Assassin's Creed Valhalla

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 2867 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,851 out of 2867
  2. Mixed: 337 out of 2867
  3. Negative: 679 out of 2867
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. OldAndCynical
    Nov 16, 2020
    7
    Let me first state that I'm a long time fan of the AC franchise, and love each and every game in it, including ACIII and Unity.
    But while I do like Valhalla, I'm not loving it. Because the game has ISSUES. And because the game is nowhere near as fun as the previous games.
    First, there is the loot, or the lack of it. The game world only contains handful of armor pieces and weps to be    Let me first state that I'm a long time fan of the AC franchise, and love each and every game in it, including ACIII and Unity.
    But while I do like Valhalla, I'm not loving it. Because the game has ISSUES. And because the game is nowhere near as fun as the previous games.
    First, there is the loot, or the lack of it. The game world only contains handful of armor pieces and weps to be found. Meaning that most chest you find, only contain basic crafting materials. Dull, to say the least!
    Then, there is the buggy combat. There is a clear lag on how your character reacts to button presses, and sometimes the hero does not react at all! You are full stamina, and NOT stunned, yet your character just stands there, unmoving, as you try to hammer your shoulder buttons to get the darned hero hitting the darned enemy! Serious bugs alert!
    Companions are likewise buggy. Half the time they just ignore you when you command them do stuff on the battlefield. Which can lead you not being able to complete objectives. Ouch!
    And then there is the way the hero often gets stuck to the environment, meaning you have to fast travel to get him out!
    So, lotsa bugs and glitches aplently. But that's not my main issue.
    The main issue is the Vikings themselves.
    Now, if you've seen the brill Vikings TV series (2013 onwards), you know how bada*s Vikings can be when done right. Unfortunately, the Vikings in Valhalla are embarrassingly weak and unconvincing when compared to the bada*s Vikings of the Vikings (tm) TV series. Ha, Rollo alone could wipe out these weedy Vikings. With one hand tied behind his back!
    Sure, you meet some real macho characters along the way, which helps, but its kinda sad when your hero feels a lame-o wannabe Viking...
    So, Ubi did not get the Vikings quite right. They should've been lot tougher, and lot more merciless too. As it is, you get game over if your Vikings kill too many civilians in the game... Sigh...
    But hey, on the positive side, the game looks utterly brill on PS4Pro, and runs very smoothly too. And once they clear the bugs, it'll be lot more fun to play. And the skill tree is pretty solid.
    So, 8/10 from me. Good game, but could've been so much better.
    Added later; I have to drop the score to 7. This is due to the heroes of Valhalla turning out to have zero charisma and personality. Far cry from the incredibly charismatic historic characters you met in ACII, III and Unity. When we meet characters like, say, Thor, in games, they're supposed to impress the heck outta us, Ubisoft, not bore us to death.
    Also, I'm sick of the recurring drug episodes in the game. All Ubisoft games have drug infused, hallucinogenic episodes, prolly because Ubisoft crew is anxious to explain away their own drug habits, but in Valhalla, there's just too much of them. Not all gamers say yes to drugs, Ubisoft, even if you do.    … Expand
  2. Lord_Khey
    May 5, 2021
    6
    Not nearly as enjoyable as AC: Odyssey, but there's certainly some fun to be had once you get the hang of the battle system (two red hits in early boss fights end you early on, but be patient). As has been the case with the last two AC games, it's really nice to look at, and the developers do a nice job of trying to insert the fictional "assassin" in with actual historical characters andNot nearly as enjoyable as AC: Odyssey, but there's certainly some fun to be had once you get the hang of the battle system (two red hits in early boss fights end you early on, but be patient). As has been the case with the last two AC games, it's really nice to look at, and the developers do a nice job of trying to insert the fictional "assassin" in with actual historical characters and various deities/mythological creatures which makes the story interesting. Unfortunately, the side quests are grindy (though blessedly finite), so cleaning up to get the Platinum (even with YouTube University to help) is daunting (despite a significantly smaller map than Odyssey). Voice acting is uneven, but I entertained myself by pretending that the actors for Basim and female Eivor were having a contest to smoke the most cigarettes during production. The music was also lackluster save for Einar Selvik's in-battle vocal compositions (disappointing, because I liked Jesper Kyd and Sarah Schachner's previous AC contributions). Improvements over the last installment include getting rid of the infinitely generating side quests and mercenaries, the animal hunts are far less grindy (remember the Elephant battles in Origins? Sheesh), it is