Assassin's Creed Valhalla has a brutal viking harpoon

New Assassin's Creed Valhalla gameplay footage shows some epic new weapons including a "Viking harpoon".

The latest Viking-themed Assassin's Creed game has lots of new combat additions and weapons. One of the most surprising is what's called the Viking harpoon, which is basically like Scorpion's infamous kunai hook. Since it's 873 AD, Eivor uses a rope with a cruel hook on the end instead of a chain to yank enemies into brutal execution moves. In the latest trailer we see Eivor use the harpoon to decapitate a foe.

Gamers can now dual-wield pretty much any one-handed weapon in the game for maximum fury, including hammers, swords, shortswords, morningstars/flails and axes--you can even dual-wield shields. There's also two-handed weapons like bardiches and greatswords that make combat much more visceral, chunky, and lethal.

Weapons also correspond with one of the three main attack forms. Valhalla has a new progression system that's based on Power instead of levels. Your total Power is the combination of all three of the game's attack forms, which are separated in colored animal-based sections: Bear, Wolf, and Raven. Raven corresponds to your gear, wolf is quicker weapons like bows, 1-handed hammers, morninstars and spears, and bear is more for two-handed and stronger and brutal weapons like axes.

The game also has destructible environments. Gamers can shoot fire arrows into thatch roofs and set whole buildings aflame. The fire will spread to nearby dwellings and can ignite the entire village as you pillage and raid their resources.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla releases November 17, 2020 on PS4, Xbox One and PC. It's also coming to PlayStation 5 and will support Smart Delivery on Xbox Series X.