While Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was, by and large, received well by the gaming community, there was one major piece of the Assassin’s Creed puzzle that it left out.
The hidden blade.
Since the first Assassin’s Creed, when players controlled the Assassin Altair, the hidden blade has been the signature weapon of the Assassin Brotherhood.
Assassin’s Creed 2 even upped the ante when the player was able to don two hidden blades and fight with them as a melee combat weapon. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey took place long before the formation of the Brotherhood, so the hidden blade just didn’t fit anywhere in the story.
However, the signature Assassin weapon seems to be making a comeback in Ubisoft’s upcoming Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Game director Ashraf Ismail, in a recent interview, was talking about the weapon and confirmed that it would be back around the wrist of a playable character when the world of Norse Vikings is explored in this new game.
According to Ismail, the game’s main character, Eivor, will receive the hidden blade early in the game. He confirmed that the weapon requires discretion, patience, and skill. However, once players master its use, it can be used to one-shot kill virtually any enemy in the game.
“We continue with the idea that Eivor is not a trained assassin,” he said. “Eivor is a Viking who receives this badass weapon and has to learn very quickly. Early in the experience, Eivor will learn a technique that, with the right timing, can on-shot kill virtually anybody.”
That’s not the only aspect of the old games that will be coming back in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Ismail also stated that Eivor will be able to use social stealth to hide from enemies. This was a tactic in the older Assassin’s Creed titles wherein our hero would be able to hide from guards by standing in large crowds of people. It was a tactic that fit in perfectly with the Assassin tenant of hiding in plain sight.
“The idea that a Norse person or a Viking in a place that they’re not wanted, for them to sort of go incognito and kind of hide in the crowd, if you will, made a lot of sense,” Ismail said.
The Assassin’s Creed games all played much the same way for many years. Then, Assassin’s Creed Origins changed things with entirely new gameplay. According to Ismail, his team is trying to “see the greatness” of the older games while unifying those concepts with some of the most popular aspects of the newer games.
