Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Assassin's Creed Valhalla closes out the series' RPG trilogy and moves it into the age of Viking raids on the British Isles. The player takes on the role of Eivor, playable as either a man or a woman, who leaves Norway and founds the settlement of Ravensthorpe in England. From there the story branches out into individual counties, where alliances are forged with Saxon lords, intrigues are resolved, and occasionally the stakes rise to who will rule the whole land. Throughout, the conflict between the Order and the Hidden Ones, the series' long-standing legacy, keeps returning, along with a modern-day storyline outside the Animus.

Compared to earlier entries, classic gear upgrading has been reduced in favour of hunting for unique pieces of armour scattered across the world. Combat is harder, noisier and built around chipping away at stamina, dual-wielding weapons, and finishing moves. New raids on monasteries and settlements let the longship's crew seize supplies needed to grow the player's own village, which gradually expands with a forge, a fishery or a hall for allies. Besides the main storyline, the world offers Viking games, flyting duels, cairns, and dozens of small vignettes that stand in for classic side quests and can be finished within minutes.

England, Norway and the additional regions look lavish on Xbox One: mist over the marshes, deciduous forests and Roman ruins form one of the series' most beautiful landscapes, though older consoles must compromise on draw distance, and the game shipped with more bugs than usual. The music draws on Nordic motifs, and the rowing chants are among the details players remember fondly years later. Reception was good, with reservations about the sheer scale, which can wear a player down. Today Valhalla is a title for players who want dozens of hours of unhurried wandering and don't mind that the assassin roots stay somewhat in the background. Anyone who paces it out county by county, rather than trying to finish it in one go, gets one of the most expansive historical adventures of its generation.