A Worthy Time Sink? Assassin's Creed: Valhalla Review

First off--Happy holidays to everyone out there!  I've spent my time over the holidays hanging out with family and trying to complete Assassin's Creed: Valhalla.  After 191 hours (yikes!!!!!!!!), I've adequately wrapped up the adventures of Eivor.  Trying to wrap my mind around my entire Valhalla playthrough is a bit mind numbing, but I will do my best to sum up my thoughts.

How did I play?  Like the stupid completionist that I am.  I did ALL the damn glowy dots (there's about 5 billion--just kidding, but there are a ton), completed the main storyline, completed the Order storyline and assassinations, upgraded my settlement to max level...my completion % is sitting at 99% (I have no idea what the last 1% is....I didn't put much effort into completing the hunting and fishing deliveries though, so it might be that).  Since I purchased the "Gold Edition" my playthrough also included both DLC's ("Wrath of the Druids" and the "Siege of Paris")--both of these probably added another 60-80 hours of gameplay.

Pros:

+ Like all the past AC games, the world is big, beautiful, and just begging to be explored.  The story starts off in the snowy wonderland of Norway and then proceeds to the lovely green forests and hills of Dark Ages England.  My poor GPU needs a break after straining through almost 200 hours of gorgeous landscapes.

+ There's no nautical combat in Valhalla, but my personal favorite part of the game (and something I wish they had developed a bit more) was cruising Eivor's longship around the multitude of English rivers (are there really that many rivers in England?) and looking for targets to raid.  Certain bandit camps, military camps, and, the absolute highlight--monasteries--can be raided by Eivor and his/her crew of Viking warriors.  Blowing the horn, storming off the ship with your crew and then plundering the riches of the unfortunate Christian denizens of fake England is an absolute blast.

+ Ravensthorpe starts off as a tiny Viking settlement and then can be gradually improved throughout the course of the game.  It's fun to see your settlement grow into a fully fledged city.

+ Less stealth.  Yeah, I said it, and it's something that not everyone will agree with.  There's considerably less sneaking in Valhalla, which made sense to me.  The Vikings in the game are all about brash combat and pillaging...sneaking and stabbing just doesn't fit in well with the general vibe.  That doesn't mean that you can't do stealth...you definitely can, but it does feel like they put much less of an emphasis on that particular playstyle.  I appreciated the fact that I could sneakily assassinate some people, but that if I messed up (which is almost inevitable) that I didn't have to waste a bunch of time fleeing from guards and trying to hide--I just had Eivor pull out her handy axe and smash some heads in.  There is a very low risk of alarms/signal fires being lit (there aren't many alarms in the game) and getting absolutely swarmed with enemies.  I know that AC purists have bemoaned the de-emphasis on stealth in the more RPG oriented versions of the series.

One of the best looking armor sets in the game.

+ Do you like shiny, sparkly things?  I mean, who doesn't!  If cosmetic items are your jam, there is a virtual Viking banquet of items to help make Eivor feel like your own, customized Viking raider.  Personally, I got a lot of eye joy from the many armor sets in the game--they're (mostly) beautifully detailed and give off a fun, Viking vibe.  Lighter sets have a more stealth feel, while the heavier stuff consists of plate armors and chainmail.  Eivor's look can also be further customized by purchasing differing hair (and beard) styles (which includes the option to change hair color) and with tattoos (designs can be found throughout the world by completing the parkour sequences to chase down the floating pieces of paper--like in Black Flag).

If customizing Eivor isn't enough, you can also unlock new decorations that can be placed at certain locations around Ravensthorpe to give it a unique look.  Eivor's longship design can also be altered by finding new longship plans scattered around the world.

+ Each region in England has its own story arc and some of the stories are fun.  Eivor gets to meet many influential figures from Viking and English culture.  There are many colorful characters to befriend (or kill...depending on how things play out).

+ There are some choices to be made--many revolve around choosing specific characters as leaders and they could possibly impact some minor story outcomes.  Some choices are better than no choices, right?  (I will say, it's a bit hard to tell exactly what impact your choices have)

+ I'm a sucker for mythical settings and Eivor gets the opportunity to spend some time meandering around Asgard and Jotunheim.  It's fun to see mythology recreated and retold through the game.

+ No bounty system.  Depending on a choice you make during a certain story sequence, you can avoid being chased down by the big baddies of the Order.  I greatly enjoyed not having to flee at inopportune times (like while stealthing through a military camp)

+ There's a great built-in photomode and it's easy to access your screenshots.  I wasn't as enthralled with England as I was with Greece or Egypt, so I took fewer screenies this time around, but it's nice to have the option.

Lighter armor has a stealthier feel.

+ Finishing sequences are fun and don't get old.  There's nothing as fun as impaling an obnoxious pikeman with his own pike.

