Of Course Assassin's Creed Valhalla Brings Back the Worst Part of the Series

I don't even have any problems with the present day sections in the first Assassin's Creed. This connection between distant epochs is one of the most intriguing points about the franchise for me, and it says something that watching the movie which focused on the present conflict was the last decisive push motivating me to start the games.

I really respect when a company tries to improve on something that was "bad" instead of abandoning it, especially when it comes to story.

After what they pulled with the canon in Odyssey, they can't just leave it like that.

The day they ditch present-day sections is the day that game will not be called Assassin's Creed. Well said, @keihtg. I'd rather them improve it until they get it right, instead of giving that up. Either way, it's always been, unfortunately, way too little of it in the past recent games, so why are people complaining?

I really hope they are confident enough to put canon stuff back into the main game and don't ditch it under the rug like they did with Fate of Atlantis, which was phenomenal.

I've never had a problem with the present day stuff in Assassin's Creed. Honestly it's probably what got me hooked on the franchise story-wise when I first played the original Assassin's Creed and AC2.

tbh i always liked the MD.

i always thought there was a bit of a circle jerk regarding the hatred for MD. which is funny since the people that used to hate on the MD because it was "boring" are now the same people that say that they miss the old MD with desmond.

it's good that they try to improve it instead of removing it,which would be the easy solution.

even if it does turn out poor,atleast they tried,and i respect that since again MD no matter how boring it is for some has always been a core story point for the deeper lore,which hardcore AC fans enjoy.

(not dissing the more casual AC fans though,you are all welcome to this wonderfull franshise.)

The present day sections are completely garbage and impacts nothing in the overall story. One minute you're fighting minotaurs, the minute after you're mindlessly running from agents doing NOTHING. It's just stupid and should've died years ago.

I've always thought those parts were cool. My opinion doesnt mean much though since I havent played and AC game since Brotherhood.

I might be in the minority when I say this but I honestly wish this game series didn’t have the present day sections. It might be because I didn’t really play the early games but I always thought it would be more fun/cohesive to play as just the assassin from the past, not the present day counter part. The animus setup always gets a bit annoying to me

Absolutely terrible news!I always used to enjoy the present day sections in the older Creed games but the character Layla is one of the most boring,uninteresting characters to ever grace a video game!
It's as bad as watching Netflix Daredevil only to feel like turning it off every time the actress that played Karen Page kept turning up..

When i played the first AC i really thought that the present day stuff did not add anything and still believe so. 😆

I used to think the modern-day bits were the worst part of the series. Then I played the eavesdropping missions in Black Flag

I love the modern stuff. It just needs to be relevant, like it was during AC1 - 3.

In a lot of ways, I like the concept. Instead of actually dying and then restarting from the checkpoint in an 'unexplained' way, the concept allows having 'multiple' goes until you find the right path to progress. The modern day aspect isn't always that interesting but its part of what Assassin's Creed is. They have always focussed more on the 'past' as far as game-play is concerned but that has always been a distant ancestor - it was never the 'real' time of the game.

This maybe focussing on the Viking Era but again, that is not the 'time period' of the game as such, just the era that the animus is connecting to - its always been that way. It could be better implemented - made more interesting and relevant - that the events in history mean something for the present.

I don't mind the present day stuff, but there's no worse character than Layla. Please kill her off, please kill her off...

The thing is Layla is really really bad...they need a way better present day character!

Anyway I'm hyped, despite the trailer showing us nothing

Wow I didn't think there were so many people in favor of modern day sections, I always saw an overwhelming majority hating on them online.

The last one I played was 4 so I'm not the most well-informed, but I found them incredibly tedious and I thought that was the consensus.
So yeah, props to them for trying to get it right, but if they still haven't after 10+ years I don't know if it's something worth praising 😆

No biggie, it's not like she takes up large portions of the game. I actually enjoyed the modern day stuff in Black Flag where you wandered around plush offices finding secrets.

Nice to see all 7 people who like the modern day part of Ass Creed right here in the comments section.

Can't say this will affect me, I skipped all the cutscenes and spedrun through the modern day sections in Origins and Oddysey as they bored me to death and Layla was an awful unlikable character.

Bring me back cringey Desmond sections anyday.

On a serious note, just make the modern day stuff optional.

For me, it may only be a small part of the game, but I'd still prefer not to be pulled out of the main game just to see crap characters talk absolute nonsense for five minutes. The stuff in Origins and Odyssey is bloody terrible (though mercifully brief).

But if people enjoy it, then they can go into the menu and access it. Make it an option, it's the forcing of it on the player that annoys me, especially when Ubisoft doesn't even seem to know what the hell it's doing with the story.

