So, we have the first Assassin’s Creed Valhalla leaked gameplay footage, which means it’s time to get excited because it’s fantastic, and we will talk about it. Although it is leaked footage only, and the quality is relatively low, I have to tell you that I am impressed and have also watched it 20 times now.
So, welcome back, friends, to a new Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gameplay trailer breakdown, or to be fair, we should call it the first leaked AC Valhalla gameplay trailer breakdown. Before we begin our analysis, I have to outline two facts.
First, the quality of the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla leaked footage is low, but even so, there is a lot of info we can retrieve from it, and I am excited because this info confirms a lot of details from my previous videos. If you missed them, you can find them on my channel on YouTube.
Second, in this breakdown, we will only scratch the surface a bit, but throughout the upcoming week and months, we will discuss everything related to the new Assassin’s Creed game. Okay, let’s begin with the details I spotted in the first 30 minutes of the leaked Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gameplay trailer.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Setting
The Assassin’s Creed Valhalla leaked gameplay is focused on an early quest named A Fury from the Sea. It was recorded while playing as a female Eivor, and it takes place in East Anglia. We can see the actual quest name in the upper left corner and the first objective, which states that the player must reach the forward base.
In the upper right corner, we can notice that we are early in the game since the character is level 4 and the starting location is Eivor’s settlement. Now, in my previous article about Assassin’s Creed Valhalla settlement, we have discussed why East Anglia will most likely be the area where Eivor will set camp, and well, I was right about it.
As Eivor moves outside the settlement, we can spot a building made of bricks, indicating that our Vikings actually conquered this settlement or village.
Mounts & Riding
We can also see this white line on the ground showing that a feature from the previous games is returning, allowing us to enjoy the view while our horse will automatically take us to specific spots. You may remember it from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and it will also be available in Watch Dogs Legion.
In the lower-left corner, we can see our horse’s stamina below Eivor’s health bar. Another thing I managed to notice here is that, just like in the previous games, our horse will not be able to sprint inside villages, but the moment we exit a settlement, this feature becomes available, as you can see in this image.
Wild Animals & Hunting
As Eivor exits the settlement, she encounters a pack of wolves. In this screenshot, we can spot the ranged attacks in the lower-left corner and the melee attacks in the lower-right corner. During the fight, our player uses only axes, and so far, my favorite attack is the axe-throwing one. We will discuss it later.
Crafting & Materials
After defeating one of the wolves, Eivor gathers the first confirmed Assassin’s Creed Valhalla crafting material, which is leather, as you can see here.
Synin & Odin’s Sight
Next, we can see our player activating Odin’s Sight, which is quite amazing because, as you can notice in the picture, it shows the weak points of the remaining wolves. You can also see that these points are now marked in red. A finishing move is also executed on the last wolf in the pack, and I have to say that it looks pretty badass.
Immediately after defeating the pack of wolves, the player sends Synin (our beloved companion we discussed earlier this year) to scout the area only for a second, and we can actually hear Eivor’s quote: Odin be my eyes! While Synin is in the air, we can spot this square in the lower right corner.
Wealth & Collectibles
From it, we can learn the name of the area where the action takes place, but we can also see three tabs. The first one is the wealth tab; we will talk later. The second one shows a number of mysteries that most likely act as quests. The third one also shows a new type of collectible known as secrets.
This square also indicates that our character’s power when entering East Anglia should be 55. After dealing with the wolves, the player mounts his horse and continues his journey to the forward camp, activating the cinematic camera several times.
Female Eivor
Upon reaching the forward camp, we see Eivor talking to the first quest giver, Finnr. During the dialogue, we can get a closer look at our Eivor female character, who is not the prettiest woman in the world.
And we can also learn that to complete the quest, we need to finish an assault. Notice that the player has two options. He can postpone the assault on Burgh Castle or start it right away.
Next, we can see a map showing Burgh Castle, and we find out that the assault will occur at night. Just before leaving, Finnr asks Eivor to encourage the troops, and we have three choices, although it is unclear how these choices affect the morale of the troops. Before setting out, we can see a beautiful image from above the forward base, followed by our troops who are getting ready to assault Burgh Castle.
