The new trailer for History Channel's "Vikings" sure was intense, right? Nah I'm just teasing, I know it was Assassin's Creed Valhalla. It's just that the whole time I was watching, I was waiting for something to happen that might bridge the thematic gap between generic viking war game and an Assassin's Creed title. I guess we got that near the very end, but it kinda felt like a red herring.
I appreciate that the trailer more than suggests that Norse mythology is very much alive and well in this world. For a brief moment we see a figure leaning against a tree who is seemingly unaffected by the mayhem unfolding all around him. He vanishes in a flash, and then tranforms into a raven that can be seen flying overhead. Our protagonist, who in the midst of battle is able to take all the time in the world to notice this event unfold, exclaims "Odin is with us!" A bit on the nose, but it serves its purpose well enough.
Speaking of our protagonist. He seems to be a bit of an anomaly in terms of Viking culture. Not only does he still have a pristine set of chompers, but he also takes a noticeably conservative approach to pillaging. Did you notice how he consciously restrained himself and his compatriot from straight up murdering that mother and child? While that was decidedly un-viking like, it was a poignant way to demonstrate that he's not your average viking joe, and perhaps has a good heart locked away in all those layers of armor.
Not that I expect the trailer to be very telling of the sort of gameplay we can expect in the final game, but I think Assassin's Creed Valhalla, simply from a world-building standpoint, has potential to be the followup to 2018's Odyssey that many fans have been waiting for. Seeing as how that game seemed to possess a winning formula that managed to raise the then-ailing franchise out of perdition, all Ubisoft has to do is not fudge it up.
Was there anything else you found to be particularly interesting in the trailer? Let me know in the comments!
