Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a Game for No One

With the final Valhalla update behind us, I reflect on Assassin's Creed Valhalla and some of its more misguided ideas.
00:00 Intro
02:15 The Problem
11:24 Gameplay
30:18 World and Progression
40:28 Narrative
48:13 An Endless Grind
53:48 In Conclusion
r/AskHistorians post for Valhalla:
/ we_are_askhistorians_f...

[@Swattintanks]

I completely removed the concept of AC from Valhalla and just played it like a Viking game. That’s where my enjoyment came out of

[@cain9851]

I do the opposite and just choose to believe Eivor joins the Assassin's before leaving Norway, and everything he does afterwards is to benefit both his clan and the Assassin's

[@allthiskorrie3061]

@@cain9851 in origins I got the katana and the stealth armor and now I say bayek is a sand ninja 🤷🏾‍♂️😭

[@nubertuberluber]

I played Black Flag under the same pretense. I'd get annoyed whenever my high-seas pirate adventure would get interrupted by the goofy-ass story which is unfortunately the foundation of this series.

[@odiwalker3973]

So did Ubisoft

[@foreskinmcfatnutsjr]

But you paid for ac

[@Funinightmare]

The old familiar phrase comes to mind. If you try to please everyone, you will please no one

[@joeclaridy]

Another proverb is: A man cannot serve two masters. It roughly means the same as the metaphor you used especially in Assassins Creed. Ubisoft should either cater to legacy fans or pivot to the new RPG fans.

[@Soloisbac]

@@joeclaridy it was the OG fans who bought AC and alloweed ubisoft to make money the RPG fans are just people who came from fallout and witcher they dont care about the assassins or templars because the RPG games dont have any of that

[@SahilPawar95]

​@@joeclaridyIt's from the New Testament. Jesus's words.

[@constantinosbou]

Well, it sounds like capitalism. Games are products after all

[@yipperdeyip]

If they actually finish their games, have good world building, good NPC's, immersion, gameplay, storytelling, etc then they'd please A LOT of people, but they do none of them right. The games are drawn out, boring, clunky, garbage gameplay, garbage NPC's and it's been like that since AC2.

[@BigmanDogs]

I feel like ubisoft games are amazing if you have never played a ubisoft game before. And then the magic wears off after you realize all their games follow the exact same formula.

[@Soapy-chan]

I like their formula that they now use for a while, but they often don't execute the formula well

[@zerotactix5739]

Or you just play 1 Ubisoft game a year and you'll love it. Problem only arises when you play multiple games of the same type too soon.

[@BigmanDogs]

@@zerotactix5739 1 a year is definitely too much for me.

[@SYOTOS1807]

Far cry being another great example

[@PopTartNeko]

1. liberate the territory 2. free the prisoners 3. follow the guy 4. sneak into place and get the thing bonus objective: collect the hidden stuff (0/5)

[@latrodectusmactans7592]

As someone who hasn’t played any AC, this video is still a great examination of why knowing your specific audience is so important in game design. You can’t make a game everything for everyone.

[@kevinarevalo4747]

Knowing your audience is also important for any type of marketing. Just take a look at what happened with bud light.

[@Seoul_Soldier]

@@kevinarevalo4747 Bud Light? You mean the performative backlash from conservatives followed with a useless boycott that accomplished nothing? Because honestly that's pretty accurate. Since gamers all over the place whine about Ubisoft games being boring but they keep buying them, so Ubisoft keeps making them.

[@susanna8612]

​​@@Seoul_Soldierthe boycott did accomplished great deal and made the companies know that people are not happy with their woke agendas and shit forced on everywhere and everything. And AC game series was historical games made of real assasins and some real historical figures and happenings at first... now its just too long role playing rpg and series has certainly lost it's original fanbase.

[@mehrdad00]

​@@Seoul_Soldierthey had a big loss and the company said they didn't recover, you call that not accomplishing anything?

[@michaelcrabbe3722]

I remember a Video in the Sonic Franchise and how a lot of the sonic games introduce radically different things so it’s like each game is catering to a different audience rather than defining one and sticking with it Dark Souls and FromSoftware is a good example of refining its fixed motion combat mechanics adding and subtracting elements and modifying some that radically change the experience see Sekiro and Bloodborne Which is why Elden Ring as a game really bored me with how the previous games and why they were great utilizing a Metroidvania style branching pathway systems isn’t going to fit if you just intend to add a Open World aspect to your game The developers attempted to mitigate this problem by adding loads of Grace sites that point to other Grace sites and adding the spectral steed as a Mount to compensate for the increased travel distance and adding a new form of combat where you have more speed and can whiz by bosses while landing a charged attack but lack more flexible maneuverability to dodge attacks areas

[@SamDragontear]

I think my love for Assassin's Creed died with Desmond Miles. I was kinda hoping for a modern day Assassin Creed where we could play as him after he's a fully trained assassin. When the games lost Desmond they lost what tied the characters from the past together. Now there's no through story to connect the games and characters, so none of the games after the first few feel connected to the main story.

[@SL4PSH0CK]

Omg same thoughts the build up during the enitre series was teasing for this moment.

[@grimey666]

lol small chance but did you also see that fake gameplay teaser after the first game showing an assassin in modern times? i remember being hyped while remaining skeptical 😂

[@TCS266]

Dude, the new games are explaining the origins of the three main parts of the AC franchise. Origins- Assassins Templars- Odyssey Isu- Valhalla

[@silentbilly7971]

Yeah that's how I felt anything after revelations is just a let down usually I did enjoy unity though but story wasn't the reason Definitely wanted a big modern day one with Desmond instead they decided make it like an attraction come relive your ancestors lives which is fine but werid

[@AshwiniViolet7]

We all just grown up.. That's the point..

[@Huckleberry42]

I was really surprised to see that this is only your third video. You already sound like you have been doing this for years I'm impressed.

[@ded2thaworld963]

Yeah. He does sound like he has been doing commentary for a while.

[@ignaciogarciaberropomopuyo4426]

Yes, agree

[@phantomgamer9264]

This is only his third video I'm impressed

[@InterForza100]

This is his 2nd channel thats why

[@Huckleberry42]

@@InterForza100 what's his other channel called ?

[@BeastFormal]

This is one of the most fair reviews ever. I also played the heck out of Valhalla, couple hundred hours, and enjoyed my time, but felt like it was lacking almost all the way through. It’s possible to enjoy flawed games while still recognizing their flaws.

[@SkyExplosion]

Yeah, however Vahalla is flawed in such you never want to play it again.

[@Bobbaloomis]

I just started playing it, maybe they’ve updated it even more because it’s not missing a thing at the current time

[@zix1257]

Just like Skyrim.

[@anchovy1503]

i have to say the music from this game is out of world. sure it doesnt have a significantly mind blowing track like Ezio family but its music library is so huge and the viking vibe/theme is so good that i can listen for hours

[@faditalmoudi9205]

man this game is my fav ever, the music in the main window is just amazing....replying it now

[@Largentina.]

It's so hard to go back to AC for me after Ghost Of Tsushima. The combat in that game was just so nuanced and dynamic. It really lead to alot of cool emergent gameplay opportunities and fun physics-based reactions from your ghost abilities and tools. Not to mention that Tsushima doesn't limit you in anyway, no stamina meters or anything like that.

[@johnbishop2536]

My only issue with Ghost is that once you've got the combat figured out, assuming the role of the Ghost is utterly pointless.

[@cowel8734]

Playing Ghost now and about to go into act 3. I love the game and combat but exploring is not rewarding and nothing you find is valuable or exciting. I love AC games. If they had GoT combat it'd be a lot better. Also not being able to skip scenes sucks. The quests in GoT are inferior. The haikus, fox dens, and baths are just me sitting there and the fun dies pretty quick. I love both games

[@John-996]

@@cowel8734 They did a better Job with IKI for Exploration there are more hidden things to find.

[@SilverDreamweaver]

@@johnbishop2536 It's not pointless if it's still fun.

[@loganmcallister4635]

@@cowel8734 getting new samurai drip from exploring was enough for me.

[@oneupdawg]

Hard to believe Valhalla is from the same team as Origins. Origins is still my personal favorite of the rpg AC's. It had the perfect blend of immersion, stealth and combat. Egypt is one of the most downright gorgeous and mysterious locations AC has ever had.

[@natchu96]

Origins could've used more stealth-encouraging environment design in my opinion, but at least your abilities and the story itself did lend towards practicing the subtle approach. Valhalla more or less plasters its innate desire to have you simply hack and slash through everything on its sleeve. And the map is oversized and filled with nothing but strings of two minute distractions to check off a list, to put it bluntly. The exp scaling is also pretty horrendous even without time saves...

[@beezsixty-nine]

Would love to see a next gen remake of origins in the next 3-5 years. It would make me finish it another 10 times👍

[@quademasters249]

I rate them "Odyssey, Origins, Valhalla" with Valhalla having fallen far behind the other two. I just liked Kassandra more as a character.

