Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is available to fans now across every platform out there, from current to next-gen consoles. In fact, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla‘s launch was the biggest for the franchise, perhaps due to the appeal of the viking setting and the advent of consoles.
With Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Season Pass, the adventuring doesn’t end when players see credits roll. There’s plenty to do in the world now, and when locations like Ireland are added to the game via DLC. Of course, the game will come to an end some day and a new Assassin’s Creed will take its place as the newest, like some time in 2021. PLEASE NOTE: This article contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for Valhalla and the modern-day story, so turn back now if wishing to avoid them.
Now, it should first be mentioned that there’s no concrete evidence that Assassin’s Creed 2021 is in the works. However, a leak and a pattern do suggest that it is entirely possible. Many likely know that Ubisoft tends to be a leaky ship, with Valhalla being leaked months before its official reveal. Another leak indicates that a proper mainline Assassin’s Creed China game is in the works, and while it’s possible that it’s a fake leak, the details there somewhat line up with how Valhalla first became known to the public (previously dubbed Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok by fans).
At the same time, it’s worth mentioning that Assassin’s Creed isn’t an annualized franchise any more, but it is a frequent franchise. After 2015’s Syndicate, the franchise took a break in 2016 but successfully re-invented itself with RPG elements in 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins. Comments around the time confirmed that Ubisoft was moving away from its annualization schedule, but that some games may still release close together. Case in point: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey released in 2018. The franchise did skip 2019, though, with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla releasing in 2020 obviously. If this two-year on, one-year skip thing remains a consistent pattern, fans can expect a 2021 game with a skip in 2022. Of course, that remains to be seen, but whenever it does release, Valhalla has set up something brand new for fans.
MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD
In a way that positions Layla and Desmond as the Adam and Eve of the current world (similar to the lore established in Assassin’s Creed 2), her story comes to an end. The Heir of Memories joins up with the Reader (who is clearly Desmond Miles) as they attempt to prevent yet another world disaster and continue to try to prevent any more from happening, with Layla’s physical body not surviving the process. As such, there is a new modern-day protagonist in the Assassin’s Creed modern-day story…and it’s shocking.
It’s Basim, the Assassin mentor players meet in Eivor’s story, who has been restored by the Staff. Apparently, this was the entire purpose of the Staff of Hermes all along, and it was Basim who pushed the modern-day characters to look into Eivor’s memories. The modern-day storyline ends in a strange position; that is, Basim is the one reliving Eivor’s memories now, not Layla.
Players learn that Basim is an Isu reincarnation of Loki, and Eivor is a re-incarnation of Odin. In other words, players are now Loki in the modern-day, playing as Odin in the past. It seems that Basim will remain the modern-day character as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla continues with its DLC run, and it’s possible that Basim is only the main character for said DLC. It would be surprising, though, given that main characters typically remain for a couple of games (Desmond and Layla obviously, but there’s the similarity in the Helix storyline).
Assassin’s Creed 2021 with Basim as the modern-day protagonists puts players in an Isu reincarnation, the most likely scenario, with the AC Valhalla DLC likely exploring how Loki was re-incarnated as Ragnarok saw Odin and the others drink a special mead, but not him. Odin, or well Havi, was confident Loki couldn’t follow, but clearly he somehow did. If that’s not tantalizing enough, it’s truly unclear how Basim fits into the Assassin-Templar Conflict. There is some indication, though, as Basim/Loki refers to Aletheia as “my love.”
This sets up Basim and Aletheia with the same sort of relationship as Juno and Aita, but as Aletheia and Juno existed at the same time, it doesn’t seem like Aletheia is Juno. There is some concern, though, as Aletheia is meant to be some version of “Truth.” And that may be a play on the Assassin’s Creed that “Nothing is true.” After all, she seems to have been plotting something and it may be that Basim and Aletheia are most antagonistic than first-believed, meaning that players are in the role of a bad guy come Assassin’s Creed 2021. Not a Templar, per se, but it seems the Isu are becoming more heavy-handed with their involvement in the modern-day story.
Furthermore, if Isu reincarnation is a thing that can happen, it’s worth wondering if Juno can be entirely counted out. Her storyline effectively ends in the Assassin’s Creed Uprising comic book series, but she may have had a Plan B. It’s even possible that Basim and Aletheia are, unwittingly or otherwise, part of that plan B. And that’s entirely discounting if Basim is Loki then Aletheia may be the mother of Fenrir…in some odd way that has yet to be explained (again, as Ragnarok, Aletheia, Loki, and their exact timing with the various world-ending events are hard to pinpoint).
Tie in the Great Catastrophe and the various methods of escaping it, outliving it, or ending it, and the storyline becomes more complicated. As simple as possible means that, as Desmond and Layla work in the background to prevent more catastrophes, the likeliest scenario is that Basim is the protagonist for the next trilogy of games, which is exciting as that’s not something the franchise has truly done before.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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