Many around the world are diving into the massive world of the newest addition to the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and there’s a lot of buzz around Evior’s adventure. Unfortunately, not all of it was positive buzz, as a description of a character drew some backlash. This came to light thanks to Courtney Craven, founder of gaming accessibility website Can I Play That?, who discovered a character in the game who was badly burned as a child. The character’s description revealed that she now lives in fear that “someone will see her disfigured face”, and Craven pointed out that talking about someone’s facial differences this way is “absolutely acceptable”, and Ubisoft addressed that description, apologizing for “reinforcing ableism through this language.”
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The description of the character reads “Horribly burned in a childhood accident, Eorforwine is terrified someone will see her disfigured face. She relives her fury with bursts of violence.”
I didn’t include this in my #AssassinsCreedValhalla impressions piece but it’s equally important to address. This is a character description in the game. It’s absolutely unacceptable to talk about facial differences this way. Writers for games and otherwise need to do better. pic.twitter.com/jOLpPzD6Oe
— Courtney Craven (@CyclopediaBrain) November 9, 2020
“I didn’t include this in my Assassin’s Creed Valhalla impressions piece but it’s equally important to address. This is a character description in the game,” Craven wrote on Twitter. “It’s absolutely unacceptable to talk about facial differences this way. Writers for games and otherwise need to do better.”
Ubisoft would respond to the post, writing “Thank you so much for pointing this out – we apologize for unintentionally reinforcing ableism through this language. We will remove this language in an upcoming update.”
Thank you so much for pointing this out – we apologize for unintentionally reinforcing ableism through this language. We will remove this language in an upcoming update.
— Assassin’s Creed (@assassinscreed) November 9, 2020
Ubisoft has removed content from their Assassin’s Creed games in the past due to backlash, which happened most recently with Odyssey, as many fans were upset that Kassandra was essentially forced into a heterosexual relationship in the DLC regardless of choices you made up until that point.
They would eventually go in and update that, and now it seems they will change the character’s description in the game, and it shows they’re always listening to feedback.
If you’re just starting out your time with Valhalla, you can find big tips and tricks to make your journey even more enjoyable right here, including tips on combat, exploring, what you should build at your settlement, and more.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is available now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Xbox Series X, Stadia, and Luna, and hits PS5 on November 12th.
What do you think of Valhalla so far? Let us know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MattAguilarCB for all things Assassin’s Creed!
