‘The Siege of Paris’ makes ‘Valhalla’ an Assassin’s Creed game: Review

Over the past four years, Assassin’s Creed games have transformed from the classic, stealth-forward titles of the past to the modern, RPG-adjacent open world format of the past three games. The newer games have their strengths, with Valhalla being the most complete realization of Assassin’s Creed New.0, but none of them have prioritized the feeling of being an Assassin and following the Creed. Valhalla’s second add-on, The Siege of Paris, changes that with the inclusion of a revamped series staple, one that plays beautifully and finally reignites the excitement of the ole’ Templar sneak-n-stab: black box assassination missions.

Black box assassinations, called Infiltrations in Siege of Paris, give Eivor a target to kill in an environment populated with scripted scenarios that give her opportunities to up her murder game. She can overhear the code word for entering a corrupt priest’s inner sanctum or read a building plan that suggests a building’s roof might be liable to collapse any moment, and then use those opportunities to unlock unique assassinations that play out in dope cutscenes. It’s Hitman: Drengr Edition and it’s exactly what the newer Assassin’s Creed games have been missing.

It’s Hitman: Drengr edition and it’s exactly what the newer Assassin’s Creed games have been missing.

The Infiltration missions all happen at key points in Siege of Paris‘ overarching plot. The year is 886, Frankish king Charles the Fat (his name, not mine) is waging war against an army of invading Danes, and Eivor is concerned that whatever happens in Francia will eventually lead Charles to turn his eye towards England.

The Frankish countryside where the war plays out is smaller and denser than the map in the previous, Ireland-set add-on, Wrath of the Druids, which allows for quicker traversal and less reliance on fast travel points than any other part of the game. The story also feels shorter than Druids, with faster pacing that makes it easier to marathon in just a few sessions. I wrapped the main quest, the rebel mission chain, and nabbed every World Event in Francia in about 10 hours, but hardcore treasure hunters will absolutely need more time to grab the wealth and new armor hidden in various holdfasts.

The aforementioned rebel mission chain is a fun bit of side padding that keeps with the new Assassin’s Creed tradition of repeatable quests that award new currency for special rewards.

Frankish peasants, aided by the cheese-loving new character Pierre, resist the yoke of noble tyranny by enlisting Eivor to help them disrupt convoys, assassinate key figures, and lead them in minor battles. Some of these missions can be accomplished solo while others require a squad of rebel NPCs to join Eivor, and you can use rebel currency to upgrade that squad from a ragtag team of losers to elite marksmen and swordsmen. Unfortunately, even with upgrades they’re all kind of useless.

The rooftop stuff never left.
Credit: Ubisoft

Ally intelligence is not one of Valhalla‘s strong suits and it hasn’t improved in Siege of Paris. Almost every quest that requires a squad is better accomplished alone, since Eivor gets a currency bonus for every rebel left alive at the end of a mission and all of them have the self-preservation instincts of a lemming. At some point it’s just cheaper to let ’em die or only pick solo missions.

Either way, the new armor set available through these randomly generated quests is worth earning, especially because it looks amazing with the new scythe weapons introduced in the expansion. Grim reaper Viking vibes…hello.

Empirically I know that nothing was actually clean in 866, and playing a running, jumping, climbing, killing, and somehow still romanceable Viking who never takes a bath requires video game suspension of disbelief, but Siege of Paris really leans into how hilariously gross urban centers were in the 9th century. So gross that unkillable hordes of man-eating rats are a new environmental hazard that Eivor has to deal with everywhere.

Whomever looked at Assassin’s Creed and said “You know what this game is missing? A hopeless quantity of rats.” is hands down the most fascinating person at Ubisoft and really, I just want to talk. The rat swarms do add a level of difficulty to exploration, and are an essential element of some of the add-on’s best puzzles, but the noise they make is horrifying. Chittering. Squeaking. Munching. Musophobes need not apply.

The Siege of Paris is a short, enjoyable expansion of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla that hopefully adds up to a sneak peek at the future of the franchise. It’s proof that we can have intricate combat, engaging plots, non-Assassin protagonists, and all of the things that makes the new generation great while respecting and improving on what made the earlier games special.

It’s not Medjay’s Creed, Misthios’ Creed, or Viking’s Creed, it’s Assassin’s Creed. That means bringing the assassinations, infiltrations, whatever they want to call them, back to the forefront of gameplay. I didn’t know how much I missed feeling like nothing is true and everything is permitted until The Siege of Paris put the Creed back in the spotlight, and now that it’s back I don’t want to give it up ever again.