actually possible to assassinate brutes/more powerful enemies (thank you), but there is a timing mechanic that determines your success (fair enough). Step backs include long loading times (for either fast travel or respawning), the nonsensical stamina system (blocking tires you, but attacking gets you more stamina ??), the irritating fishing mode, and a thoroughly predictable final act, with the possible exception of how the past ties in with the modern day arc. Seriously, who didn't know who the head of the "Templars" in this game was by the halfway point? I was ambivalent toward the levelling system, but I will say that the "return fire" special ability is by far my favorite mechanic introduced into the series in a LONG time. The AI's ability to spot you on normal stealth difficulty (vs. Master Assassin, which you can select early on) is a little too "good." Not as bad as "Unity" which could spot you WHILE BLENDED FFS, but I can only imagine being frustrated had I gone the more difficult route. Valhalla is a good time until you complete the story. Then it just kind of...lingers.… Expand
  3. Mitchyyy_b
    May 26, 2021
    5
    Worst one I've played imo, played about 20 hours, got boring very fast. Map is far to big and pointless imo, these AAA games seem more focused on whoa got the bigger map than the content in it these days.
  4. Chempion1
    May 12, 2022
    7
    Я всегда думал, что в сиквелах хорошей игры "тех же щей, только больше" это хорошо. Но Ubisoft просто пробили потолок и превратили этот тезис в абсурд. Более 110 часов геймплея! 110 ЧАСОВ!!! И это только необходимый СЮЖЕТ! Не говорю об уничтожении всех членов ордена Древних, для того что бы закончить историю. Я эту игру проходил почти год, даже консоль не выдержала, сгорела. Пришлось вЯ всегда думал, что в сиквелах хорошей игры "тех же щей, только больше" это хорошо. Но Ubisoft просто пробили потолок и превратили этот тезис в абсурд. Более 110 часов геймплея! 110 ЧАСОВ!!! И это только необходимый СЮЖЕТ! Не говорю об уничтожении всех членов ордена Древних, для того что бы закончить историю. Я эту игру проходил почти год, даже консоль не выдержала, сгорела. Пришлось в ремонт отдавать.
    Теперь о самой игре.
    Ну геймплейно и графически по сути это всё тот же AC Origins. В игре изменили систему прокачки, теперь она больше похожа на аналогичную в Skyrim. Открывая перки ты двигаешься к ним по древу умений постепенно прокачивая своё здоровье, защиту, атаку и т. д.
    Доспехи теперь можно объединять в сеты, как в Dark Souls. Это даже даёт минимальные плюшки к защите. Но, при этом, ни оружие, ни доспехи продать нельзя. Ты их находишь и носишь с собой до окончания игры. Так же у всего этого добра есть прокачка для которой требуются определённые ресурсы. Но с этим связан некий казус. Например я нашёл супер копьё легендарного уровня (в игре их 4 вида: хорошее, превосходное, безупречное и легендарное. Разница в силе и количестве рун) на 30! уровне. Мне надо было только вложиться в его усиление и я получил читерское оружие уровне на 50том, с которым я почти всю игру и прошел. Да теперь у самого оружия нет уровня владения, если нашёл можешь пользоваться любым.
    Сюжет можно сказать интересный, но очень затянутый. Поначалу пытался брать доп. миссии, но потом забил на это дело так как и сюжетных такая уйма, что просто игра может затянуться часов на 200 или больше. А с данным подходом всё прохождение превратится в тупую рутину.
    Ещё я достиг 375 уровня и у меня было открыто практически всё древо прокачки и проходить доп. задания просто смысла не было.
    О приятном. В отличии от Odyssey где ты мог заняться сексом буквально с каждым продавцом, в Valhalla всяких лгбт элементов стало в разы меньше. Хотя иногда можно начать романтическую линию как с мужчиной, так и с женщиной. Ещё чернокожих викингов я не заметил, но есть викинги-азиаты.
    С женщинами как всегда в западном зазеркалье: в игре они все великие и честные воины, даже если бывают врагами. Предатели, трусы и воры только яйценосцы.
    Ещё, как я понял, авторы просто уже не знают как и куда прилепить этот "Анимус" и наше время, но концовка всё же интригует.
    Ещё игра очень темная.
    Резюмирую. Ubisoft надо что то менять. Растягивать геймплей далее некуда. Авторы хотели создать игру в которой есть всё! И бои, и охота за головами, и строительство, и рыбалка, и охота, и набеги, и вариативность. Да это неплохо, но начинает страдать сам геймплей, а это не правильно.
    Игра неплохая, но затянутая. Кто не проходил, но хочет, готовьтесь потратить месяца три на прохождение. Ну если конечно играть часа по два в день, а не сутки напролёт!    … Expand
  5. sagemilli92
    Jun 26, 2023
    7
    Overall - 3/5
    The gameplay was enjoyable at first, but not deep or complex enough to hold up over the extraordinary length of the game. Combat was good, but became repetitive. Visual were stunning in my opinion.
  6. TheBigTicket
    Jun 28, 2023
    5
    I really wanted to like this game because I love the entire historic setting of vikings and medieval England but this game is just such a chore. You basically have to spend 100 hours of repetitive sidequests that are required to advance the main story line (which imo is actually pretty good) and i just became tired with it halfway through.