[@sacredsecrecy9620]

Origins was my last Ubisoft game to date. I grew to hate its guts after being genuinely curious about it at first, since I'm a sucker for everything Ancient Egypt. But Origin's world felt so bland and lifeless, all the side quests so meaningless and the countless copy & paste outposts so tedious that I didn't have any desire left in me to even continue with the main story, which also was stupid af. Bayek swears revenge on a cult for the death of his son WHO HE HIMSELF KILLED?! (Even though by accident, because he's an impulsive idiot. But the fact still remains.) Pathetic how that's all they could come up with in a setting that has so much more potential to give. Unity was the very last gem from the AC franchise that had some real heart, ambition and care put into it. You can't even compare ANY other AC that has come afterwards with Unity. The drop in quality is palpable. Those are not even games anymore but a huge collection of checkmarks for the most publicly approved features and mechanics. Straight up garbage, year after year after year. And this goes to pretty much all of Ubisoft's franchises. The last decent game I played and thoroughly enjoyed from that publisher was Watch Dogs 2. No matter what someone might think of the game's setting, it was still genuinely innovative, creative and fun. A very well made piece of art that will always have a special place in my heart. That's when I still had respect for Ubisoft for their efforts and endeavors in trying out new stuff and enriching the gaming industry with new franchises and ideas. There was no other publisher out there quite like Ubisoft with such a regular and various output every year. Fast forward 7 years later and look how deep the mighty have fallen... Corrupted by greed and narcissism of its old fart of a CEO that has lost all touch with reality. Now I actually can't wait until the inevitable happens and this huge toxic exploitative hellhole that this company's become finally shuts down and their IPs - so I hope - go into someone's more competent and capable hands. What an utter disgrace we've been witnessing, folks....

[@quademasters249]

@@sacredsecrecy9620 I really wasn't much for Bayek as a main character. He came across as a patsy being manipulated by the people around him.

[@joju5849]

I had so much fun just being a Viking in this game, catching arrows and spears and just chucking them back at enemies. The story and writing is tapwater, but it is at least fun

[@Chadius_Thundercock]

I’m glad someone enjoyed this game but to me it was more of the same AC rpg, with boring combat mechanics. It doesn’t even matter to me whether the story is good, since my favorite ac is unity, but it’s just not fun for me. Co op is the single best gameplay decision Ubisoft ever made and it’s sad they never brought it back. Valhalla doesn’t really bring anything new to the table, nor doesn’t it expand on existing mechanics like with what GOW ragnorok did. It’s just the exact same

[@OneNidim]

Lmao tap water. Couldn’t have said it better. The story is quite dismal, that’s the majority of why I play games at all

[@JagoShogun]

You play games for gameplay dude. Open a book if you want story. Story is secondary@@OneNidim

[@eladrio2311]

it was fun to you, I got bored in 3 hours and uninstalled

[@optimusprime7243]

​@@eladrio2311 I like the game, but I stopped after two hours when I found out there's no NG+ and there'll never be one, I'm not going to spend 200 hours just to throw the game away or let it collect dust afterwards, I wanna be able to use all the secret weapons and armor and legendary shxt on NG+ that I spent all that time 100%ing, now that I know there no NG+, I'll be returning the game, fxck that shxt, and fxck Ubisoft!

[@joeharris9426]

I love Valhalla. I have over 520 hrs logged (I injured my knee and couldn't walk for a long while) on the normal difficulty and I have restarted now after a break on the hardest settings. Loving it all over again. It's fun to pretend to be a Vikings!

[@xdrastig_4207]

but 520h isn't normal, most players play for 3 hours per week at best

[@joeharris9426]

@xdrastig_4207 I understand that. I said I had an injured leg while this was happening. I like a lot of content. It seems silly to complain that they gave us too much to do in a game.

[@Entreped]

​@@joeharris9426 That's one of the dumbest things I have ever read. 50-100 hours of quality writing is infinitely better then 500 hours of garbage. I won't ever tell someone they can't enjoy something but you most certainly can have too much of something.

[@joeharris9426]

@Entreped That's one of the dumbest things that you have ever read? Clearly you don't spend much time reading. I like the quality of the content just fine. I have played other games that are shorter, and it is always disappointing when the game is over a few weeks after it starts. Just another grown ass adult crying about a video game.

[@504Trey]

Valhalla is a great game & idc what anyone says 😎

[@thatswhyidrink]

Finally somebody mentions the "constantly getting knocked out of sprint" issue. That drove me crazy, especially while doing all those (incredibly annoying) flying paper puzzles. The parkour in this game is fucking terrible but they make sure you have to use it in the stupidest way to collect all the garbage.

[@undeadlegion2991]

Just use rush assassinate ability and you don’t have to chase them down

[@roarsack503]

Yes. And most of the time the running is so slow either way that it's often hard to even tell if you're actually sprinting or not. Especially on tightropes and such (during those flying paper puzzles). But that's why they made it so the paper would actually just stop on it's tracks for at least a good five seconds once it would reach the end of the course. So the "challenge" was ultimately meaningless anyhow.

[@enbeast8350]

I hate how you need to be like a mile away from a town for your horse to go full speed when you press sprint

[@AlexDiaz-hl8qx]

not once have I experienced that

[@bloodarcher7841]

Never felt that way playing.

[@No1gamer]

When I heard an Assassin's Creed game that was based on Norse/viking world, I honestly laughed. I mean it's called Valhalla, a pretty big and I thought well known fact that Vikings believed you'd only go there through bravery and valor but most of all, you died in battle. So to them an assassin is a coward and a weakling, one not worthy of Valhalla. Think about it, an assassin sneaks around, kills people with out them even knowing till it's to late, not giving them a chance to fight therefore not engaging in real combat. It just really didn't make sense for them to have an Assassin's Creed game with Vikings, other than Ubisoft getting EVERY era/society to put in their new game. lol 🤣

[@aspirewot8408]

It's just a game you literally respawn multiple times lool . And ac Valhalla was good u can still play as an assassin if u wanted to

[@ohuhokay8441]

Hard agree. Like… just go for Asia at this point, condensed buildings, grand structures, high population, etc, japan, China, India, being just a few great examples. This vast land with little chance to blend except in the woods for the most part with assassins message that literally goes against the message of entering Valhalla is insane to me

[@aspirewot8408]

@@ohuhokay8441 they did make ac China and India check it

[@ohuhokay8441]

@@aspirewot8408 that’s chronicles, I’m talking in terms of triple A games. Open world, 1st person, etc

[@magne7771]

*Assassin's Creed: Thog*

[@TheAsylumCat]

I think the short and sweet explanation would be "Assassin's Creed died with Desmond in 3, but they kept using the name. We didn't know at the time but something else was wearing its clothes after."

[@NamelessPassenger]

Nah...its truly died after Syndicate. Sure that black flag make you spend more time on sea and ships but the core of AC still there, pakour, stealthy, cool story and twisted history. Rogue may not be about brotherhood but the moral and questionable motive of brotherhood is really good aspect too, unity is full of bugs for sure, story is plain, but the mechanics were there and even the best still this day. Syndicate may not be well know, being shadow by other game in the franchise but still, a AC game from the core to the core. Only thing change from origin. From origin, ac fanbase plit into two group of mindset. One really really love the rpg, other prefer stealthy and adventure. As some one who like AC stealthy, enjoy the franchise since AC2 upto Unity (those my first AC is black flag). I found Valhalla is charming in it own way, just wished it wasn't publish as AC. And all the assassin appear to be crossover contents or easter eggs like what they done with watchdog. Valhalla is a very good RPG game recently release after many failed. It didn't exceed in any but also neither bad in any aspect. It was long game so does other RPG. Grinding as much as other RPG, i see no real downside in valhalla if you really want or need an rpg. But i know, it's frustrating when it under AC's franchise. I hate it as alway, will never touch origin or odyssey for that matter. Doubt i will touch valhalla if i wasn't interested in Norse myth.

[@ak-nt2tr]

I never liked Desmond. If you actually gave the games a chance, you have to admit the gameplay only gets better as you go. Odyssey and Valhalla are by far the best games in history. Unity and Black Flag are up there with them. anything prior is too janky to go back to and believe me I have tried. Completed them all in release order and tried to replay them on PS4 and Switch.

[@kylegardner6272]

​@@ak-nt2trDesmond was the main character of the original AC. The whole story was based on him becoming an Assassin and saving the world, until new developers came in and wanted to take the game in new directions and expand the universe therefore killing him off.

[@kylegardner6272]

​@@ak-nt2tr it's why every main Assassin character tend to have hints of Altair, Ezio and Desmond in their faces. It's the bloodline.

[@ak-nt2tr]

@@kylegardner6272 Desmond was a whiny little child and he interrupted the emersion from what makes the series amazing, the historical side. I am glad they got rid of him and are starting to make the modern not force fed.

