Forget about Gwent – Orlog is the hottest tabletop game on the market. In fact, the dice game introduced in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is so popular that a physical version will be available for purchase in 2021.
Ubisoft will be collaborating with PureArts to create a real-life version of Eivor’s favorite game, although a specific time frame wasn’t provided. Orlog is a fun, but simple, dice game in Valhalla, and a great way to break up the constant looting, pillaging, and raiding. It pits you against one opponent with the goal of depleting their lifeforce before they do the same do you. This is done by rolling six dice and taking actions such as melee attacks, melee blocks, ranged attacks, and so forth. If you haven’t yet had a chance to play it, pick up Valhalla and run to the nearest town – you’re bound to find a competitor lingering nearby.
It’s a straightforward dice game, but one Valhalla fans have quickly grown to love. Ubisoft co-development Game Director, Benoit Richer, said the version of Orlog present in Valhalla is radically different from the original concept. In fact, it originally looked much more like Gwent, with players collecting dice during their adventures and slowly building a powerful hand. However, playtesters found this version’s rulebook to be a bit much to stomach, and the game was eventually simplified to appeal to a wider audience.
Believe it or not, Orlog isn’t a historically accurate game. Richer said, “The goal was to have a game that would be ‘credible’ rather than historically accurate as we didn’t find any clear rules throughout our research.” It’s still possible a game similar to Orlog was played during the time period, but Orlog itself is a pure work of fiction. That being said, the team at Ubisoft was careful to build a game using resources Eivor and her clan would have available to them at the time – the leather gameboard, the wooden bowls, and the bits of stone are all historically viable choices for piecing together a tabletop game.
The physical version of Orlog is set to release in 2021, although we’re still waiting on a price tag and specific timeframe for launch.
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