Um, Actually…
Yesterday, Ubisoft unveiled the cinematic trailer for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The upcoming game has been closely speculated for more than a year now and it finally confirms a lot of things we have been looking at, like the setting of viking culture. It has also been confirmed that the main character Eivor can be played as either a male or female, though Eivor appears as a male in the trailer. Unfortunately, when it comes to female characters in games set in specific time periods, everyone all of a sudden becomes a historian and shouts from the rooftops about how women in that time were not such and such.
The Dark Ages, particularly in viking culture, did not leave behind very much information to form a really clear picture of how they live. However, in Ubisoft’s summary of their research, they do mention how viking women were treated very fairly compared to other societies around that time. It is also mentioned that Norse mythology and stories were full of strong females. The Q&A highlighted women in that time very deliberately. Almost as if they knew there would be skeptics.
Female protagonists in Assassin’s Creed games have been scarce. Exceptions include Assassin’s Creed Liberation, Syndicate, and Odyssey. If historical accuracy is really important to you, maybe avoid most period piece video games. Try out Farm Simulator or something. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will launch during the holiday season of 2020 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. It will also come to Stadia, Xbox Series X, and PS5. You can check out all the pre-order options as well.
Will you be playing as male Eivor or fem Eivor? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Ubisoft