Assassin's Creed Valhalla Is the Most Bloated AC I Ever Played

After 166 hours (not sure how entirely accurate that time is, considering some of it's been idle), I've done pretty much all I can in Ubisoft's latest historical sci-fi murder simulation. Well, there are two treasure maps that are glitched, which I can't clear because one map remains in my inventory even after I collect the treasure, and the other treasure doesn't show up. At the time of this writing, Ubisoft's yet to fix the glitches. 

So what did I think of the game? It's actually a pretty exhausting one. I didn't feel this way after the 250+ hours I put in Oblivion or Skyrim. I didn't feel this way after the 150 hours I put in Death Stranding. I sincerely enjoyed every minute of doing every little thing in the most recent single player games that I can remember spending nearly as much time in as Valhalla. But Valhalla itself was simply bloated. 

Ubisoft somehow thinks it needs to make each successor's world larger, but the problem with making a game larger is you need to fill it with interesting things. It tries to do this with "Mysteries", world events that pepper the landscape that usually trigger mini quests or battles. Some of them are very interesting, but others are just ho hum. One type of Mystery are the cairns. These are puzzles that require you to stack stones on top of each other balancing them carefully until they reach a certain height. The majority of them aren't very hard, but the harder ones become so tedious due to finicky controls and questionable physics that they become incredibly tedious to clear. My favorite of the Mysteries, though, are the anomalies. These are puzzle platforming segments that require you to reach the top and grab data packets that when complete plays a pretty interesting video. I'm glad I did all those. There are also alpha animals, and random fights with lost drengrs (warriors) that want you to kill them so they can move on to the next life but after a few encounters, they all just blend together.

Then, there are the artifacts. These are usually collectible items such as Roman face masks and tattoo designs. What I really hate about collecting the tattoos is that you'll never see them on your character - unless they're on the face - because you're always wearing armor. So why then are you having me running all over the rooftops of houses chasing down these tattoos flying around in the wind when they're absolutely meaningless? You can find treasure maps, but all these maps yield are decorations for your ship. Customizing my ship and tattoos just didn't seem that meaningful to me. 

What really slogs this game down is the immense number of treasure chests the game is pockmarked with. The more valuable ones, the "Wealth" that contain upgrade materials, armor and abilities are usually more interesting to obtain, but the basic chests that contain common crafting materials get really tedious for the OCD gamer like me to rid the map of. Many times, they'll be stashed in houses that have barred doors requiring you to find a way in, or behind locked doors having you find a key somewhere nearby. Some of these basic chests are even more difficult to reach than some of the more important Wealth varieties. I don't even want to guess how much time I spent on getting all those treasure chests. 

How I chose to play the game, though, ultimately affected my attitude towards it. I have a bit of OCD when it comes to clearing things off maps and if I could just ignore all the chests, I probably would have enjoyed the game a lot more. The thing is, the main story content of Valhalla is actually pretty good. It's told via an alliance map where you chose which territory you want to pledge in order to establish an alliance with that territory's leader. Each one of these story arcs are well written and varied. You'll be replacing eldermen, solving murders, investigating traitors and even helping two people fall in love. There are also side quests that involve you seeking out a target all the way to Vinland (what North America was called in the Viking ages) that ties something in to Assassin's Creed III, and weird potion-induced dreams where you take on the role of Odin as you deal with Loki and a war between Asgard and Jotunheim.

As I said, I loved all the story content, but most of the time, it felt as if it was taking a backseat to all the side stuff. I think I mentioned this in my previous blog about Valhalla, but the game very rarely reconnects you to the present day world, and that further illustrates that it's all about keeping the player in the Matrix. The game really needed its players to come out more often. 

