Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s sex is boring, but the romance is pretty...

Ubisoft, unlike BioWare, isn’t exactly known for creating games with memorable romance options. Assassins Creed Valhalla isn’t exactly Mass Effect, but there are still a ton of potential Eivor enthusiasts out there. As in previous Assassin’s Creed games, Ubisoft has shied away from sex Walhalla;; As things warm up in the game, the screen goes black. But the really good stuff is the romances, the parts that come before.

Romance options were first added to the franchise Assassins Creed Odyssey. Storytelling director Mel MacCoubrey told USgamer after the game was released that the options were “experimental”. Romance was not central to the plot in any way, and those parts looked more like slingshots than long-term relationships. Walhalla seems to be an evolution of it.

During my time with WalhallaI’ve had the opportunity to romanticize at least eight different people without really paying attention to sexuality. Most of these options are minor romances that live and die according to the quest line I’m currently in, short-lived relationships that last a few minutes at most. Because of this, I initially thought that WalhallaThe relationship options were like sexually boring. But as I continued in the game, I found a wider range of relationship options, some of which were more detailed than others, and I learned to appreciate the variance.

For example, there is a series of quests where I help two brothers very similar names. (Trust me, this is an important detail.) One of the brothers tried to woo Eivor with his “plow sword,” and of course Eivor was indebted. After some banter, the screen went black before we parted ways some time later. And then – oops! – I called him by his brother’s name. We are kind, both brothers and I, for the rest of our time together Walhallabut no one will make me forget the gaffe.

Elsewhere in the world there are smaller cases of romance, stupid little side quests where I cannot attend but can try my best to help. One particular scene that has been making the rounds on social media is a case where a “raid-loving woman” loudly complains about her terrible sex life. Missing the heat of battle, she asks Eivor – a ferocious Viking warrior – for help. Here, too, of course, I accepted. What helped this couple Burn down your house. As a thank you, they asked if I would like to participate, but I respectfully declined. Lots of other viking activities!

There are other similar quests around the world, and that’s what I’m here for.

But what really changed my mind about the romance options in? Walhalla is that there are options for longer term relationships. And unfortunately you can only have one of these at a time. After courting a woman in Raventhorpe through horseback riding, drinking, and archery, I was able to ask her to be my friend. And then I found out Another Woman in the settlement had a crush on me. I had to let her down, even though I really wanted to be with her too.

To test the options, I eventually broke up with my first girlfriend – devastating after everything we’d been through – and hooked up with the second woman. One of those relationships does Affect the story, which is a nice change Odysseeand a decision I’d love to see in future games. When we really dive into the open world RPG, it’s the smaller details like these that make the world rich. Decisions, emotions, consequences. Romance is essential for this.