Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Review
8.5/10. A gritty yet beautiful, immersive world encompassing Norway, England and the New World with a rich Norse mythology centre - shame about the glitches. *Minor spoilers*
An action packed opening sequence depicts our new hero Eivor’s origin story in a cold and bleak Norway, before heading off to raid and pillage England. However, much is left to complete on your inevitable return to Eivor’s icy homeland, featuring some complicated conclusions regarding Isu mythology.
Eivor is a multi-faceted character. A world weary, fierce warrior yet also a calm diplomat with a good sense of humour, brought to life by the fantastic voice acting of Magnus Bruun (Cnut in The Last Kingdom!) His appearance is fully customisable with impressive armour and weapons, although it’s odd that you can’t trade/sell these.
The engaging, historically based main story follows Eivor working with other Norse, Danes, English and the infamous Ragnar Lothbrok’s sons to settle areas of England and solve disputes. The story features potential romantic side stories which are fun, but not compulsory!
Valhalla’s England is a fully-realised, detailed, open world setting. As and English person, the historical areas such as Mercia, Wessex, Northumbria and Jorvik (York) were fascinating. Further knowledge can be picked up from The Last Kingdom and Vikings TV shows (and Jorvik Viking Centre in York, highly recommended). It was eerie to stand on North East England’s beach shores in viking times, close to where I live, appreciating the map’s accuracy. I enjoyed visiting Stone Henge, although I would’ve liked to go beyond Hadrian’s Wall…
The main story interlinks with fun Asgard missions, especially Jotunheim, where all was not as it seemed.
The only issue was a lot of glitches, resulting in tedious full restarts. Such as:
Beast of the Hills: Bear stuck above ground, drunk. Amusing, but had to restart multiple times to finish the mission.
First fight with Fenrir the wolf boss: Unable to damage the wolf, causing multiple restarts.
Sciropshire mystery – Miracle: Glitch putting the man down by the spring, then nearby cairn didn’t work.
Snotinghamscire mystery - An Efficient Cremation: Mission didn’t start or end properly.
No other missions showing in available missions list at times.
I experienced some sticking when dodging, which was infuriating in boss battles.
The weird ‘Daughters of Lerion’ bog witches were difficult, especially Cordelia. I finally defeated her at level 250, a satisfying victory!
Contracts from Reza were a nice side gig but became repetitive after a while. The Animus Anomaly missions with Layla were enjoyable yet frustrating, but the Cairns were so infuriating! I couldn’t finish them all.
I enjoyed the mostly untouched new world of Vinland and the link to Assassin’s Creed III, but as the Americas are beloved Eivor’s burial place, I’d like to know how his saga ended. To be covered in a future DLC perhaps…
DLC - Wrath of the Druids
The mystical Ireland setting of the satisfying DLC Wrath of the Druids was worthwhile addition to the main game. It features a full new area to open, a strong main storyline steeped in folklore, interesting side missions and satisfying trade post settlements.
The evil druid cult, the Children of Danu, were great villains and I enjoyed this storyline more than the main game. Ciara is an enchanting supporting character, beautifully voiced by Julie Fowlis. The DLC reminded me of the TV show Britannia and I liked the shapeshifting, spells and mysterious elements of magical Ireland. I even managed all the cairns in the DLC!
Looking forward to the next DLC, The Siege of Paris, this summer.