    The combat is fine, it doesnt really feel    I really wanted to like this game because I love the entire historic setting of vikings and medieval England but this game is just such a chore. You basically have to spend 100 hours of repetitive sidequests that are required to advance the main story line (which imo is actually pretty good) and i just became tired with it halfway through.

    The combat is fine, it doesnt really feel challenging nor is there a lot of skill expression.

    The map is beautiful and exploration would be fun if you actually got any meaningful rewards from it but they made loot so rare that you almost never find a cool weapon or armor upgrade.

    Overall not a good game unfortunately and I feel like I wasted a lot of time with it.

    Also there were alot of bugs, one which forced me to restart.    … Expand
  7. Samyar91
    Jan 12, 2021
    6
    The game become repetetive in all aspecr for me...I wanted the graphic to become more inspiering but it’s outdated like most of the ubisoft games...this assassin’s creed is better for me from their previous assassins but still it’s not a wow game for me..though it’s a very very big game with a lot of map and story and stuff to do..it has some moment that you like it but I got the platinumThe game become repetetive in all aspecr for me...I wanted the graphic to become more inspiering but it’s outdated like most of the ubisoft games...this assassin’s creed is better for me from their previous assassins but still it’s not a wow game for me..though it’s a very very big game with a lot of map and story and stuff to do..it has some moment that you like it but I got the platinum and I said to myself:such a waste of time because it was way too long for nothing… Expand
  8. BallzyDan
    Jan 14, 2021
    5
    The game is very disappointing in comparison to Odyssey and I like it even slightly less than Origins. The game has loaded me into an infinite sequence of my character falling thru the map, but luckily that went away after a few days before the new year. I find the leveling up more grindy than Odyssey. I would love to level up enough to unlock no fall damage, am level 45, going for 280. Fantastic
  9. Ftr123
    Jan 19, 2021
    6
    Really mixed Feelings about this.
    Story starts as **** and end in absolute ****.
    Gameplay is fine but buggy and not as good as Odyssey. Worst part is Asgard. Just wait till you get to it, im sure youll dislike it like i did. New Trilogy startet promising with Origins, got worse story but a hell of a better gameplay in Odyssey, but now its a mediocre Story with mediocre gameplay wiht    Really mixed Feelings about this.
    Story starts as **** and end in absolute ****.
    Gameplay is fine but buggy and not as good as Odyssey.
    Worst part is Asgard. Just wait till you get to it, im sure youll dislike it like i did.
    New Trilogy startet promising with Origins, got worse story but a hell of a better gameplay in Odyssey, but now its a mediocre Story with mediocre gameplay wiht BUGS. Did i mention the BUGS? If i forgot to mention all the BUGS, i think you get the idea now that i want to point out all the BUGS, Goddamn Ubisoft, this is a mess. If you cant finish it before Christmas, dont ship it before Christmas.    … Expand
  10. jonnyd-2007
    Jan 24, 2021
    6
    Nowhere near as good as AC Odyssey. Extremely glitchy on PS4. Have had to reset the game many times for different reasons. Whilst the graphics are nice and the game looks stunning in certain areas, the textures of various surfaces take a long time to load. The characters and story are ok. I felt disappointed because the setting and history has such potential. Many of the quests areNowhere near as good as AC Odyssey. Extremely glitchy on PS4. Have had to reset the game many times for different reasons. Whilst the graphics are nice and the game looks stunning in certain areas, the textures of various surfaces take a long time to load. The characters and story are ok. I felt disappointed because the setting and history has such potential. Many of the quests are repetitive. If you are going into this after AC Odyssey prepare to be a bit disappointed.… Expand
  11. Synergy101
    Jan 18, 2021
    6
    After finish Odyssey, I can say that Valhalla is nothing special. World in Odyssey was so beautiful, in Valhalla it's just mountains and hills and some rivers, which all look the same. Blue and Brown if I'm correct. I don't know why WHY they took out auto find enemies with the crow, what's the point in having a bird if you can't lock on, it just flies around and shows you what you alreadyAfter finish Odyssey, I can say that Valhalla is nothing special. World in Odyssey was so beautiful, in Valhalla it's just mountains and hills and some rivers, which all look the same. Blue and Brown if I'm correct. I don't know why WHY they took out auto find enemies with the crow, what's the point in having a bird if you can't lock on, it just flies around and shows you what you already see on the map... The skill tree is weird, you don't see skills ahead of the tree you are going into, most of the skills are shared grey , so you might follow a path and then you see a skill you don't want , just wasted all that time . But you can respec for free so that's good.i guess re specking is for free cuz they knew ppl wouldn't like the system. Combat is worse then Odyssey, the fights get so repetitive after mission 14, even on berserker it's so easy. Skills are bland and nothing special. And if this is Vikings, boat battles were a big part of their history, and there are no boat battles, weird in that. Overall, I put the game up for sale after 13 hours of playing, I'm working on Ghost of Tusushima and that is AMAZING! 10/10.
    6 is generous for Valhalla, 7 is over generous.    … Expand
  12. SuperShrooms
    Nov 11, 2020
    7
    Assassin's Creed games feel quite average after playing Ghost of Tsushima. Step it up Ubisoft. This game doesn't have any wow factor. Just your typical regurgitated Ubisoft game. These games need something different. Something new. This ain't it and at today's standards it just doesn't cut it.
  13. martinho_99
    May 30, 2021
    7
    As always: if you don't expect too much of Ubisoft you won't be dissapointet. It is not a masterpiece but you can have some fun for a huge amount of hours. Nevertheless this is far too much off from what AC should be. It would be a more or less good Vikings game but it is not an Assasins Creed game. Biggest problem is the crap Ubisoft tries to strech the playtime with like the 20 differentAs always: if you don't expect too much of Ubisoft you won't be dissapointet. It is not a masterpiece but you can have some fun for a huge amount of hours. Nevertheless this is far too much off from what AC should be. It would be a more or less good Vikings game but it is not an Assasins Creed game. Biggest problem is the crap Ubisoft tries to strech the playtime with like the 20 different kinds of collecting stuff. I never met anybody who says "oh man there are 300 little hidden whatevers to collect. This is so much fun."… Expand
  14. piuscorvus
    Jul 15, 2021
    6
    Valhalla continues in the manner of Origins and Odyssey. If you liked those two games, you will probably like this one too. Only, next to the main and usual side quests you have now your own settlement that you can build and develop and always return to. It is a nice new thing but far from a settlement (or a camp) that you have in Red Dead Redemption II, for example. Upgrading houses andValhalla continues in the manner of Origins and Odyssey. If you liked those two games, you will probably like this one too. Only, next to the main and usual side quests you have now your own settlement that you can build and develop and always return to. It is a nice new thing but far from a settlement (or a camp) that you have in Red Dead Redemption II, for example. Upgrading houses and buildings in your settlement opens a few side quests but apart from that there is nothing much to do there.

