New Assassin’s Creed game announced!

Ubisoft recently announced a new Assassin’s Creed game, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The latest in the long line of games from the wildly successful Assassin’s Creed franchise, Valhalla, a Viking themed Assassin’s Creed, will follow the footsteps of Bayek from Origins, which takes place in ancient Eqypt, and Alexios (or Kassandra if you chose to play the female character) which takes place in ancient Greece.

AC Valhalla has been rumoured for quite a while now and it was only officially teased a couple of days ago by Ubisoft. The company has spent years creating this game after fans noted that no new game from the AC franchise was announced last year. Judging from the success of AC Origins and AC Odyssey, it is only natural that Ubisoft will create a third game to round up a trilogy that has redefined the AC franchise.

Starting with AC origins, Ubisoft breathed new life to the AC franchise by adding more RPG and adventure elements to the game, and at the same time vastly expanding the open-world canvas in which players can explore the environment in however way they want. There was less emphasis on stealth and more on active combat, giving players added flexibility in approaching a mission or a situation they are faced in the game. The developers also introduced some RPG elements like crafting, skill point allocation, and item equipment to allow players to further personalise their character to give a unique flavour to how they play.

So far the new approaches have been a success. Starting with AC Origins, Odyssey refined gameplay and combat elements through intensive player feedback, resulting in a better gameplay mechanics in Odyssey than Origins.

With Valhalla, no doubt it is all hands on deck to give players the best AC experience they will ever have by incorporating the best elements that made Origins and Odyssey great while at the same time introducing new elements to keep the franchise fresh and unique to the Norse and Viking theme in the upcoming AC Valhalla.

So here are the rundown on the overall game setting:

• Set in the 9th century medieval Europe in the middle of the Viking invasions, around 870AD.
• Seven kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon England.
• Alfred The Great of Wessex is the main protagonist in the game.
• Takes place in both Norway homeland and conquered England.

Some of the gameplay features were announced alongside the world premier of the game trailer released by Ubisoft:

• Eivor is the main character
• There is a female version of Eivor too
• Raven companion instead of an eagle, and has new abilities
• RPG elements like dialog choices that will have long-term consequences
• Massive settlement system where you build up clans and villages
• Villages can change dynamically based on your decisions
• Three cities to explore. London, Winchester and Jorvik, Norway
• Longships for travel and exploration, not naval combat
• Supernatural Norse mythology may be a big part in the gameplay storyline
• Hunting, fishing, and recreational drinking games are included

Already we are seeing a lot of new elements that were never seen in the previous two games of the AC franchise. We will definitely find out more in the coming months and hopefully a gameplay trailer will be released soon to see if they made visual improvements to the game engine that has so far powered the beautiful worlds of ancient Egypt in AC origins and the mediterranean islands of ancient Greece.

I have been playing almost every major AC game that has been released and I am so excited to being able to return to the AC franchise in the holidays of 2020 after a 2-year hiatus ending with Odyssey. Personally I admire Ubisoft in flexing their creative muscle to keep a long running game franchise fresh and new that is approachable to both old and new players. They truly have a powerhouse of a franchise under them.