Assassin's Creed Valhalla has finally been confirmed, with the Viking themed adventure coming in 2020. Set during 837AD, a recent developer commentary has provided added insight into the game's map and locations.
Narrative director Darby McDevitt notes that “England itself was fairly fractured at this time, with many different kings that rule over different parts of it".
Read More: Assassins Creed Valhalla: UK Release Date, Trailer, Updates, Features, Pre-Order Guide And More!
“if you look at England now and see any town that ends with “thorpe” or “by”, that probably means it was a Viking town, or Norse or Dane town,” he explained. “So we know just by the number of them – hundreds of these towns – that they were very successful settlers.”
While the game's initial trailer shows Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, there are other kingdoms included in the game according to Ashraf Ismail, creative director.
“He’s the king of Wessex, the southernmost kingdom in England at the time,” Ismail said. “There’s also three others – Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia – that we deal with."
King Alfred is no pushover, however. "He was the strongest of the kings. He was able to push them back for a time and deal with them, whereas the other kings would crumble under the onslaught of the Danes and the Norse.”
Valhalla will also offer a glimpse at the Vikings' native Norway, too, with the game's story starting there. As Ismail says, “The journey starts in Norway and it will eventually lead to England, where again it’s about this idea of settling the people and building this thriving settlement".