Why is Gunnar saying those lines in the camp then? People were speculating that it would have to do with the Wrath of the Druids DLC but he's not part of that journey.

To coincide with the release of the game, we had a look at the tie-in novel, and provide some insights into the contents. Enjoy!

http://www.accesstheanimus.com/ACV_GeirmundsSaga_ReviewSummary.html: (http://accesstheanimus.com/ACV_GeirmundsSaga_ReviewSummary.html)

200+ hours into my first playthrough. I have all the XB1 Achievements done. Only thing left to do that I know of as far as content is the hunter and fisher delieveries.

My impressions of AC Valhalla is this.
As an OG AC fan from the start with Altair, I have played and completed the stories and the majority of content for all but 3 of the mainline games. AC3, Unity, and Syndicate. My view focuses on the evolution of the franchise. This review and opinion is for the people who care more about Assassin's Creed than playing a RPG.

From a franchise perspective, gameplay and story, i felt as if AC:V was a huge step in the right direction. For AC fans, this game is a nice breath of fresh air. Admittedly I felt more as a Viking who the Hidden Ones/Assassins used as a boon, rather than feeling like a Hidden One itself. Yet the game gives and adds enough lore/background/ and subsistence in relation to Assassion/Hidden Ones to the Franchise to keep your needs satisfied, yet wanting more. Slightly disappointing; but when taking the whole game into consideration and the fact they vastly improved other areas of the franchise that needed addressed, I can forgive the fact I wanted more of that flavor added to the story.

From a Action RPG perspective, the combat mechanics were solid, (i quite enjoyed the step up from Origins to Odyssey). However I did not feel as if they were exceptional, although this might be a matter of taste.

I played on the Hard Combat setting. Unlike in Odyssey, I felt myself relying more on dodge/parrying with a combinations of light/heavy attacks. In odyssey i spammed abilities, and eventually with my Assassin's tree, i could kill 4-5 enemies all in the vicinity with little ease and brain work because of my abilities. What I'm trying to say is, in AC:Valhalla, the abilities are not overpowered like Odyssey. Sure you have some strong abilities and some good combinations, but deciding when to use what ability and positioning yourself to use it seems more situational. In essence you have to put more work and thinking into your combat, when in past games you could breeze through it without paying attention. That is a major plus.

While playing the game, there was this sense of mystery in the air. A sense of something always unseen or hidden behind the curtain. This intrigue and satisfaction of discovering something that was out of the way or very subtle is a experience I loved and I hope to experience in future AC games.

The Story telling and writing was my favorite in any AC Game. I felt real emotions and strong ones too. Even in the smaller quests (world events). I enjoyed Eivry as the protagonist (I played as Male). I felt connected and attached to him like I did to Ezio and Bayek. He in every sense is a Viking and pulled the role off well. I also felt as if this edition of AC culminates all major story arcs over the series and converges them into one "node" at the end. Giving us a nice refreshing start point going forward.

When it came to progression, it was much of a mixed bag. I liked and agreed with the decision of scrapping Odysseys loot system. Too much uncluttered junk. With Valhalla it seems the gear is made into different sets tailored for different builds, with 5 pieces of each armor set spread out. This system seems fine, but the problem is the game itself basically tells you exactly where each piece is if you do a little sherlocking. That aspect i did not like, and after I got the set I wanted (knowing basically exactly where to look), i had no further use in looking for other gear and materials for upgrades once i finished the upgrades.

In previous AC's i felt like I should have had my own rock climbing skill of its own. In Valhalla, cliffs and mountains exist, but your not climbing them every 2 minutes. If you know, you know, and this is a nice breath of fresh air compared to the Mountain Ranges of Egypt and Greece.

I could go on and on in my opinion of this game, but how I would sum this game up is this:

Dedicated and Veteran AC fans will love this game and see it for how it is: A good leap forward into the right direction.
(not perfect, but very satisfied with the effort and direction this game franchise is going in)

RPG Fans and casual fans will see this as a serviceable game, but it will be described as "Another Assassin's Creed", similar to (Another Call of Duty, we get every year).

Critics will focus more on certain aspects of the game, such as bugs and exploits you can do (if you choose to play without the spirit of AC or and RPG). With any RPG game mechanics can be abused, yet is it up to the Gamer how you play. Sure the visual bugs and the occasional having to restart the last game is annoying. These things can be fixed. What is important is what the Developers tried to do with Valhalla. I can honestly say, that after playing Valhalla, I feel that AC is in good hands if it continues using this formula and basic design in future games.

I wanted to touch on a couple other things. Especially with progression. Keep in mind my playthrough was on Hard Combat, Normal Stealth, Pathfinder (Hard) Exploration.

With the leveling system, I felt this was the best yet. Through the first 50%-75% of my leveling progression, I really felt as if my choices skill picks and pathing with the armour and weapon to correlate with them really mattered. I had to use my brain and do some calculating. Deciding to whether to go with more passive/skills, or pick up stat boosting nodes instead.

The pacing was nice, but once I hit that 75% mark roughly into the game, I felt as if I was overpowered and could go with any build. I did however die a few times even then because of laziness or not paying enough attention.

As with my earlier post, the abilities was a mixed bag. I was disappointed with some of it. This very well could be a matter of taste and playstyle. I just felt as if some abilities accomplished the same thing.

Fire arrow/Poison Arrow, Fire Cloud Arrow/Poison Cloud Arrow. You couldve condensed these 4 skills into 2.
Then on the melee side you have rush bash into a wall which is basically the same as the spartan kick. They are both used in situations when you have a wall or ledge behind the enemy.
What I'm trying to say, I wouldve like more "versatility" in my abilities.

On the plus side, I couldnt just walk up in the front door of a base and instantly kill everybody like I could in Odyssey. (Remember the Chain Assassination [plus the gold perk of +1 Assassination to it], combined with the 100%+ Assassin Damage ability you could use IN COMBAT. It wasn't even fair in Odyssey. In Valhalla, there is no "1-Shotting" the "captains" and everybody around him at once. If you don't pay attention and your focus slips too much [and you dont have 6 rations], then you will die. Quite a few times when I got overconfident and lazy I ended up going down. The right combination of enemies can annoy you enough with their dodges and parries to throw you out of your groove/momentum and you can find yourself reloading if your not careful.

In previous AC games, raiding a fortress was always a highlight in my games. I don't even have to go into detail with Valhalla. If you liked clearing forts and big bases (or even if you didn't), this game amps that up a bit!.

Legendary Creatures were fun. I found the legendary creatures to be slightly easier than expected, (although a few took quite a while), but I felt no "real satisfaction" after beating them, save a couple. (maybe the experience wouldve felt better if I had actually seen the heads mounted in my longhouse). However, my opinion might change once I play on the Very Hard Difficulty. I just would've like to see more of them more "mechanically" challenging.

(While I'm on the topic of boss battles [the ones with advanced mechanics], I would pay money to have a feature with replayable key boss battles, or a gauntlet mode; maybe as a reward for completing them all?)

10/10 for Effort
8/10 for Storytelling/Presentation
7/10 for Combat