Assassin's Creed Valhalla

AC Valhalla starts well. Norway is a gorgeous frozen wonderland and the story is given a strong start. Travelling to England it gets even more beautiful. And that's the games best feature, it's beauty. But you soon learn that it's going to be a long slog, and here's why:

The story arcs (or counties) all have the same structure. A few quests and then an assault on a castle or monastery at the end. It gets a little monotonous especially since there are over 15 arcs.

Due to the nature of the game, it struggles to character build. I never felt invested in any of the characters.

For a game that relies so heavily on swinging axe and hammer, the combat is outdated, lacks impact and never feels intuitive. It got a little better as Eivor progressed, but never felt good.

The skill tree is confusing and convoluted. Getting skill points never felt exciting because the upgrades are meaningless.

The game is stretched thin by forcing the player to search for materials for upgrades. Materials which are in a locked chest, behind a locked door, which you need a key for, which is behind another barred door 30 meters down the road. Frustrating.

I did enjoy the ending to the main storyline. It's last few hours were were fun, even if they didn't give a satisfying conclusion.

Verdict:

A decent start and a good ending aren't enough to save this monstrous games bloated mid section.

There are parts I enjoyed, but a lot I didn't. It's nice to look at and if you enjoy spending vast amounts of time exploring sprawling vistas then go for it. But I just feel neither the story or the gameplay are good enough to sustain the enormous length of time it takes to beat.

I like it so far don't get me wrong, but this game is lacking something for it to be an actual assassins creed game. The equipment all the same, none of it has "special qualities" and if you equip a pointless rune it may or may not trigger that special rune ability, you are dependent on if you have ability stamina for abilities which yeah good luck,. Not very good really. Definitely not loving this version at all, and the DLC content, no meat to it, not worth the extra you pay for it.

So far it's ok.

To be honest it's a little boring and I dont think it's sets a good example for "next gen". I have it on Xbox Series X and I have come under multiple bugs were certain missions are unplayable. Npc animations are not the best I have seen arms moving the wrong direction, objects floating in peoples hands and arrows stuck in characters face during cut scenes. There has also been alot of sound synchronisation issues. The polish contrary to what review companies are saying is not there!

The story so far is also not the best I would have liked greater character depth.

Dont get me wrong I like the assasins creed universe I think the world they have created is good but so many other open world games are available and for a £60 price tag I expected a bit more.

I think ubisoft like other companies should have delayed this project rather than use it a opportunity to be one of the only launch titles on boths consoles.

This is one hell of concept.. VIKINGS !!... but boring ones... the game is so naked... i am bored to death by playing it... the story is not interesting at all, its even less assasins creed then the last couple of games.... i really dont enjoy playing it... origins was great, odyssey was good, VALHALLA is horrible..boring, not interesting at all..

I read some comments, and think I played different game. But I guess everyone is seeing it in their own eyes. Let me start by saying this game is the worst of last three.

/+ Settlement upgrading and overall feel of home base. It was fun and interesting to find all these activities, to decorate it and so on. /- Shop system. How in the hell I can't see what kind of Tatoo or decoration I am buying before I buy it? /+ Weapon and Armor upgrades. Simple to understand and to use. Can use the same Axe during whole game if I want to and it won't be under powered. /- Arrows. The fact that I can't make arrows, but have to find them in the woods infuriated me more than it should have. /+ Voice acting. Played as Male. Loved it. /- Mistakes in dialog. I was called "SHE" more times than once or twice. Hard to imagine how simple things like that can slip during test runs. /+ Fighting it self. Quite simple and easy to do. Doesn't require a lot of practice. /- LOGIC This one is a big one. And I am not talking about reality VS game. Some examples:

1. I climb a wall to open some gates and let my troops in, but somehow they already fighting on this side of the gates. 2. Prisoners have their weapons on them then I rescue them. I know you can do better cause in Odyssey prisoners would take weapons from racks after I freed them.

/+ Size. It is really big world to run around. /- MAIN story. No spoilers so won't go into details, but I was extremely disappointed how ending was.. blunt and dull. I was like: "What do you mean, "thats it?"" . /- SIGURD story. It has a big build up and felt it's gonna be something special but it as well was awkwardly disappointing. /- PRESENT story. I guess we are divided in those who like present and those who doesn't. I personally think that after Desmond they didn't find a proper idea. And now they are just holding on to it as strange identity thing, that I really hate. /+ QUEST for conquering. Most of them felt good and fun to complete. Enjoyed most of them. +/- RAID. I guess raids are like identity for Valhalla.and mostly they are fun to do. However had to load a game more than enough times to be annoyed by the bugs then could not get my crewmates to help me open door or chest. +/- SIDE quest. (Blue dots). Trying to engage you but most of them don't succeed in capturing your focus and interest. /- Hunting. the fact that i need to kill 2 or 3 hares just to get 1 hare foot is laughable, irritating and to be fair - cruel. Feels like devs decided to make ti grinding experience for those who wants to finish all hunter quests. (PS: Killed 5 black bears - didn't get fur even once.) /- Cinematic. I was so disappointed then at one point Eivor in the cinematic (and short fighting sequence that followed) was with different hair and beard style and even different color than the one I played with.

Could really talk more but I think it will be enough. To summarize I will say that this game feels like no one played it after it was made, so there are so many bugs, glitches and simple mistakes that at some times I would just save and turn it off. I say that while understand that big and large games like that can't be without false. I played 100+ hours so I got my money worth for sure. However, I would not call this game triple A game. Not by the standards some other games raise today.