Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is promising to be an expansive open world RPG, and the more of it Ubisoft show and talk about, the clearer it becomes that the game is going to have several fleshed out systems and mechanics in place to keep players engaged for dozens – if not hundreds – of hours. In the build up to the game’s launch, we recently went over crucial details that you should know about it- but there’s just so much more to talk about. And so, in this feature, we’ll be going over a few more pieces of information on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
RAVENSTHORPE
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is centred around Eivor’s attempts to settle in England and find a new home for themselves and the Viking raiders they lead, and that home is going to be a crucial part of the gameplay as well. Eivor’s settlement, Ravensthorpe, will be a major location in the game that will be prominently featured throughout the experience. Assassin’s Creed as a franchise has plenty of history with home bases and hub locations, from Monteriggioni in Assassin’s Creed 2 to the Homestead in Assassin’s Creed 3, but it’s been a while since the series has visited that idea. To see it come back in Valhalla, and come back as such a major part of the game, is certainly exciting.
HIDDEN ONES AND ORDER OF THE ANCIENTS
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla takes place between Origins and the first game, which means at this point in the series’ timeline, the Assassins Brotherhood calls themselves the Hidden Ones, which we saw the origins of in, well, Assassin’s Creed Origins. The Hidden Ones are going to be integrated into the story much more than in recent years, with Eivor and the brotherhood both working together a common enemy- the Order of the Ancients, the precursors of the Templars, who just happen to be standing in the way of Eivor’s plans to settle the Vikings in their new home.
HIDDEN ONES BUREAU
Ravensthorpe is going to have various buildings and structures that will be of interest to players (and more will become available as you play more- more on this in a bit), but perhaps the building that veteran fans of the series will be most interested in is the Hidden Ones Bureau. The Bureau will be run by an Assassin (or Hidden One) named Hytham, and through this location, players will be able to pick up contracts and targets. Eivor will also be going after a list of mysterious, high profile targets, and it seems it might function a bit similar to the Cultists system in Odyssey, with a main antagonist at the centre of the web.
RETURNING TO THE SETTLEMENT
Ravenshorpe will, like any hub location, be an area that you’ll be returning to regularly throughout the games. According to the developers, Eivor will be coming back to the settlement after every fix or six hours of gameplay on average. Each time you return, the settlement will reflect the passage of time, with characters having new conflicts, new stories to share, new branches in questlines to tackle, and more.
EARLY GOINGS
When you’re starting out and Ravensthorpe first plants its roots in the early hours of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, it won’t be much to look at. As recently revealed in an extensive Eurogamer article revealing details on the settlement, at the beginning, it will be little more than an abandoned Saxon longhouse and a collection of tents scattered around it. The longhouse has a war table and a room for Eivor to sleep in and read letters. Over time, however, through constant upgrades and expansions, Ravensthorpe will expand throughout the game, growing into a thriving settlement.
EXPANDING THE SETTLEMENT
Of course, players will have vast and extensive options to expand and upgrade Ravensthorpe throughout the course of the game. Construction and upgrades of buildings, for instance, will require resources, materials, and currencies, which you will through raids, looting chests and vaults, forming alliances, exploring the open world, and more. When you construct buildings, not only will you get access to the services they offer, but will also progress the questlines of the characters associated with them.
UNLOCKING NEW BUILDINGS
One of the first upgrades you will make will be a blacksmith, who will upgrade your weapons for you (it also seems like upgrading weapons can only be done at this one specific location now). But there’s going to be an abundance of new structures and buildings to expand and grow. There will be a stable to purchase and train horses, an aviary to cosmetically customize your raven, a Hunter’s hut, a Fisher’s hut, a museum, a bakery, individual houses for characters, and much more.
MORE BUILDINGS
Each building in Ravensthorpe is going to have a specific purpose, but some are going to be more useful than others, of course. Farms, for instance, will be useful, because you can use the food they produce to feed your raiders before heading out on raids to provide them buffs. The cartographer will give you a dull map of any area of the world you’ve visited. The Hunter’s hut will allow you to exchange animal parts, and also acquire trophies to deck out your personal room in the longhouse with. The tattoo shop will allow you to tattoo different designs to various parts of your body, while the shipyard will give access to longboat customization options. Buildings can be upgraded as well, and the more they’ve been upgraded, the more useful they will be.
