With this being the last bug fix update arriving in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, it appears that Ubisoft is dramatically winding down support for the game, which originally launched back in November 2020. Update 1.7.0 will be available in just a few hours, and includes several bug fixes, including issues with the player's inventory, River Raids, errors, and Helix Credits. However, the road to unlocking the cinematic is paved with frustration, which tarnishes what’s otherwise a really shiny part of the game’s story.Ubisoft has announced that it will be dropping a final bug-fixing patch for Assassin's Creed Valhalla later today. I would say they add nothing meaningful to the game, but that’s not true - the cinematic is critical to the game’s plot. That being said, I think the Animus Anomalies only serve to underscore how sloppy the game’s controls actually are. It’s really, really playable, and the basic gameplay loop is very addictive. I stand by my assessment that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was one of the best games of 2020. I was at the end of my rope by the time I’d completed the tenth. Thank the gods that there are only ten of these anomalies to complete, because any more than that and I might have actually given up on it. I’ve completed all ten Animus Anomalies in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and the reward is a cinematic that you really, really need to watch (it bridges Eivor’s Asgard and Jotunheim visions with the rest of the story in a really satisfying manner). Aside from the Animus Anomalies, this problem only really crops up during the tattoo paper chases and occasionally during stealth sequences (when you attempt to sneak through a window and end up jumping over it, for example). The thing is, there are only a few places in the game where you’ll even notice this. The controls are simply not precise enough to require these sorts of maneuvers. Or, when you’re trying to outrun a moving barrier, only to snap to a ledge instead of jumping over it, you’ll get mowed down, forced to restart the segment. When you try to jump to a platform that’s straight ahead, only to have Layla snap to some climbable object off to your left, your sense of direction gets completely thrown off and you end up missing the jump. The game asks you to perform precision jumps, some of which add an element of timing. But in practice, these are nothing more than exercises in extreme frustration. The premise is alright, and visually, the contrast between the Tron-like platforms and Medieval England is striking. The Animus Anomalies have you controlling everybody’s least favorite Assassin’s Creed protagonist, Layla Hassan, while navigating puzzle-platformer segments that almost look like they came out of a 3D Mario game. But as soon as you attempt one of the Animus Anomalies, the weakness of the control scheme becomes painfully obvious - and I really do mean painfully. When you’re climbing up fortress walls or roaming around the massive world, you don’t even notice that something’s amiss. The thing is, Valhalla is able to mask this fact most of the time. One of the major points of frustration (aside from the horrific cairn challenges and game-breaking bugs) is that the controls are sloppy and unwieldly. I love Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, but I’m finding its quirkiness to be less and less charming the deeper I get into the game.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |