Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla has showcased to the world both a cinematic trailer as well as a trailer featuring off-camera highly edited gameplay of the 2020 title. While fans are still waiting for the gameplay walkthrough demo that will sell them on this Viking fantasy, it’s a good time to look at the things this new entry can learn from the last Assassin’s Creed title, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey.
There are plenty of pitfalls to avoid, and strides in quality to continue fleshing out. Let’s now look at things Valhalla can learn from Odyssey and things it should avoid repeating.
10 Avoid: XP Grind
Though Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey was met with pretty positive criticism, it had one glaring issue. There was a system in place where players could purchase a permanent 50% experience boost for $10. You might say to yourself that this is fine as it is reserved for those who are willing to trade money for time, but there’s more to it. See, the problem with Odyssey is that it required staggering level grinding which made this $10 purchase feel necessary as opposed to optional. This is something the 2020 title should avoid doing at all costs.
9 Learn: Engaging Narrative
Assassin’s Creed has always been a franchise that focused on a narrative that has become more and more convoluted as the years have gone on. In many ways, Assassin’s Creed: Origins felt like a soft reboot for the series as well as the narrative. With Odyssey, players felt that the historical narrative was interesting and at the same time the modern-day events didn’t feel overbearing or as if they overstayed their welcome. People will always flock to the series for its gameplay, but a solid narrative could make Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla even greater.
8 Avoid: Copy/Paste Battles
Odyssey introduced a new event to the series wherein players could take sides and fight in larger scale battles against a large group of enemies alongside an army of their own. Though these initially sounded fun and exciting, by the third or fourth one you participate in the seams start coming undone.
Taking a second to look around you’ll notice that many of the fights include the same loop of animations and the battles immediately take you out of an immersive experience. With Valhalla, they hopefully focus on making each large scale battle feel unique in certain aspects.
7 Learn: Make Ship Combat Optional
Outside of the disappearance of true stealth gameplay, the biggest point of contention between fans is the focus on naval combat in recent years. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag set the standard for ship traversal and naval combat and the rest of the series has felt compelled to include it in some manner. Some people love it, while others feel as though it can sometimes be obtuse or frustrating. Ubisoft has stated that due to historical accuracy naval combat will be drastically reduced in Valhalla. Hopefully, there’s just enough to satiate both audiences.
6 Avoid: Quantity Over Quality
Despite Odyssey being regarded as arguably the best entry in the long-running franchise, it had numerous weak points that could be improved. At times the game felt bloated and the world felt large simply because they wanted to be able to say it was larger than their last entry. Recently Ubisoft Montreal clarified that Valhalla wouldn’t be the franchise’s longest or largest entry. They heard the fan feedback and decided to focus on enriching the world and not forcing the size and scope of the world they wanted players to experience.
5 Learn: Embrace Female Protagonists
These days when anyone asks who they should choose as their protagonist in Odyssey, the easy and resounding answer is Kassandra. This may have come as quite the shock to Ubisoft as most of its marketing leading up to the game’s release featured Alexios, the male protagonist.
It became quite clear that Kassandra was the better-written character, and had a more engaging narrative. So far it seems that Ubisoft may be doing the same thing as the early marketing for Valhalla has put a clear focus on the male version of Eivor, its Viking protagonist.
4 Avoid: Meaningless Side Quests
Ever since the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in 2015 gamers are now privy to what good and bad sidequests look like. CD Projekt Red took the time to make these side activities feel meaningful with engaging writing. Gamers can be pretty forgiving of things like side quests, but now that there’s a new standard for greatness fans have a barometer for measuring the quality of these things. With the reduction in the scope and a more focused approach, it will be interesting to see how worthwhile Valhalla’s optional content will be.
3 Learn: RPG Systems
When Origins was first announced as the Assassin’s Creed title that was going to more heavily implement role-playing game systems and design throughout, fans were worried. Two games into this trend for the series and it’s only improving with every new title. Things can always use refinement and tweaking, and it’s already been reported that the leveling system and equipment systems have seen drastic overhauls, so it’ll be exciting to see what else changes for the better.
2 Avoid: Too Much
Odyssey for many people felt overwhelming in the best and worst of ways. Though the world was beautiful and full of exploration and adventure, it came across to many people as a Herculean task.
Most gamers at this point are over the marketing of open-world games getting larger and are now starting to prefer smaller scopes with more detail. Valhalla is already teasing that the developers took the feedback and went in this preferred direction.
1 Learn: Well-Written Characters
As previously mentioned the Assassin’s Creed franchise is one that’s had interesting lore, but the focus has always been on its gameplay. Ezio’s original trilogy of games was the last time the majority of players felt that the narrative was worthwhile and meaningful. As the series has morphed from a stealth focus to one leaning on role-playing elements, the writers have made it a point to make the characters feel fully fleshed out. Kassandra is a glowing example of great character writing, and hopefully, Eivor follows in her footsteps.
NEXT: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: 5 Reasons To Be Hyped (5 To Be Worried)