[@Graham832]

This game was just incredibly painstakingly long, it was a relief to finish so i didnt have to play anymore

[@Roflcopter196]

I've watched a lot of Valhalla critiques over the past couple years and you are mentioning issues that I've never heard anyone talk about. Without a doubt, this is one of, if not the best, most complete and constructive critiques on KZbin. You get to the heart of nearly every issue in this game and still manage to be relatively concise. Excellent video :)

[@sosaysjay]

Thank you, I had a nearly two hour draft at one point and I realized I had to cut things down so I’m glad it is still cohesive

[@magnanimae5408]

Moral of the story, “Ubisoft was lazy”.

[@Ashadar_Resouley]

@@magnanimae5408 moral of the story "don't waste your time or money on this crap"

[@kirax7293]

I love it when you said ‘these stat boosts seemingly have no changes to gameplay at all’, because the entire rpg system of this game is fake. You can have +500 attack damage and you will notice zero difference in your actual combat. They’re only there as placebos, including the skill tree. No stats you gain there actually matters.

[@AdamOwenBrowning]

Wait... the numbers are effectively fake? Surely they have *some* benefit.

[@bremertoncitizen4667]

Cap

[@achmahnsch]

@@AdamOwenBrowningyes they have an effect but due to the enemies being damage sponges you won’t feel stronger. Doing 500 damage more won’t matter if the enemy gets 500 more HP at the same time

[@optimusprime7243]

​@@achmahnsch I like the game, but I stopped after two hours when I found out there's no NG+ and there'll never be one, I'm not going to spend 200 hours just to throw the game away or let it collect dust afterwards, I wanna be able to use all the secret weapons and armor and legendary shxt on NG+ that I spent all that time 100%ing, now that I know there no NG+, I'll be returning the game, fxck that shxt, and fxck Ubisoft!

[@casthedemon]

Uhmm...yeah that's utterly false.

[@noahbeal4555]

As an AC "fan" who hasn't played an AC since unity and hasn't finished one since 4, I literally burst into laughter after your brief summary of valhalla's plot. Ever since killing off desmond in 3, these games have had no arc to their plots at all. It's so obvious that they just put a bunch of cool sounding settings in a hat, pull one out at random, and try to make an AC story out of it. Without the modern day Desmond plot to tie everything together, there's nothing for a fan like me to care about. I have no reason not to just play a better stealth game, or a better action rpg, or a better historical game, or a game with a better narrative, or a game with better dialogue and romance options. These games have no identity, no soul. I'm baffled that people can find anything at all to enjoy about these modern AC games. To me, this series died with desmond in AC3, and should have just ended after revelations. Without Desmond, without the animus, without the ideological war between assassins and templars, without a grounded historical setting, there is no Assassin's Creed.

[@thecosmicartist3060]

YUP

[@lunaredelvour2972]

you know, an assassin during this era could have been a really interesting concept. first story idea that comes to mind is that eivor tries their best to be this strong and brave viking, but they're just not strong enough and struggle constantly to live up to their family's reputation (they're known for their prowess and can't be beat....except for eivor). parents finally have had enough and disown eivor out of shame, who is forced to set on their own journey and have to adapt to work with what they have. could have been saved by assassins and joined the brotherhood in search of belonging and a family, and takes on their cause. maybe the main antagonists are a group of very powerful vikings trying to screw over everyone, and are too powerful for even eivor's bio family to take down, so the brotherhood are the only ones able to defeat them due to their "dirty tactics" (can you tell I don't know much about vikings nor this game lmao). not the most original story, but it's one that really lets you play with the concept of sneaky stealthy assassins in an era and area where they're very much frowned upon and enables you to include the assassins in....you know, an assassin's creed game-

[@shurngirdleh3936]

The writing in these newer games is god-awful too. In odyssey the characters who talk about Alexios growing up on Kephallonia all mix up the story. Markos says he found him on the street, stealing food and Alexios even says that is how he met Markos to Phiobe but literally 5 mins before that we get a flashback showing Markos finding Alexios on the beach after washing up there 😩 how dumb do you have to be to mess up your own story in less than 5 mins of establishing it

[@brunoir283]

that's one instance. the rest are pretty good stories. especially all of the side content.

[@shurngirdleh3936]

@@brunoir283 I agree some are okay and I do like the effects of some of your choice in the game like that sick family but I had to delete the game after only a week with the game because it seemed like there was a lot more bad writing than good but maybe I didn’t give the game enough of a chance

[@ALTAI38]

Origin's and valhalla's stories are so deep, it actually made it worth the time for me

[@shurngirdleh3936]

@@ALTAI38 Valhalla’s story is deep? I’m sorry but if you truly think that then YOU are the reason these games have been terrible. If you want to point out anything notable about Valhalla’s story then please do because to everyone who enjoys writing and story that was one of the worst story in gaming history, I’d even say it’s a worse story than the original Mario game

[@lt_johnmcclane]

@@shurngirdleh3936 settle down geez

[@JanaenaeYT]

This is exactly how I felt playing Valhalla, as a former fangirl of the franchise. Ubisoft's kept _Assassin's Creed_ going for sooo long, they've backed themselves into a corner. They can't innovate further without making AC more unrecognizable from its roots, and they can't fully commit to those roots because they've beaten that formula to death for fifteen years already, so they've settled on Frankenstein-ing the two together. As a result, for me, Valhalla ended up feeling like a case study of that popular quote: "Appeal to everyone and you'll appeal to no one." Maybe Ubisoft should take the hint and wrap it up, though in their current state, I have zero expectations of an ending worth sticking around for anyways.

[@protectbabysif]

I really don't think I agree with this. They can very easily strip down the formula and do a complete overhaul of gameplay while retaining the core pillars of Assassin's Creed, it's just that they seem to refuse to want to commit to that because they know the money is in familiarity

[@DV-ou1yu]

Totally agree. And ending we can all skip.

[@SebCarrasco]

Well, it seems confirmed now they have 7 projects in development with the aim of appealing to every splinter demographic of the franchise. Can’t wait to see how poorly this turns out .

[@MarceloZ2]

They honestly should just reboot the whole franchise and start over. Take what works from each era and try to make something cohesive and that stays true to the pillars of what Assassin’s Creed should be, at the same time that builds up onto a blank slate with new lore and new characters.

[@hiarus8850]

​@@SebCarrasco 7 projects at the same time...yeah that's not gonna end well

[@thebulletkin8393]

Given how they handled stuff like social stealth an attempt to relive the feelings of the original games or even parkour as a whole has me concerned that they may also miss the mark with mirage

[@helghast_7203]

Although I still resent Odyssey for implementing magic and the possibility of having an entire game without assassins, I can see your points for the game (you are actually the first one I hear giving solid and good arguments for the game, so thank you for letting me understand better why people like the game).

[@MiraSmit]

In a game called assassin's creed you should always have the option to stealth through an entire game if you want to. That's kind of the point of an assassin after all.

[@sosaysjay]

To be fair we’ve never gotten that in the traditional or newer games. They have always been very combat heavy

[@enfiive]

You'll love the first AC then, which I loved. There's combat here and there, but an Assassin through and through. Where you formulate how you'll have to get close to the target, and your escape.

[@meurer13daniel]

nah, Assassin's Creed became an action adventure series in the second game. In fact, AC Unity was the first game in the franchise that actually had a proper stealth system built in (not perfect, but it was there in the core). It's the lack of the Assassin myth that is ruining the franchise for the old fans like us. In fact, AC Unity was the first game in the franchise that actually had a proper stealth system built in (not perfect, but it was there in the core).

[@mychannel-lp9iq]

I would still stealth my way through in Origins. Though

[@captainkirk9691]

I think the thing that upsets me more is the lack of assassin focus story telling in the newer AC games aside from origins.

[@Best.Of.Britian]

Its basically just become a series of generic themed games with a splash of AC added to it.

[@unc54]

Origins doesn't have an Assassin focus either. It's a pretty standard revenge story with some superficial Assassin storytelling in the final arc.

[@SillyTillar]

Assassin's Creed Black Flag is my favorite game in the entire series. The assassin work and pirate fantasy was a fantastic mix in my opinion, managing your ship and crew was a wonderful experience. The only thing I hated in Black Flag was the hunting at times. But I have a love for most the games, even some of the later ones. It's sad to see what what happened to Valhalla. I hope Mirage can be better.

[@spaceghostmiid]

black flag is a fun game but it is ruined for me by 3 words: stealth ship missions

[@SillyTillar]

@@spaceghostmiid Yea that was pretty shit but not shit enough to bring down the game for me

[@Warmaka]

My mom liked it.

