Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is an action role-playing game that released on November 10th, 2020. It is the twelfth instalment in the major Assassin's Creed (AC) franchise and is the successor to AC: Odyssey that released in 2018. Just like the other titles, Valhalla was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for 9th generation consoles such as the Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One, PS4 and PS5, Google Stadia and Windows where the game can be bought on Steam. Originally planned to release on the 17th, Ubisoft decided near to the games release to push the date forward to November 10th so that Valhalla could release on launch date for the highly anticipated Xbox Series X/S.

Valhalla was released with a PEGI 18 age rating due to the depictions of graphic violence towards humans and use of strong, vulgar language that is not suitable for persons under 18 years of age. The game features powerful weapons which the player can use to cause decapitation or dismemberment with added detail to blooded limbs. The game also allows players to kill innocent characters (NPCs) that they encounter along their gameplay, and also includes in-game purchases in the form of in-game currency alongside downloadable content that parents or those 18+ need to be aware of.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla brings the series to the Viking Age set in the years 872-78 AD, and its story revolves around a young Viking, Eivor of the Raven Clan who during a raid of the village they live in witnesses the death of their parents by the warlord Kjotve the Cruel. Seventeen years later after Norway has fallen under the reign of King Harold, Eivor and his/her clan venture off to England that is under the reign of King Alfred of Wessex to expand their alliance across various regions to form a Viking clan in the country, which Harold is trying to get rid of. On this journey, Eivor also happens to find themselves between the ancient conflict between the Assassin Brotherhood that fought for peace and the Templar Order who fought for order and control.

Whilst Ubisoft has not released any public information on the games budget, it is reported that Valhalla had a budget of over $1 billion USD after coming off the success of its predecessor AC Odyssey that had a budget estimated to be around $500 million USD. The game had been in development for roughly two ½ years when the game was announced in April 2020 and was developed by the same team who worked on AC Origins (2017) at Ubisoft Montreal with support from other Ubisoft teams globally, around 15 teams altogether with an estimate of 1,000 staff working on the title including:

Creative director: Ashraf Ismail

Ismail already proven himself worthy after working on titles such as Assassin's Creed Origins and ACIV: Black Flag. Shortly before the games release however, Ismail left the games development following a series of allegations revolving around sexual misconduct with a fan whom he met at a gaming convention. In doing so, Ubisoft later fired Ismail and confirmed this through a public statement by a Ubisoft representative.

Narrative director: Darby McDevitt

McDevitt had worked with Ubisoft on the AC franchise before being offered the role of narrative director for Valhalla, having written the script for other games in the franchise including AC: Revelations, Black Flag and Unity in which he was co-writer.

- Both Ismail and McDevitt were ensured into looking over the period the game is set and made the decision amongst the support of Valhalla's development team to portray the Vikings historically accurately by focusing on their settlement in England and influence on English language rather than the ravenous invaders that records from Saxons described them as.

Whilst Valhalla's marketing campaign featured many traditional methods of advertising, with online and TV trailers premiering, alongside pre-roll adverts on YouTube and sponsorships with YouTubers such as Nick Pro that uploaded a video of him recreating stunts and parkour momentums from the game, there

were also other more unique methods used to market the game (prominently found within social media). For instance, Ubisoft announced on April 29th the game was officially in production with an 8 hour livestream revealing the games art design by BossLogic which slowly throughout revealed the games setting and time period, as well as hints of narrative and characters. This livestream ended with text that informed audiences of a world premiere trailer that released the next day with over 10Million views (combining views from Ubisoft's N/A and main channel) giving audiences a glimpse of the conflict within the games narratives and character arcs.

The background on Ubisoft's website contained a runic cipher (also featured in trailers) that when translated revealed an ancient Norse poetry which played a significant role for Viking's social and religious lives. Prior to the games release, Ubisoft unveiled a brand new Valhalla filter on Instagram alongside the #likeaviking to get more people hyped for the games eventual release.

