‘Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’: Fans Furious Over Disappointing Gameplay Trailer

KEY POINTS

Fans are disappointed with the misleading gameplay trailer of "Assassin's Creed Valhalla"
Ubisoft labeled the reveal as a "gameplay trailer," but it rarely showed actual gameplay from "Valhalla"
Ubisoft and Microsoft eventually acknowledged their mistake for setting the wrong expectations

Fans are not happy with the “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” gameplay trailer shown during the Inside Xbox livestream on Thursday.

The upcoming installment in the “Assassin’s Creed” franchise actually headlined the game reveal of Microsoft for its next-generation console, as it was undoubtedly one of the biggest titles featured in the event.

While the presentations showed some promise -- particularly after the trailers featured ray-tracing lighting, improved graphics and faster loading times -- it was still a bit of a disappointment for “Assassin’s Creed” fans who expected more.

For what it’s worth, the “Valhalla” trailer didn’t live up to its promise of a “gameplay” reveal. As many fans noted, there were very few scenes that were actual gameplay, making the video nothing more than a slightly improved cinematic trailer.

Some supporters also called out Ubisoft for not showing the full extent of the game, especially with the fact that the main character Eivor could be played as a man or a woman. Unfortunately, only the male version of the protagonist was shown.

With that said, some fans even called the reveal a “joke.”

Yoo! That Assassin's creed Valhalla trailer video was mad. There was that point where it looked like the Vikings were about to lose but their leader saw Odin in the battlefield and he immediately knew he wasn't going to lose. Mad
— Earl Sugarwood (@Morgan_edo) May 9, 2020

The "best" part is after the trailer portion of the presentation, the little interview with the director:

"Wow, did we just see gameplay of Assassin's Creed Valhalla?!"
"Yes we did!"

You both know that's not true.
— Aaron Walton (@AaronWalton13) May 9, 2020

Interestingly, however, Ubisoft creative director Ashraf Ismail and Xbox marketing head Aaron Greenberg acknowledged that they weren’t able to meet the expectations of their fans.

Right after the event, Ismail took it to Twitter to share his thoughts. He noted that there is a long marketing campaign for “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,” and he vowed it will bring more information about the game.

“You rightfully expected to see more today. We have a long marketing campaign ahead of us, you will see in-depth gameplay and get a lot more info about the game,” the Ubisoft exec said.

As for Greenberg, he admitted their mistake of setting the “wrong expectations.”

“Had we not said anything & just shown May Inside Xbox show like we did last month, I suspect reactions might have been different. Clearly we set some wrong expectations & that’s on us. We appreciate all the feedback & can assure you we will take it all in & learn as a team,” Greenberg wrote on Twitter.

“Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” is set to be released sometime in Holiday 2020. It will be available for PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Stadia.