Assassin's Creed Valhalla might be the final step in the series' journey from stealth action game to full-fledged RPG, but that doesn't mean Ubisoft has forgotten about its roots completely. In fact, longtime fans of the franchise will be glad to know that hidden blade one-shot kills are back at last.
We already knew the hidden blade - the assassin's signature weapon - was returning. It made a surprise appearance at the very end of Valhalla's reveal trailer, in one of the coolest moments I think I've seen from a video game reveal in quite some time. However, the news that it'll be capable of one-shot kills again is very welcome indeed.
Game director Ashraf Ismail confirmed this exciting detail in an interview with Kotaku. It turns out our viking hero Eivor will get their hands on the hidden blade at an early point in the game, after which they'll be able to make use of it to take out most targets with ease.
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"We continue with the idea that Eivor is not a trained assassin," Ismail explained. "Eivor is a Viking who receives this badass weapon and has to learn very quickly. Early in the experience, Eivor will learn a technique that, with the right timing ... can one-shot-kill virtually anybody."
Assassin's Creed Odyssey ditched the blade almost entirely in favour of more RPG-style combat. 2017's Origins was the last game to feature the weapon prominently, but even there it was clearly being phased out to encourage a less stealthy approach. While it's clear that the franchise has moved on from what it once was, it's nice to know the way of the sneaky stab hasn't been dropped entirely.
Ismail also teased that Eivor will be able to make use of another trick that we haven't really seen in Assassin's Creed for a few years now. He explained that social stealth - the act of hiding in crowds - will be back with a cool new twist.
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"The idea that a Norse person or a Viking is in a place that they're not wanted, for them to sort of go incognito and kind of hide in the crowd, if you will, made a lot of sense," Ismail said.
Ismail previously suggested that we'd be seeing a lot more of Assassin's Creed Valhalla in action over the coming months. Hopefully it's not too long until we get a good long look at gameplay, because I'm itching to know as much as possible ahead of release.
Topics: Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Ubisoft