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.

Take advantage of consumers.
I pay the same price.
Why not separate only japan zone.
Really Disappointed I will not support anymore!!!!.

Now that the DLC is out I'd like to remind everyone that stealth is still unusable in Valhalla.

Ubisoft has done nothing to adress this issue, it's not even on their known issues list, so we can assume they just don't care. Detection speed is still highly inconsistent and gives players not enough time to react. The clap of Eivor's asscheeks still alerts nearby guards for no reason. Controlled descent (holding the crouch button) is loud enough for enemies to notice you. Parcour is too sluggish and inpercise to be effectively used for positioning in stealth scenarios. Ubisoft wants us all to play as epic Viking raiders so they force stealth players into open combat, which completly defeats the point of having an RPG system in the first place.

This is completely unaceptable. Valhalla's stealth is the worst in the series and it's an embarassement for this to even be possible after Odyssey.