Cons:

- Inexplicable crashing to desktop.  I experienced more of this with Valhalla then either Origins or Odyssey (which I believe I had zero problems with).  Basically, I was guaranteed one random crash per play session.  Sometimes I could play for hours with no problems and other times I would have one crash and then another 15-20 minutes later.  There was no clear pattern as to when/why this happened and I had hoped that the recent big "optimization" patch would fix it.  The crashing is mostly a minor inconvenience as the game autosaves frequently, but it can be quite annoying if it occurs in the middle of a combat area, raid, or story mission.  (I was playing on the graphics setting that my GPU defaulted to--if I were to go back and play again, I might turn down the settings or cap the FPS to see if that helps). 

- The question that everyone seems to be asking these days is whether the Ubisoft formula is getting stale and their games have become overly bloated and/or intentionally designed to steer players toward microtransactions and other cash grab schemes (Ubi has expressed some regrettable interest in the obnoxious field of NFT's).  I enjoy the AC games, but I always find myself walking away from them with a sense of relief--I'm just glad to be done with them.  I think that the games that are truly great are the ones that leave you wanting more--I've never felt that about the AC games and Valhalla has made me feel like I should throw a party to celebrate completion and that I don't want to play for a very, very long time.  It always feels like there are a million things going on in the game, but those things rarely feel worthwhile--for example, at the end of my playthrough Eivor had enough leather and iron to construct her own version of England from it.  What exactly was the point of gathering all of that (it was crossing some glowy dots off a map...that's it)?

In a perfect world, I would like to see an AC that was trimmed down and more focused on a few core storylines (like assassinations) rather than its current sprawling, bloated form.  (*It has been interesting reading articles about the number of creatives leaving Ubi--I've seen it described as an "exodus"--and wondering if maybe new blood could mean changes?  I guess it remains to be seen and I'm not holding my breath for any major changes...after all, they've already announced ANOTHER DLC for Valhalla)

- While some of the storylines and characters were memorable, the size, scope, and scattered nature caused me to forget who or what exactly was going on.  Each region has its own story arc, there are Order members to be assassinated, and then there's the main storyline that revolves around Eivor and Sigurd...oh, and there's also a few sequences related to the modern day story.  There's just too much going on and the main story in particular suffers from huge gaps between sequences.  It's hard to care when you can't remember who people (and, I suppose you do have your handy-dandy codex) are or what happened 50 hours prior to the events.

The modern day story is, of course, just as confusing as it always is.  Fortunately, there's quite a bit less of it than in previous games (something I've weirdly seen a few people lamenting).

- The "Grand Magister" of the Order was completely predictable.  It has been this way in every game and I wish there was more of a twist or greater mystery around your #1 target.

- I applauded the options for customization, but found tattoos to be a cool, but disappointing feature.  Unless you're planning for your Eivor to run around naked, you can't even see all those beautiful tattoos.  

-Playing as a completionist negates the need for any "builds."  I had ALL the talents + 29 points of mastery in each "class."  

Recommendation:

I think that if you're a fan of the newer iterations of the AC series that you'll find something to enjoy in Valhalla.  I found the combat and raiding to be quite fun.  I do think the game has become too bloated and that playing it in a completionist style (like I did) is almost guaranteeing that you'll burn yourself out on it--maybe my experience would've been better had I focused on the main storyline more and less on pointless gathering tasks.  If you're comfortable with a 100+ hour adventure, go for it.  If you want something shorter and more streamlined...give it a pass.

Two Legends Co-Exist

I purchased Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (Gold Edition) as part of a pre-Black Friday sale and--unsurprisingly, given the utter insane size of recent AC titles--Eivor's adventures STILL don't look close to being over.  I've guided Eivor through the various demands and dramas of regional leaders around Dark Ages England as I cobble together alliances for the Raven Clan.  Heck, I've even managed to rescue the wayward Sigurd from his harrowing experience of being kidnapped and tortured by a semi-loony member of the Order of Ancients (Valhalla's group of conspirators who need some light killing).  Even 100+ hours in, there's still much left to do.  (*The real question--is it too much?)

Kassandra and Eivor in the same place!

This week there was a huge update that required players to re-download the new version of the game (80G worth...which is down from the whopping 130G initial download)--this new update has promised better optimization (including shorter load times--something I have noticed) and has also added in some new story content in the form of crossover missions that bridge Odyssey and Valhalla.  There's a fun cinematic fight sequence when Eivor and Kassandra initially meet and it's great to see both characters together.  One thing I did notice--Kassandra's voice is different!  Guess they couldn't get the OG voice actor to come back, which is too bad.

Disappointingly, the update doesn't seem to have fixed the random crashing issue that I've experienced with Valhalla.  I had no problems with Odyssey, but am almost guaranteed to get at least one crash per session (which is a minor annoyance as the autosave works well--but can be more annoying if it occurs during a raid or set story mission that then requires you to start all the way over from the beginning).  I really wish the crashing would be fixed.

