We show you what the new Ubisoft game is like within one of its most representative sagas.
The war horn sounds, the Norse invaders storming the shore, axes raised and shields ready. They seek the camp of the sons of Ragnar Lothbrook, a legendary Viking king who tried to conquer those Christian lands while he was alive. Eivor, leader of the Raven Clan, leaves Norway with Sigurd, scion of a sovereign and a brother to him. However, the seer predicted that this relationship would end in treason. Desperate for revelations, he tries to understand if his destiny is forever marked. Can he deviate from the path opened by the gods? As the murderers will say years later, “nothing is true, everything is allowed.”
Win or die
The lights go out in the 9th century, a period of division between the various Christian kingdoms. The nobles, thirsty for power, carry out their movements within a game of thrones in which the pieces are constantly moving: blood, guts and new friends and enemies. Because beyond war, the Nordic warriors seal diplomatic agreements and pledge allegiance to their allies. In the background, in the shadows, the Order of the Hidden and the Order of the Ancients (Assassins and Templars) fight each other in a war that will continue forever and ever, up to the present.
In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the settlement is the conceptual essence of the video game. The Vikings land in England to find their new home, a place they will have to build with the sweat of their brow. As the settlement progresses, the reputation and services available will increase. A good bakery will enhance the banquets, while the tattoo workshop will allow us to customize the look of Eivor, which can be masculine or feminine. There is also the operations center, where all the political and military movements that will follow are decided. And how is the settlement improved? Without materials, there is no possibility of doing so, so the warriors will depart in their drakkar (the ship) and assault the monasteries that cross their path. Mercilessly, brutally, killing all enemy soldiers and stealing their most coveted treasures.
Ubisoft’s new production continues to squeeze the formula started in Origins, which was significantly improved in Odyssey. There is no question that Valhalla is a great video game, but the developers have been more conservative in taking those mechanics to a new level. And although it is not so innovative, it mixes with enormous success mechanics of yesteryear with the current ones: social stealth, the hidden blade, all those elements of the Assassin iconography that had disappeared from the new games, returns and is incorporated with naturalness along with the rest of the mechanics. Those who were unhappy with the direction of the saga, surely find more incentives in this. The times are getting closer and closer to those of Altair, protagonist of the first installment, but it will still be a few years until we hear about Assassins and Templars. Everything will go away, the battle has only just begun.
