With Assassin’s Creed Valhalla , Ubisoft is taking players to a different part of the world and to a different time period than the series has covered before. Taking place in Norway in the 9th century, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will begin players in a hostile environment beset by war before taking them to the most promising land of England, where they will not be greeted warmly, to say the least.
Given the long walk and the Viking theme of the game, it is clear that the characters in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla are going to travel the ocean, but will players be able to participate in navigation and naval combat on their own?
As of the first Assassin’s Creed Valhalla reveal , Ubisoft maintains a tight grip on most of its gameplay. We know that players will attack enemy settlements while building their own and take on King Alfred of Great Britain, but there are still a lot of things under wraps. One thing that hasn’t been explicitly confirmed by Ubisoft is how ships will work in the game, but there are already a couple of good clues.
First, attacking distant settlements and even reaching Britain in the first place will require ships. Ubisoft has confirmed that the player character, Eivor, will have a ship of his own to command, and much of the promotional art for the game focuses on navigation.
A more promising sign is that Ubisoft Montreal is handling the development of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla , and may remind you of your previous work on Assassin’s Creed Black Flag . Black Flag introduced a new naval combat system in Assassin’s Creed , making that game a favorite of many players who normally don’t like the Assassin’s Creed formula . With Ubisoft Montreal at the helm, it would seem a waste not to let the team use their expertise in scheduling naval combat at least a little.
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An obstacle to large-scale naval battles in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla comes simply from the moment it takes place. Even if Ubisoft Montreal wants to explore naval battles in Valhalla, the ships available to the Vikings in the 800s are far less developed than the formidable ships players had access to in the 1700s configuration of Black Flag .
Even if full naval battles aren’t on the table, it’s a good bet that player-controlled ships are. Real life Vikings made the most of their long ships to attack attacking targets where their defenses were weak and escape without giving their enemies a chance to fight back. Given the importance of the raids in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Ubisoft’s confirmation that it will be an open-world game, there are good reasons to prepare for many adventures on board before its launch.
