Assassin’s Creed Valhalla does something different compared to the other games in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise: it emphasizes stealth. It’s something Eivor, Assassin’s Creed Valhallathe protagonist says bluntly when she refuses to hide her killer’s knife under her cloak. She wants her enemies to know what’s going to happen. It makes sense Walhalla to be the Assassin’s Creed game that deviates from the established series of boring, precise, stealth-based missions that Ubisoft has relied on with the series since its inception. This game is a Viking game, and Vikings are not known for their subtlety; in WalhallaEivor has her not-so-hidden blade, yes, but also an ax or heavy broadsword.
It’s not the latest Assassin’s Creed game, at least Assassin’s Creed Mirage – But Walhalla is still worth picking up and trying for yourself. The two games couldn’t be more different, despite sharing a character in Basim Ibn Ishaq, who is a mentor of sorts to Eivor in Walhalla but the main character of Mirage. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is now on Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription service, making it a great time to pick up the game or revisit it. But know that you are entering a vast Viking world that can take more than 100 hours to fully explore.
Image: Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft
You play as Viking raider Eivor Varinsdottir, who can be male or female Walhalla. She and her crew have reached the English coast to expand their settlement against the backdrop of Anglo-Saxon resistance. But in the midst of that colonization, Eivor is connected to the Hidden Ones (the Assassin Brotherhood) as they search for a common enemy. This story plays out through main story missions and side missions that take Eivor to nearby regions (and sometimes beyond!), seeking conquest or alliance with local settlements. Between each mission, Eivor usually comes home to the rapidly growing settlement that continues to expand; it’s also a place for fun, with opportunities for fishing, fighting and flirting.
The size of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla couldn’t be more different than Mirage, which is a much smaller, more focused game. You could say the same about the games’ combat systems – there are elements that are similar, but Mirage brings the franchise back to its roots, while Walhalla expanded beyond stealth-style combat. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has large, sprawling battles that match the scope of the game, best exemplified when Eivor raids villages and castles. There are hints of stealth as Eivor’s longship slips unnoticed into a harbor before launching a surprise attack on a settlement. But that’s when covert attacks go out the window, as arrows fly, swords clash and buildings burn. Meanwhile, battering rams smash down the fortress gates, leading to large-scale battles unlike anything I’ve seen in an Assassin’s Creed game. It’s chaos and the opposite of the structured stealth missions of previous games.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the Assassin’s Creed game for people who don’t like Assassin’s Creed games – and one of the best Assassin’s Creed games Ubisoft has made, going beyond combat and incorporating the role-playing elements that impressed in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey And Origin. Although enormous, WalhallaEivor’s story is not diluted, even as Eivor moves from region to region, with many smaller sagas within the larger story. But at the heart of it all is a story about Norse mythology and religions – old and new gods. As in Origin And Odysseymyth interweaves with reality in a tantalizing knot of fact and fiction, telling a fantastical story that goes beyond the mind-altering technology of the real world of Assassin’s Creed.
Speaking of the real story connected to Eivor’s, that’s true Assassin’s Creed Valhalla sometimes goes off the rails. That part of the franchise has always been complicated and weird, and it still is Walhalla. However, it’s quite easy to ignore for most of the game and doesn’t ruin the entire, complex open world of Norway. Now that it’s on Game Pass, you can try it for yourself.