THE SEER
One building in particular, the Seer’s hut, will be of special interest to players. Here, the aforementioned Seer, named Valka, will brew potions, and Eivor, upon consuming them, will be taken to “another time, another plane”, as the developers put it while speaking with Eurogamer in the previously mentioned article. It seems like this is where Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s story will tap deeper into the mythological side of things, which we know is going to be at least a bit of a focus in the game. Level designer David Bolle says: “It’s a whole new section of the game… it’s pretty big.”
JOTUNHEIM AND ASGARD
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be using the Seer to go all in on the its Norse mythology trappings. Using the potions that she will brew, Ubisoft have confirmed that players will be able to travel to realms like Jotunheim and Asgard. Thinking back to similar mythological locations in Origins and Odyssey, we have a rough idea of what to expect, but there’s several questions that Ubisoft haven’t answered. For instance, we don’t know how often we’ll be visiting these locations, or how large they will be, and whether these, too, will offer their own open world gameplay. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how the concept is executed in the game.
JOMSVIKINGS
Another building in Ravensthorpe that’s going to be particularly useful is the Barracks, where players will be able to design and customize your own Jomsviking raiders and liutenants, and choose their armour and weapons loadout. Not only will you be able to take these Jomsvikings with you on raids, you will also be able to share them online with other players.
CUSTOMIZATION
We’ve already mentioned various customization options a few times in this feature, but it’s worth highlighting just how many of them it seems like there are going to be in this game. You will be able to apply tattoos to Eivor, while male Eivor will also have a beard that you can get styled at the tattoo shop. At the aviary, you can paint your raven with various patterns and paint jobs, while at the Barracks, you will be able to customize the appearance of your Jomsvikings. At the shipyard, you will have longboat customization options similar to the ship customization options in Odyssey. Players will also be able to deck out Ravensthorpe itself with several cosmetic and visual upgrades and customizations, from furnishings in Eivor’s room to statues in the settlement, and much more.
PC REQUIREMENTS
PC requirements for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla have also been revealed, and they’re quite extensive with various presets- so let’s get through this. All settings will require 50 GB of storage, though other than minimum settings, all other presets require an SSD. On minimum configurations (for 1080p/30 FPS gameplay), you will need either a Ryzen 3 1200 or i5-4460, 8 GB RAM, and either an R9 380 or a GTX 960.
On recommended settings (also for 1080p/30 FPS), you’ll require either a Ryzen 5 1600 or an i7-4790, 8 GB RAM, and either an RX 570 or a GTX 1060. Meanwhile, for 1080p/60 FPS gameplay on recommended settings, you’ll need either a Ryzen 7 1700 or an i7-6700, along with either a Vega 64 or a GTX 1080.
MORE PC REQUIREMENTS
But wait, there’s more. If you want to run the game at 1440p and 30 FPS, you’ll need either a Ryzen 7 2700X or an i7 – 7700, 16 GB RAM, and either a Vega 56 or a GTX 1070. For 1440p and 60 FPS settings, you should have either a Ryzen 5 3600X or an i7 – 8700K, and either an RX 5700XT or an RTX 2080 S. Finally, on ultra high settings for native 4K and 30 FPS, you’ll need either a RTX 2080 S or an i7 – 9700K, and either an RX 5700XT or an RTX 2080.
SPECIAL EDITIONS
When Assassin’s Creed Valhalla launches on November 10, if you’re willing to spend a little extra cash, you’ll have the option to purchase one of two special editions. The Gold Edition will include the base game, of course, along with a steelbook case (physical release only), the season pass, and a pre-order bonus mission. The digital Gold Edition will cost $100, while the steelbook Gold Edition will cost $110. The Ultimate Edition will be digital-only, include everything from the Gold Edition, as well as several in-game packs, and will cost $120.
