@animuslover I thought I was going to get triggered but you actually do have some valid points.

I'm not a tactical gameplay guy, I'm in for the fun. The combat is fun to me, looks nice, visually thrilling, feels jumpy and engaging, I find it fun where Odyssey and Origins were a nightmare to me (visually). This is all on the visual side rather than the mechanics, I like how a game looks, plays and feels. I don't care much for the gameplay in terms of a tactical strategic kind of thing cause I'm not that kind of person, I want a visual and adrenaline inducing thrill, Valhalla gives that to me, actually does that better for me than literally any AC game since the first game, so I'm personally pleased.

I can however, imagine a game that still satisfies what I like but also addresses all the tactical issues you've pointed out, does both of those things so I'm not really disagreeing with you.

I just find the game fun, so I'm just counting my blessings with that rather than asking for anything more specific cause I don't want to be too in your face to Ubisoft beyond what I've already done, I try to moderate that so I'm not so spoiled, disagreeable and angry. If it makes me happy, I'm good and I'll leave it at that, I don't want to press my luck and ask for too much. Especially when I'm already good and happy with what they've given on my end.

Uh *Sigh*

I don't even really want to post here, and I'm not saying you don't deserve to see this kind of Assassin's Creed game, if Ubisoft wants to make this that's fine. But let me be honest about my tastes, this is PRECISELY what I don't like about the new Assassin's Creed games.

It's historical fiction, meant to represent events from real world history, with fictional twists only in the sense of narrative changes.

Anything fantasy-ish, whether it be monsters, ridiculous Sauron armor sets, armor sets that just look cheesy and childish with overexaggerated fantasy-esque artistic touches and styles, I'll just say it now, I don't think ANY of those things belong in Assassin's Creed.

This isn't about what is scientifically true in terms of how far you can bend the narrative to include things like magic and still be consistent with the lore. This is about a conflict of aesthetics, those that are consistent with the older games, and those that are aligned with this new direction, and the gradual, possible conversion of Assassin's Creed into full blown fantasy rpg, like you're asking for.

How upset would fantasy fans be if, let's say Elder Scrolls (a series I'm a huge fan of, I'm a hardcore Elder Scrolls fan), removed magic and swords, removed dragons, and converted the entire game into a historical Renaissance simulator with guns and colonial dudes where the days of magic are over and there's no monsters or beast races anymore. That would never happen because Bethesda respects the integrity of their lore and art style in The Elder Scrolls, something that is successively getting taken away gradually with every next major release from Assassin's Creed.

If you want monsters and magic, I suggest playing a fantasy series, or Ubisoft stop making Assassin's Creed altogether and make that King Arthur inspired fantasy game that was in talks instead, I'd rather enjoy a triple a fantasy game by Ubisoft than watch Assassin's Creed keep going down this path of lore-inflation.

I like fantasy games, but that's not what Assassin's Creed is. If Red Dead turned into a werewolf slayer I would absolutely FLIP.

Fantasy fans, please leave historical fiction settings alone and allow other genres of games and other settings and styles to exist as they are without converting everything into fantasy games like Assassin's Creed is. I'm sick of every game gradually turning into the same game. The industry is better if games are diverse, unique and differentiate from each other enough to provide us with different and unique experiences moving from game to game. It gives us different art styles, settings, places, and experiences to enjoy, rather than everything become generic. Which Assassin's Creed HAS and it's bad. Some people actually want to play historical fiction.

Sorry, but I wholly disagree.

I don't mean to go off on you like this but at least consider the existence out there of people who loved this series, and who are disappointed in this direction, watching a franchise they love keep getting consistently drained into this thing they really don't like and really don't want to be a part of anymore because it's no longer aligned with practically any of the things they used to like about it in the old days. This stuff means something to those people, when there is a myriad of other magic-wielding fantasy games out there to play and only a handful of historical fiction games out there. It's just Assassin's Creed, Red Dead and Ghost of Tsushima and I literally can't think of anything else.

In all likelihood though, Ubisoft will probably give you what you want. But the day magic spells are put into Assassin's Creed will be the final straw for me and I'm done with this series- I really don't want it. I miss our old games, and am sick of this genre-identity crisis Assassin's Creed suffers from nowadays worse than literally any game franchise that has ever existed. It's getting bad and worse.

Uh *Sigh*

I don't even really want to post here, and I'm not saying you don't deserve to see this kind of Assassin's Creed game, if Ubisoft wants to make this that's fine. But let me be honest about my tastes, this is PRECISELY what I don't like about the new Assassin's Creed games.

It's historical fiction, meant to represent events from real world history, with fictional twists only in the sense of narrative changes.

Anything fantasy-ish, whether it be monsters, ridiculous Sauron armor sets, armor sets that just look cheesy and childish with overexaggerated fantasy-esque artistic touches and styles, I'll just say it now, I don't think ANY of those things belong in Assassin's Creed.

