Assassin's Creed Valhalla

 PC
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 3315 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,228 out of 3315
  2. Mixed: 395 out of 3315
  3. Negative: 692 out of 3315

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  1. Catchy
    Dec 7, 2020
    7
    I had to google that I actually completed the game because the story just suddenly ended. However, and despite some frustration, in my opinion this game takes the throne out of the past three assassin's creed games.

    When you start in England the game was a lot of fun, combat keeps you engaged with different possibilities to complete quests and the game offers a vast world with lots to    I had to google that I actually completed the game because the story just suddenly ended. However, and despite some frustration, in my opinion this game takes the throne out of the past three assassin's creed games.

    When you start in England the game was a lot of fun, combat keeps you engaged with different possibilities to complete quests and the game offers a vast world with lots to do. The core game-play is not surprisingly your typical Ubisoft grind, after 70 hrs the game became quite repetitive and by 100 hrs I just wanted it to end.

    The game has some serious frustrating bugs and hindering to progress, for example you are forced to play these (in my opinion) boring mini-games to progress the secret order chain (thankfully nothing a homemade trainer wouldn’t fix), and I had to do a few earlier reloads because the game got literally stuck in the story.

    As for side quest, I couldn't stand the Aasgard side-quest, thankfully it was just a side-quest, and I’m not sure why they decided to make 'eliminating the ancient order' a side quest. It baffles me that eliminating the order is not part of the main story, ‘Assassin's creed' is just a corporate branding at this point.    … Expand
  2. fi57yseven
    Dec 7, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have played 102 hours as of writing this review.
    Valhalla is a good game, it is fun and fantastic to explore.
    The story is non existent , you go to each area that you pledge and you play out many short stories, and depending on what you do or where you go effects the outcome of your exchange with NPCs.
    and for no real reason the Assassin which is guiding and helping you for 2% of the story who is supposed to be important TURNS ON YOU, there felt like there was zero explanation as to why other than he is the rebirth of Loki who is still holding a grudge against Eivor and Sigurd for holding his wolf son captive when they were gods who for some reason are reincarnated?, it felt lazy.
    this has to be the buggiest AC game I have ever played, I had to increase my VRam to fix the constant crashing.
    The town you build isn't much of a wow factor and felt kinda pointless, I feel it was overhyped with very little pay off.
    The order of the ancients and the assassin's felt pointless, The order apart from Fulke felt like something of a side quest, and the Assassin's who were the excuse to bring back the hidden blade begrudgingly via Sigurd, and tell you much of what you already knew.
    Going to Asgard felt like a chore, everything was, go and get this then go and get that, then they threw in a boss to take away from the scavenger hunt that is Asgard, then to go back to Asgard ANOTHER SCAVENGER HUNT.

    I know I am ranting and seem like I hated this game, but bare with me, with 102 hours played and every bit of story done, I left the game feeling like I didn't really play it, I felt like I went into side quest simulator and everything including the main story was a side quest.

    The dual wield any weapon annoyed me a lot, you only get a few weapons and it's not a huge variety, you can buy the same 6 or so weapons and shields from the shop in game, and it is the same thing in every shop, making going to a new area thinking you may find a cooler bow a pointless endeavour, so if you like using axes and shields then this will fit you nicely, I was looking forward to going back to the Edward Kenway days and dual wielding me some swords, NOPE, you get two greatswords, one which you buy the other which is in a chest, Excalibur is in the game too but being that you can only really get hold of it end game I never saw the point in even trying to get it, you have completed the game why would I want a bad ass sword now?
    getting money was easy and when you buy your favourite colour horse and upgraded it as much as you could, there was not much point in silver anymore unless you wanted to buy the things rather than find them in the world such as ingots. but it was so easy to get your health up and arrows are literally everywhere.

    anyway I found that to be my biggest gripe with ACV.
    Visually the game is amazing and when you self fix the game it plays amazing with high FPS, the fighting system is the best and the skill tree was a great change, making the weapons not all powerful flaming death monsters was great to me as the previous two games it felt a bit silly to have swords that set people on fire or explosive super saiyen techniques.
    The map was amazing to explore and the game Orlog was addictive as anything (looking forward to the real life release of the game in 2021)

    I have played every AC game and I am one of the first to defend them, this is the lowest scoring AC game I have ever reviewed, I want to blame Covid-19 and the difficulty you would expect with developers working from home and it is why no matter how much the game was not my favourite it still gave me much enjoyment.    … Expand
  3. kayudin78
    Dec 19, 2020
    7
    Assassin’s creed valhalla latest patches ruin balance.The best game in the series start destroing.
  4. crawlord
    Dec 7, 2020
    7
    I played this game for 172 hours .I explored first and gathered materials / xp opened the map and negated the storyline till later .BY hour 100 i was op with twin spears .The graphics are phenomenal. Taking over England is repetitive.

    Pros The story when paced and farmed up is compelling. Graphics Some funny world events Soundtracks are phenomenal cons -bloated map dilled with    I played this game for 172 hours .I explored first and gathered materials / xp opened the map and negated the storyline till later .BY hour 100 i was op with twin spears .The graphics are phenomenal. Taking over England is repetitive.

