Tombs of the Fallen launched for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla this week, and I’ve been playing through them. I have to say that they are incredibly interesting and much more than I expected of Ubisoft. I thought that these Tombs would be filler content for the sake of new armour. I really didn’t expect the complexity that’s found in all the puzzles, and I grew to look forward to entering a new Tomb by about halfway through them. There are only four in the game right now, but there will be more. They’re all linked with the Odin Runes you find around the game’s world, and they each present a new kind of challenge for you to overcome.
The Tombs hide a new set of armour for you to collect as well as artifacts. It’s these artifacts that give away the fact that more of these Tombs are coming. I can’t wait to see what the new Tombs bring, because this initial batch have been great. They’re all themed around one sort of key element, such as water or poison, and tasks you with solving puzzles in situations where those obstacles become an issue. For example, you need to transport spheres around the Tomb while avoiding the water because you drop the sphere if you enter it.
All of these Tombs very much take me back to the Assassin tombs in older Assassin’s Creed games. Assassin’s Creed 2 had some of the best out there, but I still have a soft spot for those in Revelations and Brotherhood. They were optional areas for you to explore at your leisure, and doing so felt enjoyable, more so than some of the main missions in the game. I have loved playing through what feels like a callback to those Tombs in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. In some small part, it shows that the developers have heard the cry for content that reflects the best this franchise had to offer, and we’re being given it.
Hopefully, this great start won’t be let down by a lackluster follow up in the Tombs that are still to come. I can’t wait to see what mysteries lie ahead, where we’re taken, and who we meet.