I, for one, am glad that there aren’t going to be traditional sidequests! Maybe I’m getting old, but it’s just not worth it to me to try any sidequests if the quality is as hit or miss as it has been in the past two Assassin’s Creed games.
@Binho You hit the nail on the head about the aesthetic being fairytale-like. It definitely looked off to me, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. Just look at the screenshot you posted! There’s mushrooms everywhere!
I suppose it depends on what qualifies as a side quest; I enjoy stuff like the Karl Marx and Alexander Graham Bell missions in Syndicate but definitely grew very tired of the endless ‘ah my father’s shield was stolen’ stuff in Odyssey. Without further context, “no side quests” is value neutral.
I quite like the look of Valhalla, though the medievalist in me is endlessly wincing at nearly every historical element. (My reckoning is here, shout out to my best friend who is a classicist and my ex who studied revolutionary France.) I have a rare fondness for Assassin’s Creed III’s forests, and the fact that medieval England is going to likely be a lot of empty makes me hope there’s a bit of that.
Though Ubisoft’s… everything, right now… will probably keep me from buying it. I might get it for Christmas since it’s one of the two video game series my mother-in-law knows the name of and she always buys me a video game, but I’m not sure I want to buy it for myself.
Haha, as a Roman archaeologist I’ve been wincing for the last few years. The Roman ruins on display so far are very wince worthy.
I like the idea of how they are doing the side quests, I guess we’ll see how it pans out in practice. I just hope it’s not 6,000hrs long like Odyssey.
Hmm, what are people’s thoughts on the face painting/tattoos the vikings have in the game?
It brings to mind the comments from Native American critics about Horizon Zero Dawn and it’s use of Native American style imagery and aesthetics to code the cultures in the game as “primitive” and “savage”. As far as I am aware, there is no evidence whatsoever that face painting or facial tattoos were common in early medieval Scandinavia. Especially not in styles that are very reminiscent of various Native American face painting traditions (eg. the dark bar across the eyes) or certain African regional styles (like the dots around the eyes, or the chin stripes). The Viking lady at 17:53 seems to even be wearing Kayan-style neck rings??
Am I reading too much in to this? Especially after watching the TV show Vikings, I’ve gotten the impression that modern depictions of vikings use imagery from non-European cultures that are considered “primitive” to make the Vikings appear more “savage” and “barbarian”. Even though to the Christian writers at the time, the only reason they were really considered savage was because of the raiding, rape, and especially the pagan worship.
I do not have the expertise to field this question myself, but the Assassin’s Creed team is the most likely among the Ubisoft teams (a low bar, to be sure) to have done their homework on this. I would like to see them show their work here, though.
I’m a medievalist, and I’d say the answer is ‘… maybe?’ It’s hard to say definitively, there aren’t many well-preserved corpses to study and build a consensus. Ahmad ibn Fadlan wrote briefly about the Vikings along the Volga, and some regard his description of them being decorated in ‘a collection of figures and trees’ as evidence of body paint or tattoos. It’s known that the concept existed in the region, Bronze Age tattoo needles were found in the area. And there are some primary accounts that suggest ritual face painting - usually with ash - occurred, though we have no strong evidence of what exactly that would have looked like.
But watching that video does kind of make me think they made a leap from ‘the Vikings may have worn face paint or gotten tattoos, depending on the ritual or region’ to 'so let’s make them look like [indigenous people]‘s face tattoos to evoke that vague barb*rian feeling’. They were some of the furthest travellers at the time - hell, if this game was set a hundred years later, even Native American influence wouldn’t be farfetched - but I definitely feel the Horizon: Zero Dawn comparison.
Getting together a group of medievalists, artists, and maybe modern pagans (of a non-fascist variety) to come up with what would feel authentic and still unique to the culture, that’d be cool.
Fadlan’s account makes me wonder how they’re going to address the… Uh… Disturbing parts of Rus Viking culture, if the Rus are represented at all.
Speaking of historical accuracy or lack there of, I am surprisingly impressed by the fact that ACV will include the oft overlooked fact that Vikings, amongst other cultures, kept cats onboard ships to take care of the mouse problem.