    Pros
    The story when paced and farmed up is compelling.
    Graphics
    Some funny world events
    Soundtracks are phenomenal

    cons
    -bloated map dilled with filler .
    Little innovation after odyssey
    repetitive
    -do towers open map go to all yellow white and blue spots
    -go into hundreds of barred locations
    -jump into hindered of wells
    -bad fishing mechanics unless you melee
    -bugs bugs bugs and frequent crashed (im running an 19k and 2080 card on my Alienware 15 r2)

    Overall i played this game and now im not sure ill play the DLC even though i pre-bought all that. I think i have had my fill of Ubisoft's copy pasta games .Still enjoyable not at a day 1 price point .    … Expand
  5. Grieferbastard
    Nov 20, 2020
    7
    So combat is way better. Assassination/stealth is pointless though as combat is a stronger solution with no negatives. Stealth/assassination mechanics are inferior to prior AC games, even Odyssey. A lot of the writing is excellent but what really killed it for me is the ending. A series of totally irrational, incredibly stupid out of character choices and some cutscene deaths. I'mSo combat is way better. Assassination/stealth is pointless though as combat is a stronger solution with no negatives. Stealth/assassination mechanics are inferior to prior AC games, even Odyssey. A lot of the writing is excellent but what really killed it for me is the ending. A series of totally irrational, incredibly stupid out of character choices and some cutscene deaths. I'm supposedly an assassin with a raven I can see through with the council of numerous battlefield veterans but apparently we're all too stupid to scout ahead. Use my raven to scout (the raven is worthless all through the game) or just go to assassinate the one guy I'm here to kill. Nope - leave the army behind, take a handful of people into an obvious trap, etc etc.

    Stuff like that. Hey, this seems like a great time to ask some intelligent questions! Nope. Not an option. How about I tell this person the incredibly relevant and important info I know about what's going on? Nope. Then you can't make some incredibly stupid choices later!

    This game would have been better with 0 Assassins Creed stuff too it, no main story. Just two Viking brothers going to settle England. The mechanics for that are excellent. The character lines are often brilliant - the story is absolutely not. The ending makes me miss Mass Effect 3s ending pre-patch.    … Expand
  6. anirudh6k
    Nov 22, 2020
    7
    Starts of great, but game just drags. If you need your rpg fix, play it. the first 20-30 hours, its worth the price. But after that it just gets grindy.
    I dont mind the game being long, but the game gets repetitive on the tasks you do to progress the story.
  7. donanja
    Oct 10, 2021
    7
    I've only played this game for a handful of hours, but I've yet to be blown away like I was with the previous two titles. It's an enjoyable game and the graphics are second to none if that's important to you, but I feel as though the game lacks a lot of the breath-taking views that Origins and Odyssey had.

    I feel as though we don't spend enough time in Scandinavia, which are known to    I've only played this game for a handful of hours, but I've yet to be blown away like I was with the previous two titles. It's an enjoyable game and the graphics are second to none if that's important to you, but I feel as though the game lacks a lot of the breath-taking views that Origins and Odyssey had.

    I feel as though we don't spend enough time in Scandinavia, which are known to have gorgeous sights in real life. But the version of Scandinavia we get in this game is a harsh, frozen land with a few rundown harbor-towns and empty mountains. There's nothing. And before you know it, you're on a boat headed to England where the majority of the game takes place.

    Raiding outside of their homeland was a huge part of Viking history, but I had hoped that there would be more of a focus on what the Viking life was like back home, when they weren't raiding. England in this game also looks painfully plain compared to the sights of Odyssey and Origin; it's just grass, hills, and trees. Nature is pretty, but I can go outside right now and see these same sights. There's nothing too exciting about it to me.

    I'm a huge fan of all things related to Norse mythology, Vikings, etc. so this has been a bit of a letdown for me so far, compared to the previous titles at least. I hope it will grow on me over time, but so far I've yet to be blown away.    … Expand
  8. CharlyPlayman
    Mar 25, 2021
    7
    PROS: Brilliant graphics and game very well executed + Very long game + Blocking with shields + Lots of news (raids, go inside wells, drink game, locked doors, anomaly puzzles, etc)

    CONS: Story become confussing and absurd when near the end (it really doesn't end) + Sometimes the game crashes + Talking with people are often unreal (they aren't watching at you) + In my opinion Valhalla    PROS: Brilliant graphics and game very well executed + Very long game + Blocking with shields + Lots of news (raids, go inside wells, drink game, locked doors, anomaly puzzles, etc)

    CONS: Story become confussing and absurd when near the end (it really doesn't end) + Sometimes the game crashes + Talking with people are often unreal (they aren't watching at you) + In my opinion Valhalla clearly don't beat to Origins or Odyssey    … Expand
  9. sunstorm76
    Nov 19, 2020
    7
    I do not often comment on metacritic mostly because I’m happy with a game and just give the rating. . I’m not even close to the end but I tried a lot with this game and I played all AC’s so far. Not only did I play them, I finished them 100% which means collecting every feather or treasure out there. Yeah I’m a huge fan of the series. I got them both digital and as console version, justI do not often comment on metacritic mostly because I’m happy with a game and just give the rating. . I’m not even close to the end but I tried a lot with this game and I played all AC’s so far. Not only did I play them, I finished them 100% which means collecting every feather or treasure out there. Yeah I’m a huge fan of the series. I got them both digital and as console version, just to have something for my nerd shelf. So with this context given to you: I know all games in and out. I played it on pc.

