
Update: Ubisoft has responded to our request for comment on Julien Laferrière's claims that Assassin's Creed Valhalla has a larger map than Odyssey's. Here's the statement we had back from the publisher:
"Odyssey has fantastic momentum. Our aim with Valhalla is to build on that by creating a more approachable story, while adding more depth, and new features and activities to the open world that we believe will keep players engaged for a long time."
So, we're no clearer on whether the translated information below is accurate, but it sounds like Valhalla is aiming to at least keep you playing for a similar amount of time. Whether the map turns out to be larger or not, the upcoming game is going to be a big one.
Original Story: One thing you can't dispute about Assassin's Creed Odyssey is the sheer scale of it. It's an insanely big game, with an enormous map filled with stuff to do and things to see. By the sound of it, Assassin's Creed Valhalla will follow in its predecessor's giant footsteps.
A French language interview between YouTuber Julien Chièze and Ubisoft Montréal producer Julien Laferrière has provided info on the scope of the new game. The interview has been translated to English over on the game's subreddit. According to this conversion, Laferrière says the game's map is "probably a bit larger" than Odyssey's.
"I do not have the exact figures at this stage, but we have not only created the whole country, which is in this case England, but also to a good part of Norway too," the translation reads. That's not to mention "other secret worlds" that Laferrière says have also contributed to the game's size.
This quote doesn't line up with what another Ubisoft employee stated recently. Malek Teffaha tweeted to a fan that the game is "neither the longest nor the biggest game in the series", but this has since been deleted. The plot thickens.
We've reached out to Ubisoft for comment on the translated quotes, and will update this story once we hear back. For now it sounds like Valhalla could be one huge game. Do you want the next Assassin's Creed to one-up Odyssey in sheer size? Would you prefer Ubisoft scale things down for the upcoming sequel? Have your say in the comments section below.
[source youtube.com, via reddit.com, gamesradar.com]
Comments 56
If it really is bigger than Odyssey's map then it must be gigantic.
i dunno i think Odysseys was TOO big if i'm honest and if this one is bigger that might be a bit of a slog to navigate
Finished Odyssey and i havnt even seen all the map ffs
So it's not the longest or biggest game in the series yet has a larger map than Odyssey? Makes sense 🤔
So they essentially lied when they said there would be no extra fluff?
@carlos82 Indeed, but as I pointed out in the article, that statement has been deleted. Maybe it wasn't accurate after all?
Ubisoft are really trying to out Ubisoft themselves with this one😳
So first its smaller than Odyssey now its bigger? Dammit Ubisoft get your story straight. I wouldn't mind a smaller map if it means better story and less milling about. Maybe even make the present day sections good.
@Quintumply he should get a job with the British government 😆
Ha, madness. Obviously once every area has been unlocked you can fast travel to your heart's content but I suspect this isn't the news what some wanted to hear.
😉
As somebody who loves and appreciates open world games, the bigger the better I say.
I guess they just had to press CTRL+V two more times just to make it bigger than Odyssey, with the same assets scattered everywhere.
It's easy to tell I'm in Whiterun, Windhelm, Solitude or Riften in Skyrim. It's easy to tell I'm in Velen, Oxenfurt or Novigrad or Skellige in TW3. it's easy to tell I'm in Valentine, Rhodes, St. Denis or the Bayou in RDRII.
I just can't tell where I'm at in AC Odyssey! Ubisoft should work on uniquely crafting locations instead of sheer repetitive size.
@TheArt
Amen to that!
Nah, Ghost of Tsushima for me. From what we've seen that looked more diverse than all AC games combined.
THE WHOLE OF ENGLAND??? Oh no, get ready for some poor, samey looking locations
I'm getting it whether it's bigger or smaller I love the AC series. This is going to be one hell of a gaming year for me (god willing) The last of us 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Cyberpunk 2077, AC Valhalla, PS5 & Xbox series X........woo hoo .
Ok I'm confused.So it's either a smaller game in the series or a larger game.Someone's lying.Maybe the Map is bigger but you can't go everywhere and the story is just 10 hours long.
I wonder if my house is in it.
@TheArt this! All day long.
I can only hope not.
But I thought they said it's going to be smaller just a couple of days ago?
Before long it will end up like a Just Cause sized map. With the same pointless stuff to do inside of them.
Simple solution guys. If the size of a map puts you off from playing a game then don't buy it.
I understand that time is an issue for many people, plus with so many attractive titles out there it can get a tad overwhelming but I'd never ask a developer to compromise on their vision.
There are lots of indie games out there, some of which can be completed in a week or even less. Maybe those are the games for you.
Perfect news for me. I love origins & Odyssey, traveling all over the map, finding treasures & locations was my most favourite thing of the games. So with Valhalla having a bigger map? I’m in. Odyssey was one of my most played games ever & one of my most favourite games that I’ve played. I cannot wait to dive into Valhalla.
Wow. I left Odyssey feeling like I got a lot for my money. I loved exploring the map.
Did not need a bigger map, but I'll take it for the same $60 entrance fee. This is already Day 1 for me.