This isn't about what is scientifically true in terms of how far you can bend the narrative to include things like magic and still be consistent with the lore. This is about a conflict of aesthetics, those that are consistent with the older games, and those that are aligned with this new direction, and the gradual, possible conversion of Assassin's Creed into full blown fantasy rpg, like you're asking for.

How upset would fantasy fans be if, let's say Elder Scrolls (a series I'm a huge fan of, I'm a hardcore Elder Scrolls fan), removed magic and swords, removed dragons, and converted the entire game into a historical Renaissance simulator with guns and colonial dudes where the days of magic are over and there's no monsters or beast races anymore. That would never happen because Bethesda respects the integrity of their lore and art style in The Elder Scrolls, something that is successively getting taken away gradually with every next major release from Assassin's Creed.

If you want monsters and magic, I suggest playing a fantasy series, or Ubisoft stop making Assassin's Creed altogether and make that King Arthur inspired fantasy game that was in talks instead, I'd rather enjoy a triple a fantasy game by Ubisoft than watch Assassin's Creed keep going down this path of lore-inflation.

I like fantasy games, but that's not what Assassin's Creed is. If Red Dead turned into a werewolf slayer I would absolutely FLIP.

Fantasy fans, please leave historical fiction settings alone and allow other genres of games and other settings and styles to exist as they are without converting everything into fantasy games like Assassin's Creed is. I'm sick of every game gradually turning into the same game. The industry is better if games are diverse, unique and differentiate from each other enough to provide us with different and unique experiences moving from game to game. It gives us different art styles, settings, places, and experiences to enjoy, rather than everything become generic. Which Assassin's Creed HAS and it's bad. Some people actually want to play historical fiction.

Sorry, but I wholly disagree.

I don't mean to go off on you like this but at least consider the existence out there of people who loved this series, and who are disappointed in this direction, watching a franchise they love keep getting consistently drained into this thing they really don't like and really don't want to be a part of anymore because it's no longer aligned with practically any of the things they used to like about it in the old days. This stuff means something to those people, when there is a myriad of other magic-wielding fantasy games out there to play and only a handful of historical fiction games out there. It's just Assassin's Creed, Red Dead and Ghost of Tsushima and I literally can't think of anything else.

In all likelihood though, Ubisoft will probably give you what you want. But the day magic spells are put into Assassin's Creed will be the final straw for me and I'm done with this series- I really don't want it. I miss our old games, and am sick of this genre-identity crisis Assassin's Creed suffers from nowadays worse than literally any game franchise that has ever existed. It's getting bad and worse.

Agree with all points.

@xifoxhound Sounds like a bug.

I do get a lot of silent moments but the music always kicks back in before I get bored.

Probably not enough for everyone's preferences, but the music plays about 20-40% of the time for me and that's enough for me.

I think it could be cool if there was a setting for how frequently music played in the game. Is there already one? I think I might have seen something scrolling through the options but not sure, probably not (Oh wait, duh there is one sorry lol).

On another note, I have to say though I love the music in this game. For various reasons I think it's the best musical score Assassin's Creed has ever had. They combined the styles and work of Sarah Schachner (from the newer games) with the work of the classic old school AC games' composer Jesper Kyd, in addition to the work from the Vikings TV show composer. I think the music in this game was a best case scenario for Valhalla, and was an amazing fan service from everyone involved with the game, it is a soundtrack I truly cherish and can think of as something rare, unique and special.

So ya, maybe they should make the music more frequent for the high setting, or there could be a bug.

It's their business but I wouldn't like that.

I'm a single player guy myself. I'm actually happy to pay for microtransactions in single player games, as long as the content is meaningful for me and reasonably priced.

I actually quite like the model they've done for Valhalla, they put super fantasy stuff that not all players, but some players would like in the microtransactions/ Reda section, rather than in the story mode so as not to spoil setting integrity, but also do the historical(I think they were called the Einjerar and Heatrthweru sets) stuff I like in the micro/Reda as well, which is the kind of stuff I prefer to get instead of the fantasy stuff.

On the subject of the article, I'm all for extended support and dlc cycles for these games. A belief I've always had is why make these impressive open worlds, but not re-use these worlds by adding more story content or weapons/cosmetics to more fully enrich what they've already made. That said though, I'd still like a new Assassin's Creed game every 2 years, 3 years max. I like getting to see all the historical locations the series is able to touch up on that other franchises can't or don't.

But I really don't need an Assassin's Creed game every year anymore. I think every 2 is the sweet spot. 3 I could do but it's starting to stretch it.

@quor321 ya I have to agree the game is in MUCH better condition than Cyberpunk at this stage, you have to give Ubi credit for that.

