With the release of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, players will be able to raid, pillage and go on all kinds of Viking adventures. During their escapades, players will be able to adjust the difficulty of three different components of the game to create the challenge suited for them.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is the latest game in the Assassin's Creed franchise. Players control Eivor, a Viking warrior partaking in the Norse invasion of England, who gets drawn into the centuries-long conflict between the secret orders of Assassins and Templars. Thus far Assassin's Creed Valhalla has received warm reviews from critics, who appreciate the blend of new mechanics and old that puts a fresh spin on some familiar Assassin's Creed elements. Assassin's Creed Valhalla will continue to receive updates over the next year, with both free content for all players and at least two hefty expansions included in the season pass.
When players start a new game of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, they are immediately given a series of difficulty levels to adjust, beginning with Exploration. Exploration controls how much information is given to a player on the HUD compass. Adventurer, the "easiest" setting, shows more icons on the compass of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, from much further away, with the distance of the icon labeled. Each subsequent level of Assassin's Creed Valhalla's difficulty settings, Explorer and Pathfinder, shrinks how close a location must be before it shows on the compass, and reveals fewer icons in general. Pathfinder shows minimal icons on the compass, and no distances at all.
Can Players Change Assassin's Creed Valhalla Difficulty After Starting the Game?
The combat in Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a more straightforward scale, with four levels of difficulty. The easiest is Skald, followed by Vikingr, Berserker, and Drengr. Lastly, players can adjust Assassin's Creed Valhalla's difficulty settings for stealth to one of three levels: Apprentice, Assassin, and Master Assassin. Each higher level of difficulty raises the perception of guards, including how quickly they spot a player and from how far away. Players don't need to worry that they are permanently locking themselves into these choices, as they can be adjusted at any time from the menu. In fact, Assassin's Creed Valhalla has a fairly hefty number of adjustable settings, including the ability to turn off gory animations and add or remove location distances regardless of difficulty level.
The ability to adjust different aspects of game difficulty is becoming an increasingly common feature in games, and is certainly a welcome one. Different players have different strengths or want different things from the games. Independent difficulty settings means Assassin's Creed Valhalla leaves room for both the player who wants to feel like an explorer but doesn't want stressful combat and the player who wants to be the ultimate Viking warrior but wants the map to always show them where to go. And of course, for the player who wants to feel like a Master Assassin in the world of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, there's a setting for that as well.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available on PS4, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, PC and will launch on PS5 on November 12.