Ubisoft has stirred up a huge amount of excitement over the announcement of the next majorAssassin’s Creedtitle,Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.Assassin’s Creedhas always been a massively popular franchise, and in recent years, becomes one of the most heavy-hitting triple-A titles of the year.
The series' pivot away from stealth-action gameplay towards heavy RPG mechanics ever sinceAC Originsin 2017 has been a divisive development for many old-school fans, but the fact remains that thenewACgames have been massively popularwhere the older style of games may have run their course. One thing in particular that was taken to the next level in the newACtitles has been historical accuracy, attention to detail, and scale.
That incredible historical accuracy breathed life into the worlds of recentAssassin’s Creedgames, and that same focus will certainly be carried forward intoAssassin’s Creed Valhalla’s rich historical setting. However, the place where that attention to history really shone was in theAssassin’s Creed Discovery Tours, which were able to highlight all of the work and expertise that went into crafting each hyper-accurate, densely packed, and breathtaking setting. Without any official confirmation, there is still a question of whether or notAC Valhallawill also come with aDiscovery Tour, and if so, what it will look like.
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Previous Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tours
TheAssassin’s Creed Discovery Toursare arguably one of the most benevolent moves made by a major video game studio in recent memory. They allow players to experience the entire map and every area both ofAssassin’s Creed OriginsandOdyssey, replete with parkour mechanics, fast-travel, and eagle vision, with all the combat and story elements removed. In each version, there are multiple guided tours with narration by experts in archaeology and history, complete with academic citations, reference photos, and illustrations. To top it all off, theDiscovery Tourscan be had for $10-20, often going on sale or even being offered for free.
The production quality present in theDiscovery Toursis unprecedented and has frankly never even been approached by any other educational video game. That’s only possible because the fullAssassin’s Creedgames with DLCand microtransactions are so incredibly profitable, but Ubisoft was in no way obligated to go the extra steps to create theDiscovery Tourafter all of its research and consultation went into the base games. It wasn’t too much extra work. All of the information had already been collected and put to use to make exploring ancient locales in the games' stories feel as immersive as possible, but presenting all of that material in such an engaging, fun, and accessible platform is something that is tragically rare in the video game industry.
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Some players might even prefer theDiscovery Toursto the full games. One of the primary joys of anAssassin’s Creedgame is inexploring ancient history up close and personal, with a level of interaction and immersion that can’t be had anywhere else.Discovery Toursoffer all of that, and for fans who dislike the new combat systems or don’t care forOrigins' andOdyssey’s storytelling might find them just as rewarding than the games that made the tours possible. Ubisoft itself is clearly passionate about theDiscovery Tours. It recognized the positive reception toAC Origins' tour and put even more work into the tour forAC Odyssey, adding progression, rewards, several times the content of the first tour, and essentially making the tour a full-fledged game of its own.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Discovery Tour
Assassin’s Creed Valhallawill be making several changes to the formula established byAC Odyssey. Different loot and progression systems along with anupdated eagle vision mechanicwill setValhallaapart from its predecessors. One thing that isn’t changing though is Ubisoft’s passion for making engrossing, immersive, and stunningly accurate depictions of ancient history. Given the success and popularity of the previousDiscovery Tours, it is unlikely that Ubisoft would curb the content here. There is a considerable subset ofAssassin’s Creedfans eagerly waiting to hear confirmation of anAssassin’s Creed Valhalla Discovery Tour, even more so given the huge popularity of Norse and Viking culture in video games and other media.
There will likely be severalNorse-themed big-budget gamescoming out in close proximity to each other, including the rumoredGod of War 2,Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, andElden Ring. If anything, that shows a huge interest in Norse mythology among gamers, andAssassin’s Creed Valhallawill certainly be the most historically accurate of all of these prospective launches. IfValhallagets aDiscovery Tour, it may just be the best possible way for avid gamers to learn more about real-world Vikings and their mythology, which just goes to show the potential that games have for stirring up interest and teaching about some of the most incredible parts of the real world.
Not making anAssassin’s Creed Valhalla Discovery Tourwould be a huge missed opportunity, and for that reason alone it is almost guaranteed that there will be one. The real question is when it will release, and how much content it will contain. Both previousDiscovery Toursreleased roughly a year after the launch of the base game, so fans who are eagerly awaitingValhalla’sDiscovery Tourwill likely havequite a bit more waiting to do.
However, it is also not too much to expect that the nextDiscovery Tourwill go above and beyond evenOdyssey’s tour, allowing players to roam even further and discover even more information. Here’s hoping that Ubisoft continues to createDiscovery Toursfor future games even as the series evolves and changes, and that perhaps other developers will learn from its example and also make similar content for its own titles.
Assassin’s Creed Valhallareleases Holiday 2020 for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