I too scream “I FEEL GREAT” after murdering 3 men and eating some mushrooms.
Following the tradition of Origins’ great Cat Content. I once snuck around a small encampment being followed by like 5 cats that very politely kept quiet while I offed some romans.
I will always be disappointed that this game isn’t set in the 9th century Dnieper and we could sail on down to Constantinople to join the Varangian Guard.
Sorry, I’m a Byzantaweeb.
I mean, if they’re so desperate to have castles in the game, why set the game in pre-Norman England where there were few castles? It’s just dumb. Anatolia would have plenty of solid fortifications from ancient times and to fight off Saracen raids.
Not impossible that this could be DLC! Would expect there to be some sort of DLC that involves travelling away from the region in the game and another which is Isu Valhalla.
Maybe all future ACs should be set in cat cultures. Buckle up, kids! AC’s headed back to the Muslim world!
Though for the record: my current golden idea is a Sarajevo brotherhood of Assassins trying to stop a Templar influenced renegade sect known as the Black Hand and then over the next month and a half making increasingly desperate plays to keep WWI from popping off with the game ending in a hollow victory where, sure the Templars have had their latest scheme foiled but the Seminal Tragedy’s still gonna happen.
And writing that down, it occurs to me that the best way to do that would be to not have an open world structure as the plot would jump around through Eastern Europe. On the one hand: Cool, would love to see a big budget AC that isn’t open world or at least went back to the AC1, 2, and 3 model of several open world cities. Just skip the stupid empty space representing the distance inbetween. Super huge no load screen open worlds are overrated and lead to dramatically simplified spaces like just about all the cities in Origins. On the other: Damn, pre-siege Sarajevo would make a great open world city. Like if it went Brotherhood style where the city is the only map and everything is detailed and dense because of it.
Actually, now that I’m on this critique: Watch_Dogs 2 should have been set in San Jose and only depicted the Valley. Oh no, we miss out on the actual Bay Area. Their overreach meant too much was missing from their map so it’s a moot point. Every plot in the game is focused on entities in the Valley and SF is only there because it feels like it has to be.
They should have done it. And if they wanted to overreach they should have gone the other direction and been the first game to depict Santa Cruz, Los Gatos, and Gilroy. In fact, someone go make like an indie walking sim set in Los Gatos, CA. The fact that it’s not an unimportant town but is quiet and secluded in the woods (in deep contrast to how barren the rest of Silicon Valley is) gives it a great vibe for something slow, tonal, and first person.
Huh, seems like a smart move. Without Halo, I don’t really know how much this console has to offer, even if Valhalla is a multi-plat
Is it weird that it feels like no one has been talking about this game? The fanfare seems so much smaller than the usual assassin’s creed release
I think the lack of buzz may in part be caused by the recent allegations of misconduct at Ubisoft. I haven’t seen anyone calling for a boycott, but I for one have felt the wind taken from my sails…
I feel like it’s a combination of (in no particular order)
I’ll probably play it… 6 to 9 months after it releases and is much cheaper. That’s just how I’ve played the last few assassins creed games. I enjoy them, but they never take priority for me over other games.
That really is the best way to play these games!
I got a copy in a promotion when I upgraded my CPU, so this will be the first Assassin’s Creed game I own on launch. There isn’t much big coming out this fall, so I might even play it then!
Ok, this is looking really good.
I’m surprised by the inclusion of Vinland. Vikings reportedly didn’t discover that area until around 1000 AD, but it’s a really neat and interesting inclusion regardless! I hope they do right by the people represented.
OK, that is looking pretty darn cool. I wasn’t convinced by the early environments they showcased, but those look gorgeous. I had lost a lot of excitement for this game, but that definitely has me more interested again. The settlement stuff looks pretty cool!
I am kind of worried about how they will be treating the parts in North America.
AC has definitely gotten increasingly more “fantasy” in it’s aesthetics. As much as there is no such thing as historical “accuracy”, I’d wish games engaged more with modern interpretations of historical periods, especially in their visuals. It’s very much personal taste, but one of the things I liked the most about the Witcher (and also the LOTR movies) was how toned down and “real” feeling the weapons, costumes, and environments were.
