Assassin's Creed Valhalla is an enchanting tale of honor, family & sacrifice, following the exploits of Eivor as she leads her people to England to start a new life & settlement during the dark ages. Eivor is a memorable protagonist in the franchise with a compelling background which affects her motives & actions throughout the story.

Pros:
+Great Story: As Eivor progresses in her quest to settle a new home for her people, elements of the power struggle brewing in England between warring factions & how these events are being influenced by both the order of ancients and assassins are masterfully revealed along with Eivor's relation to the Norse Gods (Isu). The overall ending good or bad can be influenced by the decisions made by Eivor throughout the story.
+Excellent Graphics: From sprawling castles to megalithic stonehenge, the various settlements of England are all beautifully rendered making for some of the most memorable vistas in gaming.
+Great Combat: The brutal hack & slash combat makes great use of light, heavy & ranged weapons. The skill tree is also well implemented and further complements play style.
+Great Controls: The game's controls are simple and responsive when taking on enemies or traversing the medieval settlements of England.
+Great Soundtrack: The beautifully crafted music definitely adds depth & nuance helping to enrich the game's story telling as well as the impact of pivotal scenes and events. The ambient music also perfectly fits the medieval/ viking aesthetic of the game.

Cons:
-The game's story may come across as convoluted to new players jumping in at this point in the series without playing any of the previous games, especially AC: Origins & AC: Odyssey.
-Random Glitches & Bugs: The occasional crashes, low res textures along with random npcs getting stuck in objects or spazzing out during combat can be annoying or funny at times.

The largest map of fetch quests ever created

I've 100%ed Odyssey and Origins but for reasons I'm not quite sure of, this one just didn't click for me. I think the biggest disappointment was the bird. In previous games, the bird is a vital link between your character and exploration. In this game, he was more or less useless. And every single hidden collectable was some contrived and tedious challenge to find, usually underground and usually involved running around looking for some tunnel leading to it.

I also found it hugely annoying that you're more or less forced to do certain areas in a specific order because content is gated behind high level content. Yet, weirdly, the DLCs start straightaway, and if you start the DLC because the quest marker is literally there telling you to do it, you're wholly unprepared for end game enemies that kill you instantly.

As well, the story was just so tired and boring. Stop me if you've heard this story before in literally every single movie or show about Vikings: In 855 CE in Norway, a young Eivor witnesses a warlord sack his/her hometown and slaughters his/her parents before being rescued by the Raven Clan. Seventeen years later, Eivor pursues vengeance. I mean, this plot is so done to death it's basically a meme.