Intro: What is Valhalla? Is it a place or a state of mind that the Norse found themselves in with delighted vigor? The world of Assassins Creed spans for many years telling the story of the world through one person. Coming back to life this year after Assassins Creed Rebellion was released for android and IOS, This Assassins Creed title lives up to the hype and expectation that was teased before the release. So put up your battle axes, raise your horns, and get ready to raid, pillage, and loot with Odin’s best.
The Journey Begins:
the assassins creed world is built in this matrix Esq. honeycomb of plotlines that seem like you are about to bite off more than you can chew. With complex arcs, diverse themes, and characters it’s no wonder it took me nearly two months to finish this game. The Assassin's Creed games revolve around the conflict between two ancient societies – the Assassins' who represents freedom, and the Knights -Templar who represents order. These societies actually existed and more importantly in EVERY Assassin's creed game there is some sort of historical connection to the main plotline that will connect it back to the main goal and/or purpose of Assassin’s Creed, you with me?
With historical facts that get molded into a games universe, it’s pretty tricky, to say the least, to correctly, AND accurately depict history when you’re combining action and thrill and also combining elements of comedy where, for example, you need to kill a guy who just stole your loaf of bread, but you can’t just go up to him and assassinate him. You need to talk to the guy’s friend, then the daughter then gets into a fight with a crowd of people to get to said person who stole that loaf of bread. This is what assassins creed is in a nutshell, a long way around doing a very simple task. While this is a very straightforward and simple way to look at it, the lore of assassins creed is very in-depth, and each game has clear points that flow with a precise direction. Since Assassins Creed Valhalla is my first ever experience with the franchise (I know you are all screaming in disbelief) I had a unique adventure that leads me to fall in love with this game and its concepts.
Desynchronized from reality:
While playing this game I thought that the concept of desynchronization and the psychology behind it would be an interesting topic to approach. This idea of becoming someone else through a machine to see their history is allowing yourself to part take in a lucid dream so to speak, only this dream actually happened. The theory I’ve come up with is that, while yes you are put into this device called the animus you are being forced mentally into this state of a coma. Animus means to animate, so then you are reanimated in another life essentially, then forcing a reboot back into your own body. This could be astral projection, but that’s a little bit of a reach if you ask me since we have a machine taking who we are and reviving us in a different timeline. It’s a different person, but the same mind of the main host that is put under in the Animus.
Buckle in for a long story: The story of assassins creed Valhalla is one I wasn’t expecting. It's rich, filled with diverse characters, lush plots, and complex motives. It’s also VERY VERY LONG. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good long storyline but the length of this one was just unneeded in some places. Yes, I understand this is how Assassins' creed games are in general, but there are some chapters that didn’t even belong in the main arc. In the beginning, I saw a steady flowing plotline that created a sense of wonder and un-rest as I progressed through the game. As it got to the point right after I saved Sigurd, it went kind of weird….in terms of weird I mean the chapters felt like filler and some of them were just purely boring and felt like it was amping up for something they could have covered earlier in the game. While the ending was incredible and it was worth the slow, freezing walk towards Valhalla, I wondered why it was needed to go to Dag's wedding, or why was it needed to kidnap a queen so she could return home? The main storyline if done in a single game would have been at the most a 10-hour game. This game I put in, no joke, over 100 hours. I'm not saying the game wasn’t fun, but since I was doing this playthrough on my YouTube channel and have a schedule to keep I didn’t expect it to take almost two months to complete. But I conquered and got it done, mostly because I finished all the chapters that weren’t in the MAIN arc on my own and not on YouTube. I know, I know it's kind of cheating but when I say, “Hey I want to play the main storyline.” I not kidding, anything but the storyline I consider filler. Which open-world games include a VARIETY of content, side missions, and side arc, but this game had too many other arcs to the point where it got confusing at times. It's fair if you want to create a game about taking over all of Europe, that’s fine. But don’t make the plotline liner then, it's telling your audience one thing and doing another. Having so many different arcs in this game both worked and didn’t since we had one main storyline that included Eivor, Sigurd, and Basim. After we rescued Sigurd, you don’t see that storyline pick up until the last chapter Hordafylke. Even after that, there is an epilogue that shows the progress of Ravensthorpe, which I will play on my own since I am a completionist who needs to find everything. A False Death: one thing I want to touch on is the concept of Valhalla through the Isu machine. Sigurd believes that this is Valhalla, the heaven from his visions. It is after Eivor finds out is an illusion and a lie, a sort of falsehood that is built on the memories of the person but not an actual death. What fascinates me about this part of the game, as this is the chapter right before the ending; Sigurd wants to live in a lie so he feels remembered and special. “The only thing that doesn’t die is the reputation of the one who died.” Eivor. This. This is my favorite line out of the entire game, and so very telling. Death is a part of life, it is the only thing that is a constant, and that is predictable. Death, much like an old friend will greet you one day and we have to be ok with this notion that it will happen and no one is exempt from this fate. The concept of death in this game is one of a harsh reality that is brought to the front and proudly displayed for everyone to see and learn of. But what I find REALLY REALLY intriguing is that In Norse mythos, Odin is a god (who has a god complex and is reminiscent of the ID in psychology) and is the one to grant you a seat in Helheim or by his side in Valhalla. I want to take a somewhat unique approach to this and consider for a moment that Odin isn’t physical but a part of the person. So, Odin is the person's god complex, he is the person's sins, he is their strengths and vices. Much like how god is for people today. Final Thoughts: The game had to have been a close second to Red dead redemption two for me. While I feel as if Ubisoft could have done a little better of a job making the plotline more liner, if RDR2 can do it while being a HUGE open-world game, Assassins Creed Valhalla can do it too. Instead of jumping and skipping all over the place, it was a game that I will never forget. This game has so much Norse mythos, intense gameplay, accurate lore and history, and intense parts where it really grabs you into its story and doesn’t let go. This game, as an introduction to the Assassins Creed world, was breathtaking and something I hold very close to my heart. It is a game I would highly recommend. Just set aside a few months, your best mead, and hearty battle cry because you’re going to need it.
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