In a recent announcement, it’s been revealed that Orlog, which is a dice game that can be played in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, will be getting a physical release next year.
Similar to how The Witcher’s Geralt can play the card game Gwent in the respective game’s universe, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s main protagonist Eivor can play against countless NPCs throughout the map.
The way Orlog is set up is pretty similar to how most roleplaying games work: there are two players trying to win against each other via defensive moves and attacks, reducing the other’s life or health in the process. Naturally, the one with the highest remaining health is the winner.
That being said, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has a ton of side activities players can do, and Orlog is only one of them. In case you’re unfamiliar, Ubisoft’s latest Assassin’s Creed installment has players playing as a Viking warrior.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is an expansive open-world title that allows players to conquer different territories. Similar to the former entries in this franchise, Valhalla provides its players with a relatively open gaming experience.
There’s a variety of side quests, additional content to discover, as well as hidden enemies to encounter even when the game’s main campaign is over. As mentioned, Orlog is only one of the many bonus content found in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
According to a popular board game news site known as Dicebreaker, however, it seems that the dice game won’t remain within the confines of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla forever. More specifically, Ubisoft and PureArts have reportedly collaborated to release a physical edition of Orlog, and it’s set to launch next year.
Unfortunately, Ubisoft hasn’t revealed a lot of information about the physical edition of the minigame, such as its details or even its release window. However, the studio did agree to talk with Dicebreaker about the minigame, in general, and how it was developed.
Apparently, Ubisoft initially planned on Orlog to have deckbuilding elements. In other words, the developer meant for Eivor to find newer and better dice as they traversed Valhalla’s open world, adding the pieces to their collection in case of a new match.
Sadly, the company encountered a few obstacles with this angle if they were to pursue it, such as design issues. As such, the team had to compromise and settle with just special dice that were supposed to hold the power of the gods.
What makes Orlog even more interesting is the fact that it has some historical aspects to it. For instance, archaeologists have speculated for a while now that dice and board games have always played a huge role in society for a long, long time.
As a matter of fact, researchers found what looks to be ancient board game pieces earlier this year from the Iron Age. That being said, we’re not saying that Orlog is genuinely a dice game from ancient times because, well, it’s not and researchers have yet to discover the rules for these ancient games.
However, Ubisoft co-development lead Benoit Richer said that they were aiming for something that was “‘credible’ rather than historically accurate” and we can definitely see that with Orlog.