    Of course you have to rate this game mostly against Origins and Odyssey because they seem to be very similar on first sight. But they are not and I will tell you why I’ve got issues with Valhalla. It seems I’m not the only one I checked some reviews (Skill Up, ACG, Gamestar etc. pp.) and read some reddit posts and also comments here on meta. My problem with metacritic: for most gamer it’s either top or flop. 0 or 10. Which seems to fit this generation of people but I’m Generation X (44) and have a more balanced view with pros and cons.

    Let’s start with the pink elephant in the room: the new combat system. A lot of people love it, a lot of people hate it. After playing and upgrading around with different sets and weapons (there are not many which is another problem for me) I have to say: I absolutely don’t like the combat. It’s way too slow and too clunky for my taste. I had the same issue with RDR2 (which also has the worst pacing ever). On the other side a Nioh 2 gameplay is perfect to me. And I liked the more fluid gameplay in Origins (160h with NG+) and Odyssey (403h with NG+) so much more! And that’s a big deal for me. Alongside the setting the gameplay is the most important part in every AC for me.

    PROS:
    - World Setting: as always it is absolutely georgous. I love Norway, England and the Vikings and the whole AC-series so what could go wrong?
    - Story: so far not that bad.
    - Dice game: I love it! Not as good as Gwent from Witcher 3 but it’s also very nice. Sadly you can’t get any money by playing it (at least so far I’m in the game)
    - Music: I hated the music in Odyssey but this one is great again
    - The world is huge: I love big open world games so I’m ok with that
    - Graphic settings: good job here Ubisoft
    - Side Missions: some of them are funny. And they are short which is good.

