Assassin’s Creed Valhalla review

Reviewed on: Xbox One

How do you describe a game that at first has everything to please you, but stumbles badly in many things? We will see in the text below…

The World and Exploration

I’ll start by talking about the setting… it is simply sublime: the Norwegian mountains are incredible, England manages to make you feel in a medieval land like few games have. Castles, dungeons, secrets, quests based on legends; everything is there and the game’s exploration manages to reach a better, bigger and far more rewarding level than the previous game in the series, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, which relied on quantity at the expense of quality.

In Valhalla, Ubisoft chose to revamp the way we explore the maps. Items and secrets are no longer as obvious (to find) as they used to be; at times I was forced to think, taking into account my abilities and what they were capable of, and ways to get into a location, and that was something I found VERY GOOD!
To be clearer and more didactic, let me cite an example: in one part of the game there was a large building, and inside, through a hole in the wall, I could see guards guarding a treasure… the door of the place was sealed; there were no windows or holes that would allow me to enter, so I thought “okay, how am I going to get into this?” I looked for secret passages around, hidden holes and nothing… the place seemed impassable! Until, exploring the area, I found a letter on top of a tree; it mentioned (in a complaining tone) that the hole in the wall made them, inside, easy targets for well-positioned archers, and after that it clicked! I aimed my arrow looking for the unsuspecting soldier who would be hit and once again realized something was missing: the guards didn’t stand in a spot where I could shoot them. Now what? After much racking of my brain I remembered that the doors in the game open if you manage to break “the lock” on them. There, environmental puzzle solved and player (me) extremely satisfied with the experience!

I found this new approach to exploration a very big step forward for the series; the feeling of victory after I managed to beat this challenge was very good and rewarding! One thing is worth noting… I saw a review that mentioned that the hidden treasures were filler and that to enter these places (with no obvious access) you just had to go around and enter through a window… I think the person who wrote that review slipped up, because I saw several situations where this DOES NOT APPLY; seriously, I wonder if the guy really explored the map…
Another point that bothered the community, or at least a good part of it, was the game’s eagle and its omnipotent ability to analyze items, secrets and enemies… basically it showed you everything in the scenery. In Valhalla this no longer happens; now instead of an eagle we have a raven and it is much more limited, serving basically as area reconnaissance…

Combat System

Valhalla’s combat system is closer to Assassin’s Creed Origins than to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (although it still has elements common to Odyssey) and that is good and bad! The good part is that the level system no longer exists; now there is a system of unlocking abilities and bonuses that reminds me of a fusion between Skyrim’s skill tree and Final Fantasy X’s Sphere Grid system. Even without a level system, you still need a given amount of power (like Destiny) to face certain enemies.
The bad part is that the AI and enemy skills are well below what we saw in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.

The enemies on several occasions prove extremely feeble and dumb in the full sense of the word… it is also not rare for the AI to either bug out (enemies don’t see you even when you are right in front of them) or shut off and the enemies just stand there without attacking you.
As in previous games you have armor pieces to equip, arrows, one-handed weapons, two-handed weapons, shields, daggers and the whole arsenal of weapons from the Viking/European pantheon. Weapons now don’t show up at an absurd frequency as in Odyssey (which overdid it too much), but they aren’t rare enough to be annoying; they show up at the right frequency!

Story

Have you ever heard someone use the term “popcorn movie” to refer to a movie that doesn’t have a masterful script but manages to tell a simple story competently and unpretentiously? Well, the game’s story would almost fit that description (it manages to go a little beyond), being a “popcorn game +1” lol. The story is not bad or weak, it develops well, there are well-written quests that even surprise you… the influence of the series Vikings is very clear here.

Performance and Graphics

I played the game on the Xbox One X and thought from the very first moment that the game was beautiful! If the frozen mountains of Norway had already made me happy with their look to the point of thinking that was the peak and that it would be “impossible” for the game to go beyond that, I was wrong! When I got to England the graphics, combined with the medieval art direction, managed to impress me even more! It’s a real shame the game has SO MUCH screen tearing (the name given to images torn on the screen). This bothered me A LOT, since it happens very frequently. The game also suffers from occasional frame drops that happen mainly during raids.

At the end of the day, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla proved to be a pleasant surprise, one that stumbles in some points and gets others right. But honestly, wait for a sale; by then Ubisoft will have fixed most of the flaws with updates and the game will have a much friendlier price.