Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Cut Ship-To-Ship Combat

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Cut Ship-To-Ship Combat

It has been revealed that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was due to have ship-to-ship combat during the gameplay, but this element did not make the final cut of the story. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla launched alongside the new generations of consoles this Autumn. It has already gone on to be a huge success for Ubisoft, topping the Christmas UK sales charts in a first for the developers. The Viking epic even managed to knock Cyberpunk 2077 off its position at the top of the charts during the latter’s launch week.

In the story of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, gamers will travel from the snowy lands of Norway across the sea to the plains of England. In order to enable this voyage, gamers must reach chapter 5 – Battle of the Northern Way (The Seas of Fate). Once this is achieved, players will be prompted to “board Sigurd’s longship”, and the journey will begin. With a crew of able Vikings, Eivor can be seen leaving Norway, before arriving on the shores of England, with no notable events between the two lands.

In a recent interview with Game Informer, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla producer Julian Laferrière revealed that the team originally wanted to include some ship-to-ship combat within the game. However, on further research, they discovered that the Vikings very rarely engaged in such warfare. Laferrière tells Game Informer that, “Vikings were not doing much naval combat; we thought they might be shooting flaming arrows… But they just didn’t do that”. As such, this original idea was scrapped. Instead, the ships became a vehicle mechanic to get the players across the sea to England, and then back to Norway later on in the game. Due to this discovery, there is no ocean on the maps of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The only water features included are those of rivers.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Cut Ship-To-Ship Combat

Had ship-to-ship combat been a part of the final cut for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, it would not have been the first time for the franchise that this fighting style was included. Naval combat is a strong feature of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, an earlier title in Ubisoft’s longstanding series. During this game, players captain the Jackdaw, a brig that was originally part of the Spanish Treasure Fleet that went by the name of El Dorado. Gamers can upgrade the Jackdaw, and its weapons, as the story progresses by plundering other ships within the game.

With a praised return to stealth, the latest offering in the Assassin’s franchise still boasts a vast range of weapons and attacks that players can utilize to their advantage. So, while there is no doubt that the inclusion of ship-to-ship to combat would have been a great addition to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the game nevertheless offers a wide range of combat options without it and can cater to each fans’ personal play style.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is available now on PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Google Stadia