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The latest game in the Assassin’s Creed series, Valhalla, is based on Norwegian Vikings from the 1000s. That confirms developer Ubisoft to NRK. The series is among the best-selling in the world, with 140 million sales since 2007.
The action begins in Norway, but continues in England. There one must build his own village, while negotiating and fighting against King Alfredo the Great, among others. Players must be able to follow in the footsteps of the great pagan army, which devastated England in the 870s.
On a Norwegian visit
In 2018, a group from the Canadian game studio traveled to Lofoten to take inspiration from Viking history and nature.
– Traveling around Lofoten gives you a completely different vision of what the area is like. You can imagine how the story unfolded right where you are, says Darby McDevitt of Ubisoft. He is the director of the game’s history and has worked on it since 2018.
Norwegian history and Norse mythology will be very important in the new game, confirms Ubisoft history director Darby McDevitt.
Illustration: Ubisoft
– We have to shoot with the bow and arrow, throw an ax, see how they brewed beer and were taken on a sailing trip, McDevitt says of the trip. At the Lofotr Viking Museum, they were dressed in costumes, and one of the team was offered the daughter of the museum’s director, says McDevitt.
The director says that much of the beginning of the game is in Norway, but he still won’t reveal which places and people from reality the player may meet.
After the Norwegian visit, the team went to Roskilde in Denmark, and then through England. The journey should have taken several weeks.
High expectations of realism.
– This is a very exciting and raw historical period, with which we in Norway have a special relationship, says Rune Fjeld Olsen at LevelUp.
Photo: Private
Ubisoft has released new games in the series regularly since 2007. In the past two editions, the action has taken place in ancient Egypt and Greece. There, the developers have recreated well-known places and cities in detail. Now that the story is from Norway, Rune Fjeld Olsen at LevelUp has very high expectations.
– This series here was a bit shaky, but then they came back with a much-loved game, Origins, and more recently Odyssey. This means that the expectations for the next game are higher than in the long term, says Olsen.
Kris Munthe at Babysitter explains that realistic graphics are some of the reasons for the high expectations.
– You can walk around Rome and look just like in reality, but at the same time do things in the game that you can’t really do, like climbing around Saint Peter or the Vatican, says Munthe.
Ubisoft games are known for their realistic look, but they also have clear elements of fiction and mythology.
Illustration: Ubisoft
Mix of history and fiction.
The games in the series tend to be based on real events and places, and then attract fiction and mythology to make it more exciting. There have been rumors in the past that the player may face both Nidhogg and Jotner, but McDevitt has yet to confirm this.
The latest releases have included an educational mode. Here, blood and violence are removed and the player can explore historical events in peace. Munthe says that this is already used in teaching and believes that one can learn better through games.
– In a movie, you are caught up in how the director controls the camera and chooses what he wants to show. In a book you lack the visual, but in a game you move, you can explore and see what you want. That’s what makes games so unique, says Munthe.
McDevitt himself is convinced that everyone must meet his expectations. He says the game will come at the end of the year.
Norwegian Viking “Eivor” is the main character in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
Illustration: Ubisoft
