It’s inevitable that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will be compared to Odyssey, as every Assassin’s Creed game is usually ranked once a new title is released. For the most part, Valhalla is a worthy successor, but it doesn’t exactly outclass Odyssey in performance. The two are largely similar, with one topping the other in particular areas.
It’s up to the gamer to judge which aspect's lower or higher performance impacts them the most. In order to gauge this, one firstly needs to be aware of the strong points of either game. So, let’s see where Valhalla did better than Odyssey and vice versa.
Updated on August 30, 2021 by Raza Malik: The Assassin's Creed franchise has gotten a massive facelift over the last decade. From being a stealth action-adventure game to a full-on RPG, the series has come a long way. Both of the most recent releases are leaning heavily into that RPG trend, so it's no surprise that fans would pit Odyssey and Valhalla together. Both mix in the complexities of the RPG genre and make the mechanics more streamlined. Now that Odyssey has got another update for the new consoles, it can go up against Valhalla in its own right.
17 Odyssey: Historical Accuracy
Ironically the closer one gets to our time, we would have a better understanding. That isn't the case between these two. The great thing about Odyessy is that Greeks recorded and wrote down everything. From the way they lived to the wars they fought, everything was recorded. This clearly helped Ubisoft create the world.
While not everything is a one-one recreation, Odyessy gives the player a very good idea of how people like Socrates were. In contrast to Valhalla, where the characters were initially raiders, so events weren't as well documented.
16 Valhalla: Order Of Anicents
This mechanic has been in the series the first game, only getting more and more deep and complex as the series went on. In Odyessy players would need to find clues because finding a decent amount of the cult members is not part of the main story and requires players to go out of their way.
Valhalla changes this and connects most members to the story, so by the time players are done the main campaign, only a handful of cult members are left. To expand a little more on this, a lot of players do in Valhalla are connected to the story. It does a good job at allowing players to do side missions knowing that it's getting them to the end faster.
15 Odyssey: Pick Your Own Adventure
It's in the literal name of the game. Odyssey lets the players control their own adventure and gives them the freedom to do so. The cool thing about Odyessy is that players can go to an island that is either controlled by the Greeks or Spartans and take it over so the other side wins it in an all-out war.
This mechanic gives the players a sense of consequence, whatever they do impacts the world around them, which allows for more playthroughs. Odyessy is really a game about freedom because everything players do has an effect on the world around them. Even though the quest can be mundane, it's not about them, it's about what completing them does to the world. Plus, this adventure looks even better now that it's on the Xbox Series X/S and Playstation 5.
14 Valhalla: Mythology
There's no denying that hanging out with Norse gods and using their weapons is awesome. While mythical creatures are found and fought in both games, Valhalla has certainly used more mythology in its storytelling and gameplay in a manner that feels satisfying and a part of the overall experience as opposed to simply being bonus content.
Being connected to greater powers and guided by something more than one's own desire for power or riches gives something a bit more lasting to one's immersion into the story.
13 Odyssey: Freerunning
The movement in Assassin's Creed games is vital to the enjoyment, as the open-world gameplay involves quite a lot of running, jumping, and climbing. In fact, freerunning on top of buildings was one of the traits that made the early games in this series stand out as new, interesting, and fun.
While one's character in Odyssey is agile and powerful, the same cannot be said for their counterpart in Valhalla, as one's viking persona is a fair deal slower while both running and walking. Eivor is undeniably dextrous and maneuverable in combat, but their sluggishness everywhere else makes speed-based challenges, like chasing down the many tattoo designs in Valhalla, more tedious than liberating.
12 Valhalla: Weapons
The skill tree in Valhalla may be a bit confusing for some, however, the novel combat system, as well as the dual-wielding mechanics, make many aspects of the game feel closer to a Dark Souls game than earlier ones in the Assassin's Creed franchise.
A great example of this is the ability to wield two weapons of the same type at the same time to get a faster attack speed as well as unique combos. One's adventures in Greece thankfully involve quite a lot of satisfying weapon-wielding, however, the depth of this aspect in Valhalla makes fans of action RPGs smile a fair bit wider when wrecking enemies upon the battlefield.
11 Odyssey: Romance
Ever since this franchise started including branching dialogue options, fans were delighting to find subtle romance possibilities. These intimate interactions are a great way to draw certain players more into a world that the developers spent a lot of time crafting.
Odyssey allowed one to get to know certain NPCs through multiple quests and optional dialogue in a way that felt natural and fluid, as one's character was known to be the kind of individual who would help others out and spend time conversing with them. Valhalla provides the same kinds of options, for the most part, but it feels much less organic in that one is a viking intent on raiding and razing most of what they encounter. Townsfolk, even allies, would realistically be at odds with becoming so close to a well-known bringer of destruction.
10 Valhalla: Storytelling
There’s no doubt that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla repeated some of the mistakes in the series, but it did improve on the storytelling aspect. Rather than draw out the saga yet again, this game connected previous storylines to bring a good conclusion.
It also brought significant context to the Isu, something that had been floundering for a long time. The storytelling was such that we were interested in both the modern-day adventures and the ones taking place in the past.
9 Odyssey: Graphics
It might seem hard to believe that a recent game has worse graphics than its predecessor, yet Valhalla’s many bugs, glitches, and awkward character models clearly make it inferior to Odyssey. The latter game did a good job of balancing cutscene graphics with in-game sequences.
Odyssey kept things simple, not featuring the best-ever graphics but at least having a presentation that retained one’s interest. The character models are far better here, with their emotions clear to understand and very few awkward angles.
8 Valhalla: Naval Gameplay
One aspect of Valhalla that has definitely changed the series is the naval gameplay. These were always lacking in quality in the series, with rather tedious fight sequences that interrupted the fun factor. Valhalla finally found the right balance in this regard.
The game uses ship-based gameplay purely for traveling and exploration purposes, which serves as a way for players to take a break from the constant combat and dig into their inner adventurer. The simpler style of guiding the ships uncover a more fun manner of enjoying this type of exploration.