Even before players first arrive in England, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla dazzles them with a map full of collectibles. Every individual piece of wealth, mystery, and artifact can be found on the map, and this tantalizing trove of treasure has drawn in many a completionist. Paired with the beauty of the visuals, players wouldn’t be faulted for forgetting about the story and choosing instead to explore Norway’s frigid peaks and England’s rolling hills as the game practically encourages them to do so. Even beyond this, it rewards players that go out of their way to explore with experience, equipment, and cosmetics.
Exploration is easily one of the greatest things about Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Its map may be smaller than that of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey‘s, but it is packed full with things to explore and treasure to find. It’s for all of these reasons that one recurring feature in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is somewhat bewildering, sending fans flocking online to find answers about certain pieces of wealth that they can’t seem to find a way to get. While Valhalla actively encourages this type of exploration, it simultaneously shuts players down for delving too deep into the system.
The order that players explore each of the regions is completely up to them, but it’s a safe bet that most completionists started in Ledecestrescire. This is the area closest to the player’s settlement of Ravensthorpe and is the lowest level area alongside Grantebridgescire. While methodically scouring the land for treasures, many players found themselves stumped at a barred door in Offchurch. As far as anyone could tell, there was simply no way in, and many spent hours trying to find the right vantage point to break the bar holding the door shut.
In most other cases when players come across barred doors, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has trained them to think outside the box and try and find any vantage point with line of sight to the bar. A well-placed arrow is often the solution to these issues, but that’s not the case here in Offchurch. Instead, this barred door simply can’t be opened until players complete the Ledecestrescire arc and gain the alliance there. This isn’t the only place this happens, as several other locations such as Caustow Castle, Cyne Belle Castle, and more also lock treasure behind completion of a story quest.
Despite everything said above about how much the game encourages players to explore, this recurring feature seems to do the exact opposite. For many, the pride of figuring something out without a guide is valuable, and these players will often spend a lot of time trying to get that last piece of wealth they are missing in a region. In the case of the barred door in Offchurch, it is impossible to get without completing that AC Valhalla quest, so they’re looking for something that doesn’t exist. This is obviously extremely frustrating for those players that eventually cave and look up the solution only to find that there was none.
To make matters worse, the game doesn’t have any sort of indication to reveal that a certain collectible item is locked behind story. Without the aid of the internet or some other form of guide, players would theoretically never know for certain that they need to continue in the alliance quest to get that piece of treasure. There seems to be about one wealth in each region (there may be some exceptions) that is off limits in this way, but that pattern takes a while to notice.
There are a couple very easy ways that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla could go about fixing this issue. Perhaps the easiest way is to not show wealth markers for items that players can’t get yet. This doesn’t necessarily solve the whole problem as players still might stumble across the barred door in Offchurch and spend a lot of time looking for a way in, but at least they won’t unknowingly seek out the conundrum. Another option would be to include a visual cue on the compass that indicates this wealth is unobtainable at the moment, something that could easily be explained by a quick hint.
In both the above scenarios, the player’s wealth tracker would likely still show a missing wealth, prompting many to flock to the internet for answers nonetheless. To solve this, there could be a symbol showing that the player has all the currently available wealth, making it clear that more will open up as they continue through the story. Ultimately, there’s nothing wrong with locking certain loot behind story progression, but Assassin’s Creed Valhalla would do well to tell its would be treasure hunters the rules before sending them off on an impossible scavenger hunt.
Of course, there’s an obvious solution to all of this in just playing through Assassin’s Creed Valhalla‘s story. Players shouldn’t hold their breath for Ubisoft to make any big changes to the exploration quite yet, so the best thing for completionists to do is go through each region’s story arc before scavenging for treasure there. While this will definitely work to make sure players don’t find themselves stuck looking for treasure they can’t possibly get, it isn’t a great answer for those that just want to enjoy the scenery and do some treasure hunting.
The problem with this solution is that it forces a different type of playstyle onto players that may not be as interested in the story. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla‘s plot is full of interesting nuances and great moments, but all that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Some players enjoy exploration for the sake of exploration, so its upsetting to see that playstyle curbed by this design choice. Regardless, in the future, players should be sure to check online whether the wealth they are stuck on is locked behind the next story mission or not.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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