The Assassin’s Creed franchise took a bold leap into RPG territory starting with Origins in 2017 before diving even further down the open world roleplaying rabbit hole with 2018’s sprawling ancient Greek epic Odyssey. Now two years later, Valhalla brings us to the shores of medieval England for brutal Viking action. But which of these vast RPG titles truly delivers the quintessential Assassin’s Creed experience for both loyal fans and newcomers alike?
Stealth and Combat – Steps in the Right Direction
As an avid Assassin’s Creed veteran with over 200 hours across the core titles, I’m delighted with how Valhalla refines and meaningfully expands upon stealth and combat mechanics. Odyssey took things in a more open-ended action RPG direction that heavily diluted the measured stealth gameplay the series was founded upon. But Valhalla rolls back some of those excessive changes, offering improved mechanics better aligned with earlier franchise favorites like the Ezio Trilogy or Black Flag.
For one, the stealth toolkit itself is far more robust. You can call upon a familiar blend of social stealth options like hiding in crowds, sitting on benches, and mimicking world activities. Environmental tactics also return with gusto thanks to long grass, tunnel networks, cargo hides, and raised overviews ideal for planning attacks. Distraction and manipulation options are elegantly introduced via three special arrow types that function akin to Origins and AC III’s berserk darts. These present exciting new opportunities for stealth players to toy with enemy patrols before striking from the shadows.
Meanwhile, combat feels snappier and more impactful compared to Odyssey’s floaty, damage-spongy monster slugfests. Enemies react with suitable brutality to your blows as limbs and heads go flying, while your skills feel meatier and more physics-driven when chaining hits and dodges. Even on Normal difficulty, Valhalla brings back that classic assassin power fantasy of cutting down foes with ruthless precision using only your hidden blade. This means no ridiculous min-maxing just to assassinate average guards like Odyssey practically demanded. Gear and abilities also feel more integral to combat without overwhelming players: Odyssey drowned us with literal dozens of incremental upgrades that barely registered. I found Valhalla‘s systems incredibly refined while still allowing diverse combat builds.
Some scenarios where these mechanics shine include infiltrating large enemy encampments using Harmony distraction arrows to create chaos, executing side eject assassinations from horseback, utilizing oil jars for explosive ambushes, or base leaping straight into dual axe slow-motion kills. While Odyssey technically offered greater build variety on paper, Valhalla’s stealth and combat systems simply feel more polished, enjoyable and most importantly, like a proper Assassin’s Creed game.
Key Stealth & Combat Improvements in Valhalla
| Mechanic | Valhalla | Odyssey |
|---|---|---|
| Social Stealth Options | Blending, sitting benches, world activities | Extremely limited |
| Distraction Tools | 3 special arrow types | None |
| Enemy Awareness | More reasonable detection | Hyper vigilant |
| Combat Feel | Weighty, visceral, varied | Floaty, repetitive |
| Gear Progression | Meaningful gamechanging sets | Incremental stat bloat |
| Skill Impact | High, build defining | Mostly negligible |
Modern Day Story and Lore Connections
Valhalla also ties much more cleanly into the central conflict at the heart of every Assassin’s Creed title since the very first game: the ancient struggle between the secret Brotherhood of Assassins and their eternal arch-nemesis, the Templar Order. While the main 9th century CE storyline follows Viking raider Eivor leading their clan to glory in England, modern-day events frame this as a simulated history – the synchronized genetic memories of the Isu reincarnation Odin being relived by their inheritor Havi aka Eivor.
We spend significantly more time as modern day protagonist Layla Hassan investigating First Civilization sites and uncovering Isu artifacts that connect to a calculations project involving the Aesir researcher Loki. This Loki is revealed as none other than Eivor‘s mysterious mentor and later rival, Basim! These revelations directly spin off plot threads originating from AC III’s present day story and the fate of Juno, as well as Layla‘s actions in Origins that activated the Omega Device. Odyssey by comparison felt almost entirely disconnected from the wider Assassin/Templar mythology outside token references to the Isu Era or Pieces of Eden.