[@SebCarrasco]

I would also like to add to the discussion: the downturn of the Animus UI. For some reason, Origins actually has a fantastic in game animus layout, which Ubisoft somehow forgot about with Odyssey, and even more so with Valhalla. Like part of the immersion is the contextual framework that we are playing inside of a high tech, science fiction machine, so the visual and audio design should fit within this. Valhalla more egregiously than Odyssey just said, “nah fam”. Say what you will about AC 3, Unity, and Syndicate, but the UI implementation was amazing!

[@ceeemz4288]

I clicked on this video thinking it would be an 100k+ subscriber channel but I'm very impressed by the production quality and formatting of this video, you earned a sub

[@sosaysjay]

I appreciate that, thank you

[@EiswolfZero]

I've been aching to watch this video ever since I bought Valhalla in a sale. The only AC game I ever attempted to play was the very first one and after that I watched my brother play them and enjoyed the story of Desmond through his gameplays. Still, my brother never finished Valhalla and I got curious and...it's funny, most of the time I craved for the missions to be over so I could go right back to collecting (with mysteries being what I REALLY looked forward too). Some missions were really well written (Villi) but sometimes (especially the main ones) felt really strange. This video really encompasses some of my feelings and it was really enjoyable to watch. All the points are well and nicely explained and ring true, despite be enjoying the grinding section of it. As some others said, it just doesn't feel like an AC game and as such I find the ending of the mainstory really strange and it took me out of the experience even. I was so glad to get back into the Animus haha. Love the video!

[@julienbadvoisin5215]

I just learned how to play those AC by removing almost all the HUD, i am only keeping the life bar for my character. And it changes everything. I am using more the crow to search and explore, by not knowing what is going to happen I am always on edge and using more the notes I find in the world and my eyes than the compass and the colouring dots.And the game is more enjoyable this way in my opinion. I really love Valhalla this way.

[@Red-Brick]

My main problem is that all 3 of the newer games are much longer, each being longer than the last. Valhalla is fun but im at 140hrs and just now playing the dlc, which now I might not even finish now that I know it doesn't get better only worse. The game drained all the fun I had for it by the 80hr mark and after that it felt like a duty to finish it because of the time I put in it already. Tbh I had the same problem with Odysey so Idk what I expected. As much as I love Valhalla, I just miss being able finish a game without having to take breaks inbetween them because I get bored of them.

[@togucvinw7]

Haven’t even finished the game yet , still on that 60+ hours mark and I left it, felt like a chore to finish that game

[@robchristenson3108]

I am in the middle of playing. Brother bought for me a year ago even though Origins felt laborious to me. I really liked this game for 80 hours. Hate most moments after. I am 155 hours in and feel like I still have another 100(at least) to go. Way too bloated. Also, I am at level 310. Playing regions of 160-190, it is just too easy and unfulfilling. Hopefully they keep games to 70-100 hours going forward. Great value to those looking for it I guess.

[@nousername2942]

I got about 100 hours in and said I was done and never came back. It's a shame because it'd be a good game if it was condensed even a little bit at all. It's so ridiculously big that it seems like they did it as a joke.

[@terrylandess6072]

I learned to play for a few days completing a 'territory', then take a break. Obviously after the initial 'wow response' wore off after 20 or so hours. I knew I was in for a long game and the landscape of Briton is a pain in the butt. When the overall story and areas became stale, I'd do a DLC or just run around mindlessly seeing the game without a quest marker. Games of this size seem to have a problem with the story endings never being up to expectations after so many hours of player involvement.

[@FollinEmpire]

Yep taking me about 4+ weeks playing this game. I played it for 2 weeks straight 9am-5pm and I still didn’t get anywhere.. I took breaks my 3rd n 4th week playing but god damn.. IM STILL NOT FINISHED WITH EXPLORING all the islands 😭😭😭 on Odyssey.. everytime I go to a “?” Im begging it isn’t a bandit camp or fort

[@heathenpolska]

As a spartan and viking game I think Odyssey and Valhalla were actually pretty good. If Ubisoft had advertised them as such instead of shoving them under the Assassins Creed title I think that they probably would have sold much better and gained a larger fanbase. They didn't though and so in the end they were just setting themselves up for obvious failure. That's just my opinion.

[@sosaysjay]

To be fair, if we are discussing both in terms of sales and broad fanbases, Odyssey and Valhalla blow all other AC games out of the water. Odyssey especially built up a huge following all on its own, and both made a ton of money

[@AFanOfCinema]

@@sosaysjay Tbf a lot of that money came from microtransactions

[@sosaysjay]

@@AFanOfCinema That is possible, I haven't seen solid numbers on it, but we do know that AC Odyssey had sold at least 10 million copies, and that number is a year or two old at this point. That puts it on par with Unity and Origins, and ahead of most of the rest of the franchise, behind only AC3 and 4. We have no confirmed numbers for Valhalla to my knowledge.

[@lt_johnmcclane]

@@AFanOfCinema high micro transaction sales would be indicative of a base game that sold well. This isn’t the first AC game that included them

[@iamyourfather4270]

Nah. The Assassin's Creed brand helped them sell so well. Ubisoft knows it and that's why they stick the AC title to these games, which have no resemblance of the classic Assassin's Creed

[@darrenshore5853]

Im new to AC but loved valhalla. It's a big game and real value for money. I feel at times there was not enough story, lots of adhoc tasks to complete in each area to progress the game. I'm an old gamer so never bothered with upgrades,

[@Pit_Lord]

I’m an old school fan, but I loved Odyssey for what it was and spent hundreds of hours running through different builds. Valhalla took most of that away and left us with a very average experience that left me totally unfulfilled

[@zicuvalentin2251]

Played odyssey 2500 hours....valhalla I gave up after 120 hours is too boring.

[@iurysaraiva3411]

Played AC1 and 2 in before 2012 or recently?

[@zicuvalentin2251]

@@iurysaraiva3411 I've played all the assassins and I find them quite boring....the most impressive is A.C odyssey and it's actually one of the most favorite games in my life...well done UBISOFT.

[@iurysaraiva3411]

@@zicuvalentin2251 so ... Played before 2012 or recently?.. when played recently fist, obviously the old one is mediocre .. same with Dragon Age..

[@iurysaraiva3411]

@@zicuvalentin2251 Halo, Saints Row, F.Horizon , Cod, etc... companies bring new players stepping on the old ones.. the new ones finance thinking the "soul" of the game was meant to be like this.

[@williamstevens5599]

My biggest complaint about Valhalla is how little Sigurd and Basim were on screen. That was a relationship I wanted to see more of in the game. Eivor consistently referred to Sigurd as his brother but then you arrive in England and he fucks off for the remainder of the game. I always felt like Sigurd would have been better as the main character and having Basim training him as an assassin would have been a much more interesting character arc than Eivors imo. Eivor was given a hidden blade told to kill Templars and he just took that idea and ran with it. Meanwhile Basim was whispering in Sigurds ear and teaching him the ways of the hidden ones. Ultimately leading him to lose himself and then eventually to relinquish his power as the leader of the raven clan. It felt like it just kind of ended after a certain point. I think Sigurds story would have been better if he was the main character and Eivor was either a side character or removed entirely from the narrative. That’s a much more engaging story imo. Overall it was a very disappointing experience and that bums me out because I played this directly on the heels of Origins which was damn near perfection.

[@alfalfachomusuke8258]

this should be it eivor character design is so oof the chart

[@afkmh2392]

When basim isn’t on screen everyone should be wondering “where’s basim?”

[@arturius9715]

It's a Viking game. Not AC

[@erobberobbing4424]

​@@arturius9715what's the title of the game no brain

[@controlschemekeaton]

Should've just cut out Eivor and gave us Sigurd as the protagonist being indoctrined into the Hidden ones by Basim.

[@unstablegatekeeper8439]

you make your videos easy to understand! love it

[@bruh-myega]

In all honestly, I really like the game. I love norse mythology and vikings and all the activities and story are literally perfect for me. Plus if I want to do a bit of the "assassin stuff", i just hang out with Basim. But I've got to be honest, out of all the 3 playthroughs where I've spent at least 50 hours in each one, I've never completed the main story. Not even once. Recently I've set myself on completing all of the main AC games including the RPGs which means that the final cherry on top will be me coming back to Valhalla, this time with the intention to actually complete it no matter what. I really wonder how I'm gonna feel after replaying it this year, if I'm gonna change my mind and start seeing the issues now that I can compare it with the previous games still fresh in my memory, or if I'll still love it as I do now. The RPG games are a very hard topic to discuss in the AC community. I like them both, but don't appreciate the divide that it brought among the community. In a perfect world, I'd love to see everyone like all the games.

[@TheChodex]

In my opinion biggest mistake Ubisoft made is dropping the Bayek and Aya storyline... AC Origins was such a good settings and had great characters it made me fall in love with this series again, it really gave me that "assassin" feeling from the Altair era, and instead of continuing the story with Aya in Rome they just abandoned it for some reason... I hope Mirage gives me that eastern "Origins" vibe again, because whereas I enjoyed Odyssey and Valhalla it really felt like some random games instead of assassins creed games

[@Ish7923]

Yeah ac origins was good but atleast they are trying their hardest to return assassins creed to its former glory since they are losing millions now crazy how it took them this long to get it right 😅

[@gokux75]

I enjoyed Odyssey more than Origins, but even I thought it was stupid to do another prequel after Origins. I was really hoping the game after Origins would show the Brotherhood start to grow and expand.

