Time to hear the Vikings' side of the story in Assassin's Creed Valhalla

It's been a while since I've been interested in an Assassin's Creed. Don't get me wrong, it's not because they're not good at what they do. They're good at what they do. An open-world Ubisoft game is practically a genre unto itself, almost in the same way that a Bethesda RPG is a genre unto itself, or even Supergiant Games' brand of action and storytelling stands alone.

I often find that it's each particular Assassin's Creed setting that's going to reel folks in—or let them off the hook. I toured the Holy Land some 15 years ago, so the first Assassin's Creed will always have a special place in my heart, regardless that Altair's character was flat, or the "Save me, Spider-Man!" repetition of the open-world design was a little too naked in Ubisoft's earlier days.

That one, and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. I've been playing with pirate sailing ships since I was a little kiddo with embarrassing bathtub photographs of me, floating around somewhere at my parents' house. The speedboat style of ship-to-ship combat might be a little too action-y for me, but there was nothing better until Sea of Thieves turned that model on its head. But Black Flag is the reason why I have so much heartache, year after year, of Ubisoft's alleged Skull & Bones game never finding a path to retail. 

Now that I've sufficiently buried the lead, this trailer finally narrates the Vikings' side of the story, rather than from the perspective of an English king. Here we see a reverent Norseman, kneeling up on a ridge of mountains, with the montage switching between meditation, fighting, romancing, and embracing brothers. We catch a glimpse of some rather Templar-looking (or Assassin-looking?) shady fellows who appear to be pulling the strings for a war between Norway and England. Interestingly, it appears that the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok and his people have already done plenty of looting and pillaging and putting-down-of-roots in jolly olde England, and your story will add to, or detract from, that narrative.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is coming November 10 to—take a deep breath—Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Stadia, Luna (that's Amazon's new Stadia competitor), and PC.