The bureau alerts and intelligence data Layla uncovers also clarify that Templar front compan Abstergo Industries aims to leverage these unearthed Isu secrets to usher in New World Order – a goal perfectly aligned with thePhoenix Project tlvheif infamous Daniel Cross first set into motion back in Assassin’s Creed III’s modern segments. This provides satisfying payoff for long-time fans invested in the struggles of past modern day protagonists like Desmond Miles against Templar puppets within Abstergo.
Meanwhile Odyssey relegated its present-day elements to skippable cutscenes largely disconnected from the central Animus quest. Its only noteworthy connection comes from Layla recovering the Spear of Leonidas for the Assassins. Outside this token MacGuffin, the wider ideological war between Templars and Assassins goes virtually ignored. Even Odyssey‘s mythic Atlantis DLC, while fleshing out lore behind the Isu-Human War, does little to advance the far-future Phoenix Project storyline in the modern day era.
Ultimately, Valhalla’s engrossing historical tale proves inextricably tied to the franchise’s core themes of reshaping humanity’s fate using messages from an ancient yet advanced precursor race. Odyssey dabbles with similar themes, but fails to demonstrate their direct relevance to the primary Assassin/Templar conflict. As a longtime fan invested in the struggles of past and present generations of Assassins against the Templars, Valhalla’s modern story segments proved incredibly rewarding and well worth suffering through 100 hours of virtual Viking raiding!
Open World Design and Quest Structure
While fans gushed over the sheer size and beauty of Odyssey’s loving recreation of ancient Greece, its open world suffered from being egregiously padded with bland procedurally generated content. Too many map activities boiled down to multi-stage busywork akin to “kill this captain”, “loot this treasure” or “destroy three war supplies”. These repeat objective templates quickly wore thin spread over Odyssey‘s gigantic map spanning over 50 unique islands across Greece. Even memorable stories centered on notable historical Greek figures and myths got overshadowed under oceans of shallow side quest chains rewarding incremental XP and drachmae.
By contrast, Valhalla opts for a quality over quantity approach with fresher world building and quest design. Regions like Grantebridgescire, Ledecestrescire and Snotinghamscire (yes, really) burst with unique mysteries and challenges intrinsic to their local stories and landscapes without relying on copy-pasted mission templates.
One lengthy questline has you methodically investigating visions of a ghostly Roman legion still guarding an abandoned hill fort centuries later. Another tasks you with brewing special concoctions from regional ingredients to revitalize a struggling monastery running low on supplies. Even ostensibly simple activities like World Events add charming context like reuniting star-crossed lovers or judging a peculiar dispute between an angry peasant and his…cow?
Instead of chasing hundreds of map markers for incremental XP boosts, you explore England because each locale has been lovingly handcrafted with its own secrets worth unraveling purely for their stories or loot. Whether it’s foiling the antics of the legendary Ragnarssons or investigating a haunted lighthouse concealing a hidden Isu vault, mysteries feel rewarding in their own right – not just icon clearing map busywork. This all culminates in an ending pulling together multiple narrative threads woven throughout England and Asgard into an immensely cathartic conclusion to Eivor‘s epic Viking saga.
Open World Design
| Criterion | Valhalla | Odyssey |
|---|---|---|
| World Size | 15+ explorable regions across England | 80+ islands spanning entire Greek world |
| Handcrafted Content | 80-90% regions and arcs | <50% self-contained quests |
| Side Activities | All activities given story relevance and context via NPC briefings or situated in theme appropriate areas | Many repeatable bandit camp/fort clears disconnected from local flavour or stories |
| Quality over Quantity | Every major region given unique identity and memorable self-contained questlines | Vast open world trading variety for copy-pasted world event and side activity templates |
RPG Progression and Gear Systems
On the RPG side, Valhalla also offers more meaningful progression systems compared to Odyssey’s gratuitous grind choreographed around pushing time savers and XP boosters. Gear collection emphasizes aesthetics and unique gameplay perks rather than solely incrementally inflating player damage and defense stats.
Upgrading your settlement focuses on motivating exploration across England to gather supplies for expanding buildings like blacksmith shops, tattoo parlors, barracks and even a Orlog dice game tavern. Grantebridgescire tasks you with securing iron while Ledecestrescire offshore islands hide away turnip farms and timber yards. This incentivizes uncovering each region’s unique resources to fuel your growing raider capital.