    CONS:
    - Combat System: as said above: I hate it. Even with 2x 2H weapons or other combinations (Dagger with shield, other weapon etc. pp) it feels clunky as hell. Not even near Odyssey and Origins I’m sorry. It’s way more boring. Slow. Clunky. Just not fun.
    - Slow fighting animations: the stomp f.e. takes forever and looks odd – and during that time you’re still vulnerable. Which is not a problem on normal but it’s annoying on the highest difficulty setting. Most animations are out of round. The look and feel is just bad!
    - Lack of Loot: yeah this is a big deal for me also. I know a lot of fans didn’t like the Diablo 3 loot system but I loved it. I love to play around with different sets and weapons and also the customization options which leads to:
    - Lack of Customization: there’s none. You either like your fav stats-set also visually or you’re screwed. In Odyssey you could manage your looks which I loved as RPG fan.
    - Lack of sorting items: yeah not possible you have to scroll and scroll and scroll through all tattoos….hair styles, ship skins etc. pp. it’s not good here
    - Arrows: different arrow types why? Hunter Bow’s quiver is limited and you cannot craft your own arrowas anymore – why??
    - Talent system: really Ubisoft? One of the worst “progression” systems I’ve ever seen in any videogame! You don’t know what 2.5 Headshot means – ist it percentage? Is it base damage? WTH? Same goes with almost every singe point in the tree. Also it’s all in the fog again when you reset all talent points once. Why? You cannot playn your way up. What were you thinking?! Odyssey was so much better! Hell even Syndicate was better.
    - Slow pace: one of the worst things from RDR2 they implemented here for no reason: walking like a snail while listening boring stories. Omg nothing kills my patience faster than this.
    - Draengr-Level: very hard. Really? It’s not even close to a dark souls or Nioh difficulty at any time. Yes of course when you go with power lvl 80 after a lvl 200 then it’s impossible but not when you level normally. Which means: very hard is not very hard at all.
    - Stealth-Kill-Animation: 10x slower than in any other AC so far. WHY?! Combinate this with master assassination (hardest level there) and you cannot even chain a second kill.
    - Instant-Stealth-Kill: you can switch a button in the menu I mean wtf again. I want to play a game like it’s meant to be played by the designers NOT “chose whatever you want – we don’t have any clue what WE want you to experience”.    … Expand
  10. Bigzeliboba
    Dec 16, 2020
    7
    после 87 часов в игре: Плюсы: викинги; набеги; неплохой сюжет; развитие поселения от палатки до города. Минусы: абсолютно никакой стелс, отсутствие наград за скрытый захват крепостей, невнятные сеты брони и их плюшки, отсутствие быстрого переключения луков, несоответствие деталей для апгрейда уровню игрока, а только уровню захватываемых областей, идиотская работа каркуши - так и не понялпосле 87 часов в игре: Плюсы: викинги; набеги; неплохой сюжет; развитие поселения от палатки до города. Минусы: абсолютно никакой стелс, отсутствие наград за скрытый захват крепостей, невнятные сеты брони и их плюшки, отсутствие быстрого переключения луков, несоответствие деталей для апгрейда уровню игрока, а только уровню захватываемых областей, идиотская работа каркуши - так и не понял для чего она, показать область внутри области, убитая модернизация корабля.
    P.S. 80% игры носил красные кувшины для взрыва стен, как оказалось, есть взрывной мешочек на стрелу.    … Expand
  11. MadBert91
    Dec 18, 2020
    7
    El juego en sí no está mal, pero no me está cautivando, el Odissey me pareció desde un inicio mucho más interesante, hay muy poca innovación, manejar el personaje siegue siendo un dolor ya que se mueve en todas direcciones menos donde quieres que vaya, gráficamente no es nada del otro mundo se ve bien pero meh no destaca en absoluto, innovación carente es lo mismo todos los años. EstáEl juego en sí no está mal, pero no me está cautivando, el Odissey me pareció desde un inicio mucho más interesante, hay muy poca innovación, manejar el personaje siegue siendo un dolor ya que se mueve en todas direcciones menos donde quieres que vaya, gráficamente no es nada del otro mundo se ve bien pero meh no destaca en absoluto, innovación carente es lo mismo todos los años. Está entretenido y por eso se me ajusta más un 7, pero considero que hay mucho mejores juegos que merecen más nota.… Expand
  12. Midgetelf0585
    Dec 24, 2020
    7
    This game is solid, with really fun gameplay, good raids, a compelling main character background and closest relationships... BUT it's way too long.  It starts off very strong, with the background about why you're in England.  Gets stronger with the base building, lots of fun little world events, but soon becomes a slog of repetition.  Then about 15 hours in, it becomes compelling again.This game is solid, with really fun gameplay, good raids, a compelling main character background and closest relationships... BUT it's way too long.  It starts off very strong, with the background about why you're in England.  Gets stronger with the base building, lots of fun little world events, but soon becomes a slog of repetition.  Then about 15 hours in, it becomes compelling again. Then 5 hours after that, a slog.  You get the picture.  If they wouldn't have as much "forced filler" (just make some of those alliances clearly voluntary), it would serve the main plot and make it feel much more powerful and urgent.  Also the leveling is too fast.  It removes any feeling of accomplishment. So yeah, solid game, fun combat, good core story when you get to it, but to bogged down with fluff.… Expand
  13. Xemnuz
    Nov 19, 2020
    7
    When I started the game in Norway, I was borderlined depressed of how grey and plain the landscape and graphics were, how terrible the ship animations and how dull combat was. The voiceacting in Norway especially, is nausiating. But when I got to England (which is really not that long unless you walk around looting everything like me), then the game became much better. When you get toWhen I started the game in Norway, I was borderlined depressed of how grey and plain the landscape and graphics were, how terrible the ship animations and how dull combat was. The voiceacting in Norway especially, is nausiating. But when I got to England (which is really not that long unless you walk around looting everything like me), then the game became much better. When you get to England it's like they have changed the graphics engine, but at the same time it feels like just he graphics it was like 8 years ago in Black Flag, which is odd, but it's the same graphics engine only updated it seems. I really-really enjoyed Origins, and enjoyed Odyssey, and this seems pretty even to those (I'm prolly 50% done). But I feel as this is the viking age they could have done so much more with it, make it really feel special which they haven't, but I enjoy it nonetheless. I think it's time to stop the Abstergo/real world stuff going on in these games, absolutely no one cares and when you get thrown out of the world the game is in it just makes you annoyed. The main character is actually cool which I liked about Bajek and Edward as well, though he seems very small compared to others? Sigurd on the other hand appears to be a spanish/orange viking which I don't understand really. And for the love of air, why must they always make it 50/50 gender, there weren't raid boats half full of women, women simply cant fight men. Sure there could have been shieldmaidens, but you wouldnt have half your boat of women depending on your life in the fight against full grown men. It's like they are trying so hard for equality, but when you make "bosses" 2.10 meter tall women it's just silly and makes no sense. But as said, enjoy it so far, but for sure some things that could be better, probably no closer to 8 than it's to a 6, but it truly is immense which helps with the score.… Expand
  14. Daermon
    Nov 22, 2020
    7
    Far better than Origin and Odyssey, but Ubisoft WASTE a good viking story. Pro:
    - Grapich
    - Sounds - Male Eivor and the voice actor - Fight system good - Finally Shield + 1H combat - Music - Norway and England is look fantastic - Eivors (male) characters - The main story have good moments - Have blood Cons: - The main story too separated - Too few side characters - Itemization and the    Far better than Origin and Odyssey, but Ubisoft WASTE a good viking story. Pro:
    - Grapich
    - Sounds - Male Eivor and the voice actor
    - Fight system good
    - Finally Shield + 1H combat
    - Music
    - Norway and England is look fantastic
    - Eivors (male) characters
    - The main story have good moments
    - Have blood

