Early Gameplay Impressions Of 'Assassin's Creed Valhalla' Take You On A Viking Raid

Ahead of the Ubisoft Forward streaming event, some media outlets were given demos of both “Watch Dogs Legion” and “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” to try.

Aaron Souppouris of Engadget took on the Viking adventure that is “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” set in East Anglia, a rural part of the United Kingdom situated to the Northeast of London. This game happens in the late 9th century when the Anglo-Saxons had already lost parts of the country to Viking colonists.

“Much of the appeal of the past two ‘Assassin’s Creed’ games, for me at least, has been in sightseeing,” Souppouris said. “Ubisoft builds beautiful, if somewhat empty, sandboxes that I get lost exploring for hours. What little I’ve seen of ‘Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’ appears to be much the same.”

Like in “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey” before it, “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” allows players the option to choose between a male or female protagonist, both named Eivor. “The demo allowed for switching between protagonists on the fly, and your gender, at least from what I experienced, has no bearing on how characters interact with you, or your ability to romance them,” said Souppouris.

What sets “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” apart from previous installments in the franchise are assaults and raids. Assaults are roughly analogous to Conquest Battles in “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.” “I led a small army to attack a fort or castle, managing crowds, supporting troops, and taking down more powerful enemies as I battered my way to a climactic one-on-one fight,” he said.

“Raids are a more freeform exercise,” Souppouris said. “You can approach these stealthily, or just rush in with your army from the offset. I took out six or so guards without being detected, and then reached a door that required a second pair of hands to open. I then blew on a horn to summon the raiding party, forced my way in, and killed the remaining enemies inside.”

Perhaps one of the more interesting takeaways from this initial game demo of “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” is the return of an emphasis on stealth that was once a standard in early “Assassin’s Creed” games. “You can now put on a cloak, lower your hood and engage in some old-fashioned social stealth to blend into crowds and evade detection,” Souppouris said.

“Your feathered companion (a raven in ‘Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’) is less powerful than in ‘Assassin’s Creed Odyssey,’ where you could effectively mark every enemy in an encampment in one pass. You’ll still use your bird to get the lay of the land, and mark up to three targets — another thing nearly impossible in my demo thanks to streaming turning that land into a smudge — but you’ll typically be using your ‘Odin’s Sight’ (the game’s name for eagle vision/animus pulse) to identify enemies to take down individually,” he said on Engadget.

And yes, hidden blades for assassinations have returned as well. Souppouris also points out that “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” is more about what is new rather than just updating previous elements in the series.

“Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” will be released on November 17th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia.