Next Assassin's Creed Game Reportedly Set During The Viking Age

[psylockolussus]

I'm way more hypedcompare when it was first announced. I also like that you can hunt fishes and social stealth is back. Domestic cats can even join your raid. I just hope the map isn't bigger than Odyssey, as there are a lot of locations in Odyssey that I only visited once or twice.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

Graphics don't like all that great if I am being honest.

 

[Zorro]

Graphics looks fine but about the same level as Origins and Odyssey, which is kinda odd since this has been worked on for two years instead of the usual one year release.

They're likely using the same engine and simply tweaking gameplay a bit with the biggest focus being the new theme of the game

 

[Silvermoon]

I'm way more hypedcompare when it was first announced. I also like that you can hunt fishes and social stealth is back. Domestic cats can even join your raid. I just hope the map isn't bigger than Odyssey, as there are a lot of locations in Odyssey that I only visited once or twice.

Yeah, I think my biggest issue with Odyssey was the size of it's map. Wasn't a fan of how massive it was (especially since I'm the type that likes to go through and clear/reveal all those ? icons, Odyssey's map made that take so much time to reveal/clear). I was okay with the size of Origins' map, larger than the previous games' maps (or at least, felt larger), but no so ridiculously huge that it felt daunting if you wanted to clear out everything.

 

[psylockolussus]

I cleared all the icons as well (well the ones that don't pop up every 24 hours). Like as for side quests in Odyssey (not counting the dlcs), the only one that I couldn't finish is beating the monster in the volcano. And it took me a couple of days to realize, that some tasks in the msg board are just on replay. But still I only ended up in level 67 and I'm pretty sure I have yet to passby all historical sites, as I got xp points in 5 historical sites located in the cities the last time I reinstalled it. So there's more probably that I missed and I didn't bother to solve all the text riddles.

But my main issue with the big map is there are areas like the mountains/grass fields where you would just run there and it looks like there's really nothing to do there. And there are small islands where you just pick up 1 to 2 things and never return to it. While Medusa's lair is pretty, there's really nothing to do there after you finished her.

 

[psylockolussus]

Graphics looks fine but about the same level as Origins and Odyssey, which is kinda odd since this has been worked on for two years instead of the usual one year release.

They're likely using the same engine and simply tweaking gameplay a bit with the biggest focus being the new theme of the game

For me, Unity is still the best looking AC game. And hopefully the first Ac game that won't be coming to the current gen consoles would look as good if not better than that game.

I don't mind the graphics being in the same level as Odyssey/Origins though since Valhalla is part of the Layla era/Ac going full rpg phase. But for the next game, I'm hoping for something that looks truly neXt gen.

 

[Zorro]

I kinda regret getting the Ultimate Edition. Overwhelming amounts of content and map size. It's actually a good thing in many ways but I don't play the game too often as I go back and forth with others. I've only done the main story and a couple of side missions.

I got the game on sale though and I own it digitally, so it'll always be in my account

 

[psylockolussus]

That was the case for me with Origins. I cleared all the icons in the map,visited all the tombs, got all the tablets, killed all animal kings, destroyed all the statues, saw all the constellations but I couldn't get myself to do the 20+ side quests still left in the menu as its going to be as tedious as the main missions.

Odyssey improved the mission structure, thats why I managed to do every side quest and got all trophies for the side quests.

I'm getting Valhalla right away in November so I plan to make the most out of my $60 by doing every activity. I don't want to wait til mid of 2021 to get it as I'd probably have a ps5 by that time. Though Improbably getting the regular edition and not ultimate edition.

 

[Marvolo]

Graphics looks fine but about the same level as Origins and Odyssey, which is kinda odd since this has been worked on for two years instead of the usual one year release.

They're likely using the same engine and simply tweaking gameplay a bit with the biggest focus being the new theme of the game

All of the AC games have gotten at least a 2 to 3 year dev cycle. Even when they were releasing one every year. Ubi always has multiple AC games in different stages of development at multiple studios. For example Ubi Montreal began production on Unity in 2010 right after AC Brotherhood was released. Ubi Quebec began Syndicate's production during Unity's production. Ubi Quebec began production on Odyssey during Origins production at Ubi Montreal.

 

[Zorro]

I stand corrected. My mistake!

 

[Zorro]

 

[psylockolussus]

I know a lot of those Cinematic graphics won't end up in the actual game,but it looks great.

Crazy how this is the 12th main game (and the first one came out just 13 years ago). And Ubisoft continues to make the games bigger. I hope they could make it to the 20th main game without a bad game. I can't think of any franchise (that I've played) to manage to release that many main games, especially in less than fifteen years.

 

[Silvermoon]

This popped up on my youtube feed yesterday

 

[psylockolussus]

I'm not interested in the rap battles/drinking games. But I don't mind eXtra features.

The flying things are back as well, its for the tattoos, so it looks like we are going to be jumping into tree branches again and again.

 

[Marvolo]

The devs need to come out and say which gender is canon before the game comes out.

And I wonder what the villain group is called in this game and who they are. It's too early in history for the Templars, and it just being a bunch of English lords would be boring. I wonder if it will just be the Catholic Church.

 

[Zorro]

Yes they do. Did they do it for Odyssey? I assume Alexios is the cannon character because of the cover and majority of the marketing but don't know if that was ever confirmed.

Now they're doing the same with this male version

 

[Marvolo]

Yes they do. Did they do it for Odyssey? I assume Alexios is the cannon character because of the cover and majority of the marketing but don't know if that was ever confirmed.

