Assassin's Creed Valhalla - 'Best Open World' @Gaming Instincts

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Spaceman
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Gaming Instincts has praised Assassin's Creed Valhalla as having the best open world compared to previous Assassin's Creed games.

Valhalla's side content is not categorized as quests. In fact, quest markers don't even appear on the hud. Only the main missions show up on the quest list while everything else is organically shown through the gameplay and on the map. This makes discovery seem more natural instead of running down a list of chores.

So it was with past Assassin's Creed side quests. A great many tended to fixate upon camps and strongholds, whether it be robbing them of vital goods or targeting a specific leader for assassination.

Conversely, each of Valhalla's side quests - typically marked with a blue dot - are a distinctive experience that could range from the maudlin to the sincerely goofy. One quest has a Christian man bragging about his anger management abilities, prompting Eivor to burn the man's house down and thus escalate the situation into a full-on impromptu boss fight. A sillier encounter involves a man's complaints about an itch; in actuality, he has an ax protruding from the forehead. Another quest sees Eivor effectively playing therapist to a man forbidden by Viking oath from mourning his family.

We could continue with these examples, but the point has been made: they're varied and fascinating in their own ways. Of course, the blue dots don't lead to just side quests.

In Valhalla, players can never be sure just what to expect from a blue dot flashing on the map. Sometimes Eivor will be directed to take some mushrooms and solve a trippy puzzle. Other times, they are introduced to a tough boss fight or tasked with building a cairn.

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I am finishing up AC Valhalla, after 150 hours, and I very much enjoy how these "side-quests" do not show any indicators on the map of what needs to be done next, and you need to just figure it out. Main quests still have the usual dot on the map, or often it's representing an area you've been referred to and you need to search the area, but the other open world "mysteries" as they are called do not guide you in that way. It's usually very nearby and not rocket surgery or anything, but it does add in an organic seeming element which I like.
 
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Can't agree really as it sounds like a time waster. I'm holding off to play until they release all the DLC. By that time a new Assassin Creed will probably be released.

Anyway the last two games allowed you the option of turning markers on or off. Seems all they did was keep the insane amount of side-quests just turned off the markers.

Yet didn't allow the player to choose this time.:(
 
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Saying it has the best open world when you're only comparing it to previous Assassin's Creed games isn't really saying much.
 
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In my opinion is worst then Odyssey. Puzzle are boring with little variations, the build thing is pointless, and somehow they made combat more spammy... not to speak about the equipment... bahh!
 
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I have to agree with @Strafe;.
When it comes to openworld in AC games Odyssey is superior to Valhalla.
Neither has the best openworld ever, ofc.

But when GamingInsticts site needs a clickbait, well, there you go.
 
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If it's not even as good as Odyssey then that saves me the trouble of trying it. I've tried twice to get into Odyssey and found myself getting bored before I could finish the first island.

That's par for the course though when it comes to Ubisoft games and me. I'm just not a fan of their style, and I don't think I've ever finished one of their games.

Even in the so-called Exploration Mode in Odyssey, there's far too much hand-holding for my taste. The game even shows you exactly how many treasures are in each cave/dungeon. What's the point of that? Given how popular these games are, it's obvious most gamers aren't bothered by that, but I want a more free-form style of exploration.
 
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I am finishing up AC Valhalla, after 150 hours, and I very much enjoy how these "side-quests" do not show any indicators on the map of what needs to be done next, and you need to just figure it out. Main quests still have the usual dot on the map, or often it's representing an area you've been referred to and you need to search the area, but the other open world "mysteries" as they are called do not guide you in that way. It's usually very nearby and not rocket surgery or anything, but it does add in an organic seeming element which I like.

And not only that, some of them have several outcomes depending on what you decide to do :biggrin: I remeber one about a girl and her horse that instead of crossing by the water I decided to use the bridge and she yelled at me for stealing her horse. WOOPS! I reloded and crosed by the water, she got her horse AND then the real owner came telling she HAD stolen the horse and she ran away riding it WOOOOPS! I had so much fun, I love those small missions.
 
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I usually enjoy the newer "Witcherised" Assassin Creed games, but Valhalla just wasn't enough to keep me playing it. They are speaking their opinion of course, which is respectable, but Valhalla can't be the best open world game when for example a game like Horizon Zero Dawn is in the conversation.
 
I usually enjoy the newer "Witcherised" Assassin Creed games, but Valhalla just wasn't enough to keep me playing it. They are speaking their opinion of course, which is respectable, but Valhalla can't be the best open world game when for example a game like Horizon Zero Dawn is in the conversation.

I love HZD, and its story is in my top 3 best stories ever, but HZD world is empty and boring but pretty. And as I see for example that you never reached Jotun, it has the best vistas and puzzles in the game, puzzles that involved changing what you saw… hard to explain if you havent played, try to see a video of Jotun, it is pure beatiful magic. The fun in Valhalla comes from exploring the secrets, and how some of them are related to anoterh ones in the other corner of the map, and in case you forgot, Eivor reminds you of the relation, there is a lot of love in Valhalla.
 
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If we're talking about open-world games in general, I'd take anything from Piranha Bytes over any Ubisoft title or HZD.
 
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Never got into the earlier AC games.

Got Odyssey on deep sale to try it and loved it, and I love the historical flavor of that period. Excellent and fun gaming experience. But even so, after 100 hours I'd played enough and haven't fired it up since.

As much as I enjoyed Odyssey, I played it "late in it's life" and as such, no rush with Valhalla - I'll wait for a sale on that too and get to it eventually - I'm sure I'll enjoy it, especially at less than $60. HZD is on that same list of things I'm interested in but can wait.
 
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