How Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Fixed Its Overcrowded Map

As open world games get bigger, the issue of overcrowding the map is one that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla tackled head on and appears to have found a solution for. It’s a simple change, but one that goes a long way to not completely clutter the map and overwhelm players.

When Assassin’s Creed received a major overhaul with Assassin’s Creed Origins, the series transformed into an open world RPG that brought one of the genre’s biggest issues with it. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was built around a gorgeous open world in Ancient Greece, but the map was one of the most overcrowded in any Assassin’s Creed game. Every time players opened up a new area, they were met with an overbearing amount of markers informing them of where objectives were at. Some of these marked useful areas, but many were wildly unnecessary and it was difficult for players to discern which were worth exploring.

In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, these question marks scattered around the map have been replaced with glowing dots. Each dot is color coded to identify loot, little side quests and special items. When players open up new areas on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s map, they can immediately identify what can be found at each spot and decide if they want to explore it. It’s a very simple solution that has had a massive impact. The amount of markers has been decreased and the ones that are there are done in such a way that it doesn’t pressure the player into thinking that they have to visit each one. In the long run, this may help prevent open world fatigue as players get deeper into Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Killed Its Open World Checklist

Open world fatigue is huge problem for games like Assassin’s Creed. When players are dropped in the middle of large worlds, opening a giant map only to see dozens of markers all over the place can be a daunting task. It pressures the player into thinking they have to explore them all and it replaces the wonder of exploration with the tediousness of a checklist. When players feel like they’re just following a checklist, it’s easy to just lose interest in the game. But with changes like the one Assassin’s Creed Valhalla made, it brings back that sense of exploration these games are supposed to capture.

Sometimes less is more, and that especially counts with open world video games. The goal should be to encourage players to explore the world around them and discover what’s there, rather than just running from point to point because they’re told something is there. Having some empty space in the world, instead of a barrage of map markers, allows for moments where players get a chance to breathe and take in the beauty of these wondrously crafted environments developers work so hard to build. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla does a great job of scattering puzzles and mysteries around the world while also telling players that it’s worth their time to discover them.

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