Assassin's Creed Valhalla

 

In the present day, the unexplained strengthening of the Earth’s magnetic field poses a catastrophic threat. Seeking answers, former Abstergo Industries employee Layla Hassan uses the Animus to relive the memories of Eivor, a 9^th century Viking warrior who sets out with her adoptive brother/chieftain Sigurd to find a new home in England. They arrive to find a land torn between the remnants of the Danish Great Heathen Army and Saxon defenders led by Aelfred of Wessex and must navigate a series of regional alliances to stake their claim. Meanwhile, Sigurd’s new friend Basim, a member of the secretive Hidden Ones, warns of the threat posed by the equally clandestine Order of the Ancients while Eivor is haunted by visions of Odin trying to fight his destiny.

 

The latest entry in the long-running Assassin’s Creed series (available on PS4, PS5, XBox One, Xbox X/S, and PC), Valhalla uses familiar game mechanics to visit a less-familiar (relative to Ancient Greece or Rome) period in history. It boasts an engrossing – if at times confusing – story, a huge open world beautifully rendered, and tons of side content. Those not prepared for a substantial time sink will likely lose patience, but for the committed, the game pays unexpected dividends.

 

The inescapability of fate is a recurring theme here, and one that the game ultimately subverts. Eivor sometimes has the option of either charming or fighting their way out of difficult situations, and some of their decisions, be they dialogue options or killing vs. sparing defeated foes, have long-reaching consequences. So too does Valhalla challenge reverence for the Viking warrior culture. In order to be successful, Eivor must find allies among Saxons and Danes alike, and there are positive and negative representations of both. That said, the present-day segments seem superfluous, and the Assassins/Hidden Ones vs. Templars/Order of the Ancients conflict feels shoehorned in.

 

However, the awkward handling of series mythology doesn’t mean that this won’t play like an Assassin’s Creed game. You can still strike from the shadows with a hidden blade and perform leaps of faith from save points atop mountains and towers (take a moment to admire the breathtaking visuals before you do). The game’s combat – attack, dodge, block, parry – is familiar as well. It lacks the fluidity and versatility of Ghost of Tsushima’s stance system, but it is easy to pick up, and weapon and ability upgrades expand its potential.

 

Of course, there is plenty more to do here than dive and fight (and annoyingly scour the far reaches of the map for treasure chests). Valhalla lets you engage in everything from flyting (a poetic insult battle) to hunting and fishing to building up your settlement and bonding with members of your clan along the way. There are plenty of side quests as well, from battles with legendary foes to stranger-aiding World Events that range from funny to macabre to frustratingly pointless. At their best, these diversions offer sly nods to British lore: a visit to a certain forest in Snotinghamscire, for instance, lets you meet a familiar wealth redistributing archer.

 

All told, Valhalla is an ambitious game that offers a bit of everything – character development, an immersive setting, seemingly limitless activities – but demands nearly as much.

Watch Dogs: Legion

 

In the near future, London runs on cryptocurrency, augmented reality, and automation, made possible by a powerful cTOS (Central Operating System). Private military contractor Albion has assumed police duties and seeks to impose an increasingly restrictive surveillance state while criminal syndicate Clan Kelley has turned to the Dark Web to facilitate its nefarious schemes. Both are opposed by the London branch of DedSec, a global hacker collective dedicated to stopping abuses of technological power. But when a mysterious group called Zero Day frames DedSec for a terrorist bombing, the hacktivists are left to regroup and clear their name.

 

The third entry in Ubisoft’s surveillance-themed open-world action-adventure series, Watch Dogs: Legion is both an evolution of and significant departure from the two preceding games. DedSec is back as is the ability to hack everything from security cameras to traffic cameras to enemy coms. While the action moves to London after previous entries took place in Chicago and San Francisco, the biggest change is to the main player character: there isn’t one. The Legion of the title refers to the fact that nearly the entire in-game populace of London can potentially be recruited as DedSec operatives. Characters are randomly generated during each new single player campaign and assigned different appearances, backgrounds, strengths, weaknesses, and skills. Some are former soldiers and spies and come equipped with superior firepower; others are drone operators who have more sophisticated hacking tricks. Doing favors for potential recruits and raising a neighborhood’s resistance by sabotaging Albion will net rewards while story missions pit you against Albion, Clan Kelley, and British intelligence as you get closer to unmasking Zero Day. Along the way, you are aided by Bagley (a wonderfully snarky A.I.), mission control Sabine, sympathetic police officer Kailtin, and others.

 

The lack of a central protagonist here is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, the ability to swap between team members with different skills supports a variety of playing styles (i.e. stealth vs. assault), and you may end up with some memorably amusing operatives. You may, for instance, get a chance to sick a swarm of bees on an Albion grunt or have a grandmotherly retired police officer unload a pistol clip on a Clan Kelley thug. On the other hand, despite the relevance of the game’s themes (living under an increasingly authoritarian regime in a world where technology has eroded privacy), the brief amount of information you’re given about each character keeps you at arm’s length.

 

There’s a similar trade-off in game mechanics. Drones play a bigger role this go-around. You can hack enemy combat drones to automatically target foes, and you can ride cargo drones around the city like personal air taxis. However, a few features from previous games (such as the “detonate a grenade” hack) are missed. Also, for all of the game’s possibilities, some of the operative recruitment missions (rescuing a recruit’s friend, retrieving a vehicle containing supplies, or breaking into a secure facility to hack or wipe data) can feel repetitive.

 

Watch Dogs: Legion falls short of reaching its fullest potential, but it’s still a timely outing that offers a new take on the open-world adventure experience.