[@rainegingerfish8860]

They abandoned it cos no one wanted to play as her stfu

[@ryanhays429]

The thing that bothered me with origins is Aya saying she lost her love for bayek when their son died even though there was absolutely nothing up to that point showing that. Felt like I got M. Night Shyamaland.

[@GribbleGob]

@@ryanhays429 Aya was going to be the player character originally but one of the misogynistic scumbags at Ubisoft (not naming him in case his defenders find this) forced them to change her into a side character. same with kassandra in Odyssey.

[@ArgerasCZ]

''Ubisoft prefer removing things over improving them'' ... that should be carved in stone, because that's biggest truth bomb I ever heard in any AC video on this platform, thumbs up, and subbed, you earned new fan :)

[@Ancor_Vantian]

What do you know? I 'picked up' the game thanks to Ubisoft making it free for the weekend of August 11-14th. I went in with somewhat of a 'negative' perspective/not expecting too much of it after watching some reviews since it came out, and I actually found myself really enjoying it. As I'm writing this comment, I'm debating whether I should buy the base game or not (just the vanilla, I don't really do DLCs) It's currently on sale for 15 USD (around $22 for me due to currency exchange) and I'm, like, 60/40 in favor of doing it I was only able to complete around 43% of the main campaign. It is nothing to write home about and I personally enjoyed the God of War: Ragnarök reimagining of the Norse Mythology way more. Granted, I no longer see the RPG saga as "Assassin's Creed" games but as a simple "Ubisoft turn-your-brain-off" RPGs. With that mindset, I fairly enjoyed the Viking power fantasy. Yes, it is as if not even more bloated than Odyssey and Origins, but I kinda liked it.

[@randomrandom84642]

Get it on a cd site key for even lower. I got the complete edition for about 30 bucks. It's an enjoyable game to waste time on.

[@noodlekeeper5150]

My biggest annoyance with this game is that I decided I wanted to play with bear gear and literally couldn't find anything for the spec for hours, cause it's all locked behind levelled areas. The only stuff I had was the dlc stuff, which is strong, but I wanted to try some new stuff out, and it was just absent from my world. I had plenty of wolf weapons, and raven, but I only had like three bear weapons.

[@neilsacatropezsaura2320]

I was so pumped after the first raid in Valhalla then I needed to upgrade the village and gone through a bunch of raids and spending more time finding keys instead of fighting. I've never felt so miserable in any game

[@gregoryfosdal7935]

The Supideo mission was paramount to my Odyssey experience; it was the most enjoyable side mission but also demonstrated the balance between light-heartedness and heavy matters throughout the game. It was a beautifully written story. Valhalla feels like it was written by people that have never played a video game or read a book or even watched a movie.

[@hazelcrisp]

The missions, characters and quest stories are so ridiculous in Odyseey which is what makes them so great.

[@luichinplaystation610]

You described the ubisoft writers

[@VikingNewt]

valhalla feels like it was written by racist seppos masturbating over my heritage.

[@themadhattress5008]

If I can say I enjoyed a few things about Valhalla, it would be the pacing of the combat, the soundtrack, and the settings you can visit in the main game and in the DLC. The combat felt like a breath of fresh air to me. It was more thrilling than any other game in the series because of the hitbox system as opposed to the counter and attack system of the older games. Adding a stamina bar only made the combat feel more intense, and the variety of weapons encouraged me to try different weapons out and see which one appealed to the playstyle I was going for. What I don't like, however, is the over the top nature of the abilities in these games. I play the AC games partially for realism and partially to explore settings in the past. While it could never be 100% accurate to how life actually was in the games we play, Valhalla still took my breath away with the way it displayed each locale. Graphics aside, the game was obviously intended to be quite beautiful -- and as much as it shows, it's disproportionate to the way the combat handles at times. I liked the animations, and I liked how combat felt more fluid than ever before. I just didn't like how the combat felt like it was too much for a game like AC. This isn't to say it's a bad system, but it's perhaps overdone. The skill tree seems impossible to complete without putting in hours upon hours of gameplay. And I think 'overdone' is the right way to describe the whole game, really. If we want to say they tried to appeal to both camps of the AC fanbase, then we should also be able to say that what Ubisoft tried to do in either direction was simply too much. Moreover, in games like AC3 or Rogue, it didn't necessarily feel like a chore to do the missions or any of the side content or collectibles. At times, it's been tedious in past games. Who could forget the ridiculous task of finding feathers in AC2 to get a pretty meagre reward? In Valhalla, there's so much to do and see that I just don't want to play it. It's cumbersome to the point of absolute disinterest. This is the main reason why I haven't been able to finish Unity, let alone get all the gear or upgrades. I think Valhalla just overcorrected the series, and in too many ways. I'm over 100 hours into the game and it still feels like I've barely started doing anything with a character level of over 200, and Raventhorpe's renown being fairly high. To be fair, when playing these games, I often prefer to do the side content first, or to at least make it s primary focus. Story missions tend to bog down the experience and I see the collectibles and various side missions in the Valhalla to be part of that experience. My problem is really that the game blows everything out of proportion. What I used to see as a fun and enticing way to play an AC game and make the completionist in me overjoyed, I no longer see -- at least, not in Valhalla. Valhalla is one of the few games in the series in which I actively decided I didn't want to 100% it, something I used to take as a challenge as well as just something to do as I played in prior games.

[@VencentCross]

I'm of the opinion that AC Syndicate is amazing on paper and I'd love to see them try again with all those ideas but with better execution (and one singular protagonist)

[@Carlisho]

There is a guy called Whitelight that does a lot of AC retrospectives and he made a video on the Parkour of AC, this video reminded me of it because all you talked about the game having mechanics that dont work together or had no thought put into them, the Parkour of AC suffered the same problem as well in pretty much every game.

[@sosaysjay]

I’ve been meaning to get to that video, I look forward to watching it

[@Carlisho]

@@sosaysjay Its really good, he goes very in depth into the hidden mechanics and such, there was stuff in that video that I never saw once in my entire AC career and I platinumed all the games until I quit with Syndicate.

[@bearcavepro8832]

@@Carlisho syndicate is the one game that broke me.

[@axelhopfinger533]

If you compare the movement and combat mechanics of AC to that of Horizon: Zero Dawn, it becomes really obvious how janky they actually are.

[@rvolcano7338]

I couldn’t look at Valhalla as an AC game for the longest time but I couldn’t put it into words exactly why. This video outlines it and brings up points I hadn’t considered.

[@nWbula1]

The first AC game i ever played was Valhalla because i really liked the thematic. And from there on i continued with Odyssey and Origins i really like these new gen assassins because simply i am a person who likes to get overpowered feel like god walking, exploring freely and my choices to have impact.

[@thsisissparta6739]

I don't know whats going on with resolution quality in this video but other then that, it's like someone much more competent in expressing themselves read my mind on Valhalla and made a video about it. Great job, keep it up!

[@apyr54]

i couldnt get my thoughts together to say why i didnt like valhalla, and this video fell upon me like a silver ring. i watched the rest on your videos and i can really say that they are amazing, i hope you keep going because i know that you will get places!!

[@sosaysjay]

I am glad it resonated with you. Hopefully I can keep this hobby up, I have been enjoying it

[@tizodd6]

Roroxdadmjt: I haven't watched the video yet, but I feel you. Something about Valhalla just doesn't work for me. I love Odyssey and Origins...so Valhalla should be right up my alley, but after about 10 hours of play, I haven't been able to bring myself to load up Valhalla again. Meanwhile, I still play and enjoy Odyssey and Origins every now and then.

[@MrDarkAngel95]

Feel the same as you. I mean, almost hahahahaha My case is different in the way that, since I didn't play any AC game since Black Flag, Valhalla was my first AC in years. I liked it at first. I devoured the main story line, but after that... I quickly lost interest in the game. It took me like 10 months to finish the Wrath of the Druids storyline, because it felt like a boring task to return to the game to finish it. I was reminded of the existence of Valhalla because of the announcement of the Siege Of Paris Expansion. Just because of that I said "oh, shoot, I still have to finish WotD Expansion" I also hope Mirage improves on the formula. But what I hope the most is for people like Yves Guillemot and Bobby Kotick to leave the industry. They both have ruined a lot of beloved IPs and franchises, in the case of Yves, AC is just one of them. Also, @sosaysjay, great video. You basically explained a lot of why I quickly lost interest in a game that I liked

[@ishmaikel]

Cuz its a big piece of dog shit

[@tizodd6]

@@MrDarkAngel95 If you liked Valhalla initially, I definitely recommend you try Odyssey and/or Origins. They're similar to Valhalla, but better in every way.

