Putzing Around in Merry Ol' England (..and also Ireland)

The season of sweet, sweet holiday shopping deals has fully arrived in all its consumerist glory.  I fully indulged in this tradition by snatching up Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (Gold Edition).  I've also briefly glanced at my Steam wishlist to see if there's anything begging to be bought (I've got one in the cart, but there's nothing else jumping out at me).  Interestingly enough, Cyberpunk 2077 (a game that I quite enjoyed) went on sale for 50% off and it seemed to spark an uptick in people buying, playing and then leaving positive reviews.  Maybe, just maybe, it will be gloriously redeemed?  If you're a fan, like me, we can hope!

The bulk of my Thanksgiving break has been dedicated to cleaning my house (boring) and clumsily guiding Eivor, the Viking protagonist of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, on adventures throughout dark ages England.  AC is one of those franchises that releases frequently and you can generally expect a consistent experience--as I've been playing, I've been chalking up my current likes and dislikes about the newest entry.  Overall, I'm having a fun time and am happy with the sale price I paid.

Eivor, in her ruined childhood village.

Deep Thoughts about Valhalla:

1.) I was fairly confused when the game started and I wasn't immediately presented with the option to choose a gender for my Eivor.  Waiting through an introductory cutscene that illustrated the origin story of Eivor (*side note:  can we get a happy origin story...just one time!) finally presented the option to choose.  Of course I picked female Eivor (duh), but there was an interesting third option that I don't remember from the other games--you can play as both (at least, I think...I was confused by it) at certain points in the game.  I am a bit boggled by this option and personally feel like it would slightly ruin the sense of immersion from having one character.  But, I guess it's there for people who don't want to choose or who want a more varied experience.

2.) The first few hours of gameplay take place in Norway--an icy, rocky, Viking wonderland.  There are tons of jagged, snowy peaks just begging to be scaled.  However, I immediately noticed that one staple of Assassin's Creed gameplay was missing...the leap of faith.  Dammit, if I'm going to force poor Eivor to scale a huge mountain I want to be rewarded with a graceful dive into a suspiciously well-placed body of water, pile of leaves, or wagon of straw!  (**Sort of dumb spoilers here) Eivor does eventually learn the "leap of faith" as part of the more assassin oriented storyline, but I cannot remember any earlier game where you couldn't immediately leap of faith.

3.) I also have some lore-related questions (even though the lore of AC is a complicated, nigh-impossible twisting pathway) that may or may not be cleared up with more focus on the main storyline (something that's lurching along at a snail's pace thanks to my desire to do all the glowy dots).  It was strongly implied in the DLC for Odyssey that the line of assassins was all from the same bloodline--originating with Bayek and Aya, moving to Kassandra/Alexios (controversially) and then through their descendants.  I was confused when early on in the story a couple of foreign looking fellas turned up and promptly offered Eivor the signature assassins blade.  Maybe they decided to back off the bloodline concept after the Odyssey DLC backlash?  I don't think that's a bad thing, but it just adds to the confusing lore narrative.

4.) There's less stealth than in previous games...and I don't feel like that's necessarily a bad thing.  I'm enjoying the fact that certain camps (the ones located close to rivers) can be raided with your crew of Vikings.  Of course, if you're feeling particularly sneaky, you can always sneak into the camps yourself.  That's not to say that there aren't plenty of other stealthy opportunities (there are many other locations where you can be stealthy).

5.) No bounty system or bonfire alerts.  As someone who, in previous games, would almost always mess up stealth areas and wind up in a pitched battle with five bajillion guards, I'm happy about this change.  There was nothing more irritating that screwing up, being chased by all those guards, and then, to top it all off, a nasty bounty hunter turning up to hunt you down.  I'm sure some AC purists will bemoan this seemingly less difficult change.

6.) So...many...cosmetic items.....it's a bit nuts.  But, I seriously have to question some of them--namely tattoos.  Remember those fun (or is it?) parkour sequences from Black Flag where you'd have to chase a floating piece of paper?  They decided to bring those back, but now instead of sea shanties, you find tattoo designs.  The designs themselves are Viking inspired and are actually very cool.  However, even if you ink your Eivor up from head to toe, very few of those cool tattoos are actually visible.  Sure, it's an opportunity to make your Eivor feel more unique (*you can also purchase additional hair and beard styles) but what's the point when you can't even enjoy the fruits of your parkour-related labors?

The Viking longship is a transportation staple in Valhalla.

7.) Eivor =/= Kassandra.  Yeah, I said it.  I've grown attached to my gravelly voiced, imposing Viking warrior, but I still like Kassandra more.  Kassandra seemed to have more of a personality and the other story characters were just more interesting.  

8.) **Minorly spoilery thing here!!!** It's one of my video game pet peeves that in games that present "relationship/romance" options there's always a strong imbalance between the number of male and female choices players are presented with.  So far, my Eivor (who is female) has encountered three potential female options and only one male option.  Since AC relationships seem to have zero (or very little) impact on the story, I generally opt to let my characters bang their way across the ancient world.  With that said, Eivor was presented with a very troubling romantic option...namely Randvi, the wife of her adopted brother/best pal Sigurd.  In this situation, I just had to say no...I mean, Eivor's already had a vision that implied that she will betray Sigurd...and what better way to add to that betrayal by sleeping with his wife!  But, back to my pet peeve...devs, please add more male options!

9.) There's an awful lot of drug-induced situations--munching on some mushrooms and then completing odd puzzles (with the un-helpful prompt "observe the clues to solve the puzzle"); drinking odd concoctions to have visions; or breathing in some strange gases and then chasing a mysterious, talking white elk.  I am enjoying these situations and the levity they bring between bouts of head-smashing.

10.) And, I will finish up my deep thoughts with my personal enjoyment of the wide variety of absurdly violent finishing moves.  I love an overly-violent finisher and Valhalla adds in some great ones--grabbing a spear from a downed enemy and then impaling him with it or grabbing a shield and using it to separate an enemy head and body...or grabbing a sword and shoving it through someone...there's a whole violent buffet to chose from...and they bring me the darkest, most horrible joy.

UPDATED:  *Because I forgot to mention it!

11.) Something that's definitely worth mentioning as a big dislike is the number of random crashes that I have experienced.  I had zero problems with Odyssey!  I have no idea what is causing them--at first I thought they were mostly happening during raiding sequences and potentially caused by the amount of fire, smoke, and action all taking place at the same time.  Unfortunately though, they also occur when I'm doing noting more taxing than riding through the countryside.  They're a minor inconvenience, but nonetheless annoying.

I plan on spending many, many more hours chasing down all the glowy dots (they replaced map symbols with glowy dots...but there's still a ton!) and barely progressing the main story.  It's just how I do things.