Assassin’s Creed’s come a long way from skulking around in white hoodies via the beige-tinted personality of human spreadsheet Desmond Miles, I’ll tell you that. I’ve never seen a hidden blade look less subtle.
It’s been a hot minute since we last checked in with the assassins, with Ubi taking a year-long break after Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s Ancient Greek stabbin’ and smoochin’. Not only did we call Odyssey one of the best action games around, it also had extremely tall lasses and supernatural dives into mythology. Valhalla, revealed last night following a seven-hour stream cobbling together the game’s key art, puts you in the fur-lined boots of Viking clan Eivor. Booted out of Norway, ol’ Eivor - who, yes, can be a burly bloke or buff lass - heads across the North Sea to set England ablaze. As Ubisoft told Eurogamer in interview, that choice of gender isn’t the limit of customisation. Beards can be styled, tattoos can be painted, and your very own longboat can be kitted out with colours and trinkets. Valhalla also adds a bit of base-building to the mix, as Eivor’s clan establishes a foothold on the British Isles. City-building doesn’t come cheap, though, so off you pop in your longship in a new raiding system - setting port towns and villages ablaze to nab treasure and resources. Unfortunately, this earns you the ire of the Saxons under King Aelfred of Wessex. Fortunately, you’re buying an Assassin’s Creed game to stab folk. Ubi tout a “revamped” combat system that lets you dual-wield all manner of axes and swords, with shields making a return after their absence from Odyssey. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is set to make landfall on Uplay and the Epic Games Store at the end of this year.