[@Kiara.step-daughter]

You sir, will go extremely far in the KZbin world! Your commentary and explanations are so professional and beautifully spoken

[@sosaysjay]

Thank you Kenner Jendall, I appreciate that a lot

[@Thedownliner2015]

I don't know why but I really hate playing a game where you know you are in a totally different location but the internal building or cave feels exactly the same as though it was copy and pasted and you get that alot in Valhalla. You also get it in Odysee though it doesn't feel like that as often. Even Mafia 3 did this. For me it just totally destroys the illusion that you are going somewhere different. Some randomness would be nice rather than navigating exactly the same interior you navigated on the other side of the map.

[@PaulBrownclk-me]

Ive loved the last 3 games .. i loved the older games .. the graphics on Valhalla are stunning.. it’s definitely a game for me!

[@joebond545]

Yeah I've enjoyed every AC except syndicate and unity, didn't have an interest in those time periods, but valhalla is right up my alley

[@songoku6067]

What annoys me is how they nerf the parkour in each new AC game if they kept the Unity parkour every AC game would feel amazing

[@Engille967]

Unity is when the nerf started

[@sameichorn3757]

This long form content is amazing. I love how you actual put thought and effort into your videos. I hope you end up doing reviews of all the games in this series. Very impressive

[@sosaysjay]

That means a lot, thank you. Hopefully I can do videos on all of them in the future

[@thebatmanofneo-gotham5667]

I wish to add in my own two cents to what you said about AC Valhalla's repetitive Story Arc mission structure: So the first Assassin's Creed is often criticized by fans for its repetitive mission structure, which I myself have engaged in, I admit - you know, go to to Acre, Jerusalem, or Damascus, track down the target, kill him, report back to Al Mualim in Masyaf, and do the same thing again several more times. However, the key difference with those missions compared to the Arcs in Valhalla is that at least with them, they all played a key role in progressing the game's story and developing Altair as a protagonist. He learns something from each Templer target he assassinates, and it influences how he changes in character. This change in character then leads to how AC1's story plays out. In Valhalla, however, it's as you said, all the regions in medieval England are all just individual checklists. They're all self-contained stories that don't intertwine or overarch with one another in any cohesive way and don't have much relevance to the main story. This robs Eivor of any meaningful or relevant character development that she would've benefitted from otherwise. The only Arcs that played a factor in Valhalla's main story are the ones that had Eivor deal with Sigurd, when he was raving about being a god, or when he was tortured by Fulke. However, those missions sadly made up a small portion of the game's dragging structure, a majority of which is just "go to this region, meet this character, help them, earn their trust, conquer that region for the Raven Clan, etc". Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. That's literally the bulk of Valhalla's main story, and it gets old and boring pretty fast.

[@LucasSkynyrd]

I'm a big fan of AC franchise, have been playing it since 2007 when the og game came out and honestly, I have enjoyed every game since, Valhalla is great, very different from the rest, but still an awesome game. I like the RPG style to let the player play as he wants, Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla take part before the classic Assassins Brotherhood was formed as we knew, up until there it still was the Hidden Ones, a very primitive stage of the Assassins, so everything was still taking the form that we learned to love so much, and this opens these games for the players to play as they see fit, want to go full viking and destroy everything that moves? Fine, make a build for that. Preferer stealth? Fine, make a build for that. I know it's a little weird to be an steallthy viking, but then, it was weird for them to connect with different religions back then, but the are many examples of that through history, why not one that goes for a stealthy approach? RPG games are so open that you can create the version you want for the character, and I love that. Since these games take part on the creation of the Assassins and Templars orders, it is totally fine to have a different playstyle in this scenario. Classic AC games were great, but I much prefer the RPG action styled of the most recent nowadays.

[@johnpetrila4823]

This is a wonderfully deep and concise analysis with great editing and script flow, but the touch I loved the most was the inspired use of "Candyland" as a verb to describe skill tree progression. Excellent writing touch.

[@gauravlall747]

I wanted to enjoy Valhalla. I really tried but at the end of the day it felt like playing it was a chore more than anything fun and engaging

[@Peter-wc7dg]

I think that each protagonist has different levels of agility and 'tankiness'. Eivor is on the tanky end and doesn't really need to sneak around (e.g. like Arno or young Ezio), and doesn't need gimmicks from the loot. It is still far from the relative realism of the first games, but I'm not super worried about the lack of 'super socks of backstabbing' or similar. The different character types have different degrees and types of engagement with plot elements, e.g. with some being very into the assassin group (e.g. Altair and Ezio) and others less so (e.g. Edward and Eivor), though they exist in the same world. It isn't really surprising that a 'viking' isn't as crash hot at stealth as someone that grew up in a metropolis. Kassandra was quite different in that she could be anything, and you could even switch out your equipment and playstyle if you broke off combat. That game's plot was also pretty goofy and took a step away from the realism in the other games (with kinda Hercules/Xena Warrior Princess vibes - the whole ongoing Mysthios thing didn't really gel with the end of the main plotline), though I did enjoy it a lot as well in a different way. Valhalla was kind of its own beast as a 'viking' simulator, while black flag was a good pirate simulator. They are all quite different and I am glad that they haven't given up on the franchise, and that they have stopped trying to turn a new one out every year.

[@Rancid_Sanity]

This is the best most spot on review I've ever seen/heard. The parkour, empty world, and cut and paste cities with the same exact stuff in every city are just horrible. How did they manage to build such a massive game with literally nothing in it lol

[@lexy4037]

I think you hit the nail on why despite really liking Origins and Odyssey i just couldnt get myself to like this one, very good video!

[@lexy4037]

I got into the series with AC4 and later played Ezio games so i seen both sides of the franchise, Valhalla just isnt a very good game...

[@hokagedlo6133]

Same I loved the those two but I hated Valhalla it felt like a game without a soul

[@thesidelinegm1596]

​@@lexy4037😅😅😅😅😅🥴

[@ZioComposite]

This, after finishing it I basically Uninstalled Ubi after.

[@Mephilis78]

My solution to the Assassin's Creed identity crisis that it seems to be having... Is to alternate. Since it's been so long, have Ubisoft Montreal make one a game in the spirit of old school Assasins Creed, like Unity. Mostly because is the HD iteration, Unity captures the spirit of the original games best. Then while this game is being played by fans, and being Updated regularly by Montreal, another game can being in the works by another studio, like Quebec. This game will be one of the more modern Witcher 3 style games. This why everyone gets what they want without having to sacrifice quality with a jack of all trades game. It's not a new idea, it's something that Activision used to do with Modern Warfare and Black Ops, and nobody I ever met complained about that.

[@AD-oi2bz]

Stop it you are making too much sense

[@LevisH21]

tbh, I would put Black Flag in the same category of most recent RPG style AC games because of how vast and huge the map in Black Flag is. older AC games are small, contained and dense small city maps. Black Flag, Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla are basically huge countries you get to explore.

[@gnogara]

Hey! Great video. I could not play yet another game with a gear score system, so I haven't played played AC in a while. Shame it's in such a state, I always wanted one in feudal Japan when I played the old ones. Also, whats song is playing in the background at 23:10?

[@mychannel-lp9iq]

Ooooh taht would be awesoem

[@Jordinho99]

Great video, I had known about Kassandra and female Eivor being the canon protagonists but didn't know the reason behind the male counterparts being added as options, ridiculous lol. Also that dragon fight really looked like a call to Dark Souls, as you say another attempt to find ideas to find something that works. Future direction of the franchise looks unsteady at best.

[@val7885]

As far as I am aware, this also happened to Origins - initially, writers and devs were playing with the idea of Aya being the main protagonist, but were told no by higher ups.

[@luichinplaystation610]

It was french monster hunter je suis monte

[@peterpike]

I can sum it up this way. I've 100% completed Black Flag 3 times and it's still fun. I haven't been able to finish Valhalla's first DLC (I finished the main story before DLC began, I just can't force myself to gruel through the game more than about 15 minutes now before I shut it down and look at KZbin videos instead).

[@Sebastiao3]

Odyssey is my favorite, great gameplay for both stealth and ruthless combat, beautiful and immersive story and charismatic characters.

[@matthewthompson3300]

Very good video, probably the best evaluation on Valhalla, for me I'm very mixed on this game there's bits i enjoyed and bits I didn't. The main thing i didn't like was just how long the game is, just felt it was never-ending at times and felt disconnected with the main story as you pledge with different allegiances that have nothing to do with the main story. Towards the end i just gave up on completing all the side missions as there just the same and was very happy when i finished the game after so long playing it.

[@blvcksabath2529]

I wanted to love Valhalla so badly, especially Cos I’m a huge fan of Norse mythology and Viking history and Viking tv shows but it just was trying to be too many different things. Had it chosen one path and stuck to it I think it would have been perfect

[@KevinGeneFeldman]

Yeah somehow what I'm looking at here doesn't align very much at all with Viking history or Norse Mythology.