    Speaking of the story… nothing special here. You are a Viking, who is looking for allies in order to conquer England. The world is huge and you play partly in Norway and the largest part of the game you will be in England. In every region you have a couple of main quests before you get yourself an ally. It was all fairly interesting but after finishing a couple of regions I felt like I was in an endless tunnel with no light to announce the end (the moment I was finished with one region, another one would open… and then another one… and another one…).

    After I finished the game, I wondered why the title was “Assassin's Creed” because the game (a story at least) had so little to do with an Assassin’s Creed. The main character is a Viking (he is not an Assassin), who only meets a few Assassins on the way but there is nothing more that connects this game or story with Assassin's Creed. Except the gameplay, of course.

    When I started playing, I was surprised by the graphics, which are not bad but I have seen much better looking games from the previous year. Before I started Valhalla, I played The Last of Us Part II after which Valhalla looked almost like a previous generation game. The animation is mostly average; lip synching is bad for the most part and voice expressions that you hear usually do not match face expressions that you see on the screen.

    One of the main issues: the game is way too long. It took me 149 hours to complete the game with all side quests and find all treasures and chests. This would have been a really cool and fun game if it would have been 40 or 50 hours long. But 149 hours… There must be a moment to stop and finish something but no… Ubisoft rather opens another region on the map and another set of the same missions. After 149 hours, everything that was good about this game turned out bad and boring at the end.

