4/5 ★ – Karlosius's review of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla.

The 98 hours I spent roaming 9th century England - raiding, exploring, discovering secrets - is, I think, the most time I've spent with a game in my entire life And for the vast majority of it, I loved it Valhalla's my first Assassin's Creed experience since Black Flag, so my first of the new, more combat-heavy (at times), super sprawling AC games. I've read plenty about how long both Origins and Odyssey are, and having finished Valhalla now, I'm glad I never dived into either of those As someone who likes to clear every little dot on the map before moving to a new area, Valhalla could easily have been a 150+ hour experience for me. But there was a point, maybe three quarters through the main storyline, where I had to make the decision to mainline the story, ignoring all the little mysteries I'd been really enjoying up to that point If Valhalla dropped two or three of the territories from the map in some way, I think this could easily have surpassed Black Flag for me. But ultimately, it felt a little too bloated With that said, I loved my time with Eivor. The running narratives of the pacification of Anglo-Saxon England and the fracturing of their relationship with Sigurd, paralleled with Norse mythology, and the methodical breaking of the Order really sucked me in Overall, I think my lack of knowledge of the more recent AC lore wasn't a hindrance. There are enough mentions of the Isu and so on that when the final moment comes around, I was left totally thrilled As someone who gravitates towards stealth, generally scoping out a settlement or bandit camp before picking off enemies one by one, when the moments of full-on assault-like combat are forced on you, I didn't mind it at all. If anything, I embraced the use of the axe and shield - finding a sweet spot in the versatility of mixing both with my beloved bow Apart from a couple of moments, Valhalla feels wonderfully paced, making it very easy to find yourself racking up eight-hour sessions regularly And as an English person who lives in Wales, I can't even begin to explain how fun it is working out the modern-day equivalents of locations, both big and small. And the fact that the subtitles just say 'unintelligible' when one side character speaks a hybrid of English and Welsh had me laughing out loud Vikings, England, stealth, Norse mythology and multiple gripping storylines fleshed out with quirky little side quests all made for a wonderful package for me - one worthy of being my first, meaty Series X experience