Mentors Guild Q&A

Q. Why are there no one-handed swords in the game, which were actively used at that time?

Vikings mainly used Seax swords in the time period (a short one-handed dagger/sword that is already present in the game). The ‘Viking Sword’, also known as a ‘one-handed sword’, didn’t appear until later in the Viking period and was introduced by the Francs. However, we're happy to share that it is confirmed that we will be adding a longer one-handed sword to the game.

Q. Is it possible to add an “Hidden Ones” robe (Basim or Hytham) to the game or create a similar robe for Eivor, also without a large cloak? Can it be added in DLC or in microtransactions?

With Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, we continue adding free events and updates for all players.
We’re pleased to confirm that all fans can now get an amazing Basim Outfit to eliminate their target with style. This outfit is already available for free via Ubisoft Connect.

Q. Are you planning to add a "Story Creator Mode" to the game?

There is not one planned.

Q. Why are there so few finishing animations? For each weapon, there is only one finishing animation on each side. In the previous parts, there were several of them, and here-one. By the 50th hour of the game, you're tired of watching the same animation over and over again.

The combat system in Valhalla was designed to allow for more player autonomy via the new dual wielding feature. To allow for this advanced functionality, the number of finishing moves had to be reduced to accommodate the extra animations required for the duel wielding combat system. The team chose to push player autonomy and combat depth, over variety in finishing moves.

Q. How difficult was it to complete the development of the game during the global COVID pandemic? Did Ubisoft have to implement new practices or software to cope with the demands of game development?

It was a challenge because it is not a situation we had ever been faced with before. We had to close studios, including the main Montreal studio, and almost everyone started working from home. Among many other things, we also had to re-think how to record voice actors and do our remaining mocap shoots.

We could say that we went from developing the game in 16 studios around the world to a thousand studios, in each employee’s home.
In terms of tech, we needed to have strong technological tools to make sure that we could work remotely and that happened quite quickly thanks to our IT teams. In terms of processes, we tried to apply the best practices we had established for our world-wide co-development in terms of communication and scale it up to a team in this context. We also had to make sure people still had informal discussions and felt supported in these tough times. We had to keep the spirit of the team alive without being physically together. Some people thrived working from home, for others it is more difficult for many reasons, so we had to be very flexible and very attentive to the well-being of everyone.

Fortunately, the game was already quite advanced when lockdown started. We had already on-boarded our closing team and were already in the final stretch of development when you need to close tasks and start polishing and debugging the game. It was still a big challenge, but the game was in a good shape before the pandemic hit and the direction was set so that definitively helped a lot!

Q. The Anvil Engine has been modified and reborn over several iterations across many Assassin's Creed titles. What are the advantages to the bespoke engine? Was working on current gen somewhat restrictive? Are we safe to expect that the next title will be designed exclusively for the next gen - whenever that may release?

Developing an engine with core technology experts working closely with our production teams unlocks the creative possibilities: creative storytelling, rich settings, and novel gameplay all drive the innovation that enables us to produce truly immersive games.

The most important thing for Ubisoft is that players can play our games on the platform of their choice. We want to offer the best experience on each device.

This current generation is made for Ubisoft’s open-worlds - It’s a great feeling for us to have more freedom to deliver unprecedented depth and level of detail in our games.

Progressively, this generation is going to allow us to take a huge leap forward to fulfill our creative vision: improved graphics, opportunities to design new game experiences, smarter AI, etc.

Q. Will we see any legendary Assassins outfits or weapons to use like in the previous games?

Yes, some have already been granted, such as Altair and Bayek.

Q. How long did it take to develop the game?

The development started shortly after Assassin’s Creed Origins released at the beginning of 2018. A lot of the core team members of Valhalla also worked on Origins.

Q. Did you have access to accurate historical records for this?

Yes, we work with experts and historians to recreate the world of the Viking Age while also adding our artistic interpretation to our research. Early on during the conception of the game, members of the team went to Scandinavia and England on a research and inspiration field trip. They visited museums, archeological sites, landmarks and even went sailing a real longship and took part in a Viking feast in a long house.