Now they're doing the same with this male version

Nope. Ubisoft said Kassandra is the canon protagonist character of Odyssey. And at least one of the books have reinforced this. I think Ubi focused on Alexios so heavily in the marketing, because they didnt want to alienate male gamers. That doesnt seem to be a priority concern this time around.

For the sake of fairness and equality I think the male Eivor should be the canon protagonist of Valhalla. Then in the next game make the female character the canon protagonist and so on and so forth. That way the canon is giving equal priority to both male and female gamers.

 

[Zorro]

Yeah that would be fair enough

 

[psylockolussus]

To me, since I don't buy/read the books. I'm going with the one that is in the cover even though I want to play a female character in Assassin's Creed.

Hopefully by next year, they would finally give a female character a chance to really headline a game. Because before I got into AC, I didn't know there was a female playable character in Odyssey as I only saw Alexios in the marketing. Aya is a secondary character compare to Bayek as you will spend more time with Bayek. While in Syndicate, Evie felt like a secondary character compare to Jacob despite being more interesting than her brother. I feel like Ubisoft should change this and alternate between male and female. Most of their games have a male lead. I can only think of Beyond and Good Evil as an eXception. Its kinda similar with Rockstar Games.

 

[Zorro]

Nah, having it be optional is the way to gol

 

[psylockolussus]

Having it optional limits the possibility of the character appearing in future games (not that I expect them to but still). For example, Eivor appears in another AC game, would the character be a male just like in Valhalla's teaser or a female? Its not clear.

I would prefer that they go back to 2 playable characters just like in Syndicate but this time the 2 playables have equal screentime. Its fun when you can swap characters in an instant and they don't share all the abilities/costumes.

 

[Marvolo]

Having it optional limits the possibility of the character appearing in future games (not that I expect them to but still). For example, Eivor appears in another AC game, would the character be a male just like in Valhalla's teaser or a female? Its not clear.

I would prefer that they go back to 2 playable characters just like in Syndicate but this time the 2 playables have equal screentime. Its fun when you can swap characters in an instant and they don't share all the abilities/costumes.

If Eivor appears in a second game as an NPC it would be in whichever gender is canon. If Eivor returns as a playable character in a sequel then the player will be given the option of either gender, and the devs will say which gender is canon just like they did with Kassandra.

 

[Marvolo]

Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Upgraded Animus Allows You to Change Eivor's Gender At Any Time In Game and Bring Layla Into The Simulation As Herself

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will introduce new narrative elements for the Animus that provide lore justifications for new gameplay possibilities, namely the ability to switch the gender of the player character at will, as well as bring modern-day protagonist Layla into the historical open world. A recent hands-on demonstration of Assassin's Creed Valhalla I took part in featured the ability to swap Eivor's gender from a menu. But it turns out this isn't a demo feature to allow journalists to show both male and female versions of the character to readers. Talking to IGN, Valhalla’s Narrative Director Darby McDevitt explained - while avoiding any story spoilers - that this is a new gameplay feature to ensure both male and female versions of Eivor are considered canon. The feature is backed up by new lore that upgrades the abilities of the Animus, the machine that allows Assassin’s Creed’s characters to explore the memories of their ancestors.

“You can go into the Animus layer of our game,” he said. “There's an option to change the memory stream. To explain why would spoil a long-running secret, but I will say that the whole reason for why you can switch [Eivor’s gender] back and forth fully embraces the often overlooked science fiction nature of our series.”

“We've got this thing that's called genetic memory, and we've got this Animus,” he added. “What are all the ways you can play with that? And how could we leverage that to make a character that you could choose male or female? We found a way that we think is pretty satisfying.”

While McDevitt would not explain the story reasons for the Animus doing this, it seems reasonable to predict that this is an continuation on from an idea explored in Assassin's Creed Odyssey. In that game, when the Animus scans DNA found on Leonidas' spear, it finds two potential matches in siblings Kassandra and Alexios, hence your choice of protagonist. For Valhalla, we may be dealing with a damaged DNA sample that cannot determine Eivor's gender, and so the simulation fills in the blanks based on what Layla/the player asks it to do.

The Animus also has another new ability: to bring modern-day protagonist Laya into the simulation itself, allowing you to control her in the Anglo-Saxon open world. It’s an innovation designed to solve a problem previous games have had.

“The modern day story often grinds the experience to a halt,” McDevitt said. “Taking you out of whatever historical period you're in and putting you into the present day where you have a bunch of different characters with different skills, different affordances, and different abilities. It really has this kind of hard stop.”

Layla being able to explore the open world prevents that hard stop. “The story is that there are anomalies inside the simulation. And when you find them as Eivor, Layla and her handlers will pause the simulation, and set up this big thing for her to deal with. It’s a big puzzle, lots of intense puzzle solving and parkour so that you can acquire a bit of interesting data and then close this rift.”

https://www.ign.com/articles/assassins-creed-valhalla-gender-eivor-animus

Interesting.

 

[Zorro]

Both genders are cannon!? Interesting options but I ain't involving Layla. I want the less of her and modern day presence as much as possible

 

[Marvolo]

Both genders are cannon!? Interesting options but I ain't involving Layla. I want the less of her and modern day presence as much as possible

It sounds like it's not optional. If Eivor finds an anomaly Layla enters the simulation as herself and solves or deals with the anomaly.