If you live in London, New York or another global metropolis, you’re probably used to the idea of your local area being represented in big-budget media. But if you’re from Gloucestershire, the closest things get is Hot Fuzz. Though the county is frequently used as a filming location, it’s rarely the focus of the spotlight, and the list of video games set in Gloucestershire is… rather sparse. All of which meant I was shocked to discover that Gloucestershire is not only visitable in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, but that it boasts its own storyline.
Having grown up in the area, I was curious to see exactly how my home had been represented. How true would it be to real history? Would it still feel like Gloucestershire? How do you even squash most of England into a game? So I packed up my Viking gear and set sail for the in-game county, eager to learn a little about Gloucestershire’s history along the way through my own research. What I discovered was a slightly hodge-podge version of Gloucestershire that – surprise surprise – isn’t always historically accurate. Yet it also feels wonderfully otherworldly, full of folklore and charming references to the region. It’s also quite Welsh. But more importantly, it somehow feels like home.
Gloucestershire (or “Glowecestrescire” as it’s called in Valhalla) is a relatively high-level area in the Kingdom of Mercia, and the story arc unlocks after a particularly stressful chapter in the game. It feels like something of a getaway holiday for Viking protagonist Eivor: she heads there to help her blacksmith woo a lady, and ends up joining in the local festivities. In fact, the county is presented as a bit of a rural backwater, with Eivor making several blunt comments to this effect. Thanks, Eivor.
For Valhalla’s setting of 873 AD, this would have been a fair assessment. Gloucester’s economy was “mainly domestic and agricultural” at the time, and you get a sense of that from wandering through the city in-game, with most NPCs engaged in bee keeping, domestic chores and maintaining livestock. Gloucester also feels more distinctly Roman than many other cities in Valhalla, reflecting its past as the important Roman fortress and colonia of Glevum. Historians have already cast doubt on the idea Roman ruins would still be standing in fairly good condition by 873 AD, however, so perhaps they would have looked a little more ragged than they appear in-game.
1 of 3 Caption Attribution Fair play to Ubisoft for finding an even more complicated, Old English-inspired spelling of Gloucestershire. I did not know that was possible.
While I initially found it hard to recognise anything from the post-industrialisation Gloucester I know, I found a map estimating the city limits around 1000 AD – the closest I could get to Valhalla’s 873 AD setting – and there are a surprising amount of similarities. The all-important bridge over the Severn leading to Westgate street is visible, along with the positioning of the docks in the south, and a church called St Kenhelm’s is close to the site of modern-day Gloucestershire Cathedral (where an abbey dedicated to Saint Peter was founded around 679 AD). It’s recognisably Gloucester… at least from thousand-year-old estimates.
Where Ubisoft really does push the realms of reality is Gloucestershire’s wider geography, which often feels strangely concertinaed, with some landmarks missing entirely. Much of the western Cotswolds are basically non-existent, and the South Cotswolds are represented by a large hill that’s technically in Wessex. The river Severn is absent, with only the Thames and Avon named, while the town of Winchcombe – which had an Abbey built there in 798 and likely still would have been an important site – has also been left out. In a video game covering most of England, Ubisoft obviously couldn’t do everything, and some sacrifices had to be made.