Please tell me, what did people enjoy about this game ?? I've only played 5 hours of this monstrosity and I don't think I can endure it anymore than that, it has a really slow and boring start, the characters are so bland that I forgot most of them aside from Eivor. Eivor moves so fucking slow that I almost fell asleep trying to play this thing, the skill tree is overly complicated with pointless and meaningless upgrades, and the parkour of this game is even more simplistic and sluggish, how !? If I can give this game 0 stars, I would happily give it 0 stars, it's bad as a standalone game, and it's probably the most horrible Assassin's Creed game ever.

Valhalla follows Odyssey as the third period two development games, and the twelfth major Assassin's Creed installment of them all. After two stories that were set in BC times, we're finally traveling forward in time and getting back to a period that isn't far away from the foundation of the historical Ḥashshāshīyīn and the Knight Templar orders.

But first we get into the modern-day story. It's 2020 and Earth seems to see its next catastrophe. Desmonds meddling with the Isu temple to avoid the Earth being destroyed by sun flairs has actually continuously been strengthening the magnetic field of the earth, which has now become so powerful that it negatively affects the planet. Layla therefore travels with Shaun and Rebecca to New England where they find a Viking body of Eivor (who by the way again is canonically female [the surname is 'Varinsdottir' = daughter of Varin - regardless of the gender you pick; male should have been Varinsson] -- once again, shame on you, Ubisoft), and this will lead Layla to 873 AD, to the Viking expansion to Anglo-Saxon England.

Eivors brother Sigurd returns form a long excursion and returns with the foreigners Basim and Hytham, both members of a strange order. During the game, Eivor learns more about this order of the Hidden Ones and their enemies, the Order of the Ancients, even gets to learn some tricks from Hytham, and also learns that a high ranking member of the Ancient Ones is a rivaling clan member and someone Eivor was already looking forward to kill. After this is done, Sigurd and Eivor have to flee their home and join the Invasion of England. However in this process Sigurd gets captured by the Ancient Ones, and now Eivor does not only have to secure their clan and make sure to have alliances with all the other surrounding territories, but also try to find Sigurd and defeat the Ancient Ones who pose a great thread. Hytham is a great help in providing intel, while Basim joins on field missions and teaches Eivor a bit in the ways of the Assassins.

While this game actually ties the series back to the Assassins Creed, Eivor is far from being an Assassin, and as with Kassandra, it not only feels weird to play her stealthy; it also doesn't make much sense, as Eivor is best when she is allowed to wield her two axes or bash in heads with her shield, use her rage and stomp enemies to the ground. The fighting has become much more gruesome and gritty, with the ability to now hack away pieces of the enemies, like their arms, legs and heads. Other than that it does not deviate far enough from Odyssey that I was rather disappointed to have yet another hack and slay Assassin's Creed - as this is not what I initially signed up for and as this is - at least for me - not where the strength and fun of the series lies (there are a lot of better hack and slay type of games - I just now finished Hellblade which was just incredible in its fighting sequences and which Valhalla does not compare to at all, regarding complexity and therefore challenge and fun of the pure fighting scenes). So I was a bit turned down by this. Even more so as in the beginning you aren't able to do much more. You only get the hidden blade later, and all the abilities have to be gained by progressing in the story (and not via skill tree). The fighting is a bit harder though, not as crazy as Odyssey - but in the end game we are rather overpowered once more.

On the plus side, the loot is reduced massively, making the few weapons you own really valuable and upgrading it a necessity - which also doesn't come by easy, so you really tend to think about what weapons you want to play and how you want to upgrade them. New weapons can only be found in special weapon chests, and the same goes for abilities that are now learned via books of knowledge that you need to find in the world - and I really liked this approach. There are still collectible set items so you also pay attention to that, and every gear is aligned to an animal that basically represents one of the three ways of playing (stealth, ranged, or melee). The skill tree uses the same codes, but boy o boy was that "tree" convoluted. In the beginning I read what each option given does, and tried to make sensible choices, but soon I got fed up, because it was so unstructured and large - in the end I just randomly picked according to the code that fitted my gear. This was no fun at all.

The main story was also quite strange. While or main quest should have been to save Sigurd and eradicate that Order of Ancients, we rather build up our town, visit the neighboring kingdoms and try to forge an alliance by helping them out with their problem - all the while Sigurd was getting tortured and brought nearer to death with every passing day. The land itself is vast and for the most parts empty; it's also not as varying as the other two games where; but given its an accurate modeling of England at that time there isn't much you could have done to change that.

