Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Viking Conquests And Unsettling Moral Choices

A Detailed Look at Evolving Combat


Assassin's Creed has always experimented with the illusion of dominance. From the calculated, elegant blows of Ezio to the almost godlike power of the Eagle Bearer, the franchise has never hesitated to embrace making its main characters feel like demigods. Then came Assassin's Creed Valhalla, with its unruly close-quarters combat that trades precision for brutality. The shift is apparent from the first time you pick up an aged hatchet and get hurled into a brawl that looks more like a tavern fight than a warzone.





There’s something to be said for grounding the combat. It feels less like you’re choreographing a performance and more like you’re surviving a drunken fight. Slashing your blade into a fighter's barrier and watching sparks fly has a brutal gratification. But after a few dozen fights? The novelty fades. The skill is gone. What remains is an unwieldy system that doesn’t know if it wants to be thoughtful or button-mashy. It pushes you into these chaotic encounters where parrying feels negligible and skill trees distribute enhancements like candy at a Norse festive gathering. If Bayek’s adventure made you a demigod and the Greek saga crowned you an actual one, Valhalla drags you to the ground—and then drowns you under monotonous movements and delayed input lag.


Thematic and Narrative Factors in Gaming


If Assassin's Creed Valhalla wanted to be Assassin's Creed meets The Witcher 3, it definitely included the props: atmospheric scenery, courtly rivalries, and lots of brooding nobles who are torn on if they want to eliminate you or ally with you. But mood isn’t plot, and copying isn’t creativity.



The Game of Thrones inspiration is undeniable—and not just because every other aristocrat seems to have a blade hidden behind their back. the Viking epic tries its attempt at scheming, but it feels like someone quickly read a fan-made breakdown of Lannister schemes and said, "Alright, we can do that." Player choices exist, sure. But most of them are fake at best, superficial at worst. Slay this monarch, spare that leader—the story plods on with minimal repercussion. It fails to deliver the fearless writing of CD Projekt’s masterpiece, where every decision leaves dirt under your hands.





Instead, this game overextends across a numerous petty power struggles, none of which stay long enough to have weight. You’re a Norse raider stuck doing local errands for every small-time lord with a score to settle. It’s politics by checklist, not by belief.


Analyzing Protagonist Performance


The Viking protagonist is many things: fighter, traveler, assassin-by-necessity. But "engaging"? That's a push. The actress favors melancholic, which functions in introspective sequences but comes off unnatural during more emotional sequences. The performer, meanwhile, sounds like he took acting cues from a Viking-inspired local stage production.





Eivor is crafted to be many things to many people, and as a result, they come off as no one in notable. Unlike Bayek, who had emotional investment and an authentically raw sorrow driving him, or even Kassandra, whose charm practically jumped out of the screen, the lead feels more like an empty vessel built to fill waypoints.



You don’t guide the protagonist because you desire to. You follow because the game forces your hand.


Revitalizing an Aging Franchise


At this stage, the ones who purchase cheap PS4 games realize that the AC franchise is less a collection and more a brand identity. It survives not by transforming itself, but by repackaging familiar systems with alternate era-appropriate visuals. The Viking entry is a polished installment. The mechanics are fine. There are no glaring issues, no obvious flaws that ruin the adventure. But there also aren’t many bold choices. And maybe that’s the most damning thing about it.


Weaving History into Modern Storylines


Here’s where Valhalla does stand out: the contemporary story is... surprisingly well-written. After an eternity of neglecting that entire story arc to the point of self-mockery, someone in the development team acknowledged that Layla exists and, more importantly, gave her a development that doesn’t feel shoehorned at the final moment.




My Final Perspective on the Game


The Viking adventure isn’t an awful game. And for those of us who remained loyal to this series since the days of the original assassin and Desmond, it's hard not to feel like we're observing something we loved get trapped in its own echo. It's vast. It's boisterous. It's functional. But it's not daring. And if the franchise is going to matter again, "competent" just won’t cut it.