The Assassin’s Creed franchise draws people in for many reasons. Over the years, it has delivered stealth-focused infiltration, stylish encounters, high seas adventure, and other elements – but not always equally. Each episode hits different sweet spots for different players with different levels of success, but for the first time in the series, the balance in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla feels perfect. With its gripping combination of combat, open world exploration, crafted story content, and settlement management, this Viking saga is an epic with something for everyone.
While Valhalla embodies a fascinating development for Assassin’s Creed, you don’t need familiarity with the franchise to appreciate the story of Eivor and the Raven Clan’s incursion into Anglo-Saxon England. It’s a massive tale with small beginnings that follows your Norse hero’s attempts to forge alliances in hostile territory. Eivor’s efforts to create a new home bring together a variety of compelling loops that capture the adventurous Viking spirit. You can hunt legendary animals, find new equipment, or take your longship down the river routes. Every time I left the clan settlement of Ravensthorpe, I had to choose between several tempting paths. With this plethora of tempting options, I felt like a warrior at a feast of more delicious mead and meat than anyone could ever consume.
Valhalla’s open content is conscious and targeted. Aside from an overabundance of collectibles, nothing feels like unnecessary padding. Special world events, so-called “mysteries”, are the best example of this approach and replace traditional side quests. Puzzles are not generic targets like “kill the bandits” or “loot the chest”. Instead, they are created scenarios that can represent certain challenges or simply tell funny stories. For example, I had to fight an old man who lamented his own invincible repartee, counted a constantly changing number of stones, and stole a valuable work of art from a snob. The puzzles are short and limited to small areas. So, they’re more like fun distractions than logged quests that you feel compelled to complete. But you should finish them anyway because they are well-written and memorable, and add surprising flavor to the characters and the world.
Brutal combat is a hallmark of Viking legend and an area where Valhalla builds on the solid foundations of its predecessors. Your hero’s sheer god-like power has been toned down compared to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, but Eivor is still a powerhouse. Fights feel more like chaotic hand-to-hand brawls than elegant dances of death. This can make some encounters feel too distracted, but they also have a grounded feel, with lots of clanking metal and splintered wood. Eivor can easily take on a ton of enemies, and the variety of enemy types available will leave you thinking just enough to keep the fight from turning into the push of a button. The one-on-one boss fights are less consistent and sometimes put a strain on the mechanics beyond what they can comfortably achieve.
A huge skill tree and range of skills give you a lot of freedom in building your character, with a good selection of passive and active bonuses that you can use to bend or break the usual rules of engagement. You find and buy various weapons – swords, flails, spears, etc. – and equip them in each hand to find a combination that you like. I’ve spent a lot of time double-wielding huge axes thanks to a skill I bought that allows you to hold two-handed weapons in one hand. When overwhelmed, I fell back on my desperate tactic: I used sleeping arrows to incapacitate enemies in the middle of battle, and then approached the assassination attempt when they fell asleep. It’s not exactly the most honorable route to victory, but it’s fun and effective.
Eivor’s exploits are all fun individually, but I am most impressed with how they all work together in harmony. Exploration will give you cool new gear and skills that will make you more impressive in battle. That means you can hunt down more powerful members of the Order of the Ancients or search villages in more dangerous regions for valuable supplies. Your achievements in the world will flow into your settlement, and the administration of Ravensthorpe is one of the highlights of Valhalla. It’s deeper than the base building in previous installments, and the structures you create have a significant impact. By building a barracks you can create a Viking lieutenant to share with your friends, while Eivor can immerse yourself in strange visions by building a house for the seer. Most of the new facilities have additional functions or duties and I enjoyed seeing my humble collection of cottages grow into a thriving city.
Ravensthorpe is where you build up strength, but much of your time is spent exploring the countryside. The stone castles and misty marshes of 9th-century England don’t have the same glorious grandeur as ancient Greece or Egypt, but they’re still full of mysteries and picturesque scenes. Along with being in Norway (and other areas) for some time, this setting gives Walhalla its own colorful and earthy beauty.
The narrative is intelligently broken down into location-based arcs as Eivor tries to make friends in different regions. This provides the satisfaction of completing many different stories while working towards your larger goal of prosperity for the Raven clan. Some larger threads (which I won’t ruin here) connect these stories, and I like how they are stand-alone sequences with their own payouts. I never had to grind to move the plot forward, and I also appreciate that Eivor never gets stuck with too much talk. While you can choose a dialogue and make some important decisions, you don’t have to constantly navigate the conversation trees, which keeps the story moving in each area. However, don’t expect to get to the saga’s finale anytime soon. I’ve played over 70 hours without a full approach to exploration.
The content and design of Valhalla are the best the series has seen in years, but the tech frustrations are disappointingly familiar. I encountered several AI companions, creepy adult-sized child NPCs, and quest givers who didn’t speak to me – all along with other graphics and audio glitches. Objectively, I cannot deny that these problems are staggering and impractical. But on a practical level, none of them are severe enough to significantly dampen my enjoyment. The consequences are usually no worse than reloading an autosave and losing a few minutes of progress. I would rather not delve into these issues, but the failures are small when you weigh them against the successes of Valhalla.
I loved the 2018 Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (especially after the post-release support), but that love has always been tempered by a desire for improvement. I wish the content felt more carefully curated. I hated grinding to advance the story. I was tired of managing inventory bloated with loot. Addressing all of these issues and more, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla creates a rewarding experience at every turn, whether you’re following the main narrative or hunting for treasure. I’m sure Valhalla isn’t the perfect Assassin’s Creed game for all gamers, but it’s certainly my new favorite entry.