There are certain world events though, that where distributed over the map - small funny encounters you'd have with people who sometimes had serious and even heartbreaking problems, other times where outright silly, and sometimes even aggressive outcomes towards you as the player. These where amongst the most fun and memorable encounters in the game, and it was a shame that there weren't more of these. This would have made exploring the world more fun. As it is, it feels really stunning and on the one hand you love to go explore, but on the other hand you know that there is nothing of interest to come. In that regard I would have loved Valhalla to be more like RDR2, where it would have been even fun to see certain buildings or scenes that tell a story by just being there, where you have to guess what might have happened. I felt that there where one or two of those, but for the most time nothing to see, other than emptiness.

There is however a thing that bothered me even more - and it is a continuation of the problem I already encountered with Odyssey and that I coined the "alignment issue". To progress in the story, we need to make alliances with neighboring kingdoms. We do so by visiting them, doing tasks for them, and finally gaining their trust; however we also need to proceed by gaining materials which we can only do by brutally raiding monasteries. So we do a main quest and ensure the loyalty of a region, which is christian, by actually working with the priest there - and then we raid his monastery? There where even quite enjoyable side quest where you helped a priest, where you had philosophical discussions and actually had a bonding moment - only to then having to raid his monastery. This felt so wrong and so out of line. Raiding monasteries was also on of the dullest and most repetitive tasks in the game - but you had to, to progress in the main story. I really didn't enjoy this at all. It also felt quite stupid, as there was only one way to do it: With your raiding party. So no sneaking around and eliminating the enemies. It had to be done in a large scale fight - and the reason behind this: You needed another person to open the chests - it was impossible to do on your own. Now your raiding party weren't the best fighters and sometimes also not the most helpful. I had situations where I waited for minutes at a chest until finally someone of my crew came along to help me. This further reduced my fun in doing this.

Then there where these request by your towns people. E.g. the shop asked you to bring rather stupid items and carry them over half the map to the person asking for them. Or the Fisherman asking for a multitude of different fish that not only where hard to find and catch - but also came in three different sizes. I spent a lot of time trying to get together all the fish to reach the 100%, only to later find out that due to bugs some fish didn't even exist -.- Wow. Even after multiple upgrades and introducing all the different patches and DLCs did they neither add the fish to make this possible, nor did they just remove those requests. Bummer.

Another type of challenges, the mastery challengers where also partly unbeatable - I did one of them a multitude of times - there where just to few enemies, or my Eivor already too strong. The internet suggested cheating by setting the difficulty to lowest or highest settings for certain of these challenges, but even with those there was one challenge I wasn't able to master, because with the given number of enemies it was impossible to kill the required number by fire and the additional required number by falling - there just weren't enough enemies. This led to added frustrations - and after already spending so much time in the game, I just wanted to get over with it already. First Assassins Creed where I didn't even try to attempt the 100% anymore. But well - as there isn't any account to 100% anyways and the game says you managed 100% by simply finishing the main game.... guess they know themselves that this game got so vast that it would be impossible to ask this from the players. To gain some legendary weapons, there where also River-Raids - these where a different kind of monastery raids, only that this time you'd raid an entire river, so monasteries, villages, military buildings, etc. These rivers where located in England, Ireland, Dublin and even Germany and France; and they where a bit more fun, as you'd have a little bit more tactics to consider; however they soon also became quite monotone - and unfortunately to get all the gear and abilities hidden in those rivers you'd had to do a couple of them multiple times; this was the most grindiest and most unfun part; but actually manageable. Unfortunately they spoiled some events that where only released later in the DLCs, which was another weird aspect of these.

I did most of the other tasks, however, and have to say, the rewards weren't as satisfying as they used to be - a lot of things (like finishing all hunting requests, upgrading all gear, etc.) wouldn't even make you gain a an achievement.

So in the end, the world was great and the overall story decent - but I never felt totally emerged into the world, and this was partly due to its vast emptiness, partly due to frustrations, but also because it missed the vibrant live you experienced in the other games. I feel like I didn't even experience much of what it means to have been a viking - other than the things I already knew. There was one mission up in the north that finally gave me a little bit of that feeling, but other than that? Was it really all just raiding and partying? Or was there more to viking life, to their culture, their economy, how they build stuff, etc.?

So the most fun I actually had was playing in Eivors drug induced visions, where Eivor takes on the role of Odin and we get to experience an interpretation of the Viking believes and mythology, as we play the events that lead to Ragnarök. This was in parts more fun than the main game, and yet it felt weird as these visions where not all possible to do at once, but also so long that it fragmented the stories so much that I wasn't sure what I was doing last in either worlds.

I also had problems following the Isu story. Now they are apparently all Viking Gods? And the catastrophe that wiped out the Isu now was used as an opportunity to mix their DNA with humans, so that they could resurface as anyone of us in any time and just to keep up their personal fights in now human form? And somehow the Order of Ancients knows of this and tries to bring it out from humans that have the right DNA? I feel like my head is starting to hurt regarding the strange turn this all took.

