Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Where AC Origins introduced RPG mechanics and AC Odyssey took a leap of faith in pushing forward, Assassin's Creed Valhalla brings back the general feeling of being an Assassin from the core action-adventure titles. Indeed, by emphasizing the adventure and exploration components of the franchise, Assassin's Creed Valhalla may just be the most true-to-form release in many years.

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla takes all the previous systems introduced in Origins and Odyssey, and streamlines them into a more focused experience. The game may have some flaws, and it's a shame to see the combat remains mediocre after all these years, yet Valhalla is easily the best entry in the recent trilogy. Grab your axes and shields: it's time to go a-viking!

If you’re in the mood for another open-world action game, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a fine choice. It is a little too similar in aspects to the last two games, making this feel like the point where Ubisoft may want to consider re-evaluating the series once again, but the settings, characters, and overall world are enough to overlook most of the repetitiveness. So provided you don’t have open-world burnout from the other like-minded games that released this year, I think Valhalla is certainly worth checking out.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla isn't a light, fast and pragmatic Viking ship. It's a Titanic, magnificent, massive, and majestic, made to lead players through a 9th-century epic. With enough content to keep players busy for hours and hours, it's not threatened by any iceberg but rather by the weight of its own size. For the most dedicated, this can be a treat, but for many others, it could be a game they'll leave unfinished, living forever in the backlog.

Even with its technical shortcomings on last-generation hardware, it is hard to not call Assassin’s Creed Valhalla an amazing open-world RPG. It’s obvious that Ubisoft did its homework and learned from Origins and Odyssey. Valhalla’s story is one of the best not only in the franchise but in the open-world RPG genre. The world is vast but not laden with empty, pointless space. Combat is addicting, character customization is the best the franchise has ever seen, and the welcome return of composer Jesper Kyd makes for one of last year’s most immersive and satisfying experiences.