@tar-naugrim Ya the no edit post thing is driving me nuts. I like to go back and fix grammar later but I can't do that anymore. Also I forget to include things in my posts that I end up remembering them later and can't squeeze them in later cause I can't.

Completely disagree with the 10 minute window policy, it's a nightmare.

@animuslover I thought I was going to get triggered but you actually do have some valid points.

I'm not a tactical gameplay guy, I'm in for the fun. The combat is fun to me, looks nice, visually thrilling, feels jumpy and engaging, I find it fun where Odyssey and Origins were a nightmare to me (visually). This is all on the visual side rather than the mechanics, I like how a game looks, plays and feels. I don't care much for the gameplay in terms of a tactical strategic kind of thing cause I'm not that kind of person, I want a visual and adrenaline inducing thrill, Valhalla gives that to me, actually does that better for me than literally any AC game since the first game, so I'm personally pleased.

I can however, imagine a game that still satisfies what I like but also addresses all the tactical issues you've pointed out, does both of those things so I'm not really disagreeing with you.

I just find the game fun, so I'm just counting my blessings with that rather than asking for anything more specific cause I don't want to be too in your face to Ubisoft beyond what I've already done, I try to moderate that so I'm not so spoiled, disagreeable and angry. If it makes me happy, I'm good and I'll leave it at that, I don't want to press my luck and ask for too much. Especially when I'm already good and happy with what they've given on my end.

Biggest thing for me is swapping skins for weapons and equipment freely after any tier of upgrading.

So you upgrade your weapon, no matter how many times or how little you've upgraded an item you can freely switch to previously unlocked skins and back to newer for your equipment freely in the menu without having to pay or anything. I understand that was a feature in Odyssey and I remember reading articles for Valhalla promising that was going to be a feature this time around as well, so that's the most important thing to me, lol

I don't know what you people are talking about. I love the combat.

It takes the system from Odyssey but replaces those dung ugly cartoon animations with combat animations that look and feel realistic and heavy. The combat is engaging, but doesn't forget to look nice while playing it visually as well as having utility and function.

I don't really like female Eivor, I think Kassandra was way better than her, but I play as male Eivor and he's one of my favorite characters I've ever played as in an Assassin's Creed game. Customization options seem good enough for me considering you can upgrade your gear. I do take issue with the grind and need to find and sparingly use ingots, I despise features like that in video games and they're often not worth the effort.

It's mostly praise on my end, I can't get enough of the game.

@wendysbrioche So yeah, I have nothing but unending praise for this game.

This game is the most fun I've had in an Assassin's Creed game since Black Flag.

Plus the combat in this game is just fantastic. Animations are such amazing quality, solid, and also brutal. The flow and pacing of the combat is tense, engaging, and invigorating. Animations look realistic, those stylistic lines that appear around the edges of weapon swings no longer look cartoony so I have no complaints about them, I actually like them now lol. I guess making them look more blurry like to have a motion blur effect does the trick for me lol. Combat sounds have a lot of depth and umph and just sound great. Everything's convincing, and in terms of gameplay and function I no longer have any complaints about this combat system whatsoever. As far as I'm concerned, the changes to combat in this game have easily brought me back into the franchise comfortably, as long as this element is there, I'm in on my part, I hope other old school fans would appreciate the combat changes as well.

Music is incredible.

I guess only things I don't like is there doesn't seem to be too many armor sets, then again I think there are visual upgrades to all sets I'm currently unaware of so if that's there then there's a ton of visual sets of armor. Some of the sets are too funky for my taste, like the armor set with the crown on top or the more fantasy-ish stuff, but a bunch of people like that stuff so that should all be there. All I have to do is use the armor sets that I do in fact like, and that's enough for me.

I haven't used the feature yet but switching to older/choosing any visual appearances available for upgrading weapons/armor is a must for me, like getting to choose which version of the upgraded armor you want as long as you've unlocked it; if that's there I'm all on board for that, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet if it's there, but that is something I personally care about.

Acting, dialogue, and story so far is amazing to me, love it all, if I get to beating the game maybe there's complaints but I like what I've seen.

I guess I don't like the whole carbon ingot thing in terms of scarcity, I think those items should be more easily or frequently attainable. Level system and grind is still there, though it doesn't seem to get in my way as much this time around.

One more crucial piece of feedback from me, I loooove male Eivor, I know the reason he is there was because of that dude calling the shots with all that frat house controversy stuff, but to people saying we should have only had female Eivor, I strongly disagree, male Eivor is one of my favorite protagonists in the series and I'm glad he's there. So there's people who want this. Keep in mind I played Kassandra in Odyssey so it's not even that a only prefer male characters, I didn't like Alexios in Odyssey and preferred Kassandra for that game. It just so happens that I prefer male Eivor for this game.