Abilities center on combos and powerful synergies between Raven/Bear/Wolf skill trees. Wolf Pack boosts damage after each successive attack on a target while Incendiary Power Attack causes explosions knocking back enemies after certain conditions. Even mobility options like the Leap of Faith return to enable creative stealth openers. Overall Valhalla emphasizes big, flashy perks that feel truly heroic rather than incremental statistical bloat.
Narrative choices also feel appropriately weighted considering the more personal stakes of guiding your raiding family’s survival. Backing certain characters like your adopted brother Sigurd or the cautious advisor Randvi as rightful Raven Clan leader has meaningful consequences that ripple throughout the narrative. These made me far more invested than Odyssey’s Mass Effect-lite flavor choices bogged down by inconsequential dialogue wheel decisions every other quest. Even seemingly mundane settlement expansion projects feed back into unlocking gameplay advantages like new item slots, rations orCd quiver types.
By contrast, Odyssey embraced a Diablo-esque loot pinata approach that wore thin over my 80+ hour playthrough. The endless oceans of randomized loot incentivized constantly managing equipment loadouts chasing marginally better perks and +1% damage/armor boosts. Meanwhile the skill trees amounted to mostly passive bonuses barely registering amidst the mountain of gear stat bloat. So many mechanics extrinsically rewarded obsessive min-maxing rather than enhancing the core combat and ability gameplay itself. The entire progression system reeked of manipulation tactics to sell inventory space upgrades or XP boosters rather than delivering meaningful advancement that organically facilitated emergent gameplay opportunities through creativity and mastery.
Ultimately while Odyssey offers technically deeper stat customization spreadsheets, Valhalla delivers more focused progression that respects players’ time far better without egregious monetization pitches around every campaign corner. I welcome this refinement towards more meaningful abilities and gear that focus on enhancing mechanical mastery over repetitive inventory box management.
Progression Systems
| Criterion | Valhalla | Odyssey |
|---|---|---|
| Gear Variety | Iconic named sets with strong utility perks | Borderline indistinguishable loot flooded with incremental stat variations |
| Ability Design | Empowering skill combos that enable builds | Mostly insignificant passive perks |
| Settlement Progression | Thematic resource gathering system directly fueling gameplay unlocks like rations/arrows | Largely meaningless stat boosts from generic ship upgrades |
| Skill Tree Progression | Concentrated on powerful combos and weapon mastery | Scattered minor incremental bonuses requiring 100+ points investment |
| Narrative Consequences | Key decisions alter critical story arcs and character roles | Superficial flavor dialogue changes around inconsequential side stories |
The Verdict…Valhalla Reigns Supreme!
Despite rightfully earning praise for fully committing to reinventing Assassin’s Creed as an RPG, Odyssey clearly lost sight of integral franchise pillars in pursuit of endless content bloat designed to waste players‘ time rather than provide fulfilling journeys through meticulously crafted worlds. Systems constantly pitched microtransactions betrayed a lack of faith in the core experience.
Valhalla succeeds where Odyssey faltered by fusing the signature free flowing parkour and stealth sandboxes veterans cherish with the enhanced questing and progression features introduced over the last two entries. Make no mistake, 2020‘s Viking epic stands as a historic tour de force fans will remember for years as one of the Assassin‘s greatest virtual odysseys.
| Criterion | Valhalla | Odyssey |
|---|---|---|
| Stealth/Combat | 🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️ | 🗡️🗡️ |
| Modern Day/Lore | 🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️ | 🗡️ |
| Open World Content | 🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️ | 🗡️🗡️ |
| RPG Progression | 🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️ | 🗡️🗡️ |
| Overall | 4.75/5 ⚔️ ⚔️ ⚔️ ⚔️ | 2.5/5 ⚔️ |
So if you’re an old-school purist hungering for glorious next-gen raiding action faithful to the franchise’s roots, set sail for the rich forests and misty highlands of England with Valhalla charting a bold new course for the eternal war between Templars and Assassins. Because in the end…nothing is true, everything is permitted!