Introduction:
Siege of Paris was the biggest add-on to date for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Eyvor and his squad were supposed to go to Frankia to conquer new lands, collect tribute from pampered winemakers and capture Paris. The famous Ragnar Lothbrok already did this once – the main character wanted to repeat his feat. At least that’s what all the promotional materials of the new add-on told us in F95Zone. In fact, everything turned out quite differently.
In fact, the great Viking Eivor travels to Frankia to protect his people. The ancestors of the French want to attack England, which means that the Raven clan will also hurt. The main character goes to an unknown country not to rob, burn, kill and take his own, but to … Agree. With the king, count, monks, local rebels and northerners. And this is what the whole scenario of “The Siege of Paris” is about. About diplomacy.
Each character is spelled out. It can be seen that there is something behind any character. But only the scriptwriters of the add-on did not manage to reveal the heroes. Jarl Sigfred, huge as a bear, just wants to avenge his brother. His niece Torah wants fame and silver. King Karl the Fat appears at the very beginning and at the very end, where they simply dump all the cards on the table, and this is where his storyline ends. So you can go on for a long time – each of the heroes of the add-on is seemingly filled with meanings, but in fact it turns out to be a doll with empty dialogues.
The attack on the future capital of France takes place in one mission. It is staged beautifully, skillfully done, and before the attack there is a long preparation – but this path ends in nothing. Then follows the “epilogue”, where the player should choose what to do with the conflicting parties – to be kind and to convince everyone, or to kill everyone? This does not affect the ending in any way, but only changes the attitude of certain characters.
And it seems that Eivor does not affect anything at all in Francia. Everyone does as they please, and the main character is just an errand boy. He rescues the wives of kings, infiltrates protected areas, fights demons and plans to assassinate the local “order”. Local problems are like a bad family melodrama, the outcome of which the player does not care about from the high bell tower. It’s just boring, and after the passage there is a feeling like after a “scenario plug” – this was the sin of some areas of England in the original game.
But if you deviate from the story and move on to the gameplay, the miracle did not happen. All the same activities in the open world, clearing areas and new grind mechanics. Fortunately, the latter turned out to be completely optional. This is the execution of simple missions to kill or steal something for a coin for a local merchant. From the interesting – the set of equipment “Reaper”, but to get it, you will have to spend more than one hour completing monotonous tasks.
The local office of the Invisibles (the future brotherhood of assassins) is also disclosed lousy. A separate quest is associated with it, for the passage of three catacombs and the search for three keys. They will unlock the base of the Unseen, sealed a long time ago, where the player can get a one-handed sword. And it’s all. Fans speculated that it was Eyvor and Hayesam, the Invisible from the main character’s village, who would lay the foundations of the brotherhood in Francia. No, this did not happen – they simply forgot about the secretive killers, and most likely they will no longer remember. And it is not surprising, because Ubisoft Quebec is now at the helm of the series, and they only know a lot about magic spears(Dispel magic 5e) and other fantasy things.
It is not at all clear why it was necessary to add assassination missions, as in Unity and Syndicate. The player must look for clues about his goal, think over how best to get to it, but in fact it turns out that there is only one way to kill the target. Whether the enemy dies “uniquely” or simply in battle – that’s the whole choice that the Siege of Paris add-on gives. And sometimes they do not give it, if the villain is protected by plot armor and must resurrect a little later. It’s a shame.
Francia and its districts look very hacky. A few settlements stand out, and the rest simply use the models of English churches, houses and villages. Even the general species sometimes shout: “You can’t tell us from England.” Sometimes the local beauty was breathtaking, but it was so rare that you can’t even remember what exactly you might like. The original game and “Wrath of the Druids” did not allow themselves this, but immersed themselves in an adventure, and each area was unique in its own way.
Diagnosis
The Siege of Paris is the biggest disappointment that Ubisoft has surprised this year. A script about family problems and revenge is like a script plug to fill in game time. Not a single character caught on with his charisma(Guiding bolt 5e). Francia and its regions look hacky. The assassination plans look good, but they are linear, and there is no question of any freedom of choice. Useless rebels with their endless tasks and new currency are simply not needed. Even the soundtrack is bad! The siege of Paris was a success, but this is a tiny fraction of the playing time of the 8 hours required to complete.
Pro
- Missions with preparation and siege of Paris
- Killing planning
Contra
- Add-on plot
- Frankia design
- Characters (edit)
- Rebel mechanics
- Soundtrack