Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a third-person action-adventure game with RPG elements set in an open, well-developed, dynamically changing game world. The main action takes place in East Anglia. The main character is a Viking named Eivor (male or female, it doesn't matter).

The game mechanics have been reworked to fit the era and popular historical perceptions of Vikings as fierce melee fighters. A gameplay innovation in Valhalla is the shift of the blade from the wrist to the outside of the hand and the ability to hold a blade or shield in each hand. Graphically, the game uses an updated version of the same engine as Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

Valhalla features a vast, handcrafted open world that includes parts of modern eastern England and Norway, with the addition of special locations such as Kiev, where the player will find themselves as part of the story.

England occupies a large part of the game world and replicates the landscape of its real-life counterpart: dense forests and vast meadows, lowlands and hills, rivers and swamps, the North Sea coast. The region system was abandoned in favor of several large Kingdoms that are at odds with each other, with Viking settlers adding a factor of global threat.

Human influence is already noticeable: agriculture and animal husbandry are actively developed, small villages and larger settlements are common, and there are a couple of large cities where trade and craft take place. Fortresses have appeared—secure strongholds with a large number of soldiers and bosses.

The size of Valhalla's world is comparable to Odyssey, but there is more land since Ubisoft shows the Viking migration to the lands of England, and the world's structure is freer and does not tie the player to the character's level. There are few sea activities; the longship is mainly used for transporting the hero and companions, reconnaissance, and surprise attacks, rather than battles with other ships.

Valhalla's world also includes the northwestern part of Scandinavia, with its harsh climate, steep mountains, and cold waters under the majestic northern lights. This part of the world is mainly used for story events.

The main character Eivor is a fictional character, created using historical prototypes. He is a fierce Viking, raised on legends of great battles and warrior glory. At the time of the game's events, he is both a warrior-conqueror and the head of his small clan.

However, Eivor's membership in the assassins is more formal: he shares enemies with the Brotherhood and was given a cool blade, but he only partially understands the true purpose of his membership and is focused on his personal interests.

Character development in Valhalla is in the spirit of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim: the more you use a skill, the better the character's abilities become. There are more RPG elements in the game, and the hero can be developed in several directions at once and use equipment of different quality levels. Each piece of gear is tied to a specific archetype—Raven, Bear, and Wolf—each containing its own combat style and skill tree.

Unlike Odyssey, Valhalla has a new quality system: each item can be upgraded to the tenth level, which solves the problem of loot balancing. If earlier weapons and armor dropped too often and took time for dull management, now there are fewer items, but they can be developed to your taste. To upgrade, you need to collect numerous resources.

As always, the events of Valhalla unfold in the past (9th century) and the present. The updated Animus will allow Layla Hassan, whose story began in Assassin's Creed: Origins and continued in Odyssey, to delve deeper into the history of the conflict between the Assassins and the Templars. The timeline of events in the present has become longer.

In the past, in the spirit of early feudalism, there is a fierce struggle for resources. From cold and hungry Scandinavia, the migration of local tribes begins across the North Sea to warm and resource-rich England, where a power struggle is already in full swing.

The kingdoms, already at odds, greet the migrants with caution and hatred, and the main character must ensure the survival of their clan at any cost. By the will of the scriptwriters, the Saxons and Vikings will encounter both good and bad. Alliances must be made with the former, while the latter will need to be fought and compelled to peace, so it shouldn't be surprising when Eivor, allied with the English, goes to war against their own Danes who despise them for not wanting to conquer lands.

At the same time, the main antagonist — Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, striving to rule England single-handedly — has called for the extermination of the northern peoples. Players can prevent this by going through a whirlwind of events, during which they will visit all corners of the game world, unite with other clans and kingdoms, uncover multiple conspiracies driving wedges into the peaceful coexistence of peoples.

The story arcs of Valhalla are more extensive than before, and side quests have been almost eliminated (it would be strange if the foreigner Eivor started taking tasks from peaceful residents). Instead, Ubisoft uses "world events" that happen to Eivor while exploring the world, which makes the game similar to Red Dead Redemption 2, where some stories didn't even appear on the map.

The Templars play an important role in igniting conflict in eastern England, so staying out of the conflict between them and the Assassins is not an option, and over time Eivor will find themselves at its center.

The Valhalla experience is closely tied to developing your own settlement by constructing various buildings (barracks, forges, tattoo parlors, etc.) and upgrading them over time. All of this requires a lot of resources, which the player has little of at the beginning, so raids on settlements and fortresses will be necessary. Raiding the former is relatively simple — break the defenses, storm the settlement, and defeat the leader.

Fortresses are different — they are protected by powerful walls, numerous soldiers, and several bosses, making their assault large-scale, similar to sieges in Medieval: Total War and divided into several stages. The player kills regular and elite enemies, protects allies, and helps them ram gates, thereby breaking through to the next levels of the fortress to eventually take down the boss. The player will receive more resources from such an assault, and the reward for Eivor personally will be better.

Another option is to form alliances and establish trade with local English settlements. Но доверие еще нужно заслужить, что отражает система Влияния (репутация), зависящая от выполнения квестов и оказания помощи NPC. Некоторые задания можно будет выполнить, только хорошо укрепив влияние.

На новом месте викингов ждет противостояние с множеством врагов, потому боевую систему переосмыслили. В бою придется активно прикрываться щитом, а также рубить орды врагов налево и направо двойными топорами/мечами. Многие элементы экипировки, например оружие, получили механику долговечности.

Видов оружия несколько и его можно улучшить специальными рунами на урон от огня, холода или молний, что характерно для скандинавской мифологии, В бою игрок должен использовать специальные умения с различным типом действия, коих можно взять до восьми штук: четыре для дальнего боя, и четыре для ближнего.

Влияние Dark Souls достигло Assassin's Creed, в зависимости от уровня сложности будут меняться тайминги, время парирования, уровень здоровья игрока, внимательность и скорость реакции противников.

Нет никакой информации о возможно появлении кооперативного режима прохождения или соревновательных сетевых режимах в духе старых Assassin's Creed.

Вполне вероятно только появление магазина предметов в духе Odyssey, никак не влияющего на игровой процесс.