Summary
Assassin’s Creed Valhallawas easily one of the biggest games of 2020. It received mostly positive reviews from critics, getting a respectable score of 80 on Metacritic, but got a slightly more mixed response from players. Some fans loved it, and some were left feeling a little cold. When looking at theAssassin’s Creedgames ranked by score,Valhallacomes in surprisingly low on the list.
Love it or hate it,Assassin’s Creed Valhallagot a lot right. Unfortunately, it also got its fair share of things wrong. Some of these come down to personal taste; others not so much. WithAssassin’s Creed Shadowsnow officially on the horizon, there’s never been a better time to take a retrospective look atValhallaand see what Ubisoft can improve for their next bigAssassin’s Creedgame.
1Less Map Bloat
Bigger Isn’t Always Better
Assassin’s Creed Valhallahas an absolutely massive map stuffed to the brim with points of interest to visit, collectibles to discover, and side missions to embark on. In a lot of ways, it has one ofAssassin’s Creed’s best open-world maps. Which sounds great, until it isn’t. It might seem an odd thing to say at a time when game prices are ballooning (especially Ubisoft’s), but more content doesn’t always mean better.
There’s too much to do inValhalla. Not only is it distracting, but a lot of it doesn’t feel worth doing. Instead, it feels like a blatant attempt by Ubisoft to keep gamers glued to their latest game for a little while longer.Shadowswould benefit from a more measured, quality-over-quantity approach. Many gamers would rather have fewer things to do if those things are fun, rather than spend hours stacking stones and looking for meaningless collectibles.
2Less Repetition
Variety Is The Spice Of Life
Valhallais a very, very long game. Unfortunately, a side effect of Ubisoft’s quantity-over-quality approach was that the game got repetitive pretty quickly for some. It all boiled down to the classic Ubisoft open-world formula of hopping from point to point on a massive map and doing the same handful of things. A handful of cairn stone puzzles would have made for a nice break from the action; fifteen was a bit much.
Even the game’s thoroughly enjoyable combat became stale after a while. It didn’t have the depth, enemy variety, or skill ceiling to support a 100+ hour playtime. Hopefully, both the combat and side content will be less repetitive inAssassin’s Creed Shadows.
3A Bigger Emphasis On Stealth
It’s Called Assassin’s Creed For A Reason
One could be forgiven for forgetting thatAssassin’s Creedoriginally started as a stealth franchise. Over the years, the emphasis has slowly shifted to action, with all pretenses of the franchise being stealth-focused being dropped at some point betweenOriginsandOdyssey. Nothing says stealth like playing as a Viking warrior, famously known for burning down villages and going on bloody raids.
Valhalladid a great job of fulfilling the Viking power fantasy, but being a Viking warrior meant there was little reason to slow things down and usea stealth-focused build. Especially when doing so would make Eivor feel underpowered during one of the many mandatory combat sequences. This isn’t to say Ubisoft should sacrifice excellent combat completely, but there’s a time and place for everything.
4Tone Down The Live Service Elements And Microtransactions
Waters Down The Sense Of Achievement
It’s no secret that a lot of people would love it if Ubisoft ditched its obsession with live-service elements and microtransactions, but that’s unlikely to happen. However, Ubisoft could still learn a thing or two fromValhalla.
The game was already so huge that few people were clambering for more content. The live service elements just seemed like yet another way of artificially extending the game. If Ubisoft includes live service and seasonal content inShadows, it needs to feel worth doing. As for the microtransactions, Ubisoft could tone them down a bit. Earning epic weapons like Mjölnir or Gungnir inValhallaafter hours of play should have felt rewarding, but that sense of achievement is watered down when every menu is stuffed with ads for better weapons that can be bought with real money.
5Create Meaningful Choices, Or Don’t
There’s Nothing Wrong With A Good Linear Story
Ever since the likes ofDragon AgeandMass Effectmade it popular, many publishers have shifted towards filling their games' stories with player choices. When these systems are implemented well, they make the player feel like they have real agency, which is awesome. When they’re not, decisions feel meaningless.