Ubisoft also helped get into production a 10 minute short film to release alongside the launch of the game, Assassin's Creed Valhalla: The Hunt. The film was produced by T7pro, two young German filmmakers that produce short films with many being based on other existing game franchises such as Halo and Cyberpunk. Despite being only 10 minutes, there is still a lot of dedication here to stay faithful but unique to the game, with some very impressive hair and makeup accurate to Valhalla's setting and characters some fans struggled to tell apart what was real and fake. The films stunts are also faithful to the source material, maintaining the fast-paced action and stealth the game has whilst managing to be highly enjoyable to watch.

UbiForward

UbiForward is a digital showcase that highlights updates for fans on working titles and information on games developed and published by Ubisoft. During their 2020 presentation on July 12th, Ubisoft unveiled further gameplay footage of the game, giving fans an expectation of the gameplay and features present within the narrative and open world players explore.

It could be argued that Assassin's Creed Valhalla targets teenagers when referring to its target audience since the games action driven focus is something that is usually expected of them to enjoy playing. Although there is no denying that the game is targeted primarily to fans of Assassin's Creed as a whole, due to Valhalla being part of one of the most successful on-going video game franchises, meaning the audience is also likely to be devoted and loyal fans of the prior and newer games. In terms of gender, the game I would argue is targeted towards gamers of all genders, with Valhalla giving players the ability to pick whether to play as Eivor as either male or female, and given the option to swap later on into the narrative with no major repercussions with either option, telling us the game was made to target all gamers and get as much players to buy and play the game. In terms of psychographic, it could be argued that the game is targeted towards a mainstream audience, once again with this being the fact Valhalla is part of a massive franchise that had a heavily social media marketing presence and large community online from streamers playing the game to others making videos cosplaying and completing parkour/stunts in public locations. However, it could be argued that the game is targeted to an explorer, as whilst Valhalla contains the stealth approach and combat system present in most titles, there is also a significant amount of focus on dialogue and RPG elements which were found prior only in AC: Origins and Odyssey, telling us the game had new mechanics which updates the gameplay of a series which has been going on since 2007 whilst keeping to the things that make the series as popular as it is.

Official trailer analysis

The official trailer for Assassin's Creed: Valhalla released on IGNs official YouTube channel. It starts off with King Alfred as he writes a letter describing the Vikings, with imagery of them being violent and a threat to England's land. This description is juxtaposed with scenes displayed of the Viking clan players will get the chance to interact with in the game as they play with children, not only showing the historically accurate depiction the games developers intended on focusing on, but making clear the two sides of the game, the good guys and the bad guys. This is then intercut with scenes of the Viking clan on their ships venturing off to England, and their arrival is immediately halted with a bloody fight that gives audiences a glimpse of the gameplay they are to expect, but also the immersive visuals and complex character arcs and the expansive world they explore throughout.

Gameplay

I would argue there are multiple appeals in terms of Valhalla's gameplay within the footage I have selected. The first appeal I would consider is the open world environment and the games graphics here. Valhalla runs on Ubisoft Anvil, a game engine created by Ubisoft Montreal that enables their games to have realistic looking objects/worlds, expansive worlds, the ability to enter buildings or new locations without the hassle of loading screens and a realistic lighting and shadow mechanic. From (19:50) onwards this appeal is evident with the reflection of the sun rise on the ice and the grand scale of the world. This not only makes the world the player interacts with look more real, but it allows players to feel more immersed in the world because of how stunning the visuals are, since nothing about them look 'fake' or 'unappealing.'

Another appeal that I would consider are the cutscenes that intercut between the gameplay. From (3:13 - 7:20) I would argue that not only are these important for any video game so that the narrative can move along and gradually develop with huge games like Valhalla, but they also allow the players to find a sense of connection between the protagonist and their aspirations, whilst maintaining an understanding of this world and relate to them, which in this instance of gameplay is relevant when a party the Vikings are hosting is very wholesome and enjoyable to watch is forcibly halted by Kjotve and his clan who start to destroy this village. This also links to the appeal towards the historical aspect of the gameplay, as this accomplishes what the developers set out to achieve, by presenting the natural and historically representation of the Vikings, as we see a sense of community and belonging when we see them all together and entertaining each other.

