After a short break following the release of 2018’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Ubisoft is now less than a week away from releasing the latest title in the long running and popular action adventure series. As expected, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla continues the trends started by 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins, placing a greater focus on RPG elements and loot in addition to the familiar open world exploration.
Led by Ubisoft Montreal, Valhalla isn’t simply resting on its laurels, however. The Viking themed game is not only coming to next-generation consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox One, but it’s also bringing a number of innovations to the series as well. Whether players are jumping into the series for the first time or are longtime fans ready to experience the life of a Viking raider, here is everything fans need to know before buying Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is an open world action-adventure game that lets players explore England during 873 AD. With Layla Hassan back as the modern day protagonist, the majority of the game centers on the Viking raider known as Eivor. Due to constant warring and overcrowding, Eivor and their brother Sigurd seek to take their clan to the newly discovered lands of Anglo-Saxon England. After arriving on shore, Eivor’s clan runs into the existing kingdoms of Wessex, East Anglia, Northumbria, and Mercia.
Over the next several years, players will be going up against these kingdoms and other factions, fighting to establish a foothold in this land and going up against historical figures like Ragnar Lothbrok, Alfred the Great, and many others. In addition to the main plot of securing English territory for their Viking clan, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla also features a pretty big subplot that ties it together with the overarching narrative from the franchise. While not a traditional assassin like past protagonists in this series, Eivor ultimately comes in contact with the Hidden Ones, a precursor organization to the modern day assassins. Sharing similar interests, Eivor allies with the Hidden Ones and joins in their fight against the Order of the Ancients.
Gameplay revolves around completing main missions, optional quests, side activities, and more. Players will also be able to encounter other NPC characters and factions which can be influenced through conversation as well as certain gameplay choices. Similarly to the more recent games in the series, players gain experience points for finishing quests, defeating enemies, and exploring the world. Instead of focusing on a specific level number, the game places a greater emphasis on acquiring skills and abilities to get stronger. The difficulty of the game is more dynamic as well, rating enemies based on which abilities the player has unlocked more than some set number.
Valhalla also introduces a number of new activities to the series. While the Conquest Battles from Odyssey return, they’re repurposed to better fit the Viking theme. In Valhalla, these are known as Assaults and are big set-piece moments in the game where the player leads a large scale army against fortified structures such as castles.
Players can also organize a raiding party to secure resources, materials, and personnel. Considering this was a major aspect of Viking life, Ubisoft has spent a lot of time making sure this component was accurate. So once the player secures a longship and crew, they can go into various English towns, take out the defenses there, and capture the resources there.
With these resources, players can utilize them inside the other big gameplay innovation in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Leaving Norway, Eivor and his tribe seek to create their own settlement inside of England. Known as Ravensthorpe, this growing town is the base of operations for the player. While it starts off small, the settlement will grow to considerable size up to six additional levels in all. Players will construct new buildings, recruit new characters, unlock new services, as well as unlock new stories and missions to take part in. Each structure built offers the player and town new benefits, giving some weight to the choices the player makes. The settlement is a key element in the game and one that will likely take up a large amount of the player’s time.
Just like Assassin’s Creed Black Flag back in 2013, Valhalla is a cross-generational title releasing for the current crop of platforms, PC, Stadia, as well as the Xbox Series X/S on November 10. For PlayStation 5 users, they’ll be able to pick up a copy a couple days later on November 12. Those who pre-order prior to the game’s launch will gain a few bonus items including a bonus mission called The Way of the Berserker.
Naturally, Ubisoft is also releasing multiple editions of the game, each with its own price point and bonus content for players to check out.
Gold Edition
Available in both digital and physical formats, the Gold Edition includes the full game as well as the season pass. Interested players can save a few bucks by picking up the Digital Version which is priced at $100. However, for $10 more, players who pick up the physical edition will get a unique Steelbook case.
Ragnarok Edition
Available at Best Buy for $150, this edition of the game comes with the base game, steelbook case, and the season pass. What separates it from the Gold Edition, however, is the male Eivor statuette that it also comes with.
Ultimate Edition
The Ultimate Edition comes with a large amount of digital only content. Priced at $120, it comes with the game, season pass, and the Ultimate pack. This includes the berserker gear pack, which comes with character, weapon, and pet skins. The berserker settlement pack features items to help give Ravensthorpe a new look. Finally, the pack also features a new skin for the longship as well as a set of runes.
While the Ultimate Edition is largely digital only, Best Buy is selling a physical version at $130 that includes everything above as well as the steelbook case.
Collectors Edition
For players who don’t mind spending some serious cash, the Collectors Edition checks in at $200 and is available through the Ubisoft Store. It comes with everything listed in the Ultimate Edition as well as additional physical items. The Collector’s Case features unique artwork and contains three exclusive lithographs, a CD with selected songs from the soundtrack, a Male Eivor Statuette, a numbered certificate of authenticity, and a Female Eivor Figurine.
Ubisoft+
The final option is to play the game through Ubisoft+, the company’s recent subscription service for $14.99 a month. This version is essentially the same as the digital Ultimate Edition.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is available for preorder now and releases November 10 for PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X. It will also be available November 12 for PlayStation 5.
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