@ShogunRok im mainly interested in what happened after the atlantis dlc coz that could lead to something interesting.

Layla herself is boring, William Miles just disappeared after Origins and I wanted to know more about the ex yakuza assassin you only hear on the radio. Can we at least wrap up the Juno story that was started at the end of AC3 and bring back Shaun Hastings.

Present day story is basic of AC series. Unfortunately Ubisoft killed it's potential. Desmond was great but than it fall on face. Ubisoft cannot remove it, because of principe of the series, but show us it's disrespect to this part. As I said elsewhere, it turned to importance of "inside matrix" instead of "outside matrix". And that is the fall of all new installments. They have no meaning.

Was it Syndicate that didn't have any playable modern day stuff? Just short scenes at beginning and end. Yet another reason it's underrated.

Modern day story is good when it's an actual story, not when it was done like in black flag, some half baked first person doo doo interactive cutscene type shii

Stopped caring about the present day story once they killed off Desmond

@keihtg You mean like how everything that makes Assassin's Creed Assassin's Creed was thrown out the window to join the RPG frenzy we have nowadays? Sorry, but AC is a really bad example of this. AC absolutely not an RPG series and they've just taken away all of its identity. Social Stealth? Being focuses on a Brotherhood of Asssassins? The hidden Blade? The focus on the game on being an Assassin? All gone with Odyssey. This is a case of a cash cow where they refuse to make a new IP because that's too risky and they can just slap a name people know on it.

The whole point of Assassin's Creed is that the present can be altered by learning from the past. The modern day narrative is actually MORE important than the historical settings because that's the driving force for why we use the animus to begin with. Take that away and you fundamentally strip what makes AC "AC".

Desmond is case in point. Up until his untimely demise, we all knew or believed that he was the 'chosen one', meant to learn from the legendary master assassins in order to be equipped to defeat the Templars once and for all while also gaining knowledge from the pre-cursor vaults that could help stop the solar flare.

He only fulfilled half his purpose though, and from the moment forward from his death (sorry to spoil if you haven't played, but it has been long enough frankly) Ubisoft has been completely LOST in the modern-day department of the story. It had gone nowhere until the franchise was soft-booted with Origins, and the problem now is no one particularly cares for Layla and the driving idea for the endgame is an aspect that had already been explored in Unity, and it failed.

Ubisoft seems to be out of good ideas, and I think their foray into the roleplaying genre is proof that they're trying to cover up the egregious errors which have plagued the series for so long with patchwork 'tokens' that appeal to broader audiences. It's a form of misdirection. If you notice, nothing in this new trailer portrays the Creed in essence, and it doesn't even really FEEL like Assassin's Creed either, more like a marriage between Witcher and For Honor. And that's the point I think. The identity, the spirit of Assassin's Creed, is evaporated.

What we witness now is a far cry from Patrice's vision, which purportedly saw Desmond as the true 'chosen one' who would destroy the Templars for good and bring an ACTUAL end to the series. With 23 games now, I think it's safe to conclude there is no end. That's not art, that is a monstrosity. This is one of the reasons why I prefer Dishonored to AC, but that is another topic.

Needless to say, I am not excited at first glimpse of Valhalla.

@Danloaded her story ended in a comic book, which was a waste.

While we didn't expect Ubisoft to ditch the storyline entirely

Didn't stop them before with the Juno storyline, they just dropped that and cranked out a comic book to end it

@Danloaded it was done in a comic book call Assassin's Creed Uprising which was stupid

That should have been a fight we did AND if they did make a game that covered that they could have actually been able to drop the modern day stuff completely if they wanted to

Layla really annoyed me in Odyssey - particularly in the DLC where she was even more annoying. Present day parts always feel like a chore for me since Desmond's arc (which I mostly liked) concluded way back when. Doubt they'll be any less of a chore in Valhalla - the most we can hope for these days is that they'll be brief!

Good, I've never been bothered by the present day sections of the AC games. Looking forward to more of Layla's story.

I've always hated the present day crap in Assassins Creed games, every since the first game. I honestly don't know WHY they insist on cramming them into a game about history. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they're brief and only there as a way to hint at the overall future of wherever the crap modern day stuff will end up.

I'm with @mistressTonberry since Desmond the modern stuff has been a huge turn off. Keep locked in the animus show me getting in and coming out. At some point do a 2120 AC

This series needs to be put to sleep.

Waste of development time.

With @No_Cartridge make it a skippable cutscene. Be done with her.

Never enjoyed the modern day sections from back in the first game to Origins. I don't even remember what happens in them with Origins and I only completed a couple of months back. Think the idea is cool but the application has always been lacklustre. It will probably be demoted to ma text only adventure for the new game.