    Cons:
    - The main story too separated
    - Too few side characters - Itemization and the skill tree is terrible
    - Every AC thing, like the idiot and boring Order, the idiot modern storyline
    - No really romance
    - “Sex scenes” is childis
    - No nudism
    - The complet ending is B category and boring sh*t
    - Microtransaction
    - Asgard storyline is unnecessary

    Ubisoft you have money and resources, why forced the vikings into this AC bulls*ht? Why not make a good single player viking game?    … Expand
  15. gameking
    Nov 28, 2022
    7
    This is a good game but it has too many repetation. The travel is not good enough. I don't like the combat system. But on the other hand, the story line is good enough.
  16. woopz
    Nov 27, 2020
    7
    Loved the story in the start, got a little worse when all the assassin's creed stuff started later in the game, would have been a 10 if this game was just a viking game. shame they did'nt just start new and made a realistic game more like kingdom come.
  17. Cobrax657
    Feb 5, 2021
    7
    Good viking game but i wish they start making ac games with ac feel in it....
  18. Soullex
    Nov 15, 2022
    7
    Ulan yan görev yapması o kadar keyifli ki, tüm yan görevleri bitirdim neredeyse. Ana hikayede ilerlemek de bir o kadar sıkıcı, önemsiz uzun diyaloglar, saçma sapan görevler.
  19. Willod
    Nov 28, 2020
    7
    Valhalla, Odyssey ve Origins i oynarken hissetmediğim bir sey var o da stres. Bu da bu oyunlari sevmemi sagliyor. Kendini ciddiye alan AAA oyunlarini oynarken, oyun uzerimde baski kuruyor. Bu söyle bir baski, ornegin rdr2 oynarken oyun benden her seye odaklanmami bekliyor kamptaki diyaloglar gorevler acik dunya etkinliklerinde karsilastigim karakterler hepsini gordugumde ciddiye almali veValhalla, Odyssey ve Origins i oynarken hissetmediğim bir sey var o da stres. Bu da bu oyunlari sevmemi sagliyor. Kendini ciddiye alan AAA oyunlarini oynarken, oyun uzerimde baski kuruyor. Bu söyle bir baski, ornegin rdr2 oynarken oyun benden her seye odaklanmami bekliyor kamptaki diyaloglar gorevler acik dunya etkinliklerinde karsilastigim karakterler hepsini gordugumde ciddiye almali ve hikayelerini dinlemeli ve onemsemeliyim cunku oyunun zevki bu sekilde cikiyor. Bu kadar seye odaklanmak da beni yoruyor. Bir sonraki oyuna girisimde su kimdi bu neydi en son ne demisti dememek icin hepsini aklimda tutmam gerekiyor ve dedigim gibi bu yoruyor. Rdr2 gibi bir oyunda evet bunu yapmak güzel, hikayenin içine girmek, butun karakterlerle hasir nesir olmak, o dünyanin parcasi olmak vs. Ama oynadigim her oyunda her detayi takip etmek istemem. Iste Ac Valhalla da bana bunu vaadediyor: Cok fazla detaya takilmadan oyunu oynamayi. Bunu da pek de fena olmayan bir oynanis ve bence bu sefer güzel olan bir hikayeyle yapiyor. Hatta hikaye akisi ac odyssey'den çok daha güzel. Oyuna normalde 8 puan verecektim ama cokme ve animasyon glitchleri o kadar fazla ki bu oyundan aldigim zevki cok fazla etkiledi.… Expand
  20. Soularry
    Dec 20, 2020
    7
    A versy stupid and repetitive story with some good side quests and characters. Combat and parkour are too heavy and borin on a large scale of time. It's an ok game but will be dissapointed for people that love Odessey.
  21. near4422
    Dec 8, 2020
    7
    AC Valhalla is overall a very good game and could be recommended to almost everyone, but it has it's flaws which shouldn't be skipped.
    Let's start with pros - the game looks gorgeous and most of the time runs nicely. I also really like these small eyeball movements and facial expressions of the main characters (others dont have any expressions so such things like screaming only comes to    AC Valhalla is overall a very good game and could be recommended to almost everyone, but it has it's flaws which shouldn't be skipped.
    Let's start with pros - the game looks gorgeous and most of the time runs nicely. I also really like these small eyeball movements and facial expressions of the main characters (others dont have any expressions so such things like screaming only comes to opening mouth for them). But that's all.
    Now for the cons - The game been crashing for me everyday at least once dropping me back to the desktop. If i were lucky enough to play for some time, sooner or later i came onto some kind of bug or error that blocked the progress - NPC i should be following stands like a statue, script didn't triggers even tho i am in a correct possition, or Quest started without it's objective and i couldn't end it (the one with the barrier). That alone had a massive impact on my enjoyment with the game.
    Next up - Plot. The game's being set in RPG genre. Yes Eivor is cool and easy to identify with but the whole story is boring and unnecessarily stretched out. Not a single decision has a impact on story. Everything comes to go to point X and kill bunch of NPC's - all the time. Eivor is a viking right? Forget about sneaking then. Ubisoft was promising 'getting back to the roots of the series' with sneaking within monks - yes you can actually do it. Is there a reason you should do it for? Not at all. 99% of the time you have to use violence (call your crew and raid the place) in order to open up a way to your goal. All this 'assassin's vs templars' plot could be easly removed from the game and nothing would happen.
    The whole 'settlement' thing also does very little for the game. I only returned there whenever the main story ordered me to do so. Of course you can upgrade the gear there (that also has very little impact for the game - you can literarlly go with your starting eq and you'll be fine) or give back gathered collectibles in return for more minningless items.
    Birds fly with 15 FPS (even if you're right next to them) witch makes them look hillarious.
    Sounds are compressed 'to save up some disk space' but they sound just awfully. I also can't remember a single musical background.
    The game is clearly designed to take at least 50 hours if you rush it, so that the regular player will have to buy at least two months of ubisoft+ to finish it. In my honest opinion - less hours but better narration or gameplay is worth more than gigantic world filled with boring activities.
    It doesn't deserve more than 7. It's an okay game but nothing besides that - not a good Assassin's Creed game nor a game about Vikings.    … Expand
  22. severouss
    Nov 12, 2020
    7
    AC Valhalla offers a very beautiful, fleshed out open world to dive in (art direction is, once more, truly exceptional) and an intriguing, enjoyable story, especially for those who like the vikings setting. Moreover, the protagonist is well-balanced, witty and relatable, while, at the same time, (s)he allows some room for role playing. I really liked Kassandra in Odyssey and I didn'tAC Valhalla offers a very beautiful, fleshed out open world to dive in (art direction is, once more, truly exceptional) and an intriguing, enjoyable story, especially for those who like the vikings setting. Moreover, the protagonist is well-balanced, witty and relatable, while, at the same time, (s)he allows some room for role playing. I really liked Kassandra in Odyssey and I didn't believe that they could actually match that, but they did (plus the fact that Magnus Bruun is great as Eivor, better than Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra imo whose performance was good, but uneven). The supporting cast is good as well, with very few exceptions. Last but not least, I really liked the spooky/mystic atmosphere of the game, Ubisoft nailed it in this aspect (the phenomenal soundtrack helps a lot with this of course).

