Why Assassin’s Creed Valhalla should have made some content optional
Eivor rocks. Image: Ubisoft.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a pretty good game. I had a decent time with it, for the most part. The landscapes of medieval England are luscious and fascinating to explore. Every part of the map feels distinct from each other.
And it’s a delight to traps about hunting down map markers, finding the little world events that fill out the lore of this iteration of the series and climbing up the latest tower (let’s not forget, this is a Ubisoft game). My favorite moment was definitely riding my horse through Sherwood Forest. I have simple desires.
But it’s too long.
Mild spoilers throughout
According to How Long to Beat, completing the latest entry into the Assassin’s Creed will set you back 57 hours for the main story and 90 if you do a bit of side questing. My own playthrough clocked in at 102 hours - mainly because I avoided fast travel (my game suffered from the “main character gets drunk after fast travel”-bug, but I genuinely enjoyed exploring the map). I completed a few of the quests you can find, all towers, and a handful of puzzles, as well as the main story, which I identify as following:
1. Eivor’s story
2. Making friends in England
3. Here come the templars
Eivor’s story is pretty good. Here’s the Wikipedia summary:
“In AD 873, political pressures in Norway prompt Eivor Varinsdottir and her adoptive older brother, Sigurd Styrbjornsson, to lead their clan of Vikings to settle new lands in Anglo-Saxon England, as part of the Viking expansion across Europe. The clan comes into conflict with the kingdoms of Wessex, Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia over the next several years, as well as the warring sons of the legendary Viking warrior Ragnar Lothbrok, who made up the Great Heathen Army. Eivor's clan faces forces led by the leaders of these kingdoms, including Alfred the Great, the king of Wessex. It is during this time that Eivor meets the Hidden Ones* and aids them in their fight against the Order of the Ancients.”
*The Hidden Ones are the aforementioned Assassins and the good guys, while the Order of the Ancients, who first popped up in Assassin’s Creed Origins (in AC release order) and Odyssey (AC chronology), are the resident bad guys.
Eivor and her brother Sigurd have a complex relationship. They trust and complement each other - Sigurd goes out and finds new allies, while Eivor takes over day-to-day operations of their clan together with Sigurd’s wife, Randvi. During the game, Eivor makes important allies all across England, gathers resources to expand the settlement and spreads the influence of their clan. Eivor also follows Sigurd on occasion and helps cement a few new relationships, including with the sons of Ragnar (Ivar, Halfdan and my favorite, Ubba, who were not only part of the Great Heathen Army invading England but whose father is also linked to the sacking of Paris in 845). All is well until Sigurd’s goal changes under the influence of his companion, the Hidden One Basim Ibn Ishaq, believing himself to be greater than a mere mortal. You have a falling out, where he annoys Eivor to the extend, you might consider punching him. Then Sigurd is kidnapped by the Order of the Ancients and is horrifically tortured. You go rescue him like the good adopted sibling and shield-maiden you are.
He then stops talking to you until you finish story #2.
This is how I felt after Sigurd stopped talking to me. Illustration: Ubisoft.
In the best case scenario, you do not go and rescue Sigurd right away but continue making allies in the different regions. However, my naive brain decided “I need to save my virtual brother and we need to work out our differences!”, and rescued him immediately. I still had around 8 regions to complete.
The regions and ally making consists of Eivor traveling to the area, identifying the allies and helping them with their problem. It is limited to one region at a time. Sometimes you make kings, sometimes you help out gay sheriffs in the streets of London, and sometimes you go to a heathen party. Some regional stories are stronger than others, but they are generally well-crafted and teach you something about the locals.
Grantebridgescire. Image: Ubisoft, retrieved October 11, 2021.
Here’s where my too long complaint comes in. Up to Sigurd’s rescue, I was around 40 hours deep into the story. After completing the missing regions, I was at 85. I went 45 hours without talking to Sigurd, who, definitely traumatized, continued stalking angrily across the settlement. The game tries to make the final mission with Sigurd emotional and meaningful. And there are some moving sequences. But I didn’t care for it because I had spent 45 hours solving other people’s problems.
(For completion's sake, the third story “Here come the templars”, where you uncover the Order of the Ancients in England, took me another 10 hours).
The game is stuffed to the brim with content. And they make sure you see most of it on your journey to the ending, at the expense of good storytelling.
For instance, there is an entire supernatural storyline that supplants Eivor’s and Sigurd’s story. Throughout the game, you will also make dialogue choices for Eivor and compete in a world riddle contest with the legendary squirrel Ratatoskr. If you want, Eivor can engage with various sexual partners and even settle down with a love interest (admittedly, the romance component in the predecessor Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey was more fun. Just look at Alkibiades from that game).
Just look at him! Image: Stephanie Chafe, Ubisoft.
And that’s not even everything you can stumble upon on your journey. There are countless secrets and enemies to be found.
East Anglia. Image: Ubisoft, retrieved October 11, 2021.
My humble solution? Add to the overflow of content and make a few of the regions optional.
Let people stumble upon them while exploring and let them be drawn into the mystery - as an example, the heathen party would be a good candidate. Let people be surprised that such meaty content is optional. Provide the player with the choice as to what they would like to engage with and what not. I am far less mad about the content I chose to waste my time on than about the things I am forced to do in order to reach the end.
Not that many even noticed in the first place.
Around 25% percent of players (according to PS4 trophy data) have reached the ending of Eivor’s story and even less completed all three story arcs. This might have been due to other reasons, don’t get me wrong. But streamlining the experience for the people who are willing to put in the time to see the ending of the game would have also been to the benefit of the story. Not just my time as a player.
In conclusion, editing is good and there’s no reason to be scared of optional content.
