Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

I have played a few Assassin’s Creed games and I enjoyed them but usually just tinker around in the worlds and move on. The games are dense and take a longtime to complete. I finished Origin’s and I really like the new RPG elements in these games. I can not comment on Odyssey as I only played it a few hours after finishing Origins and needed a break.

In Valhalla you play as Eivor, A Norseman looking for glory, conquest, lands and riches. In the game you can choose a female version or male and they have plenty of ways to personalize and own your character. Hair, tattoos, weapon preferences all offer a lot of freedom to create your Viking.

I enjoyed Eivor’s story and like him as a protagonist. I played the male version but many say the female voice actress is the one to play. The game is beautiful and the lands are varied from snowy mountains to country meadows and lakes. There are lands that are corrupted with evil spirits to cleanse, huge boss like animals to hunt, trophies to collect and secrets to uncover. You take sail and raid lands with your crew and use the spoils to build a home, a sanctuary for your people and make it grow and thrive.

The battle system flows nicely with great animations for the different weapons you can use and master. You upgrade your armor and weapons and skills as you progress. I ended up with a god as I played long enough to max out my character. I really liked hunting down all the zealots and finding the secrets to where they are living and hiding at was great fun! The exploration is enjoyable and taking out the camps and strongholds is always a good time. Now as I go back and clear all the “dots” I am digging the humor and nice little extras they added along side of the great story side of the game. I found the writing well done and I cared about the journey in the game. It also revitalized my love of this series and I ended up collecting all the games to conquer at some point.

The game has Thor’s armor and hammer and it is a nice touch to be able to own it once you are later in the game. Excalibur is also in the game and I have yet to get my hands on that beauty.

When this released it was said to have bugs and issues. I bought this on pc and only had it crash once and one bug where I was launched into the stars. I found it in it’s patched form a perfectly stable and enjoyable game.

What makes this one stand out? I think the writing and voice acting were superb. The side quests were not boring or fetch quests. Visiting Asgard and the story with Odin and the Norse gods, including Thor, was icing on this excellent cake. The raiding felt like you were with a group and the river raids are a great mini game. So for me, this was the best AC game to date, of the ones I played. I did end up buying the missed ones on sale and will work on seeing the entire series finished before I myself meet Odin.

The game has DLC and so if you want even more Valhalla they have you covered. I have the dlc and it is recommended if you are as addicted to this world as I became. As of this writing, I have about 150 hours in the game. (Played on pc.)

DBS 5/30/21 _{Barzenak’s Gaming Impressions}