There were also a couple of DLCs - and what was really annoying: While the Open World actually worked quite well as every part is independent and this time there really is no order in which you can do them - there is actually an order in which you should do the DLCs as they'd otherwise spoil the end. BUT they are indistinguishable from the non-DLC content and for these you don't have any order clues - so once more, grep out your phone while playing and surf the net for guides that tell you how to do all of them in the proper order. Oh boy... You didn't had these problems, of course, when you bought and played the game right from the beginning - but to my knowledge you'd then be fighting with much more bugs... so which is the better way to go?

As for the DLCs - Valhalla gives as a lot - and I mean, really a lot! Most they've ever done

- Wrath of the Druids: Eivor is asked by some Viking relative that settled in Ireland to visit Dublin where she gets to meet some Irish druids and one of the most intriguing characters of the entire series: Ciara ingen Medba. There where some new mechanics, and haunting enemies (which where unfortunately spoiled int he River raids already), and a really captivating story, which made this so much fun to play; not the least also because it got an incredible Irish soundtrack with some incredible singing passages, that just made the events in the game so much more epic.

- The Siege of Paris: After returning from Ireland, another related Viking that was raiding France. This one was probably the worst of the new DLCs - it feels like the biggest one-to-one copies form the original game, and the few new mechanics are rather monotonous and feel like chores quite soon (Resistance side missions) or are just plain annoying (plague rats). Most of it is rather grindy; only Charles the Fat and Count Odo as unsympathetic villains stand out. But all in all this is mostly no fun and really forgettable.

- A Fated Encounter: The name already gives it away, and if you look it up, you'll see which two people will meet: Eivor and Kassandra. It's a typical Crossover: two heroes meet, fight it out, then realize that they would be better working together as they both have the same goal and than destroy the evil. It's not much, game play wise, but I thought it was really fun seeing those two meet and especially the scene after they finish their mission is really great and fun to watch - and gives the character of Kassandra so much more weight in understanding what her duty is and what it will cost here to fulfill it. I really hope to see her in other games as well! Its nothing big or noteworthy other than that it is a nice reminiscence to Odyssey.

- Dawn of Ragnarök: This DLC further extends on the Story that started with Eivors Visions. After seeing the imprisonment of Loki's son Fenrir, getting the Mead from Jotunheim that will resurrect the Aesir after Ragnarök, we get to experience the Story of Odin and Friggs son Baldr being kidnapped by Surtr, and how Odin is defeated in an attempt to free Baldr from Surtr, a broken Odin is left in Svartalfheim, where he aids the dwarfs defend themselves against the invasion of the Muspels. Dawn of Ragnarök is basically rather similar to the main game, with the exception of a new power: The Hugr-Rip - an artifact build by the dwarfs that allows you to steal the hugr of certain enemies you defeated, giving you the look and power of said enemy. Want to walk through fire or lava? Use the hugr of a Muspel. Want to freeze your enemies? Use the hugr of a Jotun. Want to teleport? To turn yourself into a raven? To raise the death? Find the enemy that can do it, kill him and rip out his hugr. The bracelet can store two of these hugrs at a time that you can use as long and often as you have power, which is another thing that can be collected by killing enemies or finding other natural power sources. This gives the story a new spin on the game play that is fun enough to keep you engaged with the story; the world however feels a bit too large with two many side quests, things to collect and events. And there is even an Arena that has some pretty hard and challenging fights which you need to win to gain some legendary set items; however this gets a bit repetitive soon, as there are just too many of these round you need to go to get the entire set. It's not a must-play, but can be fun, if you get this included in your edition.

- The Forgotten Saga: I guess this one you'll either love or hate: The story is about Odin trying to reach Hel and demand from here to release Baldr who died in Ragnarök; to reach Hel, he has to go through Niflheim, which consists of Kaldstad, Døkkerland and Nidheim to finally reach Helheim. The clue: Odin can take nothing with him, but when he starts a run, he'll get assigned a random weapon and a random ability. We then fight ourselves thorugh the realms, killing enemies that will allow us to open chests containing either a new ability, a new weapon, health or memories. Should we - on the way die - we get respawned right at the beginning of the first realm. We keep nothing of the items we earned from our run, and start with zero - except for our memories, which we can use to either take one-time charms with us, or level the ability tree. And it is regradless where you die - you'll always start at the beginning. At the end of every part of Niflheim there is a big endboss, that becomes more dangerous - and every region has its own set of rules, enemies and ways to move around - but also people who might help us. The more often we pass through a region the more chances we get to do some side quests that will ease our passing or give us some additional bonuses. And I needed something between 10 and 20 runs and with every restart, there was another animation, other reactions and different dialogues to be had, so this actually really doesn't get boring. And once you reach the end, this is soooo satisfying. I really loved this Groundhog Day approach; for me it was really something. But I guess there will be poeple who do this once or twice and loose interest after that or get so frustrated that they stop playing. It's a different kind of grind.

