Assassin’s Creed Valhalla reportedly won’t be as bloated as previous games

With Assassin’s Creed Valhalla suddenly on everyone’s radar, fans of the series are already eager to dive back in and explore the franchise’s newest setting, but for some, that excitement is also tinged with trepidation. Sure, we’re all stuck inside with nothing to do for months on end now, but by the time Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is released, will we really want to commit to another 50-plus hour game? Well, according to Ubisoft, that might not be an issue, as it’s apparently aiming for a shorter runtime with Valhalla.

Responding to an article about Valhalla’s size on Twitter, Ubisoft’s head of communications for the Middle East, Malek Teffaha, said that “it won’t be the longest or biggest game in the series,” according to a translation from VG247. He didn’t specifically say how long the game will be, and that’s likely a detail that’s still open for some adjustment from the development team, but he did say that Ubisoft was trying to keep Valhalla to a manageable length in response to criticism about how long some games in the series can go on.

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Some players are certainly looking for games that they can sink as much time into as possible, but there’s also been some pushback on that front lately as some games (looking at you, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey) seem to fill the hours with bloated content that actually detracts from players’ enjoyment of the experience.

That’s not to say that Valhalla is likely to be a short game, though. After just its first cinematic reveal, we already know that it will feature a settlement building mechanic and task players with going on raids to expand their holdings, which sounds like it will add a lot of optional goals for anyone who wants to stretch the experience out. Beyond that, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will also feature a large map covering England and parts of Norway, which players will be free to explore at their leisure, plus the series’ usual modern-day storyline.

Players who want Valhalla to last as long as possible will probably have plenty of ways to make that happen, but for those who just want to knock around England as a Viking for a while then get on with their lives, it sounds like that’s exactly what they’ll get.