Assassin's Creed Valhalla: 30 Minutes of Gameplay Footage Leak

Sure as sun follows rain, Assassin's Creed games will be shown off before Ubisoft want them to be, and today's seen another example for the perennially leaky series, with 30 minutes of gameplay footage making their way onto the internet. Marked with a clear "work in progress" tag (and seemingly uploaded in low resolution), the footage shows a player using the female version of lead character Eivor, and includes:  

• Open world exploration (which looks very similar to AC: Odyssey, although with a colour palette more familiar from The Witcher 3)
• Raven Sight (which reveals stats for Wealth, Mysteries and Secrets in the area)
• Longboat gameplay (with players bracing to mitigate damage)
• Combat amid a full castle siege (the player uses twin axes and a bow in this footage, has two ability wheels mapped to each controller trigger, and can use a battering ram to take down gates in their way)
• A boss battle that ends in a choice to either execute or spare the victim
• The game's skill menu (which takes the form of constellations, unlocks across multiple branches, and includes points to be spent on abilities or base stats)
• A look at the inventory menu (which heavily resembles those in both Origins and Odyssey, albeit seemingly without level requirements on equipment)
• A button to seemingly enter the game's Animus from the in-game menus (a seeming change from Odyssey's scripted out-of-Animus sections)
• A seemingly non-regenerating health bar (with the ability to eat berries from the environment to replenish it)
• A version of Odyssey's absolute best ability, the Spartan Kick, which I'm delighted about

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/30/assassins-creed-valhalla-trailer-breakdown-ign-rewind-theater"] The footage clearly isn't what Ubisoft would have hoped to be the first true gameplay shown to fans, particularly as it contains bugs that seem to affect cuts into and between cutscenes, as well as general visual issues throughout. Multiple versions of the footage have been uploaded and subsequently removed by Ubisoft since it first leaked. With the Ubisoft Forward conference coming this weekend, it seems likely we'll see the intended gameplay at the showcase. Ubisoft has not responded to requests for comment on the source of the footage, or whether it represents the game at its current stage of development. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.