Ubisoft Reflects on Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Scope
For many players, the sheer size of Assassin's Creed Valhalla became a notable talking point, with its vast open world and abundance of content sometimes feeling overwhelming. Now, a Ubisoft developer has openly acknowledged that the game's scope might have indeed gone too far. Simon Arsenault, the lead for the recently launched Claws of Awaji DLC for Assassin's Creed Shadows, spoke with GamesRadar+ and agreed that Valhalla ultimately grew "too big."
Arsenault explained that while Valhalla felt manageable at launch, the continuous addition of numerous expansions and free content updates over time made the game increasingly intricate and immense. "If you played at launch, everything was fine, but the longer you waited, the more additions and free content accumulated," he stated. "At some point, the game became monstrous. It was already monstrous, but by the end, that monster grew even larger." This candid admission reflects a sentiment shared by a segment of the player base, who found themselves struggling to keep up with the endless stream of activities.
A Shift Towards Focused Content with Assassin's Creed Shadows DLC
In contrast to Valhalla's ever-expanding world, Arsenault highlighted a different approach for the development of Claws of Awaji. This new DLC for Assassin's Creed Shadows, which launched today, September 16th, was crafted by a smaller team based in Bordeaux, France. Arsenault believes this compact team and a more constrained timeline ultimately benefited the expansion.
"When you start a main game and you're creating something massive, of course, you have a lot of resources, a lot of people. You can go very far," Arsenault noted. "But here, time was limited, though we received much more than we expected at the beginning... so we had to focus. And how do you do that? By controlling the scale as much as possible." This philosophy suggests a potential shift towards more contained and focused experiences, even within the larger framework of an Assassin's Creed title.
The Claws of Awaji DLC invites players to explore the titular island of Awaji, promising a fresh story that offers approximately 10 hours of gameplay, alongside new equipment and other additions. Beyond the paid DLC, Ubisoft also rolled out a significant update for all owners of the base Assassin's Creed Shadows game. This free update includes a new quest, an increased maximum level cap, and various other enhancements, ensuring all players have something new to engage with.
What This Means for Players
This acknowledgement from Ubisoft offers insight into the ongoing evolution of the Assassin's Creed series. For players who found Valhalla's scale daunting, the more focused approach described for Claws of Awaji might signal a welcome change. It suggests that future content, and perhaps even mainline games, could lean towards more curated and impactful experiences rather than simply chasing sheer volume, allowing for deeper engagement without the fear of an ever-growing, unmanageable backlog of quests.
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