Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Decent gameplay, buggy at times. Butchers the history.

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.

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For a game that relies so heavily on swinging axe and hammer, the combat is outdated, lacks impact and never feels intuitive.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.

This was a beautifully made game. Amazing graphics, good ideas, brilliant design and colours and textures. I was happier with this instalment than the last as it is actually related to the assassins creed world. There were assassins, hidden blades, templars, a big alien temple and an actual ending of sorts with a lead into the next game.

While I did enjoy this game and its story The downsides to this game were extensive. This game was way too long, by the time I had finished my gameplay hours had reached over 200. There was still absolutely no story outside of the animus, they appear to have just given up with that completely now which is a real shame. I'm still sick of this optional choice gameplay. It's meant to be a reenactment of history, a story that's already happened but there giving you choices on what to say and do on every interaction. They also still let you choose the gender. Can't you just write in two characters like with syndicate? Or make a game centred around a woman for once? But my biggest complaint is, when I started this game I had no idea what was going on. This is because I hadn't bought the overly priced optional DLC for the previous game which actually has the games ending in it. And after completing over 200 hours of gameplay on this game I discover there's another £50 worth of add on missions to buy. Well no. It wasn't even that enjoyable anyway.

I also got annoyed by all the over the top outfits. I attempted to play this game while keeping my character looking consistent to the setting and timeframe while Ubisoft are changing even the basic characteristics of an assassins creed game. I'm missing the original hooded costumes and the easier stealth mode. For the last 3 games including this one there more focused on loud over the top combat and less on what made the AC games unique, which was the stealth gameplay.

Some more positive notes:

• The controls themselves were pretty easy to use.

• I enjoyed the era and the location
• a diverse and choice of weapons and outfits despite my personal dislike for a fair few of them
• enjoyed the cameos of some more historical figures.

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.