    So, why did I give it a 7, instead of an 8 or a 9? The main reasons are the following 3:

    1. Lack of refinement. This is classic Ubisoft. They craft these amazing open worlds, they put so much effort and passion and love, but they sabotage themselves by not allowing a few more months of production to cover that extra mile and achieve greatness. And in order to achieve greatness you have to tend to the details as thoroughly as possible, take care of those little things very few people notice if they are there, but many people notice if they are not.

    2. The combat is a mixed bag for me. On the one hand they fixed the main issue I had with Odyssey (enemy sponges), on the other the combat doesn't always "connect", it often feels awkward and disjointed. Also, it's too exaggerated/arcadey for my taste (for instance, the heavy attack usually flings the enemies 5-6 meters away, wtf). I think this was the perfect opportunity for a more grounded, tight and impactful combat system which would significantly add to the immersion. Sadly, they missed it.

    3. It drags far too long; obviously this is completely subjective, but I felt that the game would've been far better if they'd removed some of the fat (which, imo, is about 10-15 hours of unnecessary content).

    Don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying my time with the game. It's a good game. Unfortunately though, it has some serious issues which I think Ubisoft has the knowledge, experience and resources to address, but they didn't. And this is not the 1st time, it is actually the rule rather than the exception with all of their games.

    That's all, Severouss out.    … Expand
  23. ekabon
    Nov 30, 2020
    7
    Leading up to release, the noise around Valhalla did manage to hype me up. And it didn't disappoint... at least that's what I thought at the beginning. And, from my own experience, it seems to be a pattern throughout all of the AC games: they start out strong and slowly fade away towards the end once all of the routines settle in.

    The story is alright, but nothing too exciting. Usual    Leading up to release, the noise around Valhalla did manage to hype me up. And it didn't disappoint... at least that's what I thought at the beginning. And, from my own experience, it seems to be a pattern throughout all of the AC games: they start out strong and slowly fade away towards the end once all of the routines settle in.

    The story is alright, but nothing too exciting. Usual Ubisoft problems there: boring dialogues and poor animation. World events it's the only breath of fresh air in this entry. Most of them seem fun and interesting, although they lack in depth and duration. I've stumbled upon a few quest-breaking bugs with World Events as well.

    Speaking of bugs, there's quite a few. Although sometimes it's difficult to say whether something is a bug or it's a poor game design. Abilities require some serious rebalancing, I ended up using only one ability (the one with the harpoon) as it was dealing much more damage than all the other ones. Skill tree was rather annoying with all the sub-nodes to unlock, as unlocking them didn't add anywhere nearly enough difference to actually notice during gameplay.

