In a move that is less and less surprising in our current COVID pandemic reality where everyone is working from home and major leaks spring quicker than can be plugged, developer Ubisoft is throwing copyright claims left and right to contain a full 30 minutes of an Assassin’s Creed Valhalla footage leak that appeared on Reddit late Sunday night. Most attempts by posters to circulate the footage have been shut down by the publisher (which is why we won’t be embedding it here), but the gameplay was out long enough for fans and detractors alike to pick it apart and glean some information. A hefty leak such as this on top of the news that the Valhalla Creative Director is stepping down after infidelity allegations is making for a bad summer for Ubisoft.
The irony in this leak comes after Ubisoft first announced Assassin’s Creed Valhalla via a teaser, then a cinematic trailer, then promised to show gameplay at the Inside Xbox event in May, but instead showed a highly stylish “in-engine” trailer that wasn’t actually what most players would consider to be “gameplay.” Ubisoft apologized for that shortly after, and many expect that we’ll finally see the actual gameplay at Ubisoft’s upcoming showcase next week.
I’ve seen the leaked footage for myself–if you want to see it, go forth and find a source as the one we’ve downloaded from is most likely going to be gone by the time this has posted–and what I’ve seen of Valhalla is a mix of familiarity from the past two games and some new interesting aesthetic choices. The footage opens with a husky-voiced female Eivor sailing at night via Viking longboat, headlong into a hail of flaming arrows outside of Burgh Castle, found in the English county of Norfolk. This scene was preceded by a moment where Evior is asked to rally the troops before heading out, with the player picking one of three options as a speech. Thus far, the look and art design are very much similar to Odyssey, but with the obvious Viking coat of paint.
While we aren’t embedding the video, here’s a screenshot:
The boats eventually land on the shore and see the player leading Eivor and a band of Vikings using a battering ram to break down the gates to the castle shipyard, all the while flaming arrows continue to rain down. This part of the footage is all about flashy kills and fast attack animations, with Eivor using a dual-wielding fighting style that makes her look like Wolverine from X-Men. The footage also gives a look at the new skill tree menu, which resembles a starry sky of constellations, as well as Eivor’s own version of Eagle Vision that is instead themed around ravens, most likely a reference to Odin and Norse mythology.
The other biggest thing to note is the inclusion of a button in the menu to exit the Animus back to the modern day, which according to Eurogamer is referencing locations such as Thetford and Norwich. Being able to actively switch between historical and modern day gameplay is a new twist for the franchise that we’ll probably learn more about soon.
The video, while not great quality, is a significant look at the game and is certainly more than enough to give fans an idea of what to expect when the game launches. Does this footage make you more likely or less likely to get the game at launch now that you’ve seen it (if you can find it)? We’re you even able to find any mirrors of the footage that hadn’t been eaten up by copyright claims from Ubisoft? Let us know in the comments.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla releases later this year for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC. Ubisoft has yet to detail its next-gen upgrade plans for PlayStation, though it does support Microsoft’s “Smart Buy.”