Most of the literature of the time about the Vikings was written by the people they conquered and raided so it is naturally quite biased against them.

We also draw a lot of inspiration from the poetry that was composed at the time and eventually written down in the 1200s AD. The poems of the Poetic Edda are our most important, most reliable source for Norse mythology. We also read the sagas, written in Old Norse, that offer insights on the lives of the Vikings.

Q. How do I find the bodies of other players for avenge quests? How do these work?

Every time a player dies in the game, some information related to the context of the death is stored in a server (i.e. the player’s Gamertag; the body’s coordinates; enemies in conflict with the player when he died; etc.) This information can then be used by the game to procedurally generate an Avenge Quest for other players.

The system regularly fetches players to avenge and tries to spawn cadavers nearby a player’s position if all the conditions are fulfilled (Can the cadaver be spawned above the terrain; Are the kill targets present nearby the player, …).

Improvements have recently been made on this feature notably by increasing the spawning rate of cadavers throughout the world and by adding UI elements to improve the visibility of the feature.

Q. What was the team’s greatest achievement on Assassin's Creed Valhalla?

It is very hard to pinpoint a single achievement considering all the work and passion that went into developing and releasing a game with so much content, especially in the unprecedented circumstances we lived through last year.

If we had to pick, we are very proud of how the world, the stories, and the game systems we created all converge to make you live an inspiring and memorable Viking adventure with Eivor and their clan, trying to convey the uniqueness of the Vikings culture and way of life.

Q. Was Jora her basic name? If so, why the change of name to Eivor?

Darby: Yes! Jora was her name for a few months. In our research we had come to believe that it meant “Kingly” or “Regal”. When we showed our research to Dr. Jackson Crawford, he was puzzled by the choice and asked why we named our character “horse”! We were all a bit shocked by this news. What I believe happened is that the word Horse was being used as a metaphor for the strength of a king (possibly in a kenning) and so one of our reference resources took “Jora” to mean “King”.

Q. How did you choose Eivor's name?

Darby: It was the result of a ton of research and collaboration with Dr. Crawford. Ultimately, we chose the name because it translates to something like “Forever Defender” or “Eternal Guard” which we thought suited Eivor’s character well.

Q. Rebecca and Shaun changed a lot in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Why did you decide to change design of the present-day characters?

Darby: This is more a question for the art team, but I’m pretty sure the models we used were adapted from the ones used in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, the last time we spent time with these characters. Apart from that, they’re older by half a decade, so it stands to reason that they would look different.

Sergiu Gavan: Yes, I can confirm that the models of Rebecca and Shaun are built off of the last time they appeared in the franchise: Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. However, as these were older assets, we had to refresh them for next-gen platforms while also doing some modifications to both characters to indicate that 5 years have passed.

Q. I know you can’t say much but talking about the next game in the franchise there’s still a 200/300-year gap between Valhalla and the first Assassin’s Creed game where we meet Altair for the first time. So, I was wondering if at any point us fans, may be able to visit the Levantine brotherhood again. Possibly as Altair's Grandfather or something similar?

Darby: You’re right, I cannot talk about what comes next! But as with any new game, anything is possible.

Q. So, we now know that pretty much most religions in the Assassin’s Creed Universe, the gods of said, religions were Isu beings, does this mean that in the future we will be able to see more implementation of these ideals? More Isu, more gods, more mysteries to uncover?

Darby: This would be great. I presume at the height of Isu Civilization that their population numbered in the many billions and that they spanned the globe. So, the number of stories we could tell are limitless.

Q. With the Isu now pretty much being 100% confirmed to be the gods within each religion, was this storyline always planned out or was it something that you were able to create/expand upon for Valhalla.

Darby: We’ve been planning that since the early days of Origins, so yes, since at least late 2013...

Q. Will we know more about Reda's origins? (I wonder if he wouldn't have visited the Fountain of Youth, although it is in Florida. ^^)

Darby: Possibly, but it won’t come from me. I like keeping some things a mystery.