[@sp5072]

Probably why you didn’t like it lmao not very accurate at all

[@svenkatpollachi]

I started playing this game recently and you will start loving this game as story progress.. Even initially I passed this game but after final content update you get always hood on option with few new missions and one of mission that has connection to Mirage this game is awesome.... This game now feels like assassin creed

[@BeefPapa12]

@@svenkatpollachi The game is so fire fr

[@ninab.4540]

@@svenkatpollachi You know...if it took years for the game to get good, maybe it wasn't a good game?

[@krimzenkloud3259]

This is a perfect description as to how I feel about the game. I have tried playing it 3x and I can't for the life of me. It's the only AC game I can't bring myself to finish because of some of the things u have said. I don't feel like an assassin and I can't play it any other way because of what it's supposed to be. This might be me overstepping but I honestly feel like Ubisoft should remake a lot of the games in the AC franchise and with Unity/Syndicate mechanics as it's base. Even removing the Animus because to me it makes more sense if they just told the story of Assassins vs Templars and have you the player retelling their story, living their lives, being in their shoes until it gets to modern society like the assassin girl in Watch Dogs Legion and through that aspect they could eventually combine both games. Templars, the ones behind Abstergo entertainment and small, shady activist grps working behind the scenes and Assassins as the hackers of DedSec/the Legion. As for Odyssey, it was way out there in terms of being an assassin but I enjoyed the hell out of it. I don't mind the RPG elements to the AC games but I just want it to be done a bit better, because since origins I've been in love with the concept. I still want more AC games like Black Flag, Brotherhood, AC3, Syndicate and even Unity (when it decides to behave). But in my opinion Valhalla ain't it. It doesn't give me that feeling and I find myself going back to older AC games.

[@horizonblack8351]

They need Animus to make people think that their story doesn't end only in ancient times. The things they need to upgrade a lot is the gameplay directions. I mean they have more resources to make the missions better, but they was too much focusing on repeating endlessly old encounter in a mission. Kill this - go talk to that - do more thing like this and repeat. Rather than having an impact on the mission like what players can and can't do in that mission. Diversity playstyle really help them if they design it to be so.

[@Neutron19405]

As someone who had 160 hours on this game, I actually enjoyed it a lot, yeah it had its own little problems and animations but overall it was a fun game :)

[@420parksworld]

I always wondered why this the only AC game I didn’t care to finish about half way threw and here’s my answer lol couldn’t put it better myself even after finishing it I was even more upset 😅

[@lalosalamancaenjoyer3321]

this game isn't a game you look back with good thoughts, it's a game that makes your dopamine receptors hyperactive and that's why you come back and keep playing it.

[@tumultuousv]

Yeah I played 60 hours in a short time. That was years ago tho and haven't has any desire to play it again

[@abc4781]

Man by the time I wrapped up my 75 hour playthrough year's ago I couldn't wait for it to be over so I could play Ghost of Tsushima again lol I even tried playing it again recently and I just can't get back into it, and to be honest I hated this game even on my first playthrough.

[@lum1notryc828]

Na, if this game gets your dopamine receptors popping off a lot after even more then 10 hours, you need better taste in games lmao

[@Allious131]

You should get your brain checked if you think it's a dopamine receptor game.

[@abc4781]

@Lum1n Otryc lol nah foreal 😂, matter of fact, during my playthrough the thought of not playing the game anymore made my dopamine receptors hyperactive.

[@Mr_.G]

I personally sunk about 300 hours into Odyssey, loved that game and I would definitely play it again. Took quite a while to collect all the different glowing Isu armours due to the random type drop. Having a massive map to play on was one of my favourite parts of the game itself. Facing mythical beasts was cool too. Atlantis was also beatifully done.

[@Candestine]

yeah i feel like become a mercenary, looking for quest and do it daily, other ppl may find it boring and repetitive but i like it very much, comfy game for me..

[@hazelcrisp]

@@Candestine It's pretty much a comfort game for me

[@bandsivefilmedlive]

Odyssey is my favourite game of all time, I racked up 191 hours on it

[@blvdgreatness6513]

With the stealth subject i believe they relaxed on the complexity because of the setting our mc is a viking a brutish berserking glory in battle seeking warrior (thats what a viking is) he's had no assassin training he's literally gifted a hidden blade and told how to use it while practicing on dummies...to quote the game he literally says he has no need to hide the blade hinting that he was a more face to face fighter i believe they knocked you out of stealth to force you to embrace your viking nature, with the detection 0-100 issue i felt like it added life to the ai u have to decide how to proceed know each ai will perceive your stealth differently

[@chamathamara]

One thing I loved Odyssey is its skill system. Though the game has issues with sponge enemies, you can try different builds. As you mentioned, a player can experiment in the game with stealth. archer, warrior and 100% crit chance builds with different weapon and armor combinations. I think they could have improved this system in Valhalla with reasonable player levels. I was disappointed to see in Valhalla's skill system that have been down compared to Odyssey.

[@CinematicSeriesGaming]

This was a fantastic critique. Good job. I definitely look forward to more stuff from you!

[@Ambuhsofly]

Excellent critique. This video is extremely high quality I would have assumed you had dozens of videos by now! This game was a welcome escape while my Grandfather was dying of COVID. Hundreds of hours to escape from my own personal hell. Other than that purpose it served, I have no desire to boot it up again, not even for DLC. It was fun but felt soulless. I never felt attached to Eivor like I did with Bayek or Kassandra. That was the biggest thing I noticed from the start.

[@sosaysjay]

I am glad that it was an escape and I am sorry that you were put in a position to need it. I appreciate you watching and I am glad that you enjoyed the video

[@JuGsa]

About the combat, I always hoped they would add a combat system like for honor or chivalry/mordhau to AC, just more refined for singleplayer. With for Honor for example you have so many different movesets, animations and combos for the heroes (as Ubisoft owns For Honor, it would just be reusing for Honor animations and tweaking it for singleplayer), which you could just use for the different weapon classes, and make it so you unlock more advanced combos with skillpoints, and make thougher enemies more likely to parry/counter random spam attacks, so you also need to use more combos and more advanced combos to beat tougher opponents. And towards people that think it wouldn't work because those combat systems struggle with one v X combat: Why even make it so you are constantly up against 5+ enemies? It's a game about Assassins, so I would be completely fine with 1v 2s/3s already being pretty difficult, to actually give a meaning to the stealth gameplay and enhance the assasin feel, as you actually have to be careful to not be detected cause otherwise you're ust dead. This would also make it easier to balance easier vs harder opponents, aside from just more health, more damage. So thougher opponents could just have better AIs which parry more likely if you do the same attacks too often, and if you dont use parries/combos yourself(but still are also a bit healthier and damaging, just not to such absurd amounts like in odyssey). So these tougher opponents wouldn't just be hard to beat because number too high, so you dont do damage, but much more that your tools at your disposal are still too limited to properly deal with them + you could also make it that parrying and dodging has a system which makes it harder to parry/dodge attacks at the start, but gets easier with the type of gear you have (light armors for better dodging and shield which makes blocking or parrying more efficient, kinda like dark souls/elden ring), but also some skills that improve it so it isn't entirely gear dependent. It would just need to make tougher opponents harder to sneak up on, to not make stealth either completely op or making it super unsatisfying with stealth kills not one shotting harder enemies. I know this isn't the most coherent explanation and I dragged it out quite a bit, so there probably aren't a lot of people who are even gonna read this or care about it, but I still wanted to put my thoughts down somewhere for once.

[@unleashed613]

I never finished the game, i got bored really fast. Btw bro i never watch a video for over 15 mins, but yours kept me engaged the whole 58 mins !

[@sosaysjay]

That is kind of you, thank you for watching!

[@beverlyshields2399]

"i enjoyed it, but it never hooked me" is the perfect encapsulation of how that game made me feel. I very rarely drop games, but i dropped it after over 40 hours.

[@asgads]

I really like valhalla. It was just very long and enemies can spot you to easily. Other than that great. But i am really looking for more stealth in the next ones

[@Ri_Shin_Marco]

I platinumed the game on PS4 right after release with ~180h after them fixing bugs 2-3 month after release. I was just burned out of it and I never went back to play the two DLC despite me owning them through the deluxe edition. When I got my PS5 and I didn't know what to play I was like well let's get the platinum for it on PS5 as well. And after 3-4 hours I had the Platinum Trophy and I thought to myself why not jsut play the two DLCs. Well I got 3 hours into druids DLC till I closed the game and deleted it from the SSD. And I swore then and there that I won't ever install it again and that I look at gameplay of any game from Ubisoft they releases before buying it (that saved me from getting FC6). Two month after my 2nd Valhalla attempt I got my platinum on Origins and Odyssey. Both game I owned before Valhalla but because I had so many games at the time I never had the time to actually finish the close to 100%. And oh boy are those game leagues ahead compared to Valhalla. Origins in terms of story and Odyssey how it handels the RPG elements. And both Egypt and Greek are way prettier than England in my eye. But that is mainly because when I leave my house I have close to the same scenery as I see in Valhalla. And I personally like side quests that have nothing to do with the main plot and are more than 30 minuites long. Thus I absolutely hate what Valhalla did with it. The average time for a side objective in Valhalla is less than 3 minutes... That's just bad world design, and that was from the same team that gave us AC Origins. Overall Valhalla is my second least favorite (mainline) AC game out there after AC Liberation.