There was also an announcement this week for another DLC for Valhalla that is called Dawn of Ragnarok.  It looks to be centered around Eivor's activities in the mythical realm of Asgard and boasts of new enemies, weapons, armors, skills...and EVEN MORE FREAKIN' VALLHALLA!  I don't know exactly what to think about this announcement--in general, I like the content that is set in mythical zones (the Elysium/Hades content in Odyssey was cool) but am boggled by just how much more time I want to spend on my monumental Viking adventure.  The good news is that the DLC doesn't drop until March, so maybe by then I will be done and in the mood to pummel more enemies.

Just how much Valhalla is too much?  I've seen some discussion around the Ubisoft formula (and the fact that the most recent FarCry game--a franchise I've never played--hasn't received positive reviews) and if their games are becoming too bloated.  I'm trying to wrap my own mind around this question as I continue to chase down all those glowy dots and complete every objective placed before me.

The Plot Thickens

(**This post contains some light spoilers for Assassin's Creed: Valhalla.  Since I cannot pry myself away from the glowy dots, they don't deal with the ending or anything too serious...but be forewarned!**)

Eivor's adventures in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla have now grow to include a brief foray into North America and even some mythical wandering in Asgard.  The main story (something that's mostly ignorable) has also veered off into some semi-serious drama.  And, Eivor has murdered waaaay fewer people than Kassandra did in Odyssey--so that's fun!

Asgard is a beautiful, mythical detour.

Choices....or were they?

Several times the story has presented moments that seem somewhat choice based.  One of those moments popped up during the Sciropescire quest chain.  Ivarr the Boneless (who you meet on an earlier campaign) plays a central role in this story arc...and he's a tough character to like.  From the beginning, he presents as an overly cruel, brash, and violent character.  In essence, he's the perfect Viking warrior--a raider who crushes his enemies.  Ivarr's brand of Viking brashness doesn't suit the delicate political situation that Eivor and others are trying to navigate while negotiating alliances.  Things really come to a head when Ivarr decides to impulsively kill the brother of a powerful noble while various parties are trying to hammer out a peace agreement.  Immediately, things boil over into war...stupid Ivarr!

The rest of the arc involves trying (and failing) to re-negotiate a peace agreement and eventually coming to the conclusion that the only way to accomplish peace is through more war--basically sabotaging the troops and supplies of the powerful lord thus weakening him and forcing him to leave.  Once you've guided Eivor through all the sabotaging, the lord finally agrees to leave...it looks like things will work out.  But...it's not what Ivarr wants (Ivarr has a vendetta against this particular lord because of the fact that he received a nasty scar from the guy in an earlier battle), so he takes the murderous step of killing Ceolbert (the Saxon son of a noble who was to become the next ealdorman of Sciropescire) and making it look like the Britons did it.  Eivor is none the wiser and accompanies Ivarr to storm the castle and capture the lord.

The English countryside is quite beautiful.

Ivarr's deviousness becomes apparent when he has Eivor accompany him while he tortures and then violently kills the lord.  It's here that he starts prodding Eivor to fight him (something that is stupid...) and then drops the bombshell that he's the one who murdered Ceolbert (who was just a kid...and a kid who Ivarr was supposed to be mentoring) and framed the Britons.  There's nothing left to do but to battle the idiot.  The fight itself isn't too difficult and it ends with Ivarr being defeated and Eivor left with the choice of giving Ivarr his axe so that he can wind up in Valhalla or to kick it away.  While it's true that Ivarr is the very model of a Viking warrior...he's also a sadistic asshole who murdered his ward for no reason other than fulfilling his own need for revenge.  I had Eivor kick the axe away...Ivarr doesn't deserve the glory he craves.

I'm not sure what impact this choice will have--if any.  It has been one of the more memorable story scenarios that seem to give players some options.  Since AC generally doesn't have a story that is impacted by player choice, I really don't think it will matter.

Eivor also encountered more conflict with Dag--her longtime crew member--who had started questioning her lack of progress in finding and returning Sigurd to Ravensthorpe.  The conflict culminated with Dag challenging Eivor to a battle to the death...something that I'm not sure can be avoided.  After a brief battle, Dag is defeated and Eivor is once again presented with the option to give him his weapon (and an afterlife in Valhalla) or not.  This decision is particularly difficult as there's strong nudging that allowing Dag's disrespect to stand will make Eivor look weak.  Since he was a longtime crewmate of Eivor's (even though his repeated and seemingly pointless confrontations about her actions were annoying) I gave him his axe.  The other Ravensthorpe villagers didn't seem so thrilled about the entire confrontation and there seems to be quite a bit of building tension.  Will this have an impact on the story?  I guess we'll find out.

