Yes, I'm unironically praising Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (along with the entirety of the recent trilogy of AC games). Ubisoft, if you're seeing this, please don't read too much into all the critics who say that games like Valhalla have "too much" content or are "too big"/"too long."

I'm one of the quiet gamers out there who actually love vast, lengthy single-player open-world action/adventure games that feature stories, characters, and themes that actually demand an investment of time and attention from players. I care nothing for online multiplayer/PvP/co-op modes. I want nothing to do with multiplayer games and the need to interact with other players--instead, I want to sit down and immerse myself in games like Valhalla, Odyssey, and Origins for days, months, and even years after I start them. All on my own time, at my own pace, and in my own way.

I'm thinking as well of games like Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon: Forbidden West (and Zero Dawn), Days Gone, Red Dead Redemption 2, and (of course) The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Valhalla, along with similar story-driven single-player open-world adventures, fulfills this need for me when it comes to gaming. And when I have a lot of content to explore and experience, I actually feel like I'm getting my money's worth. I don't want a game to be over in just a few hours. I want to explore every village, settlement, cave, and underwater area whenever I feel like it.

I want to traverse a beautiful environment and discover things, people, and places. I want to obtain weapons and items that will be useful to me--and then modify and upgrade them. I want to see my character's animations and watch them physically interact with the environment around them (simple looting/gathering animations are thing I actually enjoy seeing). I want to stumble upon people who have a problem that you can help to solve. And I want to follow an engrossing story with interesting characters and dialogue. I see these qualities and more in Valhalla, which legitimately takes effort, talent, and time to produce. I fear that the more Ubisoft keeps hearing that this sort of game is bad, the more they're gonna be like "Okay, let's just produce empty, soulless multiplayer-focused garbage with less content, smaller (and more linear) worlds, and less appeal for single-player gamers who just want to get lost in the experience . . . because that's what everyone wants."

Now, do I have criticisms of Valhalla (as well as Odyssey and Origins)? Yes, definitely. I've complained MANY times on this forum to give us more and more granular options for customizing our HUD/interface. Being able to reduce or minimize the amount of silly, obnoxious, artificial HUD clutter in these types of games is critical to increasing a sense of immersion in the game world. How can I enjoy these gorgeous vistas or this dynamic combat if my view is constantly obstructed by dumb things like life bars, stamina meters, damage numbers (which I'll never understand), adrenaline meters, directional damage arrows, mid-screen messages telling me my arrow quiver is full, etc., etc.? Luckily, we can turn the vast majority of that stuff off now, but I've lost count of how many times I've requested Ubisoft to let us turn off those silly red-rune flashes that appear as attack telegraphs from enemies. HUD options really do matter to me and so many others. Let us freely have a more immersive, less cluttered, more cinematic experience in our games.

There are clipping issues that still appear and continue to baffle me. Like, how are so many of these issues still not fixed? It's distracting and irritating to see bows, axes, blades, and so on clipping right through clothing and torsos. Sometimes sound effects are missing (when Eivor dismounts from their horse, there's only a 60% chance you'll hear the thud of their boots hitting the ground). Enemies are too damage-spongey (even moreso in Odyssey, which was the worst case of this--a byproduct of RPG-style design). I wish I could sprint without having to click a stick or press a button (like you could in Odyssey and Origins).

Then there are the microtransactions and online stores. Good god, I hate these. Stop monetizing everything.

But at their core, Valhalla, Odyssey, and Origins are exactly what I look for when I decide to spend money on video games: immersive single-player open-world adventures set within beautiful, vivid regions that capture the eye, invite exploration and discovery, and are filled with characters, stories, and combat. Yes, there can be all sorts of improvements and refinements. I concede that.

Anyway, just wanted to put that out there. Ubisoft, keep making games like this. Some of us really do appreciate and enjoy them.

And PLEASE let us turn off that silly red-rune flash for unblockable attacks. I've been waiting for quite a while on that.

So there was a video footage, I made a printscreen of it, where we can see a meteorite falling near the Lincoln city in Lincolnscire. I am in the same place also in night time, but nothing happened yet. What is going on?undefined

So a few months ago a reliable source leaked that Ubisoft Sofia was developing a shorter spinoff game like Freedom Cry set during the third crusade, codenamed "Assassin's Creed: Knighthood" or alternatively "Project King Richard" and was scheduled for release next year. The game was said to have semi-linear hub levels in the style of Tomb Raider and Deus Ex instead of being fully open world. It was also reported that it would have featured Jerusalem, Constantinople, Venice and Cyprus. Plus Altaïr and his wife Maria Thorpe would have appeared as side characters in this game. But unfortunately the project was scrapped due to issues caused by the covid pandemic. It was then reported that it will instead be reworked into more dlc's for Assassin's Creed: Valhalla.

So what do you think? Will we see a dlc set during the crusades next year, or has Ubisoft just abandoned the entire thing alltogether? Personally I would love to see some content set during the crusades, especially if we get to see Altaïr again. Would be even better if his younger son Sef (Desmond's next ancestor) appeared, as his face has never been shown in the games, unlike Darim.