Assassins Creed: Valhalla

[TheLaw 860]

So another year another Assassins Creed game, I think this is the 12th game in the series (not including all the spin-offs and mobile games)

Takes place during the age of the Viking but after Ragnar has died and his sons are raiding England. It's probably the first game since AC III that I've played for more than 2 hours, I tried to play AC Odyssey but couldn't get into it. But with Valhalla, they have gone back to their roots of what the games used to be about by bringing back assassination missions and "The Order" and a few other gems. There have been some points in the game after I've cleared an area where I have to grind in order to get my "power" level up (similar to The Divisions gear level) otherwise I will just get wrecked. I'd like to think I'm about halfway through the main story but I don't think I am but so far the story has been excellent with some plot twists here and there and also depending on your answer certain story arcs can end differently.

Performance-wise I'm getting a stable 60 frames (i7 10700k, 2070 Super) thanks to the "adaptive quality" option included in the game which I think is similar to Nvidia's Reflex option but I have noticed a few visual glitches here and there but overall it's pretty smooth for a console port sitting roughly between 75 - 85% GPU usage and 15 - 25 % CPU usage.

Gameplay-wise tho there are some things I wish that could be improved. Stamina drain... this one needs to be tweaked seems like Eivor can just swing his axe/s around for ages before getting tired this needs to be improved. Sprinting seems to be infinite as well dunno about you guys but I can't run forever without being short of breath. Ranged is pretty good tho so far there seem to be 3 types of bows I've only used 2. one on one combat is good until either your randomly generated civilian or teammates interrupt said fight, some enemies are super annoying and can be a pain to deal with, there seem to be some elements of Dark Souls like combat that Ubi have tried to implement to the best of there ability.

 

Overall it's an excellent game but there is definitely room for improvement. I'd recommend waiting for some patches before picking this up, but if you are wanting something to play over the Xmas holidays then go for it! 

Edited November 21, 2020 by TheLaw
Added perfomance graph.

[MasterShrive 2,015]

Very interesting. Black Flag is still next on my list, which I might take up once I finish Mass Effect 3. But it's nice that this and Odyssey seem to be pushing the graphics side of things.

[TheLaw 860]

Funny enough I'm still yet to play Black Flag. And any of the ME games aswell.

[MasterShrive 2,015]

ME just getting a fully remastered version I think. Well worth it IMO.

[Penchamus 411]

Such a shame you didn't like Odyssey Law! I think it's the best one I've played in the series but I'm a sucker for the RPG elements they introduced in Origins and Odyssey!

I'm keen to pick this up but $90 is steep for a PC game.

[Noods 290]

I picked this up as well. Don't think Ive played an AC game since 3. They were always pretty fun games but the formula was getting tired for me after about the 3rd one.

But having such a big spell means this feels pretty fresh and I'm loving the Viking setting.  I just wish they pissed off the future setting and the whole concept of retracing the memories stuff. Just rips me right out of the game and immersion.  

 

Combat is ok and love the tomb raiding aspect of trying to find all those shiny's and figuring out how do I get up there, which has always been one of my favorite aspects of the series.

 

Think this has come out at a good time as well with not too many other single player games that I'm interested in hitting the market for a little while yet.  

[TheLaw 860]

On 11/22/2020 at 6:32 PM, Penchamus said:

Such a shame you didn't like Odyssey Law! I think it's the best one I've played in the series but I'm a sucker for the RPG elements they introduced in Origins and Odyssey!

I'm keen to pick this up but $90 is steep for a PC game.

It wasn't so much the RPG elements. I enjoyed Odyssey up to Athens, dunno why but from there my experience just went down hill haha. Yeah $90 is a tad steep, but i was fortunate enough to have a copy gifted to me, hopefully the game goes on sale soon tho... or you could look on those "grey" market sites

[Penchamus 411]

17 hours ago, TheLaw said:

It wasn't so much the RPG elements. I enjoyed Odyssey up to Athens, dunno why but from there my experience just went down hill haha. Yeah $90 is a tad steep, but i was fortunate enough to have a copy gifted to me, hopefully the game goes on sale soon tho... or you could look on those "grey" market sites

If I remember correctly it picked up quite a bit after the Athens quests where you're pretty much just talking to/shagging people!

[AussieNinja159 79]

i got Valhalla on PS5 and its very good, Without a doubt the best since black flag.

Hands down would recommend getting 

[Penchamus 411]

12 hours ago, AussieNinja159 said:

i got Valhalla on PS5 and its very good, Without a doubt the best since black flag.

Hands down would recommend getting 

I bet it looks pretty slick on the PS5! 

[Blueberry 444]

If they made a game that was maybe a quarter of the length and focused more on quality side quests over just having this huge area and lots of meaningless shit to do id almost be in.

This is coming from someone who put over 100 hours into odyssey and was really not enjoying it from about hour 50-60 onwards but just wanted to finish it. 

Ultimately though, a company who when surveyed their staff had a rate of 25% of employees have experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct and that when top member's where found to have sexually assaulted employees they allow those people to leave with benefits and shares is kinda disgusting. It like "sure you assaulted a young woman trying to work in the games industry so you can't work here anymore. But here are all these shares so that the more money we make the more money you still earn. "

I just can't bring myself to buy a ubisoft game anymore knowing that this kind of shit fly's. 

[MasterShrive 2,015]

Yikes, I hadn't heard about that. Sounds like I've been living under a rock in that regard.

 

I also agree about quality over quantity.

 

I still remember when I first heard the CoD4 single player wasn't very long. This disappointed me, as at that point I'd played all the CoD, UO and CoD2 single player missions multiple times and they went for ages, all immersed in WWII.

 

But holy hell did the CoD4 storyline nail things perfectly. Very different, but well worth it.

[Blueberry 444]

3 hours ago, MasterShrive said:

I still remember when I first heard the CoD4 single player wasn't very long. This disappointed me, as at that point I'd played all the CoD, UO and CoD2 single player missions multiple times and they went for ages, all immersed in WWII.

 

But holy hell did the CoD4 storyline nail things perfectly. Very different, but well worth it.

Agree, Titanfall 2 campaign is about 5 hours. but it is one of the best fps campaigns ever. 

[MiniSanders 588]

1 hour ago, Blueberry said:

Agree, Titanfall 2 campaign is about 5 hours. but it is one of the best fps campaigns ever. 

Agreed, I love that campaign... I did finish it wanting more. Just not Apex Legends more

[MasterShrive 2,015]

Interesting. Should I play the first game before playing the second? If I ever find them cheap I might give the SP a go.

[Blueberry 444]

1st game is mp only. so no

[MasterShrive 2,015]

Haha, that would have been a stuff up.

[Blueberry 444]

Any of you Valhalla players also played Odyssey?  Interested to hear if it's as bloated as Odyssey was.