Top 10 Things We DON'T Want in Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Script Written by Caitlin Johnson
Top 10 Things We Don’t Want in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Hopefully, Ubisoft does the Vikings justice and doesn’t keep making the same mistakes. Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 things we don’t want in “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.”
For this list, we’re looking at all the features we hope don’t make an appearance in Ubisoft’s next historical epic.
#10: Game-Breaking Bugs
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Nobody playing any game, no matter who made it or what it’s about, wants to encounter game-breaking bugs. But when “Assassin’s Creed Unity” became one of the most infamously disastrous launches in gaming history, full of glitches from the outset, it created a shadow over the franchise Ubisoft hasn’t been able to escape from. Many players still have less sympathy for bugs in an “Assassin’s Creed” game than other titles. This means the scrutiny will be high when “Valhalla” comes out, but it would still be a shame for the first “AC” title on next-gen consoles to be marred by bugs.
#9: Playable Modern Day
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In the early days, Desmond’s story in the modern era was an intriguing and fun break from the main gameplay, exploring the ongoing Templar/Assassin conflict. However, some later games have had modern-day segments that are sorely lacking. From “Black Flag’s” strange diversions looking for sticky notes in Abstergo’s offices, to Layla Hassan’s immersion-breaking segments, sometimes the modern-day story isn’t too interesting. This doesn’t mean it should be abandoned entirely, but could possibly be relegated to brief cutscenes that don’t completely pull you out of the game. Layla is returning for “Valhalla”, so Ubisoft has a chance to make her appearances less of a chore.
#8: A “God of War” Clone
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2018 gave us perhaps the best exploration of Norse mythology in gaming when “God of War” released to critical acclaim, becoming an essential PS4 title. While Viking culture is large and varied, if “Valhalla” follows the established trend of bringing in mythological figures, there’s a danger it could become too similar to “God of War.” Great as that game is, and while “Valhalla” will be available to Xbox players where “God of War” isn’t, we hope it’s not derivative. Luckily, developers have spoken out and said “Valhalla” will be “historically grounded” rather than skewing “towards the mythology” - so it should be different enough.
#7: Multiplayer
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They’ve never been able to perfect “Assassin’s Creed” multiplayer. The first attempt at bringing online play to the series was in “Brotherhood”, and though it was fun enough when the game was new, it was never really taken too seriously. But multiplayer went from a separate, optional mode to something messy and broken by the time we got “Unity”, featuring many tedious co-op missions that took over the map. “Valhalla” has already had its raid system revealed and developers have talked about sharing your custom raiders among your friends. Hopefully, this is the extent of the multiplayer and we don’t get something weird and half-baked.
#6: Adrenaline
After “Unity”, Ubisoft took some time to lick their wounds before returning with “Origins”, completely revamping the franchise in the most drastic move yet. One of the biggest changes was to the combat – no more button-mashing and instant-kill counters, with the new games your adrenaline meter rules the day. But in “Odyssey”, having to balance focusing on the fight, filling your adrenaline meter, and paying attention to ability cooldowns can quickly get tiresome. Plus, isn’t it overkill to have the adrenaline system and ability cooldowns? It’s clear the combat system has yet to be perfected even after eleven mainline entries, but maybe “Valhalla” will change that.
#5: Crafting
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Plenty of modern games, especially open-world games and RPGs, implement crafting systems, and they’ve been an “Assassin’s Creed” staple since Connor began improving his homestead. In “Origins,” you need to actively hunt for resources to upgrade Bayek’s equipment; while the system was simplified in “Odyssey”, you’re still expected to amass plenty of resources. But when you can loot enough weapons and avoid enough naval battles to make the crafting system practically redundant, it makes you wonder why they keep bringing it back. With the ability to build a settlement front and center in “Valhalla”, however, there will undoubtedly be crafting; we just hope it will be more fun than cumbersome this time around.
#4: Bad Stealth
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One of the biggest criticisms levied at “Origins” and “Odyssey” and their gameplay overhaul is that it’s harder, though not impossible, to play stealth than in the previous titles. Since the franchise made its name on stealth – you are generally playing as an assassin, after all – this has rubbed a few veteran players the wrong way. We already saw in “Valhalla’s” trailers that the hidden blade is making a triumphant return after being absent for “Odyssey” – even if it is worn differently – so hopefully this means you’ll have the opportunity to be a little stealthier if that’s how you want to play.
#3: Repetitive Gameplay
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Another major flaw with “Odyssey” was that while the game was overflowing with content, lots of it wasn’t meaningful. It was easy to find yourself endlessly taking over forts, fighting conquest battles, and looting treasure, until you leveled up enough to get back to the story missions. Developers have already said that “Valhalla” will be scaled down in response to this criticism, meaning the map will be smaller and there will hopefully be less repetitive gameplay. Few will find issue if the game is shorter but the content that’s actually in it is better and therefore more fun overall.
#2: Tailing Missions
Thankfully, tailing missions haven’t reared their ugly head in recent entries, but this doesn’t mean we’ve recovered from having to suffer through them for so many years. From the beginning, tailing missions were the worst part of every game they appeared in; they were annoying, took too long, and were easy to fail if you didn’t know exactly the route you were supposed to take. That’s why we hope Ubisoft continues the trend of forgoing tailing missions entirely. Since “Origins” and “Odyssey” didn’t count tailing as part of their gameplay, this bodes well for players who’d already grown sick of them by “Black Flag.”
#1: A Boring Protagonist
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“Assassin’s Creed” can get a little formulaic, and one of the best ways to counter this is by having a great story and at the heart of it an even greater protagonist. A bad main character can ruin a game; many people who dislike “Assassin’s Creed III” bring up that they think Connor is a boring hero, and similar critiques are made of Arno and even Altaïr. In contrast, Ezio is an iconic character and a fan favorite, which is why we had three whole games about him. Recent characters like Bayek and Kassandra definitely haven’t disappointed, so let’s hope Eivor isn’t a step back.
