Ubisoft has been unveiling information about their upcoming game Assassin’s Creed Valhalla in a somewhat rolling manner over the past few days as opposed to dumping all of the information at once. On Wednesday, they revealed the title and what the theme of the game would be through livestream of BossLogic creating artwork for the game. This was followed on Thursday by the release of a full cinematic trailer and a dedicated page for the game on Ubisoft’s website. This has been followed up by a developer breakdown of the trailer, as well as several interviews with gaming journalists.
Most of the relevant information, as well as answers to question that many of us had, can be found in this video. We learn that Eivor will begin their journey in Norway, before traveling with their clan to England very early in the game. The game will begin in the year 873 CE. On the thread of Assassins, the devs clearly danced around what Eivor’s connections to the Assassins are, but we do know that they will encounter the Assassins early on, and ultimately receive a hidden blade, even if Eivor doesn’t necessarily truly understand who the Assassins are.
The assumption that there would be true character creation has been proven false: you will choose the male or female version of Eivor, and you will be able to customize them more than in previous AC games, but they will be fixed to the two character models. The devs emphasized that this is Eivor’s story, possibly hinting at the idea that we will only see the male or female Eivor in one playthrough, as opposed to Syndicate which allowed the player to switch between the Frye twins and Odyssey where Alexios and Kassandra were both a part of the story, but their roles would reverse depending on who you chose t0 to play as. Eivor will be voice acted by Cecilie Stenspil as the female version, and Magnus Bruun as the male version. Both actors are Danish, and Magnus already has experience portraying a Viking during the time period in Netflix’ The Last Kingdom. Thus far, Male Eivor has been central to the marketing, but maybe the female version will feature in the gameplay reveal on May 7th.
In terms of weapons, there will be at the very least – swords, shields, spears, axes, hammers, and flails – but likely more. You will be able to dual-wield any combination of these weapons (including two shields if you really want to). The devs also mentioned that there will be throwing-axes (they didn’t explain if you would actually throw the weapon that you are holding, or if this would be a separate item). Gear is said to be unique, so you likely won’t find a duplicate of an item you already have. Weapons and armor are also more customizable and upgradable than they have been in the past, so in theory, if you find a weapon early in the game that you like, you can upgrade it as you play and it will remain a viable weapon. They also explained that Eivor wears the hidden blade on the top of their wrist mainly because they think it is an amazing weapon, and that it would be a shame to hide it. Also, Eivor is confirmed to have a hood that can be lowered or raised unlike in Odyssey.
At the time that the game takes place England was not united, it was divided into four kingdoms: Mercia, West Umbria, East Anglia and Wessex. The king in the trailer is Alfred the Great of Wessex – by far the most powerful (and the most opposed to the Nords) of the four kings. Perhaps part of the land domination aspect of Odyssey will come into play here, but this is not confirmed outside of the fact that there will be some politics and alliances.
The settlement mechanic seems like it will work somewhat like the camp from Red Dead Redemption II, with gambling, supplies, and social interaction centered there. You will be able to add characters to your raid party that you encounter in the world (like recruiting people to your ship in Odyssey, though likely much more in-depth).
DLC pre-order has revealed that there will be custom mounts including wolves! There will also be items for sale in the game store as has become common in AC games, such as weapons, mounts, armor and clothes, and tattoos.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be a launch title for PS5 and Xbox Series X and will be available on PC, Stadia, PS4, and Xbox One Holiday 2020.