Ubisoft has made its fans languish. After two years of development, eight hours of streaming and 24 hours of waiting, the French studio finally unveils the new opus of its saga : Assassin's Creed Valhalla. An immersion in the world of the Vikings accompanied by a first trailer and a host of information. The project is ambitious and seems to want to bring together all the ingredients that made the success of the license, while adding some unexpected novelties… Analysis. For several years now, Ubisoft has been known for making excellent trailers. Whether for their writing, their music or their staging. Some are sometimes even more appreciated than the game itself (a certain Assassin's Creed Revelations may come to mind?). It's the same today: the trailer for Assassin's Creed Valhalla is breathtakingly beautiful. Lasting four minutes, it presents us with an incredible amount of information. Let's analyze the main ones, point by point.
A new era
Like its predecessors Origins and Odyssey, Assassin's Creed Valhalla takes the gamble to take the player into a whole new era still unexplored in the series: that of the Vikings. And who says new era says new hero. You play as Eivor, a clan leader wishing to leave his native Norway to reach the shores of ninth-century England. Throughout the trailer, a voiceover introduces the Viking people as one of the worst creations spawned by humanity. Barbarians "who kill and massacre blindly", without honor or pity. This voice is that of the king (we can read "Rex" on the seal affixed to the wax). If we refer to the history of the Vikings and their various invasions in England, it would be possible that it was the ruler of Wessex, one of the most powerful Christian kingdoms on the island at the time. The red coat of arms displayed by its soldiers seems to lean in this direction, but without proving anything.
Battles and betrayals
Viking soldiers and warriors, that's just what we see more in this trailer. The two sides face each other on a battlefield never before seen in the series. What to contrast with the aspect "solitary infiltration" of the latest opus to date. 
Ubisoft tells us on its official website that these battles will be numerous. Sometimes to defeat troops, formerly to take fortresses. With, each time, several ways to defeat the enemy : head-on, in a "bold" way (surely understand in a discreet way) but also and above all thanks to strategies of alliances and betrayals. These "advanced RPG mechanics" are particularly highlighted by Ubisoft which ventures in a direction still little explored in the saga. Distant missions involving allied and enemy units appeared in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. They were perpetuated throughout the saga, without rarely going beyond an aspect of "optional mini-game". This possibility of alliances makes it possible to evoke the importance of choices. As in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, the player's choices will once again be crucial and may influence the rest of the story. As a reminder, the last opus offered a total of nine possible endings, each resulting from the choices made by the player throughout his game.
It's in the old pots…
These new features will be accompanied by already well-known features. The first is obviously navigation, very appreciated by fans since the excellent Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. What would a Viking be without his trusty drakkar? On the other hand, it is very difficult to foresee the question of naval battles. According to historians, drakkars were more transport ships than warships. In the ninth century, gunpowder did not exist! Then there are collisions and fighting on deck. 
The second idea is easily identifiable by watching the beginning of the trailer. We see Vikings very close to their families and elders, all gathered in a kind of village. You guessed it, it will be a question of managing the development of the colony of Vikings who came to settle on the coasts of England. It will be necessary to make it grow, develop buildings, barracks, shops (such as forges and tattoo artists) to develop its inventory and its quest journal. What recall the development of Monteriggioni in Assassin's Creed II, considered by many as one of the best episodes of the saga. The recipe for Assassin's Creed Valhalla already seems very effective. The mix between new gameplay ideas and Proust's madeleines has a double interest: it attracts new players formerly resistant to the license, but also to bring back the very first players, possibly tired thirteen years after the release of the first opus. The choice of the time is also very clever: the Vikings please the public. We could see this with the latest God of War and the success of the Vikings series (to name a few). However, a rather disturbing question may come to mind at the end of this trailer: apart from the end use of the secret blade, does anything else evoke the notion of "Assassin"? Response by the end of 2020.
