Some fans might have been disappointed that the recent Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gameplay trailer reveal didn’t contain much of the upcoming viking game’s, er, gameplay, as such. However, there’s now a chance to check out some in-game footage in action, though it’s not exactly from an official unveiling – about half an hour’s worth of gameplay has leaked online.
The upcoming PC game’s leaked footage has popped up in several different places online over the past day or so, and many copies have already been taken down, though it can still be viewed via this Reddit post at the time of writing. As you can see (if it’s still live as you read this), the gameplay is labelled ‘Work in progress’, so is likely a little different to what we’ll see when the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla release date rolls around – but it’s a decent snapshot of what’s in store.
We can see some of a sunset journey on horseback through a village called Northwic and countryside beyond, which for RPG games fans, has a distinctly Witcher 3 feel to it.
We can see some combat, in the form of bow-and-arrow and axe hunting against wolves, and a mission that sees protagonist Eivor encourage a band of Anglo-Saxon allies, “Fight to be free of this pain. Fight to be free of fear” – that is, “rid East Anglia of Rued’s clan, once and for all”. It seems Rued is an enemy viking boss with a flaming sword, who Eivor tackles later on in the footage, after taking to the stormy seas in a longboat and mounting an attack on the enemy castle.
At the end of the third gameplay chunk, there’s also a look at some in the in-game menus, suck as the skill tree (which looks like a constellation in the night sky), as well as the character’s inventory.
There’s no exact launch date for the game to make a note of just yet other than Holiday 2020, but there is a Ubisoft Forward event – an “E3-style showcase with exclusive game news, exciting reveals, and plenty more” – which will take place on Sunday, July 12, at 12:00 PDT / 15:00 EDT / 20:00 BST. Hopefully we’ll see even more of the game’s action then.