Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla has new mythological adventures

I haven’t checked in with the Assassin’s Creed community in a while but I’m going to take a leap of faith (HA) and say that most folks are pretty stoked that the series has begun to embrace more overtly fantastical elements. Now, I’m sure there’s a faction that appreciated when Assassin’s Creed stuck to more realistic depictions of history, including all those powerful ancient objects bestowed upon powerful people by aliens. Your history textbook won’t tell you that so wake up, sheeple. Assassin’s Creed: Origins and Odyssey has embraced the mythologies of the ages they were set in and I think most people appreciated those aspects, so if you’re one of those people you’ll be very pleased to hear that Valhalla is doubling down on all the folklore and mysticism.

To give you a better understanding of now these legends and tales have been woven into the game, here’s a quick peak at some of the encounters you can expect to find in Valhalla, as seen in a recent trailer narrated by narrative director Darby McDevitt via Games Radar. “Cold, hard, dry history is not enough when it comes to a game like this. You want to also get into what the beliefs of the people were, what made their hearts race, what made their brains tingle with anticipation of what comes beyond,” McDevitt said.

Running around England in the Dark Ages, you’ll encounter a creature known as The Black Shuck. “Now the Black Shuck is a particular piece of mythology that’s very, very common in England. There are a lot of stories and tales of black dogs that roam the night, roam the graveyards and abandoned roads,” said McDevitt.

From (the 12th Century) forwards history, is filled with mentions of black dogs, so we decided to put this piece of mythology in the game and allow Eivor to come across it, and tangle with it.

Yeah, would rather not give that dog a belly scratch.

Another exploration of folklore and, in this case, classic literature, Eivor can come across The Daughters of Lerion, characters inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear which is itself based on a historical figure who ruled years for the events of the game. “Cordelia, Regan, and Goneril are the Daughters of Lerion, and they are protecting their father’s legacy – a man who was betrayed by the people of East Anglia. You’ll find evidence of this story scattered throughout East Anglia and a little bit beyond. You’ll meet the three daughters… but if you dig a little deeper into the territories you’ll find that there’s a lot more to this story”, said McDevitt. You’ll be able to fight them, of course, and they’re apparently one monstrous challenge.

There are plenty of more encounters such as this, including a fight with some important blokes known as the Lost Drengr of Ragnar Lothbrok. The game seems to be stuffed with content as the developers clearly hope to reward players for the exploration and inquisitiveness. “We put a lot of care and effort into rewarding people who just want to get off the beaten path. For certain there are lots of main path quests in our game, there’s a lot of heavy narrative. But there also a lot of world dressing, a lot of storytelling that goes on behind the scenes and behind closed doors,” ended McDevitt.

Last Updated: September 1, 2020