My copy of Odyssey is still sitting on the shelf untouched, but I thought Origins had a big map.
That map of England will come in real handy if they ever need to rebuild it.
Odyssey is far too big. You could show me screenshots of all the different islands in that game and I don't think I could tell you which one is which.
I mean, if they're filling that space with interesting and unique things, then great. But even with 13 teams developing, I think that's impossible.
That’s half of my new PS5 SSD gone on day 1! 😉
@TheArt Totally agree with you, the main problem with Ubisoft and open-world games in general is how hard it is to identify where you are because it all feels too similar sometimes.
@TheArt so true. Ubi constantly take the wrong lessons from these games. Size and question marks over quality writing and meaningful content.
@FullbringIchigo Yeah, this worried me a bit. I’d rather have well-crafted locations than size for the sake of it. This feels like it’s gonna be bad for the quality of the game. I hope there’s something that juts is wide-open with nothing. Like the ocean, let’s have too big an ocean. I don’t know, I feel like I’m listing off the leaser of evils now.
Yeah I ain't getting this..
If youre buying the game even though you want to complain about it, dont bother complaining. You're still giving them your money and if enough of you do that even when youre complaining, it wont make them change anything because their metric for success is mostly sales and how the majority reacts. Keep seeing negative comments when we haven't even seen true gameplay or the actual map. If youre really bothered, dont buy the game, show them that this isnt the way.
@JesWood13 they said you don't need to do all extra stuff. you can go ahead complete main story you wont be blocked every now and then with level gates.
I just barely got done installing Odyssey on my PS4 pro, haven't even started the game yet lol by the time I'm finished exploring odyssey, PS5 will have been released & Valhalla would be available!! at least I've got stuff to occupy my time, I'm almost done with uncharted 3 then I can delete the collection from my console! I'm going to start uncharted 4 hopefully beat it then move on to odyssey! happy gaming!
@Gotham Or if you're not bothered by the size of the map, then buy it!
😉
Seriously some of the whinging on here is getting a tad pathetic.
@FullbringIchigo
Yea, I platinum-ed Odyssey and there's still parts of the map that I've never even been. I enjoyed how huge it was, but man did it take some time to explore.
Good I'm glad, it should be the whole British Isles to be honest.
I didn't like odyssey. After playing syndicate just before that odyssey felt so strange. As though my character was floating through the game world. She didn't feel physically grounded at all. Hope Valhalla is more like syndicate in that regard.
Edit: Also the world wasn't nearly as interesting. When walking through previous games, especially syndicate and origins I would often stop to just look at how beautiful the game was.
@thefirst Dragons existing at the same time as Vikings? You're confusing AC Valhalla with the fictional How to Train Your Dragon series .
If you’re creating a map with both Norway and England then most of it is going to be the North Sea. It is very large and very empty. I suspect the land area will be smaller than Odyssey but the sea area will be bigger.
No, I don't want it bigger.
Hopefully its atleast twice as big,one can only hope
Calling it now. In 20 years, they're gonna make one with the approximate surface area of the actual earth.
@thefirst irl Vikings didn’t have Dragons, even the Viking Gods used realistic animals such as Crows and Wolves, however: the Nords have Dragons.
I don’t care, I loved the worlds of Origins and Odissey and I am ready for more!
I'd be interested to know their definition of 'the whole country'. AC Odyssey's map is 90 square miles. Area of England is 50,000 square miles!
Updated with a statement we received from Ubisoft. It doesn't help much
@Quintumply Thanks for that Ubisoft.
Odyssey was good but too large. I found that I would go to a new area and aside from the grindy stuff, do a couple of missions and move on. I'd only ever get familiar with the hub areas, like Athens.
To me I want a full open world rather than an empty one. HZD was perfect size for me, each area felt unique, had unique enemies in a lot of cases and came with a different flavour of story missions.
First it's a smaller game then it's the largest ? What next week it's only one village and a small valley?
Can't they just make it smaller but denser? Why is it so necessary to make it so huge that there's nothing in it? Take Cyberpunk 2077 for example, we can tell it wouldn't be as huge open world vs The Witcher III but it's far more denser with more NPCs doing their own thing which makes the world so alive.
@thefirst
Nah, it'll just be London as usual 😉
A dragon dlc would be epic please ubisoft
@FullbringIchigo agreed. I got bored of Odyssey, and it was way too much busy work, with quests asking you to slog to multiple locations only to be rewarded with the dreaded phrase on completion of said pain in the ass quest... Multiple Quests Accepted. Are their any scarier three words in the English language to those of us who played AC Odyssey?
@SirAngry i still say a map like Syndicates is about the right size for a AC game
still in my opinion the best game in the series, good size map, interesting and likable characters, selectable characters that work within the lore of the franchise, an interesting time period and location, parkour and social stealth and the combat sits almost between the classic and the new
the only downside was the level system, it was very grindy BUT you wasn't locked out of game progression just because your level was lower than recommended , if you had the skill you could still beat missions at a higher level than you, unlike Origins and Odyssey where a level difference of 1 was enough to make in unbeatable
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