[@Flying_fisher]

Odyssey was my favorite AC tbh, liked the old ones too but something about Odyssey just really spoke to me with its setting and open world. Great video I knew I felt most of this about Valhalla but not precisely until I heard it put into words.

[@farisprasko3549]

This was a very good video bro. After my 140 hour platinum playthrough of the game, it became so hard to go into the dlc because of all the points you mentioned. Why spend more time in a game that is so below par from what they used to produce. Keep it up man

[@quademasters249]

I agree with just about everything you're saying. 1/2 way through "Valhalla", I just couldn't wait for it to end. It was just so dull. "Odyssey" had that a couple times but then I'd discover some new thing or place that renewed my interest. "Odyssey" was long but by the time I finished it, I really felt like I'd accomplished something. "Valhalla" I never looked back. Had no desire to buy the DLC. I enjoyed fighting the bounty hunters in "Odyssey". They were tough but fair. In Valhalla they were always way above my level. It was tiring to shave off a little heath with each hit and getting one-shotted when I missed a dodge. I can't think of anything that Valhalla did that was better than "Origins" or "Odyssey"

[@zicuvalentin2251]

Played odyssey 2500 hours....valhalla I gave up after 120 hours is too boring.

[@rocktheconqueror6903]

bounty hunters in valhalla? did you even play the game atleast an hour?

[@zicuvalentin2251]

@@rocktheconqueror6903 played valhalla 150 hours and is about ZEALOT not bounty honters and is most boring game I ever played...this game is too easy on difficulty nightmare....

[@rocktheconqueror6903]

@@zicuvalentin2251 zealots are not as same as mercenaries or bounty hunters. They're like boss fights. You may think it's easy in nightmare difficulty because of shitty odyssey and origins combat. But I'd say it's better in valhalla cuz unlike odyssey and origins there is no button smashing or enemies who are damage sponges in valhalla. Also there is no level system in valhalla so that you can finally be stealthy without having to worry about alerting enemies . Combat is definitely one of the good thing in valhalla It's long yes, boring sometimes but overall it's a good game but that's just me.

[@GribbleGob]

@@rocktheconqueror6903 Combat in Valhalla sucks. and there is a level system in valhalla. its just not called one.

[@rcadium]

I've played the AC series from beginning as a teen and my favorites are AC 2, Revelations, Brotherhood, AC 3, Rogue, Odyssey and Origins. Valhalla just felt like a viking game with hidden blade and it took me couple of times to finish it as it kept interrupting my immersion.

[@kam665]

For me Valhalla was the best from serie just beauce it wasnt like all other assasins.

[@Beery1962]

My biggest issue with this game is that England looks nothing like England. I'm from Yorkshire, and in reality, Yorkshire looks nothing at all like the mountainous icy wilderness that Valhalla claims to be Yorkshire. It was a huge disappointment to me to get to the area I grew up in, and find no rolling hills and meadows of the Peak District and West Yorkshire, but instead a ridiculous mountainous hellscape that looks more like the American Rockies than the north of England.

[@rascal512479]

The biggest sin of this game is truly that it fails to deliver either an assassin experience or a viking experience. Tries to do both and ends up missing the mark for both...the biggest part where i noticed is in raids....Animus wot allow you to kill innocents.....Not a huge deal breaker but an example of how the assassins side of things holds the viking side back and same the other way around

[@maciejpolak2458]

Vikings actually didnt kill peasants etc Sometimes they killed one or two for example but the rest of the people have been captured and sold to slavery Human was one of the most valuable trade item in the medieval times

[@mikedangerdoes]

@@maciejpolak2458 That's fair. But you can't engage in slavery in Valhalla either, so it's not like they are accurately reflecting the "Viking" experience in that way.

[@nicholasricardo8443]

I realized a few weeks ago that I spent $120 on this game as a birthday present for myself and that in total, if you wanted the complete experience, with every gear set and DLC, you would spend upwards of $500 dollars. That is criminal. I've played Valhalla for 150 hours total, playing Wrath of the Druids right now, and I just finished God of War (2018). Good Lord the whiplash, I think I'm just gonna stick to other games

[@agentwho1933]

I love AC Valhalla it's to me fun and so much u can do, long story many killings side quests etc love love love

[@Mrchungus11C-OIR]

I love AC because I love history it was honestly kind of a relief when they scaled back some of the stealth requirements for though. last one I played before I bought all 3 of the new ones one weekend was 3.

[@mrwalker6026]

It's a game for me though...thoroughly enjoyed the main campaign and still enjoying it 2 year's later

[@cowel8734]

Yes I loved every minute of it and found myself actually happy playing unlike with Elden Ring which is a masterpiece but I spent more time angry than actually having fun

[@ebucehil9757]

Did you enjoy The Phantom Menace too?

[@mrwalker6026]

@@ebucehil9757 no why?

[@ninab.4540]

@@mrwalker6026 Ignore him, probably still stuck in 1999

[@epistemologyphilosophy7791]

@@cowel8734 I’ve never seen anyone advertise that they like games with dull features solely because it’s a less harsh experience, I don’t even have any real memorable moments in my head of my over 60+ hour experience in assassins creed Valhalla in comparison to Elden Ring a game that makes you want to explore the world because your character and your skills at the game transform relative to the world, you have to be a risk taker and someone who is willing to die over and over to get skilled enough to make it through, there is no risk in Valhalla or incentive to explore its admittedly visually breathtaking world except for a check list that turns the player back into a linear machine giving you the veneer of an open world.

[@Stoic-Waziri]

I'm in my late 20s, and I've been gaming for at least 20 years, so I've definitely played many games with Bully and The Godfather being among my favourites. My older brother who had been gaming longer than I had really enjoyed the older AC games, but I didn't really like them because of the long ship sailing. But playing Odyssey blew my mind, and because I'm a big history buff, seeing Socrates and actually having a conversation with him was easily one of my best moments in gaming. So I was really happy to play the next Assasins Creed game, being Valhalla, which was something I was looking forward to. But after buying it, I played it like 5 times and I can't remember a game as boring as Valhalla

[@zicuvalentin2251]

Played odyssey 2500 hours.

[@patrickperico589]

People who hate this game are stuck in the past. Play it as it is, for what it is without comparing it to past titles.

[@bobbyprine3691]

I contacted Ubisoft support to report a bug that Eivor would aim at random objects with the hunter bow they told me to put my PS4 in safe mode & try all that stuff on there ,someone on reddit told me they had the same problem and to try playing without aim assist on that worked for them & that did seem to help there's different levels of aim assist & it seems the stronger it's on the worse the problem with aiming at random things. I contacted them about the messed up stealth detection going from white being investigated to full combat right away and when it does turn yellow it will continue to turn red even if you get out of sight. They resonded at first with a link showing how to change the stealth detection to different lengths and I said I know how to do that it's the game they told me to try to capture gameplay of it & share it to KZbin unlisted and send them a link . I couldn't catch the yellow meter continuing to turn red after breaking line of sight because everytime I tried to catch it when the meter was yellow and I tried to run away it was like Eivor is running in quicksand everything slows down including her . I used Sharefactory to put gameplay of that & the aining thing in a video & druid seeing me from like a mile away, one of the side objectives from the side missions in Wrath of the Druids is to not be detected but the messed up stealth kept making me fail that . I sent a link to the support they told me thanks for the link & the details I gave they would pass it on to their gameplay department (which looking back I doubt exists) that if they found anything wrong that the problems could be fixed in future patches. That's been about a few months ago so I made the video public & shared it to my reddit page been thinking about seeing if I could share to the Assassin's Creed subreddit or Valhalla subreddit which I'm on both . The only good thing anyone says on thrre is about how beautiful the scenery is. I put a link on Ubisoft support twitter and Ubisoft's Twitter and saying this just screams we don't care about the fans.

[@spellandshield]

Well done Lord Jay. You made a video summarising how I felt the whole time playing ACV. I was so psyched about this because of the premise of Vikings, Mythology and History and it turned out to be meh. You did an excellent job putting to words what was going on in my head and I never ended up finishing the game. I hope your channel blows up.

[@sosaysjay]

It was a shame how many issues I had with the game, but thank you for watching and I am glad you enjoyed the video