Viking here, viking there, viking everywhere! — Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Review on Stadia

It’s no secret that I loved Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. While I had to play the game on my PC with all graphics settings set to low or medium, it still looks gorgeous as I continue to put more time into it. But this review isn’t so I can ramble on about how much I enjoy the game again, this is about how the game plays on Stadia, so let’s get down to business.

Standard fare for Stadia is a small amount of input lag and a visual quality that can vary depending on your connection. The latency here is fairly similar to what I experienced in my previews of the game, it’s noticeable but you can get used to it. However, having now experienced the game running on hardware in front of me, it’s difficult to go back – especially with the timed button presses required for the drinking minigame.

Upon starting the game in Stadia and connecting my Ubisoft Connect account, I found my save game waiting for me. This works both ways too; after progressing on Stadia, I could pick up right where I left off back on my desktop. This is incredibly convenient and gives something of a new perspective on Stadia: a supplement to PC or console gaming. I can now make Valhalla essentially portable through my laptop with no need to be plugged in all the time, and that’s rad as heck. But this does come at a large monetary cost, in that you’d have to buy the game on two platforms to get this experience. I am generally of the opinion of separating cost and criticism, but that’s hard to justify here if you just want to take a game you already own on the go. Regardless, it’s a nice convenience to have saves transfer between any and all platforms.

While my saves did transfer, my settings did not. My controller binds were back to the default (just on Stadia, going back to PC they were still there) and many accessibility options were reset or missing entirely. For example, unlike Watch Dogs Legion on Stadia, there was no way to turn off motion blur. I can simply rebind everything, but the removal of many accessibility options feels inexcusable. Every version of the game should have the same level of accessibility, and these platform differences only serve to make things more complicated for an audience that already has trouble finding games they can play.

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