One trend that Ubisoft has seemingly chosen to retain fromAssassin’s Creed Odyssey, is the idea of a male and female version of the main character Eivor. Naturally, this has caused fans to speculate which version of theAssassin’s Creed Valhallahero will be considered the canon version. Surprisingly, fans became confused when it was revealed that theywon’t be locked into a certain gender and can switch at will. While there are still more questions than answers at this point, another major piece to this puzzle has been revealed.
In a new video posted by Ubisoft detailing open world elements and customization, one screen in particular has managed to captivate the largerAssassin’s Creed Valhallacommunity. After the 3 minute mark in the trailer, players can see a gender selection screen, featuring options toselect the female version of Eivoras well as the male version. However, the game also features a third option that has left most people even more confused.
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For those who don’t want to pick, they can select the option to let the Animus decide for them. In terms of the lore, the Animus is the device that lets players revisit these historical locations through genetic memories and DNA. Interestingly enough, this option is listed as the default choice, meaning that the game will change the gender of Eivor based on which memory stream is stronger at that moment. It’s not clear at what this exactly means in terms of gameplay or if players can influence how strong a memory stream is.
Players turned to Narrative Director Darby McDevitt for answers, who confirmed that this third choice is the canon option forAssassin’s Creed Valhalla. However, McDevitt steered clear of explaining this too much as part of it goes into spoiler territory. He went on to reveal that this was intended from the beginning stages of development and is a major component to the game’s overall story. Even still, for those who would rather pick a dedicated gender won’t be missing out on any content though there is apparently a bit of narrative logic that won’t be communicated for not selecting the Animus option.
The answers have not satisfied some, however. McDevitt attempted to clarify things further by saying that Eivor is a specific character with a certain history and backgroundunlike some heroes such as Commander Shepardwhich can be completely customized by the player.
Clearly, there’s more going on here than Ubisoft is willing to share. Some have attempted to explain this by looking back atOdyssey’sgender choicebeing due to degraded and imprecise DNA. In this case, perhaps the DNA or genetic memories being viewed are largely incomplete. However, if players aren’t interested in this system, they can not only select a default version at the start or manually switch genders at any time from the Animus menu.
Assassin’s Creed Valhallareleases July 16, 2025, for the PC, PS4, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X with a PS5 release on November 12.
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