Assassin's Creed Valhalla

I have been waiting for this game all year and I'm sorry to say I'm very disappointed with it. It almost feels as though it's release was very rushed. The game is full of a lot of "nearly" moments. It nearly meets expectations with various features but falls short. Sadly, the combat is not great. Very clunky fighting. I was a huge fan of AC Odyssey and had high hopes for this game. Sadly it falls short. The worst thing is that there are so many things in this game (raids, battles...) that are so promising but certain things take away from it. The audio during battles is not great. When raiding a village, you expect to hear loud metal clashing, shouting from panicked civilians and war cries. However, the audio during battle scenes is very underwhelming, which detracts from the concept of raiding. Overall, this was a "nearly" game. With such great concepts and things to do, it "nearly" achieved them, but fell short.

I've been excited for this game for a long, LONG time. This might shock you, but I really liked Origins and Odyssey. I didn't love those two games, but I can see why both of them won critical acclaim and why they went into the Game Awards for game of the year. Again, I enjoyed those games, but I don't love them. Assassin's Creed Valhalla is simply amazing and exactly what I've been looking for in this new direction they're taking this series.

If you don't like RPGs, you probably won't like this game. If you don't like upgrading your character and grinding your weapons to become stronger, you probably won't like this game. If you're like me, someone who's been a fan of this franchise since Black Flag, then this is the type of game that will definitely win you over like it won me over. Assassin's Creed Valhalla is one of the greatest games in the entire franchise. I would go out my way and call it one of my favorite games of 2020.

Valhalla makes you feel like a viking, but you can upgrade your character to play like an assassin. Stealth is back and better than I imagined. No, it's not the best kind of stealth and it's not just go up to somebody and assassinate him all the time. Blending in with people? Now that's what I'm talking about, and that's what was lacking from the past two games... and it looks really good.

The storytelling is amazing. The gameplay and combat are great. The visuals are great on both the PS4/PS5 and the Xbox One/Xbox Series X. The voice acting is awesome (Come on... it's Cnut from The Last Kingdom playing Eivor? Who would say no?!). The music is masterful. The sound design is awesome. This game is just so awesome!

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is definitely a game I recommend to every AC fan and RPG fans. It's one of the best games I've ever played in 2020, it's truly amazing. Even though, in my opinion, the Ezio games are so much better, Valhalla has enough elements to allow you to enjoy it. I wholeheartedly recommend gamers this game to play and enjoy it. 10/10. Amazing game!

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 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.

I fell completely in love with this game despite the few tiny bugs that I encountered. The gameplay is on point and it a beautiful game. Everything was peachy until the last time I continued the game and ended up loosing 7 hrs of progress due to their save glitches. The game in my opinion is unplayable with it's current bugs.