GRcade

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Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a massive, beautiful open-world fueled by brutal living and the dirty work of conquerors. It's a lot buggier than it should be but also impressive on multiple levels.

Despite its strong connection to past games, Assassin's Creed Valhalla is more than capable of standing on its own. It takes a little while to build momentum, but when it hits its stride, Valhalla is a confident Assassin's Creed title that takes a few narrative risks which, as a whole, pay off. Eivor is a good hero with an identity that drives the mystery behind the main narrative, and she shines in the self-contained arc structure of Valhalla's story. The supporting cast may not shine as brightly, but it's easy to forgive that when exploring England and discovering new nuggets of worldbuilding is so rewarding.

With a sprawling world to conquer and gory combat but also the chance to use that iconic hidden blade, Assassin's Creed Valhalla brings a triumphant balance to the series.

Valhalla is another enormous Assassin's Creed saga, lavishly designed, with its sights set on story direction over narrative choice.

Valhalla is Ubisoft's best Assassin's Creed to date.
Assassin's Creed's transformation into a full-blown RPG hasn't been the cleanest one, especially as features like stealth feel left to stagnate while other aspects get so much better. But Valhalla succeeds on so many levels that it's easy to forgive the times when it doesn't. It's an enormous game, and it'll probably take me another 20 hours to finish everything I still haven't completed. I honestly can't wait.

With an engaging combination of combat, exploration, and crafted story content, this Viking legend is an epic with a little something for everyone.

Overall, it feels a lot of care and thought went into making Valahalla feel less like a checklist of things to do and more like a world to organically experience.

Valhalla’s most intriguing story is one about faith, honor, and family, but it’s buried inside this massive, massive world stuffed with combat and side quests. That balance is not always ideal, but I’m glad, at least, that it forces me to spend more time seeking out interesting things in the game’s world.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla provides a gorgeous playground to explore with excellent combat. Though the story seems unnecessarily long, it's a fun Viking tale mixed with the series' own flare and sci-fi elements.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a combination of everything that made the series great up to this point while cementing all that it needs moving forward.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla blends old and new to create a unique experience and one of the best Assassin's Creed experiences yet. It combines series-best combat, a compelling story, and mesmerising locales to dually offer a definitive Viking and assassin experience.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a definite step up for the series, thanks to the many tweaks made to the RPG mechanics that powered the previous two entries in the series, better storytelling, great atmosphere, and meaningful side-content. Even with the tweaks, however, Assassin's Creed Valhalla is still an Assassin's Creed game at heart, so those who are not into the Ubisoft open-world game design will hardly change their opinion with the game. Everyone else will probably love every second of Eivor's adventure, especially if they are into Vikings and ancient Norse culture.

Monkey Man wrote:

JChalmers wrote:Picking this up at Smyths tomorrow along with my console, so glad it got such good scores, it looks amazing from what I've seen!

KingK wrote:

JChalmers wrote:Picking this up at Smyths tomorrow along with my console, so glad it got such good scores, it looks amazing from what I've seen!

Me too (game only, console coming from Amazon).
Although still waiting for the required email from Smyths which apparently I must show when collecting, even though I have the original email from when placing the order


Have you had this fabled email yet?

JChalmers wrote:

KingK wrote:

JChalmers wrote:Picking this up at Smyths tomorrow along with my console, so glad it got such good scores, it looks amazing from what I've seen!

Me too (game only, console coming from Amazon).
Although still waiting for the required email from Smyths which apparently I must show when collecting, even though I have the original email from when placing the order


Have you had this fabled email yet?

Not yet, I expect (hope) it'll sent tonight. My worry is because I preordered the console instore and the game online that the game collection won't be available until later on in the day if they're focusing on getting all the consoles out first I'm hoping I can pick up both at the same time as I don't fancy making the round trip twice in one day + I want to make it my main game I play tomorrow.

KingK wrote:

JChalmers wrote:

KingK wrote:

JChalmers wrote:Picking this up at Smyths tomorrow along with my console, so glad it got such good scores, it looks amazing from what I've seen!

Me too (game only, console coming from Amazon).
Although still waiting for the required email from Smyths which apparently I must show when collecting, even though I have the original email from when placing the order


Have you had this fabled email yet?

Not yet, I expect (hope) it'll sent tonight. My worry is because I preordered the console instore and the game online that the game collection won't be available until later on in the day if they're focusing on getting all the consoles out first I'm hoping I can pick up both at the same time as I don't fancy making the round trip twice in one day + I want to make it my main game I play tomorrow.

Smyths email recvd at 2146!

rinks wrote:CDKeys still have no Xbox codes. Infuriating.

imbusydoctorwho wrote:Will wait for a sale, as I've heard it's incredibly glitchy, typical Ubisoft