    Visually the game looks like Odyssey, in the best-case scenarios that is. But in most cases, it actually looks worse. Very disappointing in that regard.

    And gear and weapons... Oh boy, that was one of the stupidest changes they introduced. The gear system is basically non-existent. I ended up using the first gear set (Berserk) I got at the very beginning of the game throughout the rest of it. Other gear sets had weak buffs and looked much worse next to my upgraded gear. Same with weapons: tons of shields, barely any interesting weapons. I found a badass axe at the beginning of the game and used it for the whole game as I couldn't find anything better.

    Overall experience was very mediocre. The game feels extremely rushed into release and unimaginative. Like with pretty much all of the previous AC games, they could do a much better job if only they invested a decent amount of time into development. 3 years of development is a joke, regardless of how many studios were involved.

    Oh, birds and flames at half the framerate are still there ;)    … Expand
  24. iartaza91
    Nov 19, 2020
    7
    So far I've played 5 hours. The game itself is beautyfull and the world is absolutely filed with thins and places and stories, but there is an ENORMOUS But... The AI. Oh God, enemies they virtually don't exist, even in the ultimate difficulty. And of course there are plenty of bugs. Is a shame, this could have been a masterpiece
  25. andrejS_de
    Apr 18, 2021
    7
    If you liked Odyessy, you will most likely also enjoy this game. It takes what Odyessy did right and capitalizes on it while removing some of the more tedious side content and instead respects your time. Except for one overarching problem that both Odyssey and this game suffer from is the gigantic, open world filled with empty space. It just feels dead and after a long while of playing, IIf you liked Odyessy, you will most likely also enjoy this game. It takes what Odyessy did right and capitalizes on it while removing some of the more tedious side content and instead respects your time. Except for one overarching problem that both Odyssey and this game suffer from is the gigantic, open world filled with empty space. It just feels dead and after a long while of playing, I got tired of it. Even when going back to it months later, I can't get back into it. It isn't worth it to me and I hope Ubisoft can come up with a way to make their open worlds more interesting.… Expand
  26. Asmarath
    Nov 24, 2020
    7
    Pros:
    East England is adorable
    Finally Vikings with some nuances
    The main story is really well told
    Improved loot system

    Cons:
    Bugs - Some even game-breaking, quests that don´t appear. Still not fixed 15 days after launch
    The combat - It´s less precise, has less weight to it and is not as fluid compared to Odyssey
    Conversation choices lack impact
  27. ElSabio
    Dec 26, 2020
    7
    It was pretty decent. Cons:
    It does feel repetitive at some point. Too much mystical stuff for my taste. Ending was underwhelming and confusing. I shouldn't need to read a wiki or complete side missions to get it. Few bugs here and there but they got patched for the most part.
    Pros: Raiding and battles are fun. Male Evior is cool, smart, badass and always knows what to say (didn't play    It was pretty decent. Cons:
    It does feel repetitive at some point. Too much mystical stuff for my taste. Ending was underwhelming and confusing. I shouldn't need to read a wiki or complete side missions to get it. Few bugs here and there but they got patched for the most part.

    Pros: Raiding and battles are fun. Male Evior is cool, smart, badass and always knows what to say (didn't play female Eivor) Skills, weapons and combat are cool and satisfying. The whole setting, time period, map etc is very appealing. The graphics are really good. Highly recommend it on PC at 4K 60fps. Some side characters are interesting    … Expand
  28. Douglasbrown242
    Nov 27, 2020
    7
    I'd give this game a higher rating if there weren't so many bugs and crashes. I really enjoy the settlement idea and the rpg elements of the game. I do wish there were a little more options for the settlement building but I like where they are going. The big issue I have is that I've had more crashes and more of my character getting stuck in a wall and dying than I've had in any game I'veI'd give this game a higher rating if there weren't so many bugs and crashes. I really enjoy the settlement idea and the rpg elements of the game. I do wish there were a little more options for the settlement building but I like where they are going. The big issue I have is that I've had more crashes and more of my character getting stuck in a wall and dying than I've had in any game I've played ever. It seems as though they rushed the release and probably should have waited til some time next year. It's my favorite assassin's creed game so far and I'd change my rating to a 9 if the game didn't crash so much.… Expand
  29. przeprze
    Apr 1, 2021
    7
    I really REALLY wanted to like the game, but alas. The story, I think, is its biggest strength and, at the same time, its biggest flaw. There is "slow burn" and then there is Ubisoft's approach to their games. You want to move the plot? Why of course, do several hours of tedious repetitive quests with uninspired, poorly written and horribly voiced side characters over and over and over andI really REALLY wanted to like the game, but alas. The story, I think, is its biggest strength and, at the same time, its biggest flaw. There is "slow burn" and then there is Ubisoft's approach to their games. You want to move the plot? Why of course, do several hours of tedious repetitive quests with uninspired, poorly written and horribly voiced side characters over and over and over and over again. You want to take a break and try some side content? Why of course, here are your low-quality low-effort "world events" that will baffle you by their presentation more often than by their actual content.