    Within a huge world you will find plenty of nice landscapes but also an awful lot of copy-pasting, which is already a long tradition for Ubisoft. There are so many identical buildings, houses, churches, so many identical puzzles… It is all cool at the beginning but to complete the game you will have to do those cool things so often that at the end, you will not find them cool anymore.

    Side quests (called “world events”) are generally short events that will take few minutes to solve and they are a bit more interesting compared to the previous games (if you ignore the fact that there are again far too many of them and some of them are quite retarded).

    There are less armors and weapons in this game, which some people will hate but I found it better, less confusing and you definitely spend less time browsing the menu. The combat is not the best in the world but it unfortunately ages fast and gets boring because of the game’s huge length.

    My playthrough was really, really buggy and bugs appeared far too often and interrupted the gameplay flow. One of the most frequent bugs was that after a longer horse ride your character and horse would freeze while entering a city or a village. There is probably no game without bugs but this game has too many of them..

    Missing textures are also a big issue in this game. Textures of the roads or nearby houses would are often like in a PS1 video game. I personally think that this is unacceptable especially when developers wave all the time with phrases such as “next generation experience”. This was far from that.

    It feels that half of the game are loading screens. Even when you only wanted to talk with some pedestrians on the street there was a black loading screen! Fast travel was senseless in most of the cases unless you wanted to skip a very big distance (sometimes it was faster to ride a horse than to use the fast travel option). I always used fast travel when I needed to go to the toilet.

    All in all, I enjoyed the first 15 or 20 hours of the game but later I could not get rid of an “unfinished” feel that followed me through the whole game surely because Ubisoft continues a tradition of publishing new Assassin's Creed games far too often. It is not surprising that there are always so many issues because one year is obviously not enough for a huge open world game like this (if you want a great game at the end, I mean…). Ubisoft also continues a tradition of horrible writing, bad acting, copy-pasting as if the only goal is to make the longest game with a largest world possible with thousands of side quests in it.    … Expand
  15. Wingmanwesty
    Oct 25, 2021
    5
    Huuuuge, big, large. Seems great at first, but unfortunately it's a giant empty map. The first area of map has cool objectives, side questline, single one shot quests, and small treasures to collect. Will take probably 7-10 hours to do. Then you just do that over and over and over again in each new map chunk. Way too repetitive. The story is interspersed in here, so you have huge gapsHuuuuge, big, large. Seems great at first, but unfortunately it's a giant empty map. The first area of map has cool objectives, side questline, single one shot quests, and small treasures to collect. Will take probably 7-10 hours to do. Then you just do that over and over and over again in each new map chunk. Way too repetitive. The story is interspersed in here, so you have huge gaps between story moments that are filled with boring mindless junk. The gameplay doesn't do stealth well for going back to it's Assassin's Creed Routes with hidden blades and hoods, feels tacked on and honestly feels like the wrong way to play. The parkour and traversal also doesn't feel fluid, or real, which is a real step-back for the series.… Expand
  16. Ignises
    Jan 3, 2021
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. too many chests to open. too much gathering at all. shi..y fights with bosses (zeolites And all the rest with fenrir at the head, on which I just have no words how they screwed it up). Keep it up and you will dissolve in the fog of Niflheim.

