WITWI - Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (Ultrwawide Gameplay)
2In this episode of "What in the world is" I am taking a look at AC Valhalla, the latest instalment of the Assassin's Creed series. Is it any good? Yes.
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+Endless things to do, with more variety
+Smaller world but more well populated
+Settlement can be fun to build up
+A more refined, familiar combat
+Skill tree is expansive
+Interesting story
+Hidden blade is back
-Graphical glitches such as textures not loading
-Water effects are lazy at best
-Cannot assassinate unaware enemies during combat
-Upgrading turns into a chore after mid game
-Prone to repetition and burn out
Starting off with the visuals. I appreciate the total package and what it has to offer, albeit with the immersion breaking at times pop-in and failed to load textures. The water effects along the shores are quite embarrassing frankly put, but overall design and ripple effects do not disappoint.
The audio design is up to par with what you would expect from a game of this scale and budget. In occasion I noticed that sound effects might be non existent, but nothing nearly to the disgraceful sound design of Marvel's Avengers. Voice acting is satisfactory. Occasionally, it feels like the actors were reading their lines in separate times and then slapped them together. That brings up the feeling of not sitting through a conversation, but rather two people talking to themselves. The two or more voices might not always have the same attitude and level of engagement, making it feel distant and disconnected, as well as disorienting.
If you enjoy having a bucketlist of things to do in videogames, then you might not have any issues with this one. I, however, often got somewhat of an anxiety, a rush, to keep exploring nearby areas to unlock and collect items around me. This brought the occasional frustration, as I realised that I had not progressed far enough in the game story to be able to unlock the door that the collectible is hiding behind, or the enemies surrounding the area are too high level.
I do appreciate the settlement and how you are tasked with taking care of it and upgrading it any chance you get. I can see this becoming an issue as more and more resources are required to continue upgrading the buildings. There is nothing wrong with that concept per se, but it does make the gameplay prone to feeling repetitive and burn the player out.
I also noticed that the combat has been refined, making it feel more smooth and well put together, thanks to the new weapons and animations. Depending on how you spec your character on the interesting skill tree, your combat style will adapt to your choices. Do bear in mind that the game allows you to enable guaranteed assassinations, something that I knew I wanted since Assassins Creed Origins. As a player that has played and finished every single AC game (Except 3) I was disheartened to learn that there were no traditional assassinations since Origins. This game manages to remedy this by giving you the option, and I took it
Black Flag players will be familiar with the boat travelling, but if you expected the boat battles to come back, then I am afraid you must keep playing AC Black Flag. The main purpose that boats serve in this game is traversing through the canals and raiding shoreside settlements for resources you will later be using to upgrade your camp.
The last thing I want to touch on, is the fan service. Veteran players must by now be missing the traditional AC attires (White coat with hood). We have not had this type of attire until this title, ever since Origins. Not only is the "creed" present in this game, the hidden blade also makes a return. Unfortunately, Ubisoft took one step forward, and one or two steps back. The blade is no longer hidden but rather out in the open. I am sure by now my mixed feelings on the matter are apparent.
If you have played AC Origins and later on, the gameplay will feel familiar. AS per usual, the setting is new, changes are made to make quality of life a lot easier to achieve, and gameplay has been refined for a smoother experience. If you enjoyed the previous titles and need a fix of some Viking action with the wrong English accent, then you might want to consider picking this up. If you absolutely hated the gameplay of the previous titles, then perhaps you should give AC Unity a go.
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