Flame me if you like but I enjoyed Desmond miles - Nolan North did a great job on him , his arc is amazing . I miss those days

I do wonder though if they could have just made this separate from AC and just doubled down on it being a vikings game ?

Only played a few AC games but in Odyssey, it was my least favourite portion and always seemed to come in the most interesting part of the historical narrative.

sometimes it's good sometimes it's bad. AC3 did it best.

when you mention "Brings Back the Worst Part of the Series" i was thinking more about the awful microtransactions and all the cut out content they sell as dlc.

I'm glad she returns considering the stuff what happened in Odyssey.

Back in the earlier games with Desmond I liked the present-day stuff but now... They should just stop with shoehorning it in.
Between Black Flag, Origins and Odyssey (where the assassin stuff felt unnecessary) they should just rebrand the whole thing. I'd be more excited going into a story not expecting assassins and templars, again.

@Vegetto the modern day sections are an important part of the series, without it there's no reason to go in the animus and relive the ancestor's memories

Only completed first one and the modern day stuff was pretty garbage then. Played a bit of syndicate and thought the overall game was hot garbage, never mind the modern day sections. Have odyssey to play and fully plan on skipping modern day bits. Other than brand recognition, there must be a huge drive to just make these games without the assassins/templers bit and just set this up as a game about being a viking! The setting/premise is enough to carry that without 12 games of crap lore tagged on.

With Origins it was frustrating, with Odyssey I'd go stretches forgetting it existed. So long as they do the minimalist approach like in Odyssey I'll be fine but ultimately, yes, the present day sections should have long been removed from the series.

Why they just don't bring Desmond back from the dead? It might be a clone or something.

This part was never a big deal. Even with Desmond, it was cool to have a little break from Animus. And in Origins and Odyssey that part is barely noticeable. If they improve it then it can only be better. Don't know why gaming blogs have this tendency to look comparisons between games of some franchise and look only at the flaws that they don't like, and in my opinion, that's just an individual opinion. Odyssey for me personally was the best game so far, after AC2, and after Ezio Kassandra is the best character. Valhalla looks really amazing, and in my experience, everything that includes vikings and Norse mythology can only be awesome. Look at God of War, going with Norse mythology was 100% right way to go. And when people say how Origins and Odyssey doesn't have anything to do with Assassins that's just stupid. I mean, everything has a beginning, Templars and Assassins didn't just appear our of nowhere. Both, Origins and Odyssey, have their own secret cults that are in a way beginning of Templars. I think that part will be even bigger in this installment, cause story takes place at the end of the 9th century. And that hidden blade scene in trailer, spot on, amazing detail.

The present day stuff is good just hasn't been as awesome as it was with desmond miles. I wanna know what happened to him becoming a modern day assassins or at least someone. Still waiting on having a modern day AC game somehow or set in alternate modern day timeline

GTFO here with this ****. People like you are the reason AC has shat the bed since 3. You complained too much about MD while the majority of people actually liked it and they killed Desmond off because of it. Let me lay it out for you as simple as I can - THERE WOULD BE NO REPLAYING HISTORY WITHOUT MODERN DAY. SOMEONE HAS TO GO INTO THE ANIMUS TO PLAY AS THEIR ANCESTOR. There's a reason to the MD like there always has been. The Assassin's are trying to find the objects of power BEFORE the Templars. If anything, the modern day is MORE important than the history. ***** bandwagon fans ruining it for the rest of us.

@johncalmc agreed. Desmond's death was the death of the franchise. Now Ubisoft is as greedy as ***** EA.

@FullbringIchigo oh well thats lame. I thought Layla was gearing up to stop her.

I doubt theyl drop the present day stuff but they should actually do something with it. Like they hinted at with desmond in AC3. Have Layla go out and assassinate modern day templars in non linear missions or something. Anythings better than just popping out if the animus, do a trivial task, and pop back in

@Danloaded yeah, i can tell you what happens if you like

The new open-world settings that pre-date Christianity don't fit with the whole Templar / Adam & Eve theme from earlier games.
Rebadge it FFS - what's wrong with a historic ARPG without all that pious nonsense? Nobody likes the Abstergo / Animus bits anyway!

I've always hated the modern day parts of the game and find them an annoyance, I don't even think they are required to explain the story of the Assassins v Templars as that explains itself in the main storyline. It could be an idea to have the option of whether you play the modern day sections or not at least then everyone gets a choice.

@Jaz007 Origins was the origin story for the Assassins, Odyssey was the origin story for the templars, how is it that nobody understands this and keeps saying Odyssey had no connection to the story?

Loved Oddysey. Looking forward to this a lot.

@Dexeronstarsurge Because kids like to shake their cages and scream about anything they can.

