Assassin's Creed Valhalla: that makes it better than Odyssey
Table of contents
1 ship can be summoned at any time 2 horse no longer dawdles 3 Horses can swim 4 Stamina bar makes fights more exciting 5 A more compact, better-filled world 6 More stealth options 7 Significantly shorter loading times 8 A more complex story 9 Much more motivating upgrade system 10 No more loot 11 More varied tasks 12 Better mass battles Expand Well, the answer this question is of course very subjective, at least we were quite impressed in our test. However, we noticed many aspects that, in our opinion, Valhalla makes objectively better than Odyssey.Ship can be summoned at any time
In Odyssey, summoning the ship is a real torture: First of all it is only possible at fixed points at the port, and there are comparatively few of them. In addition, it takes a long time, including day and night changes, before you can set the sails.In Valhalla, the ship is no longer used for fighting, but only for moving. However, it is called extremely fast and from everywhere where there is water. That makes traveling the world by water much more pleasant.
Horse no longer dawdles
In Odyssey it is unfortunately quite often like this: We call our horse and then it may or may also come Not. Especially when we whistle for the horse while running, it often takes so long before he appears next to us that we have almost made our way on foot.In Valhalla there is practically no delay: like the boat, our little horse appears next to us as soon as we whistle. That is not necessarily realistic, it is the fact that our horse can hear us from every corner of the world, but also not like that.
Horse can swim
To the horse again: As if it was missing in the seahorse course back then and never learned to swim, in Odyssey it reacts very extremely to water and throws us off not very elegantly as soon as it comes into contact with it.Source: PC Games Source: PC Games In Valhalla needs a small amount of money to study, but afterwards our ride-on vehicle is ready to get your stomach wet without freaking out completely. How nice if you just want to cross a river! You shouldn't try to just swim out to sea.
The stamina bar makes fights more exciting
Odyssey's fighting system is different, some like it, others find it too coarse and imprecise . There's no question that it doesn't take too much tactics. Hit it, use special attacks, done.By and large, Valhalla is no different. However, the system feels a bit easier to control, and there's an exciting new feature: a stamina bar that is filled with light attacks and counterattacks and emptied by strong attacks and evasions. This makes the battles a little more strategic.
A more compact, better-filled world
Don't get me wrong, Odyssey's Greece is beautiful and damn big too. But one can certainly ask whether it is not too big and there are too many areas and stretches of land where nothing happens at all.Valhalla also has enough landscape that is just there for that to travel them. Overall, the world is a bit more compact, but the tasks and collectibles are distributed more sensibly and more evenly.
More stealth options
Stealth in Odyssey has a problem: It actually works well. Because enemies also level up, even if you have become an absolute attacking monster there are still enemies that you cannot eliminate in one fell swoop.Source: PC Games Source: PC Games Valhalla relies on enemies who level up instead to areas of different difficulty that do not change. In addition, you unlock a really fine ability in the skill tree. Thanks to this, if you have a bit of skill at a quick-time event, you can also turn off enemies well above your own strength level with a stab of the hidden blade.
Significantly shorter loading times
The loading times in Assassin's Creed Odyssey are a horror! No matter whether at the start of the game, if you restart after a game over or just want to travel fast: Hardly anything goes under 30 seconds, especially on PS4 and Xbox One.This plus point for Valhalla is therefore only aimed to the next-gen versions and to people with high-performance computers: in Norway and northern England, each loading time takes a maximum of ten seconds, often well below. Much better that way!
A more complex story
Well, now we're getting a little subjective. We think, however, that Odyssey has a nice story, but loses itself too much in crude science fiction and does not find a coherent voice due to the many storylines running at the same time.Valhalla's plot can certainly not be of caliber either like The Last of Us Part 2. But she finds a more consistent tone, is told more stringently and does more interesting things with her characters. The central conflict in particular is really well crafted and works well with different emotions.
Much more motivating upgrade system
A rascal who thinks that the real money shhop should be pushed with it. If you are a complete player, you will never have problems moving forward in Odyssey. Those who concentrate primarily on the main missions quickly run into a wall when the experience level requirements suddenly rise to dizzying heights. Then you have to grind for a clear skill tree and for status improvements, and that happens very, very slowly.Source: PC Games Source: PC Games Not only do you have to do a lot less secondary stuff in Valhalla for the main tasks To be able to pass, the level-up system has also been improved dramatically. The amount of XP needed to climb up never changes, and then there are always two points that can be invested in a truly massive skill tree. He always has new, cool skills ready, even in the late stages of the game.
No more loot
Along with leveling enemies, Odyssey also includes leveling items such as weapons, helmets and clothes. You constantly collect the same objects with marginal differences and garbage your inventory with them. In this late game game we have already sold all the unnecessary ballast, but our menu is still bursting at the seams even with the supposedly particularly good copies. And then you still need so many different resources to improve!The simple solution in Valhalla: There is simply no more loot, instead there is a relatively large number of unique items. They cannot be improved as arbitrarily as in Odyssey, but in predetermined levels, and with very few resources that are much easier to find. Every ax pulled out of a hidden chest immediately gains in value.
More varied tasks
As beautiful as Odyssey's game world is, what we experience in it is often similar and usually involves fights, Escort missions or the like. The main and secondary missions are well done, but the next to it less stuff. If we never have to go into one of the same-looking caves full of snakes again, we'll be happy.Valhalla offers fewer and shorter side missions than Odyssey, but also plenty of variety: mini-games, small, very different mini-missions by NPCs , Skill tests and, and, and. Not everything we do in Valhalla is fantastic. But since we rarely have to do the same thing umpteen times in a row, but instead experience new things over and over again, that hardly matters.
Better mass battles
What are the mass battles in Odyssey for? Unlike the other side missions, they are virtually pointless. They are just letting areas of the world fall into the hands of either the Spartans or the Athenians with no real impact on us. The mass battles hardly ever appear in the main storyline, and when they are, they are usually broken off by some cutscenes. And the things are not too fun to play either, you just stand on a surface and slaughter.Source: PC Games Source: PC Games It’s different in Valhalla, where these mass clashes have been replaced by raids. Fits the Viking setting! In sweeping story battles even the battering ram is taken out, otherwise you can call your men and women with the horn in almost every settlement and then go over to looting and shredding. That feels a lot more meaningful and organic than the weird fights in Odyssey.
And they were, the things that Assassin's Creed Valhalla (buy now 53.60 €) does better than its predecessor, Odyssey, in our opinion . Do you still have points that you particularly like about the Viking adventure? In what ways do you think the title is a step backwards? Let us know in the comments! Be sure to check out our video in which we ride across the entire New England map, read our opinion on the real money shop in the game and take a look at our FAQ, in which we answer your questions that you asked us in advance of the release had.