    Ps. Bug bug bug    … Expand
  17. Drollzico
    Apr 25, 2021
    5
    The weakest one in the RPG trilogy (Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla). I really expected more from this game, but it disappointed me so much. The story is the best part of this game, definitely better than Origins' and Odyssey's, it is nothing awesome, but it's a good and solid story, especially the ending. However, the characters are very uninteresting, bland and not a little charismatic, whatThe weakest one in the RPG trilogy (Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla). I really expected more from this game, but it disappointed me so much. The story is the best part of this game, definitely better than Origins' and Odyssey's, it is nothing awesome, but it's a good and solid story, especially the ending. However, the characters are very uninteresting, bland and not a little charismatic, what makes them pretty much forgettable. Also, all the characters in this game, viking, english or from anywhere else, can speak the same language and understand each other, what totally breaks the immersion of the game. The graphics are good in current gen, nothing to complain. The soundtrack is good too, the only thing i didn't like is that there's no soundtrack in the custcenes, just the character's voices. The minigames are cool as well. Now, let's talk about what i didn't like at all in this game. The combat has many, many problems. When you attack an enemy, sometimes the enemy doesn't feel your punchs and just take damage and attack you in the middle of your combo. Also, some enemies attacks have a strange red effect like they had superpowers in a game that tries to be realistic. The enemy AI is pretty dumb too, the archers are simply blind and the enemies are very predictable. But the main problem is that the game is extremely easy. I played this in the highest difficulty and, even so, the combat was so easy that the stealth became useless. The missions in the game are overwhelming boring and repetitive. Making alliances is the most boring, tedious and dull thing in the world. Every quest you have to kill a bunch of guys, do annoying and generic stuff for someone that you don't care about only to bring this dude to your side, and that lasts for hours and hours. The sidequest are very **** too but at least they're short. But seems like Ubisoft made the game how it is on purpose, because the game is infested with microtransactions that accelerate your progress in the game, it's really disgusting to see a 70$ Single Player Game having microtransactions, so imagine having a bunch of it, just like the previous ones, what a greedy and disgusting company. Really, that's the last time i'm buying an Assassin's Creed game, i'm done of playing 60 hours of an average 70$ game that begs me to pay even more to have a "good experience".… Expand
  18. Tacitus_Gaming
    Nov 11, 2021
    5
    A slog to get through and the world is filled with pointless things and every single door is a puzzle to unlock for some reason. I love AC but this current open world formula with nearly infinite uninspired side content to do just isn't fun. It's a chore. Odyssey was at least faster and smoother in doing things. Stealth in Odyssey was also much better and natural. Stealth in Valhalla justA slog to get through and the world is filled with pointless things and every single door is a puzzle to unlock for some reason. I love AC but this current open world formula with nearly infinite uninspired side content to do just isn't fun. It's a chore. Odyssey was at least faster and smoother in doing things. Stealth in Odyssey was also much better and natural. Stealth in Valhalla just didn't feel right in terms of mechanics and lore. The only reason this gets a 5 from me is because of all the references from other better AC games.… Expand
  19. rogal23
    Apr 24, 2022
    5
    Grałem na PS4 PRO.
    Porzuciłem tytuł po ok. 10h. Historia bez emocji, powtarzalny gameplay, walka - czyli serce gry - woła o pomstę do nieba - sztywna jak nieszczęście. Klimat ratuje lekko sprawę, ale na końcu to typowy średniak. Plus jak to w Ubisoftcie, miałem wrażenie, że moja postać nic nie waży, jest z papieru. Czekam na rewolucję w serii.
  20. WhiteClad
    Mar 22, 2021
    7
    I was so excited for the next AC game after playing Odyssey and Origins. I remember how I used to play Odyssey all day long like no game before or after it. But when I saw the first trailer my excitement started to fade away - robotic animations, graphics unworthy of 2020 and gameplay that didn't seem to improve in any way. And that is a Ubisoft game trailer, meaning they showed us theI was so excited for the next AC game after playing Odyssey and Origins. I remember how I used to play Odyssey all day long like no game before or after it. But when I saw the first trailer my excitement started to fade away - robotic animations, graphics unworthy of 2020 and gameplay that didn't seem to improve in any way. And that is a Ubisoft game trailer, meaning they showed us the best parts! Anyway, I didn't lose hope and bought the game on release day. And let me tell you after 50 hour into the game - this is such a disappointment after Odyssey.
    I love long open-world games, because I love exploring the map and getting a home-like feeling from the environment, but in this case I'm trying to finish the storyline out of respect for the series and my complenionist personality, and not because I actually want to.
    Maybe as a standalone game or for someone who never played AC, this game seems like fun, but for me it is the most boring of them all.
    They got rid of side quests and replaced them with loot hunt which is one of the worst downgrades of them all. Side quests are the best part! What genius decided to get rid of them? I don't feel any urge to go looking for the new gear or upgrades for one simple reason - I don't need them. The game is laughably easy. Sometimes I even get too lazy to spend my upgrade points because they have so little effect on the battle outcome. Sure, sometimes you get bosses here and there that might need up to 5-6 takes to beat them, but nothing that would motivate me to spend hours on a grindfest to upgrade my specs. The same goes for the gear - in Odyssey there were tons of armor that I would actually pay attention to and frequently upgrade or change, in Valhalla I just stick with my original gear for the entire game.
