Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Complete Edition stands as a sprawling RPG set in the Viking era, where you step into the boots of Eivor, a fierce warrior leading their clan from Norway to England in search of a new home. This version bundles the base game with all major expansions, delivering a comprehensive experience filled with exploration, combat, and settlement management in a historically inspired open world.
Gameplay
In this RPG, you control Eivor Varinsdottir, customizable as either male or female, with options to alter appearance like hair, tattoos, and armor. Combat revolves around dual-wielding weapons such as axes, swords, or shields, emphasizing brutal encounters against varied enemy types that adapt to your tactics. Stealth plays a key role, allowing you to blend into crowds, use a raven companion named Sýnin for scouting via Odin Sight, and perform one-hit assassinations with the hidden blade.
Progression skips traditional levels in favor of skill trees, where collecting skills determines your strength against foes. Raiding mechanics let you lead parties to plunder resources for your settlement in Ravensthorpe, which you build up by constructing buildings that unlock new quests and benefits. Exploration includes activities like hunting, fishing, flyting verbal duels, and dice games such as Orlog, all woven into the narrative of forging alliances amid political intrigue.
Game Modes
The core experience focuses on the main story, blending linear missions with open-world freedom to tackle arcs in England, Norway, and beyond. Side content appears as World Events, short optional quests that resolve through combat, dialogue, or puzzles, often influencing regional alliances.
River Raids offer replayable challenges where you navigate rivers to assault fortified locations for unique rewards. For a non-combat approach, Discovery Tour: Viking Age removes fighting entirely, letting you explore the world through educational tours on history and culture. The Forgotten Saga introduces rogue-like elements, with procedurally generated runs through mythological realms facing permadeath and escalating difficulties.
Factions and Mechanics
Eivor navigates tensions between factions like the Raven Clan, the Great Heathen Army, and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms such as Wessex and Mercia. Underlying conflicts involve the Hidden Ones and the Order of the Ancients, driving assassinations and relic hunts. Mechanics extend to naval travel for raids, though ship combat is minimal, and choices in conversations affect outcomes, from romances to political shifts.
Settlement growth ties into resource gathering, with raids providing materials to expand Ravensthorpe. Jomsviking recruitment allows creating custom mercenaries that friends can hire online, yielding shared rewards. Mythical visions add layers, letting you experience realms like Asgard through Eivor's dreams.
Is It Worth Playing?
With post-launch support wrapping up in 2022 via free updates like The Last Chapter epilogue, the game remains a complete package in this edition, including expansions such as Wrath of the Druids, The Siege of Paris, and Dawn of Ragnarök. Player reception highlights strong praise for its narrative depth and world design, earning generally favorable scores on Metacritic and a 91% recommendation on OpenCritic.
Critics noted some repetition in activities and initial technical issues, but the RPG suits those who enjoy long-form stories with exploration and combat variety. If Viking history and building a legacy appeal to you in a singleplayer setting, it holds up well for new players seeking a deep dive into the series.