Q. My question is if we’ll see more of any other assassin characters. Since we heard Bayek’s voice I’m wondering if we’ll hear or see any others.

Darby: It’s possible!

Q. Near Jorvik, I found Ragnar's snake pit, when we use the Eagle Vision we can see a light coming out of it. After several searches, some people think of a bug, a ghost or something that can be unlocked later as a quest, when do you think? (Maybe related to the quest mentioned in a tweet from Darby McDevitt in which he says that there should have been something after eliminating all the Drengr).

This has now been fixed! Get thee to the pit of snakes!

Q. In Jötunheim we can see a shadow in a lake, some people think it is a Waldschrat, a Wendigo, Daanu, Cernunnos, a Jötunn keeper, the spirit of Ymir or a forest spirit. Personally, I think of an easter egg to The Beast in the Over the Garden Wall series. When is it?

Darby: All very nice theories.

Q. Did the Raven's clan exist? Or is it a creation for the purposes of the script?

Darby: It’s a fictional creation, though we used a lot of names that would have been current at the time.

Q. Why are there so few directorial and cinematic cut-scenes in the game? Why does the series move away from this into generated cut-scenes, like in Odyssey or Valhalla? When the game has directed cut-scenes, it looks amazing! And when generated, everything looks... a little unconvincing. This is especially evident in tense and dramatic cut scenes.

Darby: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has about 22 hours of narrative scenes in all, and when you have branching dialog with differing outcomes, it's unfortunately not feasible to make these all-full cinematics.

Q. When it comes to deciding the next historical era for every game, how is that decided?

Darby: The team puts their heads together and throws out ideas... the best ones filter to the top of the pile! And then we pitch this to the Editorial Team.

Q. Since Eivor is in England. Is there a chance in the future that he could sail for Ireland in the future of the game?

Darby: Eivor absolutely will!

In Assassin’s Creed® Valhalla first Expansion Wrath of the Druids, players have the chance to explore Ireland, its incredible landscapes, rich culture and fascinating myths and folklore. In this new adventure, Eivor’s will have to make its way through haunted forests and dazzling sceneries while gaining influence among Gaelic Kings.

Q. With Layla now with the reader, does this mean that we will now get to see some alternative storylines throughout the AC Universe in other games? For instance, one where Desmond doesn’t die, one where Haytham stayed with Connors’ mum and raised him as a Templar, or one where Ezio’s family never died. (These would be cool to explore.)

Darby: There is still only one timeline in Assassin’s Creed so far. The timelines that Layla and The Reader are studying would just be projections or simulations. They are not real, though someone could use the Yggdrasil device to explore them. But I believe there should only be one real Assassin’s Creed timeline - we derive so much from actual history; it would be a shame to bend it completely out of shape.

Q. A pretty blunt one. But is The Reader, Desmond Miles?... IT HAS TO BE!

Darby: Does he sound like Desmond Miles?

Q. In Assassin's Creed Origins, there is a segment mentioning the reader and the author, if I understood correctly the reader is Desmond and the author Layla?

Darby: Good theory!

Q. Basim wishes to avenge the death of his son, but Eivor has no memory of it. Was it in a previous life?

Darby: All the answers you seek are in the Myth Worlds.

Q. Based on the narrative implementations of Basim’s journey through Valhalla & now with him leading the modern-day story forward. We will get to see a whole new trilogy set within the franchise. Based on the Desmond games, the Layla trilogy and now Basim game (in the future) Each entry into the franchise tends to take on something new in terms of gameplay.

Darby: It’s hard to say, but we did intend this game to feel like a capper to both Layla’s story and in some sense wrap up lingering questions from the Desmond era.

Q. In the Jötunheim, is it the voice of Ezio or Desmond that one can hear coming out of the mirror?

Darby: Good theory!

Q. In the final cinematic of Valka's missions and Animus' anomalies, we can see other Æsir resembling Randvi and Vili, I would like to know if they have a link and if not who they are in the Isus and in the Vikings.

Darby: Randvi and Vili are not reborn Isu, if that’s what you’re asking.