Losing the Battle of the Glowy Dots

Unsurprisingly, I'm still guiding Eivor through adventures that have now spanned Norway, England, and Ireland.  Ubisoft very edgily decided to replace map symbols with glowing dots and I just can't resist finding and completing them all.  Handily though, they also provide a sort of checklist that helps hopeless completionists like me know if we've found all the wealth, mysteries, or artifacts in each region.  And the main story--well, after about 76 hours played, I've progressed the main story a whopping 32%.  Am I upset about this fact?  Nope, not at all!  I'm still enjoying Eivor's adventures and the main story has started tipping toward major plot drama.

One of my beautiful cairns.

Since I decided to complete the Wrath of the Druids DLC early on, it seems like a good topic.  This DLC sees Eivor travelling to Ireland under the pretext of establishing trade in exotic items.  Eivor's long lost cousin has managed to become one of the many regional "kings" in Ireland and is excited to have him/her aid in making Dublin a new trading hub.  The plot thickens once Eivor is in Ireland--there's a new king who wants to unite all the lesser kings.  This task is even more complicated due to the fact that there are competing factions of pagan druids who want to continue their traditional practices rather than converting to Christianity.  One group are the "good" druids and the other are the "bad" druids (you know...the traditional forbidden magic use and whatnot).  The story introduces a new mini-Order to find and slay and some interesting characters.

What's fun/what I liked:

1.) The side part of the DLC is built around establishing Dublin as a trading hub.  This means finding, liberating, and then improving various small trading posts around Ireland.  Each trading post has been taken over by various baddies (bandits, Children of Danu--the bad druids...).  Once Eivor has cleared out the trading post, he/she then has to find a deed in random areas (which, if you're a completionist, you'll be checking out).  With deed in hand, Eivor can establish control of the trading post.  Each post specializes in one of four commodities--delicacies (mead and honey), luxuries, clothing, or texts--and will begin producing them once under control.  Eivor can also raid monasteries and find special supplies that can be used to add new buildings and features to the trading post that will increase the amount of goods they produce.

In Dublin, Azar (Eivor's trading connection) has her own store and Eivor can periodically swing by to collect the accumulated trade goods from a special chest (the goods accumulate on a timer depending on the improvements that Eivor makes to each trading post).  Azar provides a list of demands from various foreign leaders for differing products and there are special rewards for fulfilling each one.

The trading aspect was a fun addition and I enjoyed the fact that it was easy to accumulate and satisfy the trade demands.  The rewards for satsifying Azar's list are worthwhile--there are numerous armor sets, cosmetic ship items, tattoos, and valuable items (like metals to upgrade your gear).

2.) The DLC adds in many new armor sets (some from Azar's trade list and others from exploration/story missions) and most of them are pretty cool.  There's only one that really requires you to suspend reality (an Egyptian themed set).

A shrine in Ireland.

3.) Ireland is beautiful in a different way than England and I found myself taking more screenshots.  Maybe it's because there are fewer trees...or maybe it's because there are random rainbows (no one can resist taking a photo of a beautiful rainbow).

4.) New enemies--the Children of Danu (the "bad" druids) include magic wielding foes who can turn their wolf minions into fierce werewolves and a few other varieties.  This provides some more challenging combat.  One of the new mystery locations (Trials of Morrigan)  in Ireland requires fighting off a group of druids and can be somewhat difficult.

5.) Azar is introduced as a gender fluid character.  It's nice to see games taking a stab at introducing a more diverse set of characters.

What I didn't like:

1.) As part of the storyline you get introduced to Ciara (pronounced kyr-uh)--the court poetess and a still-practicing member of the druidic sect in Ireland.  Ciara represents an important link between the new king and the ancient practices of the druids...but she's one of those characters who is definitely pushed toward Eivor as a romantic interest and, in a way that I found clumsy and offputting (for example--at one point in the storyline, Ciara wants to meet Eivor at a beautiful waterfall...and somehow that meeting ends up with the need for Ciara to bathe in said waterfall).  Sure, Ciara's got a traditional Irish attractiveness (red hair...green eyes), but I hate it when games push a specific character onto the protagonist.  I had Eivor politely refuse and ignore Ciara's flirty hi-jinxs.

2.) I found the ship cosmetic items to be way too over-the-top for my personal tastes.  They're pretty bonkers (a giant, flying eagle or charging horse) and to me, ruin the Viking aesthetic.  I will be keeping a more traditional look for Eivor's longship, thank you very much.

Overall, the Wrath of the Druids DLC...adds more, I guess.  To me, the trade aspect was kind of fun (although some people might find it annoying to have to periodically return to Dublin) and I appreciated the fun armor sets.  The main storyline was okay (nothing great, but nothing horrible).