Assassin's Creed Valhalla game director reveals Eivor's home village

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

The home village for Assassin's Creed Valhalla's protagonist, Eivor, was revealed in an art print shared by game director Ashraf Ismail. 

As Eivor, you'll conquer and/or assassinate everyone and everything unfortunate enough to cross your path, but your no-doubt grandiose journey starts in a humble riverside village. "Spend a lazy Sunday fishing at the docks, consult with your war chief, or check on your people," Ismail says of the village. "Home is where the heart is." 

Your home village serves as something of a hub throughout Valhalla. The details of this system are still somewhat scarce, but as we understand it, you'll develop the village as you continue your Viking journey. It sounds like a mix of Red Dead Redemption 2's camp, the citizen recruiting in Suikoden, and the ship lieutenants in Assassin's Creed Odyssey - or at least something along that axis. Anyway, the village element sounds cool, and as this new art shows,  it's also quite pretty. 

Given Valhalla's English setting, many are wondering what sort of environments we can expect to see, especially after the wealth of sights in Origins and Odyssey. From the looks of it, the main village is nestled in a multi-color forest and dotted with smaller shacks flanking a central hall. The fish racks, longboats, and docks sell the riverside aspect, and the castle ruins in the distance remind us of the conquering that needs doing. Most importantly, there's a cat in the foreground. Do the right thing and let us pet the cat, Ubisoft. Or failing that, let us catch fish and feed them to the cat. Please, I need this.

Valhalla will run "at a minimum of 30 FPS" in 4K on Xbox Series X. 

Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with 12DOVE since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

Latest in Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed Shadows Claws of Awaji expansion Naoe and Yasuke in Awaji forest
Assassin's Creed Shadows roadmap, DLC and future content
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin's Creed Shadows reverses roles to show off Naoe's combat and Yasuke's stealth, and I'm suddenly sold on playing Yasuke like a clumsy Snake in Metal Gear Solid 3
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin's Creed Shadows' DLC will take place after the main game's "definite ending" in a "spookier" location, creative director says
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin's Creed Shadows devs added a Canon Mode removing RPG choices after Odyssey fans "expressed their disappointment" over not having a "definitive" story
Assassin's Creed Odyssey screenshot of Kassandra admiring a blade
Assassin's Creed's Kassandra stole the show in Odyssey, popped up in Valhalla, and she's still "very much alive" during AC Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin's Creed Shadows will take upwards of 80 hours for completionists, creative director confirms, and Ubisoft is considering adding New Game+ post launch
Latest in News
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
5 years after starting development, Neil Druckmann says Naughty Dog's new game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "still evolving and changing as we're making it"
Silent Hill f
After 2 years of silence, the next mainline Silent Hill game is getting a dedicated stream this week with "the latest news"
Original Xbox console
Former Microsoft exec says the first Xbox was killed early in favor of 360 because it was "losing money left right and center," but luckily "we could afford to hemorrhage cash"
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Despite Monster Hunter Wilds suffering monstrous performance problems on PC, it still outsold the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the US
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann says Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will also be about "being lonely," as if his zombie apocalypse wasn’t isolating enough: "I really want you to be lost"
A screenshot of Jordan drinking a soda during the reveal trailer for Intergalactic: The Hertic Prophet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "a game about faith and religion," which Neil Druckmann jokes will surely get less hate than The Last of Us 2