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Ubisoft has apologized for using ableist language in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla to describe a burn victim. They have promised to remove this language in a future update.
Courtney Craven, founder of accessibility-focused games site Can I Play That ?, brought to Ubisoft’s attention on Twitter to Valhalla’s description of a severely burned character. The game describes Eorforwine as having been “horribly burned in a childhood accident” and now “terrified that someone will see his face disfigured”.
I did not include this in my #AssassinsCreedValhalla piece of impressions, but just as important to address. This is an in-game character description. It is absolutely unacceptable to talk about facial differences in this way. Game writers and others have to do better. pic.twitter.com/jOLpPzD6Oe
– Courtney Craven (@CyclopediaBrain) November 9, 2020
Craven said it was “absolutely unacceptable to talk about facial differences in this way,” and urged writers to “do better.” They then described their girlfriend’s reaction to the description: “GF who is a burnt out and spent many years ashamed of her scars, was sitting next to me when I stumbled across this part of the game and on her face … embarrassed that it was her impression of this industry that I love so much.
Ubisoft replied on Twitter, thanking Craven for reporting this issue and apologizing for “unintentionally building ableism through this language.” Fortunately, they also promised to “remove this language in a future update”.
The game launched yesterday and Alice B. said in her article on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla that it was “an animated purse of all the best bits from past Assassin’s Creed games”, but those callbacks “can sometimes get a little bit important ”, especially if you want to soak up the history. It seems like you need a fair amount of prior knowledge to really understand what’s going on in the countryside, but otherwise it’s a fun and fun splurge.
Jake has been to Vikingville as well, powering many Valhalla guides, so take a look if you need any helpful advice.