Assassin's Creed games used to be a good balance of historical fiction and modern sci-fi story telling, but it's been losing focus ever since Origins and has gone completely off track with Valhalla because Ubisoft wants the franchise to be an RPG.  But it doesn't NEED to be one! The 40-50 hours of story content (rough estimate) should easily be enough to keep any AC fan sated until the next one, but Ubisoft doesn't think so. They tested the waters with Origins trying to make it a live service and they're still doing it Valhalla, so apparently there's a good number of gamers that like the changes. Or maybe they're like me just putting up with the game because we've invested ourselves in the franchise the past 12 or so years and are patiently waiting to see where the story goes next time. I dunno, though. I'm really growing tired with this direction. I would have loved to have at least 100 hours of my life back to spend with my other launch games. 

It Is Time For Assassin's Creed To Die So That New IPs Can Be Born

As I'm writing this, I am balls deep in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. I'm loving parts; I'm hating parts. But well into the 80 hour mark (not sure how accurate that is), I've come to the realization that Valhalla doesn't need to be an Assassin's Creed game. In fact, Origins and Odyssey didn't need to be Assassin's Creed games either. Why am I saying this? Because these past three games, Valhalla specifically, have been shifting away from what Assassin's Creed games are all about: stealth action.

The very first Assassin's Creed game in 2007 was a mix of historical and science fiction. It kept things simple in terms of its gameplay. You sneak around, find out who your targets are, kill them and the gameplay gets broken up sporadically by ejecting you from the Animus so you can learn more about what you're doing. As every game that followed, more and more gameplay elements were being introduced, yet the pace was still pretty well structured to keep the game flowing. In Assassin's Creed III, Desmond Miles' storyline came to an end, but Ubisoft didn't want to end the franchise. They kept it going with AC4: Black Flag, and the outside world of the Animus became less important. It was more about absorbing the player in the experience. Some games like Assassin's Creed III: Liberation removed the Animus component entirely.

AC: Unity and Syndicate tried new things such as anomalies which messed with time manipulation putting you in World War segments, yet the core gameplay was still very much Assassin's Creed. It wasn't until Origins that the entirety of the game was completely reinvented. Taking place in ancient Egypt, Origins introduced a wealth of open-world gameplay elements. There was now leveling and even though the game was open to you from the start meaning you could go anywhere you wanted, there were high level areas that you obviously were not meant to enter meaning you had to go run off somewhere to level up and come back. Along with Odyssey, there were also numerous gear dumps and resource collecting meaning you spent a lot of time in the menu breaking down gear and sorting through items. The pace of Assassin's Creed began to suffer thanks to all the distractions. 

With Origins, Ubisoft begin to experiment with the idea of incorporating mythical gods in their games. The main character Bayek would encounter Egyptian gods such as Anubis, Sobet and Sekhmet. In Odyssey, main characters Kassandra and Alexios would fight Greek mythical creatures such as minotaurs, cyclops, and even Medusa. In Valhalla, there are side quests that take you completely out of the believable old world of England and whisk you away to realms such as Asgard and Jotunheim where you take on the role of Odin. 

These new fantasy elements were incorporated to make Assassin's Creed more of an action-RPG, so much so that they even showed up on some places' Game of the Year awards under the RPG category. Although there's nothing wrong with these fantasy elements themselves, it's my personal opinion that they don't belong in the Assassin's Creed franchise. The main reason why I'm against the fantasy stuff is because it goes against the nature of what the franchise started out to be: science fiction. Everything before Origins, although still science fiction, was grounded in historical fiction, meaning it could be traced back and validated as actually happening within the game's world. But gods are not real. The games try to get away with this by using the ancient alien race Isu as being responsible for creating their appearances, which would explain why mentions of gods show up in historical accounts. None of this was going on before Origins, so doing this with Origins and beyond is no more than the franchise jumping the shark. 

With the inclusion of the open-world RPG gameplay elements, there's so many distractions getting the in the way that I've pretty much stopped caring about the Animus. I've even forgotten many times in Valhalla that I could leave the Animus if I wanted to. I've uncovered a lot of the game world and I've only been brought out of it once by the game's story. I need that balance of story telling the old AC games had returned. I don't care about Eivor's dreams of being Odin. I want to know more about my next targets (which pretty much have very little backstory to them), the Isu and the Pieces of Eden. I want to know more about the Animus team guiding me in this world. I want the AC games to be focused again. 

