Ubisoft has included the ability for players to do magic mushrooms in due to release in November for current and next-generation consoles, is set during the Viking Age in both Britain and Norway. It will also see the return of the iconic hidden blade as an assassin weapon after it has been left out of the series for some time.
Despite releasing in just a few month's time, very little has been revealed about Assassin's Creed Valhalla. In fact, the exclusively star a female lead character rather than making it so players can choose whether Eivor is a man or a woman.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla includes some drug use according to the ESRB. The organization has listed the rating for the game, revealing that it will be branded M, meaning it will only be available for sale to those over 17. One of the reasons for this is that it contains "use of drugs and alcohol." Digging into the more detailed explanation confirms that this drug use refers to the ability of the player to do magic mushrooms, which trigger drug-induced hallucinations. According to the ESRB posting, the character also says "I may still be buzzing from these mushrooms" after taking the hallucinogenic drug in conversation with other NPCs. There's also references to excessive alcohol consumption that can also lead to the player visibly stumbling around.
Recent reports about Assassin's Creed Valhalla suggested that various mythical enemies will appear in the game, including both fictional individuals and beasts from Nordic and British legends. This departure for the series, which has largely focused on historical characters rather than fictional or legendary beings, was first taken in Assassin's Creed Origins and cemented as new franchise staples in Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Some notable examples of this in the sequel are the three supernatural daughters of King Lear from the Shakespeare play, along with a monstrous dog known as the Black Shuck. Figures from Norse mythology, such as Odin and Thor, might also make an appearance, and it's possible that Eivor will need to take hallucinogenics to get closer to the gods, so to speak.
In recent years, Ubisoft has included plenty of debauchery and controversial scenes in the Assassin's Creed series. So the fact that players can seemingly do magic mushrooms in Assassin's Creed Valhalla is not a huge surprise. After all, previous entries in the franchise have included similar drug use or heavy alcohol consumption. But it is interesting to see that the publisher is not shying away from some of the parts of Viking culture that might provoke criticism from certain sections of the media.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia on November 17, 2020.
Source: ESRB