Ships & Combat
As Eivor sails towards Burgh Castle, we can hear her reciting a Norse poem and spot our Viking fleet. The moment Eivor gets close to the castle, things get intense because the Saxons spot her fleet; however, what we can learn from the next sequence is that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla naval combat has been altered.
This means that the option to attack, as far as we can see from this Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gameplay footage, doesn’t exist while on a ship. We can only use Brace to lower the incoming damage, and we can only steer our boat to avoid incoming arrows.
Assaults & Healing Items
Eventually, Eivor reaches the land, and the objective, as you can see, changes. To complete the assault, the player must break some gates and complete the boss fight. From the following screenshot, we can learn more about Eivor’s health and how it will work in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Notice the small heart-shaped icon in the lower-left corner. The number inside shows the number of rations our player currently has in the inventory. Think about them as health potions we will be able to use in combat.
The interesting fact is that we can gather other supplies while exploring the world to refill these rations, such as the winter chanterelle. In front of the first gate, our player focuses on taking out a lot of enemies.
We can see him using the kick attack to send enemies away from him, and one thing I am excited about is the option to pick weapons (generic ones, as we have figured it out already) from the ground and throw them at enemies.
Battle Rams & Gates
The main goal, however, is to break the gate using the ram. And in the following screenshot, we can see how the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla battle rams work. Basically, we can do two things similar to those from naval combat.
We can brace when archers fire their arrows at us and charge the gate by pressing the corresponding button. Obviously, keeping the charge button pulled longer means that our charge will be more powerful.
After breaking the first gate, we can see the player taking the ram to a more powerful gate, where things get more interesting because there are archers who fire burning arrows, inflicting quite some damage. While fighting the soldiers, we can see Eivor evading attacks, stomping downed enemies (which so far, in my opinion, is the most powerful attack), and throwing generic weapons dropped by dead soldiers.
We can also see Eivor on fire after taking an arrow, not in the knee but in the face. Dealing with the archers on the walls seems to be quite important when trying to ram down a gate. Luckily, we have these oil jars to help us deal with most of them.
In-Game Currency
As the footage continues, we can see Eivor dispatching a lot of Anglo-Saxons in the same manner. At some point, we can spot the in-game currency here.
We can also see that there are multiple ways to deal with the enemies above the gates. Instead of shooting arrows at them, there is always the option to go around and climb the walls to get closer.
Then, with a simple swing of the axe, we can set them on fire by destroying the oil jars nearby. An interesting aspect that I managed to spot is that we don’t have to destroy a gate by ramming it, meaning that according to the gameplay footage, we can enter the area behind the gate, and after dealing with all enemies in that area, our Vikings will be able to automatically open the said gate.
Boss Fights
Now, after dealing with the second gate, the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla leaked footage shows a cutscene introducing Rued, our final enemy in this mission. Unfortunately, the player skipped it, but I managed to understand that Eivor is looking for Oswald, who was captured by Rued, who is a Dane.
After the said cutscene, the player must deal with a lot of enemies, and even though he maintains the same playstyle, we can see him performing that beautiful axe throw attack, which, as I said, I just love; then we can see him bashing an enemy’s head with a shield, and then facing a far more dangerous enemy which is a Slayer.
On this specific enemy, besides the fact that it is way more powerful, we can see these two lines above his head.
The first one is yellow, his armor and the white one is his health bar. Obviously, we need to deplete the yellow one to inflict damage, although I have noticed that some attacks deplete both of them and that the stomp is a finishing move.
Once all enemies are down, we can spot Eivor dealing with Rued, who has a wolf pet. In this screenshot, notice that the pet charges Eivor, and he needs to mash a button to escape.
Although a boss, Rued seems quite accessible once you deal with the Hunting Wolf; however, during the fight, we can learn that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla bosses use skills, and this specific one can set his sword on fire. And it is not a small one.
Regardless, though, Rued is defeated quite fast, and a new cutscene is interrupted by the player.
Choices & Decisions
But at the end of the cutscene, we can see one key element. We get to pick what happens to our enemy. We can spare his life, or we can put an end to it. Clearly, this is a key choice, and it is the one that ends the assault on Burgh Castle.