- The Last Chapter: This felt more like a cut sequence then a game; we finally get to know why Eivors body is not burried somehere in England but actually in New England in the US. And then we get a link to the present day -- and finally this story is brought to an end.


In some ways Valhalla is really great, and me being a great fan of vikings (I even got back into Magic the Gathering after 20 year, just because of their viking-inspired Kaldheim set) I really wanted to like this game. And there are fantastic aspects of it. But on a gameplaying level there where too many things that bothered me; I think its best described as quantity over quality. And this had me from having fun and being excited about this game to finally just wanting to be done with it, and even stop caring about the 100% completion rate. That's why I cannot give it more than 3/5.

This is the game that made me stop buying Ubisoft games. the game is designed to force microtransactions and time savers down your throat with its bloated and nonsensical story.

The game opens in Norway, which is in my opinion is Ubisoft's best looking world space since AC origins. Unfortunately, this is promptly ruined by Ubisoft's typically shit facial designs and animations, with every character looking identical as those who share their gender. How am i supposed to feel sad for eivor losing their parents when her dad looks exactly like the blacksmith and they reuse eivors male VA for eivors Dad. Like bro your dad is literally everywhere OPEN YOUR FUCKING EYES!!!!!!!!

Throughout the games marketing campaign they teased the return of the assassins brotherhood or 'hidden ones' for the nonces among us. Eivor is given a hidden blade which they use on the top side of their forearm because quirky and glorious Viking moment. Eivor is taught social stealth by basim and how to dish out various assassination techniques. However, after using these mechanics for the entire game and favouring a stealth approach, when eivor is presented with the opportunity to join the hidden ones, the game strips the option to make the choice yourself and she down right refuses because she thinks cowards work in the dark and that killing should be done with glory and honour in the open.

Dark age England is possibly the most boring setting Ubisoft's ever produced and the random events were a lazy answer to odysseys side quest problem.

the combat is messy, doesn't flow well and feels like sliding a bit of cardboard down your urethra.

on top of all of this subpar shite, the game forces you to do every arc in England before you can finish the game, this means that the game is bloated by about 70 hours when in reality the main story is comprised of like 5-6 of those arcs. my total playtimes added up to 150 hours just to finish the main story.

dont even get me started on the mythical arcs or the dlc

shit game
worst ac

I for one really love these RPG AC's with their big worlds and secrets in every nook and cranny, and as a lover of all things ancient history and mythology, these are right up my alley, albeit...not without their faults. I'm an Ásatruar myself so I kept my critical Odin's eye wide open but am not gonna fault them on being original. My main problem with Valhalla is all in the physics, the awkard movement of Eivor while running or fighting and the cramped yet huge map. What I mean by that is that the towns etc. don't feel...natural and the landscape, especially in England, doesn't quite feel like England in the slightest. It often feels more like Floridian swamps instead of the beautiful dense forests the UK has. But that's all just a personal nitpick ofcourse. What I do appreciate very much is the fact the game, for this size, ran ever so smoothly on both my PS4 Pro and PS5. no glitches or bugs encountered during a double 150 hours run (yeah, I platinumed it twice). What made the game an absolute beast was it's fantastic soundtrack!
The missions themselves felt a bit repetitive at times, so much so I'd wander for hours to avoid them and tackle the little side missions or simply go fishing (all for that trophy might I add, not simply for fun). Now, I have yet to play "Origins" (shame on me) so I can only compare with "Odyssey"...and to my surprise, "Odyssey" still takes the cake. I was surprised that "Valhalla" actually looked worse than it's predecessor, and not just a little. Also surprised it has a smaller map size.
I gave it a big ol' rating because I loved playing it, absolutely loved it but not even my closer connection to Norse mythology could save it's rating compared to "Odyssey"

Bom jogo, com boa história, infelizmente teve o azar de ser produzido pela Ubisoft, o jogo te prende no inicio mas do meio para frente fica muito repetitivo com milhares de itens para pegar no mapa poluindo a sua tela. Mais para o fim do game fica incrivelmente mais repetitivo do que já era no inicio fazendo assim com que chegue um momento que você se sinta obrigado a continuar só para terminar o jogo e não ser apenas mais 1 que você deixa de lado na biblioteca antes de finalizar.

Como disse, um ótimo jogo, com boas histórias e fidelidade aos acontecimentos da vida real, porém, feita pela produtora errada.