Published , by Sam Chandler
Published , by Sam Chandler
The next Assassin’s Creed game has finally been announced. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla looks to take players on a journey through Norse mythology as a powerful Viking assassin. Ubisoft is set to unveil more of this next entry in the main series with a special livestream, and you catch watch it all unfold right here on Shacknews.
The Assassin’s Creed Valhalla world premiere is scheduled to begin on Thursday, April 30th at 8:00 AM PT / 11:00 AM ET. There’s no telling what exactly we’re going to see, but there’s a good chance it will involve some deliciously violent assassinations by burly Vikings.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was originally revealed as part of a spellbinding livestream where artist BossLogic created the keyart in photoshop. Viewers sat for hours to watch the image being created, one brush tool at a time. The end result is what is now being used as main art for the game.
The last major entry in the Assassin’s Creed series was 2018’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. In the Shacknews review of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, our own Managing Editor Bill Lavoy said, “Ubisoft knows how to build big beautiful worlds that players can have fun in, and Odyssey is definitely that. The steps forward in loot and RPG elements are great, but too many design decisions remind me of games I’ve already played. Fans of the series are going to like it, while those that don’t like open-world games won’t.”
This is an interesting point to make and one that we could see brought up again with Valhalla. The previous two games well and truly dropped the Assassin’s Creed formula of old and opted for a more RPG-like experience. This has seemingly paid off for Ubisoft, given the positive reception these titles received. But this shift to RPG has created a rift, which was seen in the livestream chat. There were viewers saying “NO RPG” or “NO MORE GRINDING” while others were praising the shift in focus seen in the recent titles.
As for a release date for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, it could go either way. It’s possible that Ubisoft, even with the current pandemic, manages to get Valhalla over the line and release it in time for the holiday season. For now, though, let’s await the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla world premiere and binge Vikings again.