Success

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla has proven itself worthy to be a massive success, becoming the first game in the franchise to reach sales revenue over $1billion, with the PC version being the most successful launch on the platform for a game developed and published by Ubisoft. However, this huge success is partly due to the DLC expansion that can be bought such as Wrath of the Druids and The Siege of Paris, adding way more gameplay hours to the already 100+ hours of gameplay in the feature game. There is also other paid DLC where players can purchase new features including weaponry, armour etc... Whilst Valhalla didn't win any awards, being nominated for best action/adventure game and Innovation in Accessibility at the Game Awards, the paid DLC expansion (Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok) did win an award for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media at the 2023 Grammys, and being the first award also in this category. Despite the game receiving overall positive reviews, with fans of the original games returning and players praising Ubisoft for creating yet again an expansive and visually stunning open world that fans admired in previous games like Odyssey and Origins, there were still some fans that criticised the game for its "sluggish" controls and combat system + mission system that felt repetitive and failed to innovate as the story unfolded. Fans also criticised the various bugs the game initially launched with, as many called out issues such as not being able to interact with NPCs, with others experiencing game crashes entirely.

Twitch is an online live streaming website that focuses primarily on video game livestreams, but also IRL, music and e-sport tournament streams. Fans of Valhalla have shown their appreciation for the game by streaming it on this platform.

Synergy

Valhalla collaborated with the Activison game Destiny 2 that brought items from the game to AC: Valhalla, vice versa for D2. Through paid DLC content, Valhalla also collaborated with a previous title in the AC franchise, that saw Eivor facing off with AC: Odyssey's playable protagonist Kassandra for an extra 30+ hours of gameplay.

Applying theoretical framework

Audience: Henry Jenkins - Fandom

Jenkins idea argued that fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings. During Valhalla's production, fans were giving feedback on the games development and even once the game released, fans came together to comment on the games issues including bugs which Ubisoft listened to and updated with free update versions. Jenkins theory also argued that fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully authorised by the media producers (textual poaching). Fans of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla have created their very own content by streaming the game on Twitch. Finally Jenkins idea argued fans construct their social and cultural identities through borrowing and inflecting mass cultural images. This idea can be applied to Valhalla, with people uploading videos of them recreating parkour stunts in public, and others cosplaying as their favourite characters from the game and going to conventions.

Audience: Albert Bandura - Media effects

Banduras media effects theory argues that the media can implant ideas into the mind of audiences directly, who as a result of what they see will acquire attitudes and new styles of conduct through modelling. Any media representations of transgressive behaviour such as violence can lead audience members to imitate and partake in those forms of physical behaviour. The Assassin's Creed franchise including Valhalla challenges Banduras idea, since fans of the game should be aware of the violent content and aware of the dangers from the PEGI 18 rating. However, this PEGI rating doesn't permit adults only from playing the game, since children will always find ways to get hold of games with these ratings where Bandura's theory to an extent conforms to this idea since children whose brains/minds aren't as fully developed as adults are more likely to imitate the violent content with friends or siblings, unaware of the possible harmful impacts this could have.

Media Industries: Curran and Seaton - Power and media industries

Finally, Curran and Seaton's theory argued that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of power and profit, whereas socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create more adventurous and varied media products. This second idea applies here, with Ubisoft creating a game that allows players to choose whether their protagonist is male or female, as a result of the company adapting and listening to an increased audience of female gamers. They have also made a game that to be historically faithful, has the Vikings in the game look and act accurate to how they were in real life, as Ubisoft have decided to represent the family and literate side of them which is often disregarded, as well as accurately designing costumes and settings.