A vast and multi-faceted trip through a stylised Viking life, with a new fighting system, manifold mini-games and diversions, and untold glitches. It’s Assassin’s Creed to its core.

The mix of stealth and battle charge raids makes a nice change of pace, with combat more exciting than usual; It looks beautiful throughout and it’ll keep you out of trouble for weeks.

Many bugs; The open world is large and relatively empty, a problem exacerbated if you turn down the HUD settings; Conversational choices rarely seem important and side missions feel flyweight and inconsequential.

Like it’s New Creed predecessors, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is an epic adventure that benefits from a startling new direction in design and function. Because of its larger scope, you’re no longer living inside a small narrative bubble and shaping the world around you.

Fans of the Assassin's Creed series have long requested certain historical settings to be the basis for new instalments. Times and places that the developers have seemingly revelled in denying to their loyalist fans, possibly out of some sadistic pleasure.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla PS4 Review – One thing that the Assassin’s Creed franchise has always done remarkably well is selling you a setting, making you feel part of a specific period in time.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey was a long game, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla is no different in that regard. I've put in well over 70 hours at this point, and

As the years have gone by, Ubisoft have worked to evolve and iterate the Assassin’s Creed formula, moving away from the city games to vast open world RPGs. There have been self-inflicted wounds along the journey with an unhealthy corporate culture leading to a large restructure in their editorial...

If you were unsure how the stealthy mechanics of an Assassin's Creed Viking game would work, wonder no more. Though it deviates little from the template of the games that come before it, Valhalla is stunning in scope and ambition and looks fantastic on next-gen hardware, albeit marred by technical glitches and a lack of last-minute polish that could've turned this great game into an unmissable one. Still, if you're looking for an open-world epic to sink your teeth into during the long winter months ahead, consider yourself sorted.

An engaging story with an intriguing protagonist ; A satisfying assortment of bonus abilities and combat perks; With a 65+ hour playtime, it's great value for money;

Survival is surprisingly tricky, especially early-game when you can't carry many rations; Bugs and glitches break the immersion and may crash your system; An overwhelming map that might be off-putting for some;

The Vikings' forays into England feels like a perfect fit for Ubisoft's latest historical action-adventure. It's some of the best lockdown escapism you could desire, just in time for a next-generation of console launches.

Vast and sprawling; Unconventional narrative structure is great; Looks superb; Full of character; Reminiscent of the very best RPGs;

Often afflicted by dodgy path-finding; By no means glitch-free;

It's very pretty, although the Norway setting is all one note and just generic snow everywhere. It could have been anywhere. They missed a trick not showing it in summer when there are amazing displays of wildflowers and colours. Disappointed to find the Nordic portion is only the baby area, and after that it's all over in England which manages to be in summer time despite it only being a 6 week journey between the two. I didn't like the storyline particularly and felt no attachment to any of the characters. The female voice actor does a weird Batman voice that's really annoying, and the male actor is boring. Lots of getting hung up on invisible walls, and not standing firm on the ground. NPC's not making sounds when they should (vocalisations clearly missing) and a massive lack of anything assassin-y. Soooooo, disappointing all round really.

My initial purchase was to be Cyberpunk 2077, but reviews showed it performed very poorly on the PS4 – so this was my next choice. Being a fan of the Vikings TV show, it seemed like a logical choice. I thoroughly enjoy open world games and this is a cracker. Graphics and gameplay are both impressive, and the storyline is detailed. This was also my first foray into the world of Assassin's Creed, save I have been suitably impressed.