Valhallafell largely into the latter camp. Ever sinceOdyssey,Assassin’s Creedhas flirted with letting the player make decisions, but they rarely feel that impactful. The olderAssassin’s Creedgames had linear stories, and they were brilliant. Ezio’s trilogy had some of the best narratives in the franchise, and there wasn’t a single choice in sight. The best move forShadowsmight be to focus on telling a compelling, linear story rather than giving fans meaningless decisions to make.
6Streamline Progression
Not Everything Needs To Be An RPG
TheAssassin’s Creedseries has implemented more and more RPG elements over the years. At first, most fans embraced these systems with open arms, but Ubisoft may have overplayed its hand withValhalla. The game has a massive skill tree full of skills to unlock, allowing the player to shape Eivor as they wish. Unfortunately, like everything else inValhalla, there’s just a little too much bloat.
Not all the skills are that fun to unlock, while others feel like they should be unlocked from the get-go. Ubisoft could learn from some ofthe best progression systems in open-world games. InShadows,it might be better to have a smaller, more focused skill tree with the player earning some other skills via the story, like in theAssassin’s Creedgames of old. Thanks to all the side content,Valhallawas also a little bit too liberal about handing out XP, meaning it was too easy to out-level the game’s difficulty curve and dump points in every tree rather than making focused builds.
7Don’t Lock The Ending Behind DLC
Let Players See The End
There’s nothing inherently wrong with DLC story expansions. Implemented well, they can enrich a game’s story and give players hours more fun in a game they love - just look atFallout’sapproach to DLC. Unfortunately, lots of fans felt like bothOdysseyandValhallalocked the games' true endings behind the story DLC.
If someone plays a game for 100+ hours, they should feel like they got the whole story. They’ve earned it. The last thing many players want after countless hours is to pay more money to play the same game just to see the ending. It doesn’t feel good. After all, some ofUbisoft’s games have brilliant endings. Post-game DLC should feel supplementary, not necessary.
8A Better Balance Between Mythology And History
Pick A Lane
Assassin’s Creed’s stories have always been historical fiction, but withOdysseyandValhalla,the series took a severe lurch towards fantasy and mythology. To be fair, Greek and Norse mythology are both inherently interesting; it’s just thatValhalladidn’t quite get the balance right. One second, the player was interacting with real historical figures fighting tyranny; the next, they were playing as Odin in a mythical realm, killing frost giants. It was a bit jarring.
Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis set to have a fascinating setting, the Azuchi-Momoyama period of Japanese history. The average Western gamer is a lot less familiar with Eastern mythology than with Norse or Greek.Shadowscould benefit from a slightly bigger focus on real history and a lesser focus on mythology.Assassin’s Creed Valhallawas agreat medieval history game, but not such a good Norse mythology game. Games likeWo LongandNiohhave already done a great job of integrating Eastern mythology and real history.Shadowsshould focus on history.
9Fix The Overarching Story Or Ditch It
It’s All Too Confusing
Assassin’s Creed Valhallastubbornly continued the franchise’s overarching story, even though no one seems all that interested in it anymore. The Assassins vs. Templars plot isn’t the problem; it’s all the confusing alien/ISU stuff. That plot line peaked with the death of Desmond inAssassin’s Creed 3, which was over a decade ago.
There are thirteenAssassin’s Creedgames at this point and fans need a PhD in convoluted storytelling to understand the franchise’s overarching story.Assassin’s Creed Shadowsis Ubisoft’s opportunity to simplify it or quietly retire the aspects most fans aren’t interested in. People play these games for their historical settings and slightly alternate historical storylines. Focus on that.
10Bring Back Multiplayer
Assassins Need Friends Too
TheAssassin’s Creedgames used to haveexcellent co-op/multiplayer modes, but recent entries likeValhalladitched them in favor of extended single-player campaigns and live service elements. On the one hand, it is nice that at least one studio hasn’t dedicated its resources to turning everything into yet another Battle Royale.
On the other hand,Assassin’s Creedwith friends is a lot of fun. Bringing back multiplayer would be an organic way for Ubisoft to extend play time without fillingShadowswith unnecessary bloat. Ubisoft could fill the multiplayer modes with live service elements and let the single-player focus on that classicAssassin’s Creedgameplay and storytelling. OlderAssassin’s Creedgames likeBrotherhoodand evenSplinter Cellshow that Ubisoft has the skills to make fun co-op stealth gameplay.
