Fans are clamoring to know more about the recently-revealed Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and one of the biggest questions is exactly how much it’ll resemble its direct predecessor Odyssey, particularly when it comes to player choice and multiple endings. While Ubisoft hasn’t answered those questions directly yet, there are plenty of hints sprinkled throughout the details that have already been revealed for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Before yesterday’s (admittedly lackluster) gameplay reveal, it would’ve made sense to have these questions answered in the trailer–yet all it included were gameplay videos captured on Xbox Series X. So instead, fans can examine other aspects of gameplay that have already been confirmed: elements such as settlement building, a “unique” story structure, the choice of player character, and more.
Valhalla’s Fresh Take
One thing Ubisoft has promised for Valhalla in recent days is “a fresh take” on RPG elements of Odyssey. While that doesn’t explicitly confirm or deny multiple endings and dialogue choice, the mere fact that Valhalla supposedly takes after Odyssey more than any other game suggests that it does, indeed, have both of those things. After all, multiple endings were one of the biggest changes Odyssey brought to Assassin’s Creed, period. For Valhalla to feature a fresh take on Odyssey’s RPG elements but not give players dialogue options and therefore multiple paths and endings as the game goes on, well, it just wouldn’t make sense.
One element of the game this already definitively applies to is Eivor’s appearance and gear. Where in Odyssey gear was largely randomized, all pieces of armor and weaponry will be unique, customizable, and upgradeable, which means players won’t have to throw out a look they really enjoy just because they’ve found more powerful (and less palatable) armor. Level grinding has also been toned down in Valhalla, meaning players won’t have to work so hard to become powerful enough and progress to new areas and missions. And while none of this applies to multiple endings or dialogue choice, it is indicative of Valhalla’s direction and leanings–which are clearly in favor of player choice.
The Romance Mechanic
Sure, romance as a whole isn’t new to Assassin’s Creed. But Odyssey did most definitely redefine what Assassin’s Creed romance could look like. Before, romantic relationships between characters were set in stone as part of the linear story path; in Odyssey, players had the option to engage in romantic dialogue with a large number of characters scattered throughout the world–or the option to avoid it entirely. Romance in Odyssey depended entirely on the player, how much they explored and whether they wished to flirt with a particular character or not.
Of course, there was the DLC snafu with Legacy of the First Blade, where the main character was forced into a romance, which players weren’t fans of. Interestingly, a plotline like that would’ve been completely run-of-the-mill for previous Assassin’s Creed entries, but clearly players had already embraced their newfound freedom and proved reluctant to give it up. Considering things got so heated that Ubisoft actually came out and apologized for engineering the story in such a way, it stands to reason that Ubisoft would continue the trajectory set by the base Odyssey game than anything else.
Ubisoft has even already confirmed that romance in Valhalla will follow Odyssey’s lead; knowing that, it’s hard to imagine a game with the ability to choose romance, but no ability to make choices that would affect the ending of the game. In for a penny, in for a pound.
Story Structure
Then there’s the fact that Ubisoft has described Valhalla as having a “unique” story structure. There’s not a ton to say about this quite yet, as Ubisoft itself hasn’t said much beyond this, but it does add another interesting layer to the “multiple endings” debate. Ubisoft called the structure of Valhalla’s story unique even among other Assassin’s Creed games, and among RPG games altogether.
This could be referring to many different things, from the already-announced settlement feature to exploration and the use of historical monuments; however, while multiple endings certainly aren’t unique by any means, dialogue choice and branching endings could lend themselves well to whatever overall effect Ubisoft is going for here.
Choosing Eivor
While most of the finer details of player choice aren’t confirmed, there is one glaring example of it that has been: players’ ability to choose their character; whether they’ll play as a male or female Eivor and then the option to further customize Eivor’s appearance. As confirmed by Ubisoft, regardless of which gender players choose, both Eivors will be canon in-game, though how that’ll work isn’t clear yet. It’s also unknown what, if anything, will change in the game based on which Eivor is selected, though if Odyssey is anything to go by it’ll just affect appearance and voice.
Still, Valhalla is taking character selection even further than Odyssey did in allowing players to customize their Eivor’s look; while Odyssey allowed dialogue choices and changing armors, both Kassandra and Alexios had set features, hair, etc. It’s looking like that won’t be the case with Eivor, which will be another series first for Assassin’s Creed and a step further into RPG territory for Valhalla. Again, while this doesn’t guarantee multiple endings, the similarities to Odyssey and a clear dedication to player choice in general strongly hints that players will indeed see dialogue choices and multiple endings.
At the end of the day, it feels like multiple endings–while still unconfirmed–will be included in the long list of ways that Valhalla will be following Odyssey’s lead. In several ways, it looks like Valhalla isn’t just following, but actively taking things even further into the RPG genre than Odyssey went; perhaps there will be even more variation in Valhalla’s endings and plot paths than its predecessor had. Nothing is confirmed yet, but it’d be honestly shocking if Valhalla doesn’t have players uncovering a range of different endings when it launches.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla releases for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X during the 2020 holiday season.
