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Assassin's Creed Valhalla

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Assassin's Creed Valhalla
File:ACValhalla.jpg
Developer(s)Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher(s)Ubisoft
Director(s)Ashraf Ismail
Producer(s)Julien Laferrière
Writer(s)
SeriesAssassin's Creed
Platform(s)
ReleaseLate 2020
Genre(s)Action role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is an upcoming video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the twelfth major installment and the twenty-second release in the Assassin's Creed series, and a successor to 2018's Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Set in the 9th century, the player controls Eivor, a Viking raider and Assassin during the Viking invasion of Britain. The game is scheduled for release in late 2020 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Google Stadia, and is to be Ubisoft's launch title for the next-generation consoles, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

Gameplay

In Valhalla, the player takes on the role of Eivor, a Viking raider who leads their fellow Vikings from Norway in raids and battles against King Aelfred and the four Anglo-Saxon medieval kingdoms of England – Wessex, Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia – near the end of the 9th century as part of the Viking invasion of Britain.[1][2] While the game is designed to be historically accurate, elements of Norse mythology will appear in the story. According to game director Ashraf Ismail, this will be based on how Eivor and the Viking may take uncommon events as signs of their gods' involvement rather than the more overt role mythology played in Origins and Odyssey. Additionally, the game will continue to tie into the modern-day events related Abstergo Industries' researcher Layla Hassan, who was featured in both Origins and Odyssey, and to the Templars and Assassins that have tied the series together.[1][3]

Players will have the choice of playing Eivor as either male or female and are further able to select their hair, warpaint, clothing and armor. Thierry Noël, an advisor to the game, stated that while there was still historical debate to how much degree females participated as warriors within the Vikings, Ubisoft believed that women featured prominently in both Norse mythology and society, and so sought to reflect the Viking idea that "women and men are equally formidable in battle."[4] Combat has been changed to allow dual wielding of almost any weapon.[3] The "Eagle Eye" mechanics are also expected to return in the form of a raven that will be Eivor's animal companion in the game. The player can use the raven to scout the nearby areas as previous avian companions had done in Origin and Odyssey.[5] The game will rely less on a traditional leveling system and instead focus more on the selection of skills through skill trees selected by the player as Eivor advances through the game. Enemies will be rated based on the collection of skills.[3] The skills trees will be similar to those found in The Witcher, Fallout 4 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.[6] Player choices through conversation or gameplay options will have impacts on the characters and their political alliances with other non-player characters.[3]

A central feature of the game is the settlement that the player, as Eivor, will help build and lead during the game. Ismail described its importance as "a lot of what you're doing in the game world is, at the end of the day, going to feed into the settlement so that it can grow, it can flourish." The player will be able to direct construction of certain types of buildings which in turn provide benefits for gameplay. To build these structures, the player will need to lead the vikings on raids to collect resources.[1] Naval combat will return, though more as a means of faster medium for travel for performing such raids, and for escaping after land combat, rather than in engagement with other naval vessels.[5][7]

Valhalla is a single player game, but will include online components for the purpose of encouraging players to share their progress and creativity.[5]

Development

The working title of Assassin's Creed Valhalla was leaked in April 2019 as Assassin's Creed Kingdom.[8][9] It was also reported that the game would be called Assassin's Creed Ragnarök.[10] Ubisoft teased the setting of the game with an easter egg hidden in Tom Clancy's The Division 2.[11]

The critical and commercial failure of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint—another intellectual property owned by Ubisoft and released in 2019—prompted Ubisoft to reassess the development of its upcoming titles, which included Assassin's Creed Valhalla.[12][13]

By April 2020, Valhalla has been in development for more than two and a half years by the Assassin's Creed Origins team at Ubisoft Montreal and supported by 14 other Ubisoft studios worldwide. The title's director is Ashraf Ismail who previously led work on Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.[14] The game's narrative director Darby McDevitt said that they recognized there would be similarities to the God of War games, but felt those games "actually skew very heavily towards the mythology", while with Valhalla, they wanted an "historically grounded" experience.[15]

