The latest Assassin’s Creed game, Valhalla, is getting a free update next month that will add the Discovery Tour to the game. Now players will be able to explore the world of Valhalla without the conflict, though Ubisoft says this version of the mode will be slightly different than it has been in previous games. Now, not only will you explore the world, you’ll apparently witness the lives of specific people who live in it. The mode launches on October 19, and it’ll also be available for standalone purchase under the name “Discovery Tour: Viking Age.”
In case you haven’t yet had the pleasure, the Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tours are a passive mode that allows gamers to explore the world of the game and the finer historical details without having to worry about enemies. They also provide educational material about the world and time period of that particular game. Discovery Tours have become a way for the game’s designers to show off how much historical research they put into the games without necessarily having to drag down the main storyline.
According to Ubisoft, those who play the game won’t just be another history tour: “Instead of embarking on guided tours, they will assume the roles of different characters and take on quests, which aim to bring them closer to the material by putting them at the center of it.” It also adds that players will be able to interact with and look at items that are currently in museums: “Discovery Tour: Viking Age players will have the opportunity to interact with Discovery Sites that each focus on an element of the culture and traditions of Vikings and Anglo-Saxons in the Viking Age.”
If they ever do remasters of the first several games in the series, I would very much enjoy Discovery Tours for Crusades-era Syria, Renaissance Italy, Colonial America, the Pirate-y Caribbean, and all the other settings for which they haven’t done this yet. It’d be cool to see the same team go back and display some of the historical research that never made it into the game. And I can’t be the only one that would have loved to go exploring in those worlds without having to worry about all the stupid guards.