Assassin's Creed Valhalla (Xbox Series X/S) Review

The story is simple to begin with, and follows the adventures of a Viking, Eivor, who embarks on a quest with his brother Sigurd, away from the frozen fjords of Norway to invade medieval England. In typical Viking fashion, Sigurd intends to continue their expansion across England's many Kingdoms. Travelling around England contains heaps of small stories wrapped up in mini arcs taking a couple of hours each to complete. Each arc has new characters and environments, and varying routes to completion often culminating in a multiple choice ending that needs to be made at the end of each arc. Battling and assisting a wide spectrum of settlers across the land of England is a subtle, but very effective way to bulk out the story offering away from the main story and to create a bustling world around the player.

Take your Vikings out on raids, loot gold from villages, churches and other establishments, or even go after much larger targets such as castles to go for the top end materials. Civilian NPCs are detailed as they scream and flee away from the action. Exploration is done so well in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, with way points to help guide traversal so it is just as well that the vistas and scenery are so detailed and stunning to look at. This massive open world is gorgeous, full of detailed landscapes, environments, and life, including atmospheric weather effects from beautiful sunsets to foggy hills. Exploring the world is the primary method to upgrading gear and skills, by travelling off the beaten track and finding chests and boxes with rare materials. Stats and upgrades are done via a skill progression tree, while other upgrades are found in Books of Knowledge.

The skill tree has multiple branching pathways set out like a star constellation, such as The Raven which uses traditional style stealth combat, or The Wolf which focuses on archery and distanced combat, and finally the Bear which is focused on close range combat. The skill tree doesn't grant new skills, but enhances other attributes such as damage and defence, and it is somewhat frustrating to work towards a new part of the skill tree not knowing what the full payoff is going to be. Combined with looking for books of knowledge and progressing the skill tree, it can take quite a long time to really equip a full arsenal of moves, making combat feel slightly repetitive until newer moves are unlocked. Once they are there, there's a barrage of assaulting moves to be performed.