Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Ubisoft not worried over similarities of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, God of War

By
 

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla immediately drew comparisons with 2018’s God of War, but Ubisoft is not concerned over the perceived similarities between the two games.

Recommended Videos

The world premiere trailer for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla confirmed rumors that the popular series was moving into the Viking era. The first look at the game features a bearded man fighting with fellow Vikings against English forces. The hidden blade, a mainstay in the franchise, also made an appearance.

Related

The Vikings of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla call to mind God of War, which placed an older Kratos in the unfamiliar territory of Norse mythology. However, Ubisoft is apparently not worried that the two games will end up being too similar to each other.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla narrative director Darby McDevitt said that “God of War is great” and “fantastic” in an interview with GameSpot, but downplayed any possible issues from both games sharing a theme.

“I wouldn’t say we’re too worried because most games, when they touch this topic, they actually skew very heavily towards the mythology. So that’s the front-facing feature–you play God of War so you can go punch Baldur in the face, meet all these characters, and travel to fantastical environments,” said McDevitt.

McDevitt added that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be unlike most games set in the Viking era. “I think the urge is to always immediately lead with the mythology stuff, but we really want you to feel like you’re living in the Dark Ages of England, that you’re exploring the Roman ruins left behind 400 to 500 years earlier by the Romans and the remnants of the Britannic tribes before that and even the Saxon Pagans before they all converted to Christianity.”

Cory Barlog, the director of God of War, also chimed in, agreeing with McDevitt.

No one should be worried. The myths have been around a long time and will persevere through the ages providing countless creatives a deep well to pull from – provided they are willing to sacrifice an eye for the knowledge.😉

VERY excited to play AC:Valhalla when it comes out.❤️ https://t.co/qwZIN4UmPv

— golrab of the frost (@corybarlog) April 30, 2020

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla launch in 2020 holidays

Ubisoft has already opened pre-orders for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which is set to launch for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia in the 2020 holiday season.

The game’s main character is Eivor, who will lead the Vikings into excursions in England. Players may choose between a male and female version of Eivor, and will be able to build settlements as their home base.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Aaron Mamiit
Aaron Mamiit
Contributor
Aaron received an NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was four years old, and he has been fascinated…
How to get Knowledge Points and what they do in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
One of the protagonists in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

By the time we get to Assassin's Creed Shadows, most of us will be familiar with how the games work. Since transitioning more towards RPGs than stealth games, the titles have not only gotten longer but also embraced skill trees. Naoe and Yasuke each have unique progression paths to work through, but right away you will notice that most of the best abilities are gated off. Like Scouts, Knowledge Points are a new feature that you will need to master if you want to be the best assassin possible. We'll share all our knowledge about Knowledge Points with you.
How Knowledge Points work and how to get them

Knowledge Points are a separate system to XP that allows both Naoe and Yasuke to unlock the better and more powerful skills in all their skill trees. Unlike XP, you can't earn them by performing normal tasks or taking out enemies. Instead, Knowledge Points are rewarded for doing specific non-violent activities in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

Read more
How long is Assassin’s Creed Shadows?
Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows fighting an enemy. He's dressed in his samurai armor.

It's no secret that the Assassin's Creed games have gotten longer and longer over the years. This is typical for Ubisoft open-world titles, but many are hoping that Assassin's Creed Shadows has scaled back on the bloat a bit. There's always fast travel and finding the fastest ways to earn XP to cut down on the grind, but there's only so much time that can be saved. If you're worried that this game might be another 100-hour time investment to fully complete, let's use our Eagle Vision to scout out how long Assassin's Creed Shadows is before you start playing.
How long is Assassin's Creed Shadows?

As you would expect, the amount of time you could put into Assassin's Creed Shadows will vary wildly based on how you approach it. You can focus on just the story and nothing else, tackle a handful of side missions and activities, or attempt to complete anything and everything the game has to offer.

Read more
Assassin’s Creed Shadows fixes my biggest problem with the series
The two protagonists in Assassin's Creed Shadows

The Assassin's Creed games have been on a steady path away from stealth ever since the series' first entry. I don't mean that stealth options were stripped out or haven't evolved, but it lagged behind the pace of a more direct approach. While Origins is seen as the major splintering point for the series into a full-blown action RPG, the series' identity crisis can be traced back much further. By the time we got Black Flag, stealth had become so inefficient and inessential that there was hardly a reason to bother with it at all outside of self-imposed challenges.

When the series did pivot into action RPGs, complete with weapon and armor scores, and made the protagonists more and more powerful, I fell off of the franchise. It not that I don't enjoy that style of game, rather that it wasn't what I came to Assassin's Creed for. With Assassin's Creed Shadows Ubisoft finally fixed that power creep problem without stripping those options out of the game. And that's thanks to its two character setup.
Jack of all trades, master of all
What caused me to fall out of favor with Assassin's Creed isn't that the series wanted to give players more options outside of a stealthy approach. Plenty of games proudly boast how they offer players the freedom to play sneaky or go in guns blazing. However, the issue with Assassin's Creed's for me was that one method invalidated the other.

Read more