I don't expect Victoria Secret models in the dark ages, but I think the women are a bit too ugly here. Still, if the characters weren't so boring that wouldn't be a big issue...

... because that's where I felt to be rather than in 'Valhalla'.

Okay I haven't played the whole game, but this is as far as I could take it. To put it bluntly: the game is too long-winded, monotome, and boring.

Navigation is awkward: I do not like the compass bar or whatever you want to call it: it constantly feels like I'm struggling to figure out where to go whereas in ACII or Rogue for instance it felt smooth and natural. Why, often I can't even figure out where to go in my own town! I don't like having to use my crow (yes I know its a raven) to know where to find the bakery: I want a minimap.

The world: too big, too empty, too monotome. If we would often switch from Norway to England, and perhaps also go to places like France, Iceland and Russia to have a change in scenery, that would be an improvement.

Dull characters: I can't form an attachment to the characters because I find them to be uninteresting, ugly and talking too much (thank goodness for being able to skip dialogue one sentence at the time, I can read the subtitles faster than they can speak them). Perhaps there is too many of them as well.

Forced diversity: let's face it: there were no black or Chinese people or female warlords in 9th century England. To shoehorn them in is so very modern day-ish. When I play a game about vikings it is because I want to emerge myself in the world of the dark ages and experience what it is to be a viking, not constantly being reminded about 2020 identity politics. I am playing games to escape from all that.

RPG-ing: upgrading the settlement and Eivor's abilities is fine, but the weapons and clothing selection seems very limited, and upgrading those always discourages from changing to another when you have spend resources to max your current thing out.

Healing: it's fine when you got enough rations: but when I run out I find myself running off the battlefield into the fields looking for mushrooms. This can be done better, and it should be done better.

Enemy levels: will you just stop making enemies with a higher number virtually immune to damage? It is so destructive to the immersion when I'm being confronted by such very game-y elements. And takes away the whole point of having an open world. I like to go raiding whenever whereever I like.

Raiding monastaries: It's great to jump off a longship, sound the horn and then rush into town where the villagers are fleeing in terror, but that rush and excitement quickly dessolves when I again have to struggle with the map and the compass to figure out where the loot is I am after and then have to spend 15 minuts to figure out how to get into a closed off building. Yes I like finding hidden treasures when I am faffing around in the countryside at my leasure, but not when I'm in the rush of raiding a monastery. There is also no real finality to completing the raid. Why can't we do this raiding in the way you capture a ship or fort in Rogue?: Kill this guy, kill those guys, destroy those things, done, you got the loot.

Bugs and glitches: take the time to get your act together damn it!

Was there anything I liked about it? Yes: flyting was cool, the orlog game was nice, the stories on the longship are fun (the songs are nothing compared the sea shanties of earlier games though), I liked the dialogue options, especially the ones where choices have different outcomes (let this guy live or kill him and all that). That was all good. But that's a pitifully small amount of things I liked. All in all, this was a great disappointment to me, and that is coming from a guy who has loved and read about vikings since he was 12...

@yshabanov Dark Coco is lecturing people what to think, I am telling them they shouldn't preach - NOT what they should or should not be thinking or to share their opinions on a forum. Maybe you should think about the difference between that before you get onto your high horse yourself.

@pmacleod I don't know what country you live in, but maybe try to figure out whether this is even legal by your country's laws?

I have completed the first two regions now, and unfortunately I have to say that so far I found the experience to be very tedious, and this is coming from someone who actually likes the viking period. Everything seems to be too monotome, long-winded, going on forever. I can't form an attachment to the characters because I find them to be boring, ugly and talking too much (thank goodness for being able to skip dialogue one sentence at the time, I can read the subtitles faster than they can speak them). I am also greatly irritated by the forced diversity. The landscape has the opposite problem: it all looks the same. If we would often switch from Norway to England, and perhaps also go to places like France, Iceland and Russia, that would be an improvement. I do not like the compass bar or whatever you want to call it: it constantly feels like I'm struggling to figure out where to go whereas in ACII or Rogue for instance it felt smooth and natural.

I do like the monastry raidings and town upgrading, but I would enjoy the latter better if it was filled with people I actually gave a damn about. Finding some of the hidden treasures was also rather fun.

I'll continue to see if I find something else to like further into the game, but so far I found this game to be a great disappointment.

@quinch1199 I have never heard of the existence of two-handed swords in the early middle ages (or antiquity for that matter) altogether. They only appear in the late middle ages.

A spear can be used in Valhalla, I did so for a long time. What bothers me though is that can't be used in combination with a shield.

@moongazer8 Yeah this game is much like a reboot Tomb Raider game to me in that I hate them equally.

Speaking as a history buff though: viking langskips did have a very shallow draft. That's what made them fast and easy to disembark from near the shore.

Okay... fair is fair: after having given the game a second chance, having cooled down a bit from my initial anger, having gotten used to what the game is and isn't, having learned how to use some of its features and unlocking a number of new things, I have to say that I had a reasonable good time with it.

That doesn't mean I'm backing down from the criticisms listed above, those still stand, except that overall the game is not as tedious as it initially seemed.

@yshabanov Dark Coco is lecturing people what to think, I am telling them they shouldn't preach - NOT what they should or should not be thinking or to share their opinions on a forum. Maybe you should think about the difference between that before you get onto your high horse yourself.

@dark-coco And I think it for the best that you don't preach to people who are perfectly entitled to their opinion what they should and should not think. Or tell them that they should 'enjoy the game for what it is'. If someone doesn't enjoy it, they criticize it, that is how the world works.

