As someone who has spent almost 200 hours in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, I feel like the devs were all "Hey, what don't you guys like about Odyssey? Alright, we'll change pretty much all that." And they did. Take everything you disliked about Odyssey then chuck it out the window and add a bunch of interesting mechanics, and you essentially get Valhalla.
For one thing, it respects your time more than Odyssey. The grind is pretty much gone. Didn't you just hate having to go through dozens of forts just to get enough materials to level up your gear just so it can catch up to your level? There was a point I actually dreaded leveling because I knew my gear would lag behind. That's all been done away with in Valhalla. In fact, if you wanted to, you can, quite literally, take your starting axe and armor and level it up to make it end game viable.
The whole gear system has been revamped and vastly improved. Gone are the thousands upon thousands of weapons and armor pieces you scavenge from enemies, only to dismantle them for parts or sell them off. You don't even have the ability to dismantle equipment anymore. So every time you do get a new piece of gear, it feels very special.
Valhalla still offers a sprawling world that will take probably a couple hundred hours to complete to 100%, but it isn't lengthened artificially by having to scavenge for parts or any arbitrary system designed to lengthen gameplay. Instead, the only thing you need to collect are materials for upgrading, which isn't nearly as much of a pain as you think. In fact, except for the last material needed to upgrade gear to the final evolution, you'll be able to buy materials from your settlement upon leveling it up to level 6.
Fight like a Viking
The combat feels chunkier and more grounded, less arcadey. It takes queues from games like Sekiro with the introduction of stamina or posture bars you can break for big damage. Yes, you can still stab people from the shadows. There's a whole skill tree dedicated to stabbing people from the shadows, so it still stays true to form to the Assassin's Creed identity in that sense. You can unlock skills that'll let you fight like you did in Odyssey, but you can easily spec away from that and choose to fight like a goddamn Viking.
In terms of enemy types, Valhalla has 23 distinct non-boss enemy types. Odyssey, if I recall correctly, had like maybe 10 max. The variation pretty much lives in parry timing and attack sequences and a couple tricks here and there, but it's diverse enough to keep you on your toes.
Raiding is a big part of the game. Your settlement is what provides motivation for your character, as well the player by extension. To be able to build up your settlement, you'll need resources. Now, I don't know if you know how Vikings acquired resources, but it does involve a lot of stealing things from innocent people. When you reach England, the very first raid you embark is on against a monastery. A monastery, where people hang out and pray. Yes, the Chuch in England was filthy rich and you could get a lot of resources, so it makes sense, but I don't know about you but this made me feel weird. I mean, at one point, I was asking "Am I the bad guy?!"
Explore like a Viking
Exploration is still hella daunting because the map is MASSIVE. But side quests are no longer "kill this guy" or "burn this ship" from nameless nobodies. They play out like little stories, much like the Witcher 3. They're nowhere near as complex or involved as Witcher 3's, but it's a good start. They're fun distractions that don't feel repetitive, especially since they're finite. You can run out of them unless Ubisoft makes more in future expansions. Are they rewarding to find and completely? Absolutely. Not only do they add some interesting flavor to the world of Valhalla, but they also reward you with that sweet, sweet XP.
"I have a headache"
Viking Skills
The skill tree is HUGE with very interesting nodes. It's a step above what they had in Odyssey, where you had a limited number of moves in three categories and stat boosts to artificially extend progression in the endgame. You still get stat boosts and perks in Valhalla's skill tree, but they're in the form of a sprawling web of skills. That means you do miss out on some skills early on, but it's a great way to experiment with builds and specifically spec into the way you want to play. It also helps that you can reset your skills like you could in Odyssey.
There's a skill that lets you wield two-handed weapons with one hand, which lets you equip TWO two-handed weapons. Ever wanted to see a Viking fight with two spears, stabbing like a maniac from 8 feet away? You can do that. You can also equip two kite shields and be a Viking Captain America. You can even wield a long sword in your main hand, and a dagger in your off-hand so you can go on a stabbing spree, but still benefit from the range of the long sword. It's also very interesting that perks on your off-hand weapon apply to your main weapon (at least in my experience, not sure if all weapons share the same property). So if you have an axe in your main hand that gives you increased damage after 10 attacks, and you have a dagger in your off-hand, you can activate the rapid stab move, which will trigger the main hand weapon buff. That's just one of the many, many things you can do with the weapons.
Abilities are earned from exploration. Reading Books of Knowledge gives you moves and levels up moves you already know. There's a skill called Thorn of Slumber, which essentially lets you assassinate from active combat. Pair that with a skill from the skill tree called Advanced Assassination and be un-goddamn-stoppable.
Viking Secrets
Did you know that Mjolnir's in the game? It's actually very easy to find; it's in Norway. But you have to be worthy to pick it up. You can find it early on in the game, but there's no way to pick it up unless you've fulfilled the conditions, and I think that's really cool. Gungnir is in the game, also. Obtaining these weapons is sometimes pretty tricky, but thankfully, we've got YouTube and dudes like JorRaptor to help us out. The more you explore, the more crazy secrets you eventually find. I won't spoil too much for you, but there are boss battles out there scattered around the world that'll give you a run for your money.
Live like a Viking
As for side activities, you have a lot more to do compared to Odyssey. There's Orlog, which oddly reminds me of MTG (a game I don't know how to play btw), a drinking game, and you can even participate in rap battles called Flyting. I bet you haven't played a video game that let you rap battle. If you win flyts, you increase your charisma stat, which gives you dialogue options that let you get discounts or get out of conflict, things like that. It works much like Fallout or The Outer Worlds.
Fishing is one of my most favorite activities in-game
Look like a Viking
Graphically speaking, it is gorgeous! It doesn't scream "NEXT GEN" specifically, it just looks like a very refined last-gen PS4/Xbox One X-era game, mainly because it does use the same engine, but it makes use of all the optimizations that Ubisoft has learned over the years. I loaded it on an old ass m.2 drive and I get into the game in seconds. Dying is no longer punished by having to wait 30 to 45 seconds before getting back into the action.
I'm running it on an (I guess by today's standards) an old-ass GTX 1080 on 1440p and I get better frame rates on this than I do on Odyssey at very high settings.
Do as the Vikings Did
Another thing Valhalla does better than Odyssey is it did away with the GTA-style wanted system, so you have more freedom to just kill and assassinate enemies. You still have to face consequences in terms of a whole camp of enemies coming down on you, but there's no honor system or any arbitrary ruse of honesty or goodness you have to uphold.
To Valhalla!
All told, I think it's a vast improvement upon Odyssey. The world is richer, the combat is better, the gear system is more thought-out, and the stories told seem richer in a way. It's good to buy the standard edition, I think. The deluxe edition just gives you some extra armor and a wolf mount, which I admit is fun, but it might not be worth the extra cost. Also, the wolf sans the growling sounds exactly like a horse. You can hear hooves clip-clopping when you call for it. Change that and you've got a GOTY contender right here.
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