    Next - the story is dull and the characters are bland. At some point I just didn't even bother following the story of reading into awful dialogues. Myriad of forgettable characters come and go too quickly - why remember someone's story and personality if I will be killing them within 20 minutes and never see them again?
    Although it's not developer's fault this time, but the map is very uninspiring. Every single town looks exactly the same, countryside looks identical wherever you go. I loved exploring the surroundings in Odyssey and Origins. Here, I don't have that urge whatsoever. I'm bored to the death by the view.
    I know they tried to make their own gwent or whatever, but I literally played every single mini game in the town once and never wanted to go back. Even when it was required by the quest, I just wanted to get it over with and move on.
    And don't even let me started on attacking the forts. In Odyssey I remember how I was planning the entire thing while looking at it with my bird and then carefully executing the plan. In this one, I either just go front attack (again, because the game is too easy, so I have no motivation to go stealth) or, during raid, just open the doors and wait for my army of vikings to do the fighting.
    All in all, they downgraded pretty much every single fun part of Odyssey I can think of, so I'm pretty sure I won't be buying the next game on day one, even though I'm a fan of the series. Be better, Ubisoft.    … Expand
  21. Oinkster
    Sep 25, 2021
    6
    This game seems to have lost all the things that made Odyssey great but doubled down on the chore-like aspects. Ubisoft made a big deal about there being no "side quests". Instead there are "events"; blue dots on the map that are functionally identical to sidequests but don't appear in a menu (very useful). The maps have also lost the colour and variety that made Greece feel so exciting.This game seems to have lost all the things that made Odyssey great but doubled down on the chore-like aspects. Ubisoft made a big deal about there being no "side quests". Instead there are "events"; blue dots on the map that are functionally identical to sidequests but don't appear in a menu (very useful). The maps have also lost the colour and variety that made Greece feel so exciting. The biggest step back for me is the combat. In an attempt to emulate Fromsoftware, there is an emphasis on parrying and stamina management. Unfortunately, parrying feels very inconsistent and the combat does not suit the frequent scenarios when you're facing a Swarm of saxons in a raid. It only works in 1-on-1 boss fights that are few and far between. I do like the more focused selection of weapons but the upgrade and levelling system is atrocious. Upgrades are made in minuscule increments and abilities are not unlocked, instead you must find them on a map that doesn't tell you where they are unless you are already standing near them; eww. Odyssey may have gone a bit too far turning you into an unstoppable demigod but in Valhalla I can barely tell the difference between combat at the end of the game from at the start.
    The narrative is also very sloppy. There are good parts, I admit such as the Sciropescire arc, but the game really whimpers out in the second half. The finale feels so insignificant that it took me another hour before I even realised I had finished the story. I only noticed because there were no significant quests left to do.
    As a Welsh man I also find the map disappointing. There's no Cornwall, no Wales, no Scotland, and a slab of Ireland is saved for the DLC. Considering how massive the scope of Odyssey was it feels weird that we don't get to visit Scotland or Anglessey, yet we do get a piece of America as a reference to Assassins Creed 3? Overall, Valhalla just feels so meh and such a missed opportunity. This is a game where you can literally wield mjolnir, yet it entirely fails to feel satisfying in any manner.    … Expand
  22. BlueWolfe
    Jan 3, 2021
    5
    Gameplay: Very fun to go around raiding and killing, Love how now each piece of new gear matters instead of like AC Odyssey where you would get something new every minute, The settlement is cool, but gets a little tedious at times to level up, Climbing and Parkour is just as fun as ever, unlocking abilities is a bit stupid as you have to search around for one you actually want
    Graphics: I    Gameplay: Very fun to go around raiding and killing, Love how now each piece of new gear matters instead of like AC Odyssey where you would get something new every minute, The settlement is cool, but gets a little tedious at times to level up, Climbing and Parkour is just as fun as ever, unlocking abilities is a bit stupid as you have to search around for one you actually want
    Graphics: I don't know if it is just me, but the graphics are not good, there is a bunch of screen tearing and the models look ugly, i have seen PC Gameplay and the graphics seem a lot better so it may just be a PS4 thing ( Or maybe the game is just pissy at me rating it 5 )
    Sound: Voice acting is much better than Odyssey, Eivor sound great and so do all the other characters, soundtrack feels ambient and mysterious, sound when fighting is very nice.
    Characters: i love the Characters, they dont feel like plastic barbie dolls, they feel real, they each have their own personality which i just love because it makes you relate to them and become emotionally attached to them and in turn makes the story an emotional, tense, amazing one, which i would call one of the best in AC History
    Variety: Variety is where i think the game really goes uphill, it has so many places to explore and the don't feel like carbon copies of each other, the enemies each have their own strengths and weaknesses to learn, a lot of gear that CHANGES APPERANCE WHEN YOU UPGRADE IT, which blew my mind when i first saw it.

