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One of the best parts of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla does not take place in England. Where you’re going is a spoiler. It’s also one of the best parts of the game. We recently asked the people who made it to explain its origins.
The area in question is called Vinland and is located on the northeast coast of North America. A visit to the region changes the rules From the game. Vinland forces players to leave behind all of their powerful weapons and equipment, forcing them to search for supplies and basic weapons to complete their mission to take down a single and powerful target in a large, sparsely populated wilderness. .
By the way, the spoilers we are about to enter not only for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla but for another game in the franchise that involves North America, Assassin’s Creed III.
This area of the game, with its own big map, wildlife, and feel, stayed true to me even after I completed it. He was a perfect platelet cleanser after spending most of the game in England killing, exploring, and conquering as a mighty Viking warrior. But I also wanted to learn more about Vinland. How can a team, which is already working on a great game like Valhalla, also build and create something as big and different as Vinland? Where did the idea for something like this come from? And how do you reconnect it to the labyrinthine tradition of the franchise? Ubisoft offered surprising answers on the development and production of Vinland.
The initial idea for the region came from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, according to Darby MceDevitt, the narrative director on Valhalla. When the Ubisoft Montreal team presented the framework and the theme of Valhalla, Guillemot pointed out that the Vikings were among the first Europeans to visit North America and wondered if this would be a piece of the story that could be featured in the game. However, there was a problem. The Vikings in Valhalla would not set sail in America until the year 1000, and Valhalla was installed in the 870s. “Thinking about how this might fit into the historical timeline of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, we realized it could work really well – through the prism of the Assassins and the Templars, the two groups in our game that always seem to be one step ahead of real story, ”McDevitt explained.
While the initial plan for Vinland came from pitch meetings early in the game’s production, actual development wouldn’t begin until much later, once the teams working on the game had a better understanding of the different systems and features. It allowed them to create something that felt different from what they had been working on before. The developers wanted Vinland to be a survival experience. “Take a territory and give this feeling of being ‘naked and scared’”, is how level design director Philippe Bergeron puts it. “Alone with your skills with a difficult challenge, you must find your own way.”
Vinland also allowed the team to create an in-game territory that would feature a single sizable assassination target and allow players to determine their own approach on a much larger scale than any other mission offered.
Building the world of Vinland was a challenge due to its setting, America’s wilderness, and how it was different from the rest of the open fields, hills, towns, and farms in the game. It would require more assets. and original art. Creating so much additional content would be difficult for a small studio, but Ubisoft was able to leverage one of its many other teams to help create the more nature-focused map of Vinland.
“The team working on the region was from Ubisoft Singapore, who are Assassin’s Creed veterans, ” said Rika Lim, Senior Level Designer at Ubisoft Singapore. “Most of the people who worked there worked on at least two to three franchise titles.” Because players came to Vinland with nothing but the jersey on their back and their acquired skills, developers at Ubisoft Singapore built Vinland around the concept of stealth, allowing players to use tactics. more careful.
Ubisoft viewed Vinland as a “rhythm breaker,” something that would challenge players to survive without their usual gear, while still allowing them to experience a whole new region and its natives. It was the natives of Vinland, the Kanien’kehá: ka, who also drove Ubisoft to conceive of the Vinland region as a “once in a lifetime adventure,” which players visit for a few hours and then leave behind. The team didn’t want to change history too much by allowing them to build a permanent Viking colony in America 200 years before most historians believed the Vikings first visited the continent. And they tried to avoid any friction between Eivor and the Native Americans who lived there. “We were also careful not to present Eivor as an antagonist or a savior to the people of Vinland,” McDevitt said. “Eivor’s goal has always been to follow and defeat a single enemy.
This desire to build Vinland as a one-of-a-kind survival adventure also led to the decision not to allow players to take with them the gear they earned in Vinland when they left. Fans have been asking about it since the release, but it wouldn’t have worked with the team’s goal.
“As we headed to Vinland, we wanted this experience to feel like an autonomous survival loop,” Bergeron said. For this to be true, we had to start you fresh in this environment, stripped of your gear. The fact that the player leaves the territory with this equipment and improves it at home would have broken that experience, which is why we finally decided on this structure.
For longtime fans of Assassin’s Creed, this is not the first time the Kanien’kehá: ka have appeared in the franchise. They play a big role in Assassin’s Creed III. A young man from the tribe, Ratonhnhaké: ton (also known as Conor) is the main protagonist of this game. But it’s a different time. ACIII was established in the 1770s, more than 900 years after the events of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Ubisoft wanted to make sure it presented an authentic portrayal that was appropriate for the time of the tribe when Eivor arrived. To do this, they contacted Akwiratheka Martin, the same Kanien’kehá: ka language consultant who worked with Ubisoft on Assassin’s Creed III.
But there is a more tangible connection with Assassin’s Creed III in Valhalla Vinland Section.
The target for Eivor’s assassination in Vinland is Gorm, a high ranking member of the Order of the Ancients (aka the Proto-Templars.) He also possesses a strange sphere, which is actually an ancient Isu artifact that guide them to a hidden temple which The Order wants access to, which is why they are in Vinland in the first place. After Eivor defeats her, she decides to give the strange item to the natives of Vinland, leaving them to protect the mighty artifact. This sphere is the same one that Connor meets at the beginning. Assassin’s Creed III. And the temple that Gorm is looking for is the same temple as ACIII as well as.
The idea of connecting ACIII at Valhalla Vinland came very early in the development process. “We were looking for the landing sites that the Vikings had had on the North American coast and one place was very close to the village of Connor. Assassin’s Creed III, ”Bergeron said. “So for the fans (including ourselves), we made that connection pretty quickly. “
McDevitt admits Valhalla’s story for Conor’s Isu sphere was not planned at the time ACIII was completed in 2012. “It would be an incredible testament to our ability to plan and execute. But no. The origin of the crystal ball was unclear when Assassin’s Creed III was in production, ”he says.
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