Now that the assault is complete, we can see our player talking to Oswald, who, according to the leaked footage, is the rightful king of East Anglia, and he’s getting married. Eivor is obviously invited, but this is part of the next quest, Wedding Horns.
Game Map
So, in this screenshot, we can spot a small part of the in-game map. We can see that we are in East Anglia; we can see the Yare River in the English county of Norfolk. And we can see an icon showing three gold bars.
These gold bars are connected to the wealth bar in the lower right corner of the screen. Basically, these are the treasures we need to find to dominate an area entirely. There are 15 in East Anglia, and one of them is in Burgh Castle. Next, in the upper left corner, we can see a small part of our settlement, which I believe to be close to today’s Norwich.
We can see the icon of a Sync Point, the docks, an icon depicting a manuscript that most likely is another collectible, a sack depicting a trader, and a vase that seems to mark the location of another trader.
Skill Trees
The good stuff, though, comes in the following screenshot, where we can spot all Assassin’s Creed Valhalla skill trees, and as we can see, we have three of them. But first, we can learn about the Node Types.
So, in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, we have three skill trees and two types of Nodes. The more prominent icons show the primary skills that unlock the fighting moves, while the smaller ones show the stat nodes that improve the base fighting stats. We will discuss them in a second.
Before doing that, though, let’s check the skill trees. First, we have the wolf skill tree, which shows Eivor’s wolf power.
Notice that it is the blue skill tree on the right side and that the points we spend in this skill tree affect the bonuses of the wolf-aligned gear. Then, we have the bear power and the red skill tree in the middle, which includes the bonuses of the bear-aligned gear, followed by the yellow raven power skill tree on the left side, which includes the bonuses of the raven-aligned gear.
The total number of points spent in all skill trees determines Eivor’s power level. Now, as you can see, these skill trees are linked to our character’s gear, which is pretty important because, along with these skill trees, we also have three types of equipment: wolf-aligned gear, bear-aligned gear, and raven-aligned gear.
I believe we should see these skill trees as classes, with the wolf tree indicating a more damage-focused build, the bear a more resilient build, and the raven a more stealth-focused build.
Eivor’s Skills
The gameplay footage also shows our player spending skill points in these trees, specifically the wolf tree, increasing his melee attack, ranged attack, maximum health, range resistance, and stealth attack. Hunter Bow Combo skill is also revealed, which seems very interesting because it improves the drawing speed based on the moment you release your previous arrow.
Finally, we can see that, at some point, these skill trees connect to each other.
Inventory & Gear
Moving to the inventory, we can see that the gear the player uses has different colors. Yellow and red. The yellow gear is affected by the bonuses from the raven skill tree, and the red gear by the bonuses from the bear skill tree. Each piece of AC Valhalla gear can be upgraded ten times to improve its stats, and upgrades require materials displayed on the right side of the screen.
If we move to the armor, we can see that it has different stats, which again can be improved by upgrading it multiple times. Finally, we can observe that all equipment pieces can be removed, resulting in a naked Eivor who is quite hot even though she’s not pretty.
Last but not least, on the left side of the screen, it is worth seeing the quiver, which obviously can be upgraded to hold more arrows and the ratios pouch; we can also upgrade to carry more food and use it to heal our might Viking.
Completing Locations
The Assassin’s Creed Valhalla leaked gameplay trailer ends with our player releasing several hostages from their cages and collecting the wealth chest; however, what is really nice is that this chest is hidden and not in plain sight, and it requires solving a small puzzle by moving several boxes.
Once opened, the chest reveals a Carbon Ingot, and the location is now marked as completed.
So, what do you think? I know there is a lot of info in this leaked Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gameplay footage.
Before you share your thoughts, which I can’t wait to read below, keep in mind that this gameplay footage is from work in progress; it was recorded at a low resolution; we do not know when it was captured; and it was captured on a current-gen console, judging by the loading screen.
Other than that, let me know your opinions because I can’t wait to hear them, and don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube Channel as I have more videos for you.
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