Introduction

The Assassin’s Creed franchise has served up fascinating period-specific, historic set-pieces, in addition to the action-adventure gameplay, and the new Assassin’s Creed Valhalla takes us to the golden age of Norse Vikings, around the 9th century AD. Assassin’s Creed games tend to have such a production focus on history that some of its games have actually been spun off as free educational demos based on ancient Greece and Egypt. The Vikings, on the other hand, weren’t particularly known for vast civilizational capital cities.

You play as our protagonist Evior, who is tasked with leading a splinter clan away from the fighting in Norway and to England, where a clash of cultures ensues. You run deadly raids against rival Saxon strongholds for resources to build and improve your settlement. Upon arrival in England, the Vikings are met with resistance from four of the English kingdoms, and much of the game’s mission-based quest campaign revolves around the battles and politics involving the four. It wouldn’t be an Assassin’s Creed without the explorable historic cities of Winchester, London, and York, and vast landscapes of Norway.

Based on the AnvilNext 2 engine by Ubisoft—the same engine that powers “Ghost Recon: Breakpoint,” Assassin’s Creed Valhalla takes advantage of DirectX 12 and brings the landscapes and cities of the period to life with many high-detail environments paired with crisp textures. In this mini review, we test the performance of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla across our selection of graphics cards.