But that's not going to happen. Ubisoft was trying all sorts of new things with their recent games, but they honestly should have just started making new IPs altogether if they were going to change them THIS much. I doubt very many people even care about the story anymore. The franchise has really boiled down to nothing more than the constant feedback loop Ubisoft games are known for. Maybe part of me is speaking this way because I'm suffering burnout. I know a few people who gave up on the series a long time ago, but for some reason, I just can't say no to Assassin's Creed games. They're fun games to play that don't require much of your attention so you can watch Netflix at the same time or whatever. But even then, I will be among the first to say that they've worn out their welcome. As I'm currently exploring the realm of Jotunheim, I'm thinking, "Man, imagine a new IP where they can leave the AC story behind and just their own full-blown God of War!" But again, that's not going to happen because Ubisoft knows the brand name sells. I just wish more companies took more chances on new IPs, because Assassin's Creed started out as a new IP 13 years ago. 

The Hits Just Keep On Coming (To My Wallet...)

My wallet this season:

As if last month didn't already do enough damage to my bank account with both the PS5 and XSX with three games a piece, the launch window is still tempting me to ground my ship ashore like the seductive siren she is. A couple days ago, I decided to order this:

When I first saw this game unveiled as Gods and Monsters, I instantly wrote it off as a Breath of the Wild clone. Not only was the aesthetic nearly identical, there were gameplay mechanics such as puzzles, magic, and climbing that were clearly ripped off from Zelda. I pretty much had no interest in it until just last week when impressions started making the rounds. Everyone pretty much said that the BotW inspiration is undisputable, but it does enough different to stand on its own. I noticed it was on sale at Amazon for 49.99 and it so happens that I had 27 or so dollars in credit, so I applied it and got it for 26 and change. Honestly can't complain. Seems like it will be a perfect 30 dollar game. 

Also, I decided to get it for the PS5 instead of the Xbox Series X because I didn't want to put up with downloading the upgrade patch on the Series X and plus, I really enjoy the PS5's controller over the Series X. As for the Switch version... I didn't even consider it. I know this game would have been the perfect game to play on the go, but the issue for me is that I don't really play my Switch much on the go anymore, especially now with COVID, it's just work and home. When I'm home, I'd much rather play a better looking version of this game. I think my days of getting multi-plat versions of a game on the Switch are over. 

Then today, I bought two more games:

 

The Pathless immediately caught my eye in the PS5 unveiling event with its mystical visual style and fluid, inventive locomotion system. As the game grew closer to release, I watched a few more gameplay videos and started falling in love with the music, the exploration and most importantly, the bosses. I got Shadow of the Colossus vibes from it, mixed with just a little Breath of the Wild. It's also going for 49.99, so any launch game in this generation that isn't going for 60 and especially 70 is very welcome. 

Speaking of cheaper games, Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition clocks in at 39.99 and this is coming from Capcom, a company that could EASILY charge 70 bucks for their games and still sell well. Honestly, I have no business buying this game right now because I'm behind in the series. I have the previous four DMCs (not including Ninja Theory's DmC reboot) but I've only played the first two. I was also thinking of getting it for the XSX but didn't at first because I thought it was a digital only game. Now that I saw there is a physical copy, I sprung for it, but not for the Series X for the same reason I didn't buy Immortals for the Series X. I do not want to put up with the ridiculous download times for the XSX upgrade patches. Microsoft NEEDS to start pressing XSX specific versions, because it's costing them money at least from gamers like me with poor internet. 

Anyway, I am going to try very hard to make these my final games for the year. I have got to stop the hemorrhaging for a while and go back to my rule of one game a month. I ended up getting seven last month with three games each for PS5 and XSX and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, and now I bought an additional three this month. Ooof...