@Danloaded actually if you wanna know you can see a write up here

https://gamerant.com/assassins-creed-juno-odyssey-uprising/

@Thegeneral and that's why you should just play as the assassin in the actual past, and not as a memory.

Odyssey was barely recognisable as an ass creed game so the future sections just felt very tacked on. I'd have preferred it to just be a new rpg series and they wouldn't have had to bother pretending then, but obviously the name is a selling point.

If the game play is great, I will definitely buy. If I want a great story telling I can always go to Netflix. It's a video game dude so you go play and beat it at the highest difficulty.

What are you talking about we keep waiting for the modern day stuff because we want the game questions to actually be answered there is a story there and we'd love for it to fully flesh out

I want the MD to be more of the bleeding affect has truly taken hold and you become the person wholely. The assassin's should be using the Animus to train MD assassin's to build to this crazy penultimate attack on the Abstergo were you can play at Ezio, Altiar, all of them in this insane, End Game type setting.

I hate the present day sections. With a passion. I hate them more than Marmite. You get immersed in the world of Ancient Greece, or wherever, and then get dragged out to do some tedious and pointless,in the terms of the universe you've in for 98% of the time, task. Just plainvsillycand irritating.

It could be quite cool if they let the modern day Animus user go back into Desmonds memories and we get to play a bit more of his story. If done well... which the modern day bits weren't in any of the games, the first 3 games were okay but not good. The most recent games the modern day sections have been good awful.

@Sammerine just because it's a game doesn't mean it has to have a meh story. The Warhammer universe (40k and historical) has multiple games and the story telling is excellent (but I'm biased seeing as they're my favourite sci/fi-fantasy universes) and many other games have incredible worlds with rich, vibrant stories. Kingdoms of Amaleur<spelling pops into my head as do the non multiplayer Elder Scrolls games are just two examples.

@FullbringIchigo much appreciated.

The present-day storyline is more interesting to me

@Vegetto people like you are the reason franchises lose any flavor of uniqueness

@Wazeddie22 she was ok in Daredevil but the worst part of Punisher

@ShogunRok stop being a dismissive *******

@PunkRx_Lockly Dishonored is utterly fantastic, sad we only got 2.5 games of that and 20+ (is it really that many???) AC games.

@TheBloodyNine because the games are not about history

@BubaMan who are you claim to know what everybody likes or doesn't like?

It does not bother me, Liam.

@MBII Yes they are, no one plays Assassins Creed games for the half assed uninteresting storyline. Which is why it makes up such a small portion of the game. Honestly, look around... everyone hates Layla and the modern day crap.

@MBII There's no need for name calling, and please don't spam the comments section.

@MBII Yes, I love Dishonored also, especially the sequel. It's currently in 'rest mode' now, but what I really appreciate about the series is that it had an end that concluded the story, but didn't close out the world itself, so it's always open to come back to down the road.

This is something Ubisoft refuses to do with AC. The story has never ended in 23 (yes, it's actually that much) games, and the reason for that is because they don't want it to end. The frequency with which they produce games has caused franchise fatigue before such as with AC3 and Syndicate. They even released Rogue and Unity - two console games - at the same time, lol.

But instead of letting their installments resonate and breathe, in order to continue the cash flow, they changed the genre into roleplay, a la Odyssey.

So in essence they've found a way to keep things fresh, bring in open-world RPG fans, and continue to make as much if not more money without halting production. It's a smart move I think that seems to have paid off, but what they essentially did was trade the core fandom to acquire another market. So while they continue to please in one area they are also doing hurt to their reputation in another.

I love the modern day story but I do miss Desmond.

@Vegetto
Agreed, it is a bit s***

I remember when I was a die hard “died with Desmond” fan.

[was]

I remember when I almost got my AC tattoo covered up when they killed him off.

[almost]

But then I got my head out of my arse and moved forward alongside the series I love.

🤷🏻‍♀️

I think Ubisoft made a big mistake when they killed Desmond Miles. The story arc was great and throughout the series, the story followed his progression in character and ability. It seemed as though he was essentially becoming the characters he was merging with in the Animus. It is my belief, that if they were to have a similar character in the same line, i.e. a sister he didn't know about or something similar, again found and kidnapped by the Templars, that they could go with a character evolution similar to before leading to a all powerful, all knowing, Assassin figure head. The weak stories they have been producing just don't have the same power as the original story, and felt like they were just trying to put some kind of filler into the story. What happened to those before, and the hidden secrets in the Animus. They essentially died with Desmond Miles. A sister, or even brother could open so many possibilities, but Ubisoft has let the story go to the wasteside, and can't figure out how to fix it.

@Wazeddie22 glad I'm not the only one who hated Karen Page, what an irritating character!!