the franchise – it’s truly a ‘game-changer’!
Playing as Eivor, I had an experience that was quite different from the other Assassin’s Creed games. This was mainly due to the differences in combat, the new engine and the new weapons. There were mainly 2 new introductions that I found note-worthy: the Bearded and Dane axes & the skill tree with the bear, wolf, and raven variants. While somewhat similar in stats, the Bearded axes tend to vary quite a bit in terms of their abilities and value. On top of this, there’s the factor of upgrades which improve their stats, and along with that, there is the factor of stat-altering skills which further adds complexity to the gameplay. As your experience increases, Eivor will gain Skill Points to put into a skill tree that spreads into melee (Bear, Red), ranged (Wolf, Blue), and stealth (Raven, Yellow). It allows you to spend your skill points on, creating a customisable dynamic experience which lets the player choose their play style throughout the game. However, many of the points you can spend as you move through the constellations are important upgrades to things like damage, evasion, defense, etc. It also acts as a booster for gear that aligns with one of the three trees.
IGN rated it around an 8 on 10, however, personally, I would like to go up to an 8.5. This is because I think the only drawback is the story campaign which, while elaborate, was not well structured. The game also has a lot of bugs which may hamper the experience a little bit, but overall, it’s a great game. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good Viking story mixed with thrilling action.
Nivaan Vyas
Another Level Higher 