Assassin's Creed Valhalla will let you explore major cities like London, Winchester, and York across four different Kingdoms

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Assassin's Creed Valhalla takes place in an open-world setting that will let players explore major cities in England across four different kingdoms.

In a BBC Click interview, Marc Cieslak spoke to Valhalla director Ashraf Ismail about the upcoming adventure, during which Ismail shed some more light on the game's setting.

Set in the 9th Century which is often referred to as the Dark Ages, Valhalla takes place in Norway and England, but for the majority of the game players will be exploring the landscapes and sights of four different kingdoms in England.

"Norway is quite big on its own," Ismail says, "but if we talk about England specifically, that's where the majority of the game takes place. We have four kingdoms in England so it's Northumbria, East Anglia, Mercia, and Wessex. We have major cities like Winchester, London, York - or Jorvik at the time period."

In what Ismail describes as an "incredible period in history," players will be taking on the role of a Viking by the name of Eivor who leads his people to resettle in England. But of course, it won't be smooth sailing, and plenty of bloody battles are no doubt in Eivor's future. With new features including raiding and assembling raiding parties on longships, Valhalla will be fit to bursting with Viking action.

We already know the latest Assassin's Creed will present you with the choice to play as a man or a woman protagonist, and will feature plenty of RPG elements to tuck into, as well as customisable mercenaries who can be sent on raids elsewhere to help your pals. While we've only seen glimpses from the cinematic trailer so far, the news that gameplay will debut during Xbox Series X stream next week, it'll be interesting to see just how much of the setting will be shown.

Here's why Assassin's Creed Valhalla sounds like an ambitious step beyond Origins and Odyssey.

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Heather Wald is the Evergreen Editor, Games at GamesRadar+. Her writing career began on a student-led magazine at Bath Spa University, where she earned a BA (Hons) in English literature. Heather landed her first role writing about tech and games for Stuff Magazine shortly after graduating with an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University. Now with almost seven years of experience working with GamesRadar+ on the features team, Heather helps to develop, maintain, and expand the evergreen features that exist on the site for games, as well as spearhead the Indie Spotlight series. You'll also see her contribute op-eds, interview-led features, and more. In her spare time, you'll likely find Heather tucking into RPGs and indie games, reading romance novels, and drinking lots of tea.