Valhalla is planned for release in late 2020 for Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and on Google Stadia. It will also be the first Assassin's Creed title for the next-generation of consoles, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Ismail said that Valhalla represents Ubisoft's "flagship" game for these next-generation systems, and has been developed to take advantage faster loading times both new consoles offer.[1] With the Xbox versions, the game will support Microsoft's "Smart Delivery" program, allowing the player to purchase only one copy of the game that will work on both the Xbox One or the Xbox Series X.[16]

Release

Marketing

Main article: Impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on the video game industry

The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic prompted the cancellation of the 2020 Electronic Entertainment Expo, which had traditionally been a major platform for developers to announce upcoming releases. In response to this, Ubisoft moved to a digital online platform to unveil its upcoming titles.[17] On April 29, 2020, Ubisoft teased the theme and title of the latest installment with an 8-hour live stream of an art design by BossLogic.[18] On April 30, 2020, the official cinematic trailer was uploaded by Ubisoft North America.[19].

References

  1. ^ a b c d Dornbush, Jonathon (April 30, 2020). "Assassin's Creed Valhalla Gameplay, Story Details Revealed". IGN. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  2. ^ Ramée, Jordan. "Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Storytelling Is "Very Unique," Says Dev". GameSpot. GameSpot. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d Juba, Joe. "Answers To Our Biggest Questions About Assassin's Creed Valhalla". Game Informer. Gameinformer. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  4. ^ Bailey, Dustin (April 30, 2020). "Assassin's Creed Valhalla has gender options because "women are equally formidable in battle"". PCGamesN. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Phillips, Tom (April 30, 2020). "Assassin's Creed Valhalla reshapes the series' RPG storytelling by giving you a Viking settlement". Eurogamer. Eurogamer. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  6. ^ Khamu, Sandeep (April 29, 2020). "Assassin's Creed Valhalla Gameplay: Systems, Campaign size, Co-op & extra - Enter21st.com". Enter21st. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  7. ^ Gartenberg, Chaim (April 29, 2020). "Assassin's Creed Valhalla is Assassin's Creed with vikings". The Verge. The Verge. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  8. ^ Plant, Mike (April 11, 2019). "Assassin's Creed Kingdom rumours and gaming marathons – Gamer's Podcast Episode 19". Guinness World Records. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  9. ^ Arif, Shabana (April 6, 2019). "Report: The next Assassin's Creed game is codenamed Kingdom and will feature vikings". vg247. Gamer Network. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  10. ^ Yadav, Ugrasen (January 4, 2020). "Next Assassins Creed - Ragnarok Mjolnir Edition Leaked by GameStop". Gamer Tweak. Retrieved April 30, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ Schreier, Jason (May 4, 2019). "Odd Tease In The Division 2 Spills The Beans On The Next Assassin's Creed". Kotaku. Gizmodo Media Group. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  12. ^ Good, Owen. "Ghost Recon Breakpoint's spectacular bomb blows up Ubisoft's plans for 2019". Polygon. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  13. ^ Nunneley, Stephany (October 24, 2019). "Ghost Recon Breakpoint critical reception and sales "very disappointing"". vg247. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  14. ^ Phillips, Tom (April 30, 2020). "Assassin's Creed Valhalla reshapes the series' RPG storytelling by giving you a Viking settlement". Eurogamer. Eurogamer. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  15. ^ Ramée, Jordan (April 30, 2020). "Why Assassin's Creed Valhalla Dev Isn't Worried About The God Of War Similarities". GameSpot. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  16. ^ Adler, Matthew (April 30, 2020). "Assassin's Creed Valhalla Will Support Smart Delivery on Xbox Series X". IGN. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  17. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (March 11, 2020). "Microsoft, Ubisoft announce plans for digital events after E3 2020 cancellation". Eurogamer. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  18. ^ "Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Official Tease with BossLogic". Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  19. ^ "Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Cinematic World Premiere Trailer". Retrieved April 30, 2020.
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