    But now comes to the reason i have rated this game a 5, if not for this i would have rated it at the very least an 8...

    The crashes and glitches overrun my game, ever hour i have to reload because the game just wants to die, the glitches, while sometimes funny, can ruin the game, i am currently stuck on a quest because it wont play the cutscene to allow me to finish it...

    There is probably al ot more i could have said, but, this is what came to mind as i was writing...    … Expand
  23. Milad1234
    Jun 23, 2022
    5
    Artificial intelligence 7/10
    Graphics 7/10
    Gameplay 5/10
    Story 2/10
    Compare with assasin creed odissey 3/10
  24. C0rbec
    Nov 13, 2020
    7
    This game is not bad but its not good either, They do good things with the story and graphic, but with all of this I feel unrewarded, the loot pool compared to odyssey is barely existing, exploration is not as fun as it should be the whole map despite is look gorgeous feel like just empty checklist
  25. StormHair
    Nov 11, 2022
    5
    Blatantly boring. After playing it for more than 160 hours, I feel empty. Nothing to say to its predecessors, much better games than Valhalla.
  26. Gonoru
    Mar 7, 2021
    6
    Gameplay is boring and too simple, graphics are mediocre and there are a lot of bugs
  27. alextorge
    Apr 3, 2021
    5
    Good:
    - graphics - story
    - setting

    Bad (and quite horrible)
    - gameplay / combat (sluggish)
    - horrible animations - voices & motion capture
  28. Sevenpower
    Apr 19, 2021
    5
    Very very very bad stealth gameplay unlike odyssey graphic is better combat gameplay is better...no parkour
  29. Brother3Wright
    Mar 25, 2021
    5
    On paper Valhalla seems like an 11 out of 10. An epic viking adventure in a giant open world filled with secrets to discover, a myth filled landscape to explore and the usual great AC storytelling. In execution it buckles under the weight of expectations that Origins and Odyssey built. Trying to bridge the gap between the old and new AC titles Valhalla fails on both fronts. Rushed, badlyOn paper Valhalla seems like an 11 out of 10. An epic viking adventure in a giant open world filled with secrets to discover, a myth filled landscape to explore and the usual great AC storytelling. In execution it buckles under the weight of expectations that Origins and Odyssey built. Trying to bridge the gap between the old and new AC titles Valhalla fails on both fronts. Rushed, badly planned, development problems due to upheaval and COVID; whatever the reason Valhalla lacks any polish of the series previous titles. It's gameplay systems don't tie into each other to make any meaningful impact and half the time you're not sure if they're working and just aren't very good, or they're flat out broken. Combine that with a wold that is plenty large, but filled with trivial side content like stacking cairn stones. Say what you will about Odyssey and it's endless fetch quests, they were presented well felt like they fit in the world. Valhalla removes all side quests, making this beautiful world nothing but an empty path that goes from main quest to main quest.

    The main story is good, but too often it suffers from the same storytelling issues that Origins had. Important conversations are presented in the most basic manner, zooming in on the two characters and having them replay the same animations over and over again while you can rotate the camera around. By far this is a huge step back from Odyssey and it's Bioware-esq presentation. And that's the main problem with Valhalla, while trying to bridge the old and the new it feels too new for the fans that love the old games, and too old for fans that love the new games.

    There's a lot of craftsmanship that went into this game, but it's unfinished and badly presented.    … Expand
  30. HugeyBear
    Dec 11, 2020
    7
    It's a good game but not as good as Odyssey was. Would have liked to have seen more focus on combat rather than needless filler content. Still, I have enjoyed my time with. it looks gorgeous and traversing the map and synchronizing locations is better than ever.
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

43
#43 Best PS4 Game of 2020
6
#6 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 50 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 50
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 50
  3. Negative: 0 out of 50
  1. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Dec 25, 2020
    80
    There are far fewer cookie-cutter outposts than in previous AC’s, and most sidequests now offer an interesting story, sometimes even with a less-than-obvious solution. While some anti-grind measures have backfired, Ubisoft is on the right track. [Issue#250, page 56]
  2. KeenGamer
    Dec 17, 2020
    82
    Assassins Creed Valhalla is a wonderful addition to the AC franchise. It manages to avoid the tropes that became overplayed and focuses on a small well structured story. The fighting mechanics are enjoyable and offer many choices to fit different playing styles. There are a significant amount of bugs and the AI is underwhelming at times. But it's still another step in the right direction for Ubisoft.
    Read full review
  3. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Dec 14, 2020
    80
    When Valhalla is at its best, it evolves series mechanics. And when you’re cruising down river, about to blow your raiding horn, there’s nothing quite like it. [Issue#183, p.71]
See all critic reviews »