Fans got a look at Ubisoft‘s latest entry in their hit Assassin’s Creed franchise, which turned out to be titled Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and the trailer definitely checked off the box on the rumored Viking theme. The trailer was all cinematic, but it featured plenty of action and peeks at the history, religion, and brutal battles that the series is known for. That said, the past two games have also brought back flash-forwards to the modern-day as Layla enters the Animus to head back and live out the lives of past Assassins to battle the Templars, though these aspects of the game are much smaller than the Desmond parts of past games. During an interview with Valhalla Director Darby McDevitt, GameSpot asked about the modern-day storyline, and it seems it will be returning in Valhalla.
“We continue Layla’s story,” McDevitt said. “We have a lot of interesting new approaches to the present-day story that we’re excited for people to see. It’s something I’ve wanted to see for many years and we finally had the idea in a way that we could pull it off, which I won’t get into. But we definitely continue Layla’s story. That hasn’t changed.”
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Fans were a little apprehensive regarding the modern-day aspects of the franchise, mostly from how things wrapped up in the past games. At one point early on everything was leading to a big payoff that was expected to see Desmond finally become the Assassin he was born to be and that had been talked about or hinted at in Assassin’s Creed 1, 2, Brotherhood, Revelations, and 3.
What ultimately happened was, well, disappointing, as we never actually get to see him fulfill that destiny. Instead, we see him sacrifice himself before he can become that present-day Assassin in some consulted plot of ancient god mumbo jumbo that was not worth it in the end. That’s why fans were suspect of heading down that route again in Origins, but so far the present-day bits have been excellent, and Layla is a far more endearing and likable character than Desmond ever was.
It’s also a benefit to the present-day bits that they are much shorter in overall length compared to how much time you spend in the past, and so far they add just the right amount of mystery and story development to make the overall whole better in the end.
We’re excited to see what’s next for Layla, and let us know if you feel the same in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MattAguilarCB for all things Assassin’s Creed!
