Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Discovery Tour: Viking Age Reviews
Well… maybe. There’s definitely a strong sense of the Norse in the cultural zeitgeist in the moment, and I can see someone being curious enough to take what amounts to a walking tour of these locations and places to understand a little bit more. And what the game actually wants to deliver it does. While I have some minor quibbles here and there, by and large this is very good at being an educational tour of a historical period with a few fanciful elements to support beliefs.
This leaves Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tour: Viking Age as a pretty solid update that players who enjoyed the setting of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla should definitely check out. However, it doesn’t quite justify its asking price as a standalone title, except maybe for history buffs who want to see a faithful recreation of the period that isn’t bogged down by RPG systems or combat mechanics.
'Assassin's Creed Discovery Tour: Viking Age' is the self-guided, interactive, behind-the-scenes museum tour for Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. Without the violence, combat, or fictional elements of Valhalla, 'Viking Age' is basically an education tool showcasing how much hard work the team at Ubisoft did to make the AAA title. On its own, Viking Age is incredible and could quite easily contribute to the future of education. However, as it is a by-product of such a critically acclaimed game, 'Viking Age' is left standing in Valhalla's very large shadow. Had things been the other way around with 'Viking Age' as the original title and Valhalla filling the role of its successor, then things would have been completely different. I don't mean to draw such a heavy comparison between the two titles, but I've got to call it as it is. That said, 'Assassin's Creed Discovery Tour: Viking Age' is still an amazing experience and worth checking out. I have more respect for the Assassin's Creed games and Ubisoft for playing 'Viking Age' and cannot emphasise its value as an educational tool.
This simple change to the formula equates to a tremendous evolution, one that weaves a storyline in with its teachings rather than simply having you plod along from point to point hitting the A button. Danny Wallace returns as the Assassin Shaun Hastings, and while he doesn’t provide voice-over for every single point on the map, his occasional inclusion is always most welcome. Ubisoft includes imagery from museums as well as its own concept art and research together with images straight out of Shutterstock to create what’s undeniably a unique experience. It’s not perfect by any stretch — accessing the map caused my PC to chug and there’s a bunch of pop-in and flickering when it comes to NPCs. That said, the issues were fairly minor and didn’t detract from the overall experience too much.
Discovery Tour: Viking Age uses fictional narratives to interest the player in learning about real world cultures and artifacts to great effect. While seeing more perspectives would have given a rounder view, there's a ton of interesting things to learn at your own pace and however deep you want to go.