Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Studio
Ubisoft Montreal
Time on Project
2 years
Montreal Regions Team
Quest Director
Philippe Bergeron
Narrative Director
Darby McDevitt
Producer
Jason Arsenault
Product Owner
Laurence Letalien
Technical Directors
Fanny Campaign
Kevin Coughlan
Writers
Betty Robertson,
Russel Lees
World Designers
Jessalyne Dulac
Jonathan Girard
Level Artists
Jonathan Viens
Olivier Carignan
Marie-Eve Cournoyer
Emile Viens
Quests Designers
Simon Ayers,
Maxime Coulombe,
Evangelia Fahantidou,
Marc-André Jacques Gauthier,
Maxime Mousini
Development Testers
Jocelyn Bastien,
Marika Fontaine
I started working on Valhalla from the conception phase for the Region of West Mercia. I was the Quest Designer for the Arc of Glowecestrescire (modern day Gloucester) and I then worked on the first DLC, Wrath of the Druids.
Glowecestrescire
From conception of the quest arc, to researching the history and culture, to coming up with interesting quest beats and ways to showcase that culture, I worked closely with my narrative and world designers to make sure the themes were cohesive across our territory. The arc that we created consisted of mostly exotic gameplay that had to be hand scripted, but which gave me a chance to further showcase the themes and traditions of the story.
I was really excited to see social stealth return to Assassin’s Creed and wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to create a unique gameplay moment out of. To my delight, our custom disguise, specific to the territory of Gloucestershire, was approved and I was able to focus on delivering a quest line that took advantage of this unique social interaction Eivor could have, as a spirit during Halloween.
Eivor with the Mari Lwyd Disguise
At the beginning of the quest when the players are given that disguise, they learn how it works by going trick or treating in the beginning of the festivities, without the risk of guard detection or combat. Just some good trick of treating fun. As the plot thickens, the players have to take advantage of this unique disguise, in order to talk to Druids, complete ceremonies and mingle with other disguised party goers without alerting the guards, who are no longer friendly towards Eivor.
Inspired by the carnival in Assassin’s Creed 2, I really wanted to create a big party where the players had to blend in with the crowd and participate in order to not be detected by the guard. To achieve that, I tried to create a large enough setting for the festival that was going on, and make sure that there were activities the player could participate in. I hid the objectives around the festival in a way that would allow the players to at least wander around if not actively take part in the festivities. The additional challenge for this was because Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is an open world game, while Assassin’s Creed 2 was more of a linear experience. I had to take into account the different ways in which the players might decide to leave the quest or the potential distractions that could ruin the setup. I worked with the game designers to create a moment that works within the systems of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, but also takes advantage of the scripting tools that we have in order to make sure that even if the setup gets blown by i.e. the players being detected by the guards, it can be reset for them to still be able to enjoy this part of the quest.
Throughout the quest arc, I made sure to provide multiple solutions to each problem I created and make sure the players always knew what was going on without taking away their agency or pulling them away from the story.