Assassin's Creed Valhalla will bring back the instakill hidden blade

News by Cian Maher Contributor

Published on May 12, 2020

It was recently confirmed that, among other things, Assassin's Creed Valhalla is set to resurrect the much beloved instakill hidden blade that is ubiquitous to earlier entries in the series.

In a recent interview with Kotaku, Assassin's Creed Valhalla creative director Ashraf Ismail confirmed that the iconic instakill hidden blade would be returning to the franchise for Ubisoft's upcoming Viking sim. This resurrection will occur after the blade became unreliable in Assassin's Creed Origins, and completely unequippable in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

“Eivor receives the hidden blade quite early on,” Ismail told Kotaku. “We continue with the idea that Eivor is not a trained assassin. 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 one-shot-kill virtually anybody," Ismail added.

Fans who have grown jaded with the Assassin's Creed series' rerouting from stealth-based action to a formula more typical of open-world adventure games will likely welcome this as a reimplementation of an iconic series staple. Ismail also told Kotaku that social stealth would make a resurgence in Valhalla, meaning that players will be able to hide in plain sight by blending in as an ordinary passersby hidden amidst a crowd.

On a similar note, the hidden blade is no longer hidden in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which makes the resurrection of its instakill capacity particularly interesting.

In other Valhalla news, it appears the upcoming Assassin's Creed game "won't be the longest or biggest game in the series," potentially setting it apart from the lengthy narratives attached to Origins and Odyssey.

It was recently confirmed that Assassin's Creed Valhalla will run at 30fps on Xbox Series X. It will use smart delivery on Xbox, and purchasing the season pass will allow you to unlock an exclusive Beowulf mission.

Here are 7 things we'd like to see change from Odyssey to Valhalla.