@quinch1199 I have never heard of the existence of two-handed swords in the early middle ages (or antiquity for that matter) altogether. They only appear in the late middle ages.

A spear can be used in Valhalla, I did so for a long time. What bothers me though is that can't be used in combination with a shield.

@pmacleod I don't know what country you live in, but maybe try to figure out whether this is even legal by your country's laws?

... because that's where I felt to be rather than in 'Valhalla'.

Okay I haven't played the whole game, but this is as far as I could take it. To put it bluntly: the game is too long-winded, monotome, and boring.

Navigation is awkward: I do not like the compass bar or whatever you want to call it: it constantly feels like I'm struggling to figure out where to go whereas in ACII or Rogue for instance it felt smooth and natural. Why, often I can't even figure out where to go in my own town! I don't like having to use my crow (yes I know its a raven) to know where to find the bakery: I want a minimap.

The world: too big, too empty, too monotome. If we would often switch from Norway to England, and perhaps also go to places like France, Iceland and Russia to have a change in scenery, that would be an improvement.

Dull characters: I can't form an attachment to the characters because I find them to be uninteresting, ugly and talking too much (thank goodness for being able to skip dialogue one sentence at the time, I can read the subtitles faster than they can speak them). Perhaps there is too many of them as well.

Forced diversity: let's face it: there were no black or Chinese people or female warlords in 9th century England. To shoehorn them in is so very modern day-ish. When I play a game about vikings it is because I want to emerge myself in the world of the dark ages and experience what it is to be a viking, not constantly being reminded about 2020 identity politics. I am playing games to escape from all that.

RPG-ing: upgrading the settlement and Eivor's abilities is fine, but the weapons and clothing selection seems very limited, and upgrading those always discourages from changing to another when you have spend resources to max your current thing out.

Healing: it's fine when you got enough rations: but when I run out I find myself running off the battlefield into the fields looking for mushrooms. This can be done better, and it should be done better.

Enemy levels: will you just stop making enemies with a higher number virtually immune to damage? It is so destructive to the immersion when I'm being confronted by such very game-y elements. And takes away the whole point of having an open world. I like to go raiding whenever whereever I like.

Raiding monastaries: It's great to jump off a longship, sound the horn and then rush into town where the villagers are fleeing in terror, but that rush and excitement quickly dessolves when I again have to struggle with the map and the compass to figure out where the loot is I am after and then have to spend 15 minuts to figure out how to get into a closed off building. Yes I like finding hidden treasures when I am faffing around in the countryside at my leasure, but not when I'm in the rush of raiding a monastery. There is also no real finality to completing the raid. Why can't we do this raiding in the way you capture a ship or fort in Rogue?: Kill this guy, kill those guys, destroy those things, done, you got the loot.

Bugs and glitches: take the time to get your act together damn it!

Was there anything I liked about it? Yes: flyting was cool, the orlog game was nice, the stories on the longship are fun (the songs are nothing compared the sea shanties of earlier games though), I liked the dialogue options, especially the ones where choices have different outcomes (let this guy live or kill him and all that). That was all good. But that's a pitifully small amount of things I liked. All in all, this was a great disappointment to me, and that is coming from a guy who has loved and read about vikings since he was 12...

@moongazer8 Yeah this game is much like a reboot Tomb Raider game to me in that I hate them equally.

Speaking as a history buff though: viking langskips did have a very shallow draft. That's what made them fast and easy to disembark from near the shore.

I don't expect Victoria Secret models in the dark ages, but I think the women are a bit too ugly here. Still, if the characters weren't so boring that wouldn't be a big issue...

I have to say something else about monastery raiding: I said I liked it but now I realize I was too eager to look for things to enjoy...

It's great to jump off a longship, sound the horn and then rush into town where the villagers are fleeing in terror, but that rush and excitement quickly dessolves when I again have to struggle with the map and the compass to figure out where the loot is I am after and then have to spend 15 minuts to figure out how to get into a closed off building, (I said I liked finding hidden treasures - yes, when I am faffing around in the countryside at my leasure, not when I'm in the rush of raiding a monastery) and that's even without encountering a glitch were the crew is too lazy to help me unboxing the loot (who thought it was a good idea to have a box were you need to wait for an NPC to show up to open it? What were they thinking?).
There is also no real finality to completing the raid. Why can't we do this raiding in the way you capture a ship or fort in Rogue?: Kill this guy, kill those guys, destroy those things, done, you got the loot.

I have completed the first two regions now, and unfortunately I have to say that so far I found the experience to be very tedious, and this is coming from someone who actually likes the viking period. Everything seems to be too monotome, long-winded, going on forever. I can't form an attachment to the characters because I find them to be boring, ugly and talking too much (thank goodness for being able to skip dialogue one sentence at the time, I can read the subtitles faster than they can speak them). I am also greatly irritated by the forced diversity. The landscape has the opposite problem: it all looks the same. If we would often switch from Norway to England, and perhaps also go to places like France, Iceland and Russia, that would be an improvement. I do not like the compass bar or whatever you want to call it: it constantly feels like I'm struggling to figure out where to go whereas in ACII or Rogue for instance it felt smooth and natural.

I do like the monastry raidings and town upgrading, but I would enjoy the latter better if it was filled with people I actually gave a damn about. Finding some of the hidden treasures was also rather fun.

I'll continue to see if I find something else to like further into the game, but so far I found this game to be a great disappointment.