Ubisoft's Assassin’s Creed Valhalla continues the series’ stories set in the distant past and present day. However, many newcomers and lapsed fans are able to enjoy new Assassin’s Creed games without keeping up with the franchise’s infamously convoluted mythology. Do the past and present stories actually matter in the latest game?

The world of Assassin’s Creed is a web of conspiracies. Meant to mirror and play off of real world conspiracy theories about ancient civilizations and secret organizations, the series is premised on the idea of a malevolent species which once controlled the world. These “Isu” created humans as their slaves and ran the world until roughly 77,000 years ago, when humanity rebelled and a mysterious cataclysm ended their reign. Human history has been shaped by two competing factions, the Assassins and the Templars, who each vie for “Pieces of Eden,” Isu artifacts with various powers. Over the course of the series, Ubisoft has unveiled more and more about the Isu - who are essentially humanity's gods - and the cataclysm which threatens to return and end human civilization as it did their creators’. This constitutes the “past” storyline.

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In the modern day, the descendants of the Assassins and Templars still fight over Isu artifacts. The Templars founded Abstergo, a nearly omnipotent corporation with unlimited reach in media and the world economy. The Assassins, meanwhile, do their best to thwart their shadowy counterpart, but their numbers are dwindling. Their eternal duel tends to take place in the Animus, a Matrix-like technology which allows certain individuals to live through the memories (and extended romantic sequences) of their ancestors. Clues found in history through the Animus can aid in discoveries in the present day, often leading the player to the location of long forgotten Isu tech. In this way, the past and present storylines converge by the end of each Assassin's Creed game.

How The Past And Present Storylines Pay Off In Valhalla

Assassin's Creed 1 protagonist Altair overlooking a city in the Holy Land.

The latest Assassin's Creed title is not unique in this regard. In fact, as the third of three games features Layla Hassan as protagonist, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla acts as a capstone to the trilogy by culminating events in both the past and present storylines. The origin of the Templars from the previous Order of the Ancients is at last fully revealed, and while Layla and her friends’ stories may or may not be over, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s ending does serve as a fitting conclusion to their journey so far.

However, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is still accessible to new players. This is because the past and present stories have both winnowed down to a smaller cast of characters with clearer goals. Ubisoft has de-emphasized Abstergo and other Isu villains, like Juno, in favor of the more impersonal (and more easily explained) antagonist of the coming apocalypse. So, although first-time players would be wise to skim through a summary of the events of Origins and Odyssey, Layla’s latest adventure in the Animus will not be completely inscrutable.

The past and present storylines of the Assassin’s Creed franchise culminate in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. While players cannot ignore series lore altogether, the latest title makes it easier than usual for new fans to catch up to speed.

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