Assassin's Creed Valhalla (2020)

I played the new expansion / DLC Dawn of Ragnarok and, surprisingly, I kinda liked it. It does nothing new (there's actually a couple of new mechanics but they're not special), the plot is simple and the map is not specially fun to explore... but it doesn't have any friction. The mindless exploration, standard combat, funny optional events and cool designs were all I needed.

You can read my impressions in spanish here.

I know I should be more strict and critical of games like this (yes, is an expansion, but is more that 15 hours of playtime), specially with titles like Elden Ring shaking the open world genre. But it was comfort food and I didn't felt it needed to be anything more than that.

That said, I'm going back to Horizon Forbidden West now, the game I do want to play and write about.

One thing I haven't seen discussed much is how this is Ubi's sneaky way of making the 'Roman game' without actually making the Roman game. After Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome would have been a bit too similar imo, especially as there was already repetition due to the Ptolemaic Grecian influence in Egypt. In Valhalla there's a lot of lore about the Assassin's activities and their fight against the Roman Empire and I even think I found some references to Aya's involvement with the Romans (potentially leading into the Origins crossover stories? I hope???)

Anyways, I was looking at some reddit threads of people complaining abt this game/ the new trilogy and it always amazes me how people actively want to hate these games so badly, they'll really always find a reason no matter what.

(I.e. I saw one complaint that there are only two 'real' Assassin characters in the game and that Eivor should have met a lot more, even though the game clearly states there has been no Assassin presence in England since the fall of the Roman Empire and then in the Codex you can read about how nobody knew that Basim and Hytham were even in England and that the Assassin network isn't properly re-established there until much later in history.)

I digress, Valhalla is beautifully made, locations and characters are well crafted, combat has a satisfying crunch that Odyssey was missing, I love the story so far and the arcs to this point have been memorable and different enough from one another, but most importantly there were gay sheriffs and that's all I ask out of my games x

After some time spent in England, this might be my favourite of the new AC games 😩 (maybe of all AC games idk girlies it's hitting)

I probably know more about this time period and culture than Ancient Egypt/Ancient Greece which is where my personal bias comes in but the bawdy 'World Events' (side quests) capture the tone of the literature of the period so well.

One of the other things I love love love is the way each location feels like it has a narrative purpose. Instead of non-descript guard camp/fort 83 this is where whichever lord is stockpiling weapons and oh look a soldier left a note about a hidden stash of treasure etc. I'm also grateful they've done away with the checklist of things to do in each location, there are region-wide checklists that cover 'Wealth (Treasures), Mysteries (Side Quests) and Artefacts (Collectables)' but gone are the days of 'Wolf Den 34: kill alpha animal 0/1', 'Cave 33: Kill Bandit Leaders: 1/2, Loot Treasure 1/3'.

I'm playing w Exploration on the highest difficulty too and it's way more immersive than Odyssey's version of it, with barely any icons leading you directly to stuff.

It begins >:)

By it begins, I mean I'm 5+ hrs in and still in Norway lmfao, so far I really love the environmental storytelling (small notes that tell stories of locations you come across) it was something I loved in Origins but found lacking in Odyssey. Other than that, the opening is a bit underwhelming (it's unlikely they'll ever top the Battle of 300) but I'm enjoying the snowy vibe a bit more .

Been playing this for roughly 16 hours now.

Pros (so far):

Eivor's character

Mini-games are fun and engaging

Finishing moves feel visceral

Looks pretty

Cons (so far)

SO MUCH STUFF TO DO

Slow, boring plot

Forgettable locations

Combat feels sluggish; an unnecessary iteration of something that's been done way better in other games

Lack of customization options

Gear is tied to exploration instead of intrinsic rewards for completing cool tasks (like killing a legendary beast)

Baiting the reader into an encounter they can't possibly win (I'm looking at you, seer in Ledestetceicierirr)

The names of places

Not sure how far I'll get in this one. This coming from someone who Platinumed AC Odyssey. Bummer.