    And, unlike in Odyssey, this time I'm actually sad about all this. Eivor grew on me immensely in the course of the game, as did the combat system. Raids lost their appeal after about the fifth one I did but still were a welcome distraction from the monotonous story quests. And the world itself is incredible, lush and vibrant in ways not many games can achieve. Too bad, then, that it overstays its welcome for about 10-20 hours (of purely story-related content).

    Ubisoft really need to scale down. Valhalla shows that, if their heart is in the right place and the writers actually care about the story, new AC installments can come very close to the legendary ones like AC2, Black Flag and Unity. But as long as they keep making the games more and more bloated and padded with completely arbitrary fluff, aimed at making you skip the grind by buying things at the store to finally FINALLY progress the damn story, they'll stay in this weird limbo of "ah yes, yet another Assassin's Creed game".    … Expand
  30. connorasmith
    Jan 23, 2021
    7
    As a long time Assassins Creed fan, AC Valhalla fell flat for me. By the end of the game, I found myself just wanting it to be over, as if playing the game had been a full-time job and the slog finally came to an end. Overall, Valhalla was an ambitious game, but it's poorly paced and filled so full of repetitive fluff, and so anti-climatic in it's story moments, that I enjoyed only a smallAs a long time Assassins Creed fan, AC Valhalla fell flat for me. By the end of the game, I found myself just wanting it to be over, as if playing the game had been a full-time job and the slog finally came to an end. Overall, Valhalla was an ambitious game, but it's poorly paced and filled so full of repetitive fluff, and so anti-climatic in it's story moments, that I enjoyed only a small portion of the 90 hours I played.

    I'll start with the good: The world of AC Valhalla is absolutely beautiful, with plenty to explore. The world is filled with diverse biomes, with terrain ranging from open fields to mountainous landscapes. This world is filled with short "world events" that, honestly, were my favorite part of the game. As mini-sidequests, they had a much lighter and more playful tone than the story, and many of them were actually hilarious. I think the best writing in the game can be found in these world events, and I always looked forward to reaching and experiencing every single one.

    Starting to get into what I didn't like: The world is also filled with an encumbering amount of collectibles, that are often hidden behind the same generic puzzle (sometimes even the exact same), to the point where solving and collecting the item just becomes tedious. To make matters worse, you can't see what the collectible is before getting near it, so trying to actually grab any meaningful wealth items or collectibles feels almost like a lootbox with little pay-off, with their sole purpose to just take up your time.

    I felt that way throughout the game, even with the main story. That so much of Valhalla just existed to drag out my experience, and force me to commit as many hours as possible in the illusion of it being a "massive" game. Truly, I felt like most of the game was just filler, with key story moments being rushed over and anticlimactic, while random arcs that very well should've been optional were forced on me and got more screentime than what should've been dramatic and critical plot moments. Similarly, the pacing of the story was awful, it felt like every time I started getting interesting in the main story, it would throw more (not optional) filler at me until I lost interest again. By the end, I had put 90 hours in Valhalla, but probably only actually enjoyed about 10 of those hours.

    Don't get me wrong - some of the story is great, especially toward the end, but those moments are so few and far between that it's hard to appreciate them at all (especially when the whole main story arc is so tonally inconsistent, and constantly feels like it alternates between comedy and drama).

    Though I don't usually complain too much about bugs, I did hit a few progression-blockers that really annoyed me. I can't even get to the game's epilogue now after finishing everything in the world, and a specific sidequest remains blocked by a known-issue that I'm just hoping will be fixed in a future update. Also, the bow (my favorite weapon in the game) has a quiver bug that results in me always having a lower arrow capacity I should, which was pretty annoying.

    I loved AC Odyssey and it's world, and to-date, I think it's still my Assassins Creed game. Maybe the Viking setting just didn't interest me enough, or maybe story just wasn't the priority for this game, but if there was anything I could change, I'd wish for a more condensed version of Valhalla that focuses on what it does best, and eliminates the mediocre filler.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

42
#42 Best PC Game of 2020
5
#5 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. RPG Site
    Apr 5, 2021
    60
    Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a great-looking open-world game with impressive landscapes and cinematography. However, the checklist collectible open-world still needs some work to feel truly engaging, and combat is too tedious and too frequent to be compelling. As a lapsed fan of Assassin's Creed trying to see if I can click with the series once again, Valhalla didn't quite hook me as I was hoping it would.
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  2. Game Debate
    Jan 11, 2021
    80
    Assassins Creed Valhalla is a lot of fun and easy to sink dozens of hours into. It is the best entry in the more recent trilogy and genuinely elevates the gameplay mechanics. Content could be considered somewhat bloated still, but it is diverse enough and the setting and story is solid most of the way through.
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  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 4, 2021
    80
    Sneaking is fun, fighting is fun, walking through the great outdoors is so much fun. Sightseeing too! Valhalla is free minded and could be innovative, but lacks skills to persuade its players about that. [Issue#308]
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