Climbing on board the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla hype train today bringing you two exciting video’s. First off the trailer, did you see it launch?
Secondly: lets take 20 minutes and sit with the Ubisoft Montreal – Creative Director Ashraf Ismail (also Game Director of whats been my favorite Assassins Creed title – Assassin’s Creed Origins and Assassins Creed Black Flag) and Narrative Director Darby McDevitt (Lead Writer of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, Revelations and Embers) being interviewed by Youseff Maguid of Ubisoft News.
Here’s what we know:
- Settlements: Norwegian homes where our hero/heroin (yes you can play as female or male,) Evior comes from in Norway.
- Statues: Odin begins the story of the many gods in the Nord’s culture
- Ritual: Evior is asking for Odin’s favor
- Evior: Viking raider from Norway (Norse,) who leaves Norway for England. This is their journey.
- Culture: The cinematic and game pays homage to the Viking via the Viking as historically we mainly know of this culture from the English point of view – mindfulness is conveyed – a complete picture.
- Timeline: Begins in 873 AD when England was not yet a country but many kingdoms on one land in a fractured state. Cinematic shot in Lindisfarne.
- England Settlement: Conversation touches regularly on settling highlighting the similarities between cultures and not just about the violent, masochism side.
- Community Settlement: Farming, trading (etc) is a large part of the game as players will be building their settlement from a leadership role which is very important.
- The Saxons: Or the English – we draw a little on how England is named today and meet King Alfred (Alfred the Great,) of the most southern kingdom of England: Wessex.
- Viking long ship’s: Unique to the Norse and Danes long ship’s get vikings to places they are able to raid, taking all the riches.
- Combat – Two types of combat Raiding and Battles. There will be moments in the game with long drawn out battles o battlefields or in fortifications.
- Combat in the cinematic – round shield, throwing axes, duel-wielding axes or pretty much all combination weapons including shields.
- The Hooded Figure: Odin is with us.
- Viking Combat: The game portrays formidable and brutal opponents to fight including Ring Leaders (with unique capacities) like the armored one in the cinematic. Each one having weak points to discover.
- The Hidden Blade: is back!
Here’s what we think:
The hidden blade brings about a meeting of Assassin’s with the Vikings. How remains a mystery but I think it’s fair to say if you’re still latched on tightly to the first Assassins Creed games that you may be setting yourself up for disappointment, so far it seems we have another epic story-orientated-cultural-exploration as seen with Origins and Odyssey which I am here for! The fact there is a settlement building aspect also has me intrigued along with epic battles.
It was fantastic to learn that we can play Evior as a female or male, predominantly preferring playing as female characters however I am so intrigued by the male version also. Just the thought of leading a long ship through English waters, raiding for spoils and visiting places I’ve only read about or watched gives me the tingles. I also can’t help but wonder if their will be a museum mode?
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla releases in the holiday season November/December 2020 and Ubisoft have already released the limited edition collectors pack which is stunning like most of Ubisoft’s merchandise but what to do until then?
Watch Last Kingdom on Netflix of course like a good Viking!
